Patent Document ID: 20170195605
Application ID: 14986575
Patent Status: 0

Claim One:
1. A camera and camera control system for taking a digital image of an object at a geographical location and at a time of day and a date of year, said object including a background and a feature and said digital image having a level of noise, said system comprising: a) the camera having an image sensor and image sensor electronics, said sensor including an array of pixel locations and during a total exposure time of an image acquisition event voltages are accumulated at each pixel location and the camera including an exposure control system wherein at a plurality of pre-selected reset times during the image acquisition event, each preselected reset time having a corresponding preselected voltage, voltages accumulated at each pixel are reset to the corresponding pre-selected voltage, if the accumulated voltage at the pixel is greater than the corresponding pre-selected voltage, b) the camera control system connected to the exposure control system and sending control signals to the camera control system, said control signals including the total exposure time and the preselected times and the corresponding preselected voltages, and, c) the camera control system including a computing device, said computing device programmed to calculate the total exposure time, the pre-selected reset times and the corresponding pre-selected voltages such that the contrast between the feature and the background is greater than a pre-selected multiplier of the level of noise in the digital image, and, d) said calculation is based upon the irradiance of the background and the irradiance of the feature that impinges upon the image sensor at the time of the image acquisition event.