Patent Document ID: 9025004
Application ID: 13823069
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A video optronic system with supra-hemispheric vision of a scene, comprising: a sensor with a supra-hemispheric lens, and a matrix detector array situated in the focal plane of the lens, a unit for processing the sensed images, display means for the processed images, the matrix detector being one having video rate and comprising: i. L×C pixels, with L and C>2000, each pixel employing correlated double sampling and able to ensure a charge-voltage conversion, and ii. 2 C parallelized analog-digital conversion elements (or ADCs), each conversion element itself comprising a first ADC with output having low level and large gain and a second ADC with output having high level and low gain, wherein the super-hemispheric lens exhibits a focal length f controlled as a function of the angle of elevation, the focal length being longest in the equatorial plane, and has a numerical aperture f/D lying between 0.9 and 1.6, D being the diameter of the lens, means for adapting the dynamic range of the sensed image to the dynamic range of the scene, by control of the exposure time, and/or of the gain applied to the signal, and wherein the processing unit comprises: i. means for correcting the non-uniformities of the detector by means of correction tables adapted as a function of temperature and of exposure time of the detector, ii. means of weighted summation, of several neighboring pixels, iii. means for compressing the dynamic range of the sensed image as a function of the temporal noise of the detector, increasing with the illumination of the scene, means for adapting the dynamic range of the sensed image to the dynamic range of the display means and/or to that of the eye, by restoration of the high spatial frequencies of the image and compensation of the low spatial frequencies.