Patent ID: 7655911

Claim:
An image sensor, comprising: a focal plane array; a cold shield having a top wall disposed over the focal plane array and defining an aperture operatively configured to be selectively switched between a first diameter and a second diameter that is larger than the first diameter; and a filter element disposed between the cold shield aperture and the focal plane array, the filter element including a first band-pass filter and a second band-pass filter, wherein the first band-pass filter has a diameter equal to or greater than the first diameter; the first band-pass filter being disposed in coaxial alignment with the cold shield aperture and directly beneath the cold shield aperture when the cold shield aperture is switched to the first diameter or the second diameter, wherein the second band-pass filter is covered by the top wall of the cold shield when the cold shield aperture is switched to the first diameter and is disposed directly beneath the cold shield aperture when the cold shield aperture is switched to the second diameter, wherein the first band-pass filter is adapted to pass to the focal plane array a first signal having a first wavelength within a first band of wavelengths and the second band-pass filter is adapted to pass to the focal plane array a second signal having a second wavelength within a second band of wavelengths, the second band of wavelengths being different than the first band of wavelengths, and wherein the focal plane array is a mono-color focal plane array having a plurality of pixels, each of which is adapted to detect the first signal passed by the first band-pass filter and the second signal passed by the second band-pass filter.