Patent ID: 8478028

Claim:
A method for converting at least one image of a first spectrum into an image of a second spectrum, comprising: recording a first-spectrum reference image of a reference scene with a first-spectrum recording apparatus, the first-spectrum recording apparatus being a night-vision apparatus, the first-spectrum reference image comprising first image portions with corresponding first-spectrum sensor reference data; providing corresponding second-spectrum reference information; providing a set of reference data from at least part of the first-spectrum sensor reference data relating to the reference scene, and at least a corresponding part of the second-spectrum information relating to the reference scene; providing a target first-spectrum image; and converting the target first-spectrum image into a second-spectrum image using the set of reference data, wherein the first-spectrum sensor reference data comprises multi-band data, relating to at least two different parts of a light spectrum, and the second-spectrum reference information is true-color color information, wherein the providing the set of reference data comprises: selecting, for a same reference scene, a plurality of first, first-spectrum, image portions and corresponding second, second-spectrum, image portions, such that reference scene image coordinates of a first image portion substantially correspond to reference scene image coordinates of a corresponding second image portion of the same reference scene, and creating an index containing the first-spectrum sensor reference data and the second-spectrum information for the same reference scene such that each entry in the index refers to the first-spectrum sensor reference data and the corresponding second-spectrum information associated with a selected first image portion and a corresponding second image portion of the same reference scene; and wherein the converting the target first-spectrum image into the second-spectrum image comprises: finding, for individual portions of the target first-spectrum image, a closest matching entry in the index by comparing first-spectrum sensor data associated with the individual portions of the target first-spectrum image and the first-spectrum sensor reference data contained within entries of the index containing the first-spectrum reference data, and replacing, for the individual portions of the target first-spectrum image, each target first-spectrum image portion with the second, second-spectrum, image portion, the second image portion being associated with the closest matching entry in the index for the individual portion of the target first-spectrum image.