CA2354114A1 - Eyetap device with concealment or viewability by way of materials having properties differently visible to instrumentation contained therein, than to other instrumentation - Google Patents
Eyetap device with concealment or viewability by way of materials having properties differently visible to instrumentation contained therein, than to other instrumentation Download PDFInfo
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- CA2354114A1 CA2354114A1 CA002354114A CA2354114A CA2354114A1 CA 2354114 A1 CA2354114 A1 CA 2354114A1 CA 002354114 A CA002354114 A CA 002354114A CA 2354114 A CA2354114 A CA 2354114A CA 2354114 A1 CA2354114 A1 CA 2354114A1
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- getting
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Classifications
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- G—PHYSICS
- G02—OPTICS
- G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
- G02B27/00—Optical systems or apparatus not provided for by any of the groups G02B1/00 - G02B26/00, G02B30/00
- G02B27/01—Head-up displays
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G02—OPTICS
- G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
- G02B27/00—Optical systems or apparatus not provided for by any of the groups G02B1/00 - G02B26/00, G02B30/00
- G02B27/01—Head-up displays
- G02B27/0101—Head-up displays characterised by optical features
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G02—OPTICS
- G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
- G02B27/00—Optical systems or apparatus not provided for by any of the groups G02B1/00 - G02B26/00, G02B30/00
- G02B27/01—Head-up displays
- G02B27/017—Head mounted
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G02—OPTICS
- G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
- G02B27/00—Optical systems or apparatus not provided for by any of the groups G02B1/00 - G02B26/00, G02B30/00
- G02B27/01—Head-up displays
- G02B27/017—Head mounted
- G02B27/0172—Head mounted characterised by optical features
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N23/00—Cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors; Control thereof
- H04N23/10—Cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors; Control thereof for generating image signals from different wavelengths
- H04N23/11—Cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors; Control thereof for generating image signals from different wavelengths for generating image signals from visible and infrared light wavelengths
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G02—OPTICS
- G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
- G02B27/00—Optical systems or apparatus not provided for by any of the groups G02B1/00 - G02B26/00, G02B30/00
- G02B27/01—Head-up displays
- G02B27/0101—Head-up displays characterised by optical features
- G02B2027/0118—Head-up displays characterised by optical features comprising devices for improving the contrast of the display / brillance control visibility
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G02—OPTICS
- G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
- G02B27/00—Optical systems or apparatus not provided for by any of the groups G02B1/00 - G02B26/00, G02B30/00
- G02B27/01—Head-up displays
- G02B27/0101—Head-up displays characterised by optical features
- G02B2027/0138—Head-up displays characterised by optical features comprising image capture systems, e.g. camera
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G02—OPTICS
- G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
- G02B27/00—Optical systems or apparatus not provided for by any of the groups G02B1/00 - G02B26/00, G02B30/00
- G02B27/01—Head-up displays
- G02B27/017—Head mounted
- G02B2027/0178—Eyeglass type
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- Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- Optics & Photonics (AREA)
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Multimedia (AREA)
- Signal Processing (AREA)
- Closed-Circuit Television Systems (AREA)
Abstract
An EyeTap device includes optics specially visible to instrumentation contained therein, where the optics is less visible to other instrumentation such as the human eye of per-sons other than the user(s) of the device. Thus other persons can see the user's eyes in a normal fashion, whereas an optical instrument, within the EyeTap device may capture rays of eyeward or headward bound light despite the appearance that such rays would merely enter an eye of the user. The device is useful for tapping an eye of a user while allowing the user to engage in normal face to face interaction with other persons.
Description
, !r? t ~L d. i'-'.: 3 i y;, ~'F'tf7~~~
g :~j'_ i ' ~ '~~31 FIELD OF THE INVENTION PRUP~~E~TE ~i~i~:zI.EG~IJEf;W ' The present invention pertains generally to a vision system for use by the visually impaired, for those with a visual memory impairment, or for improvement of seeing, remembering, visual communication, or for information display, capture, processing, or the like.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A "getting" is a region of a space, such as a polarization space, time--polarization space, time-frequency space, time-frequency-polarization space, or th.e like, or a region of time such as a time interval or periodic train of time intervals or random or pseudorandom tune variations, or a region of frequency such as a frequency spectrum, frequency band, frequency region, or the like.
The concept of "getting" generalizes the concept of "setting" (time and place, more commonly known as "time-space" ) and emphasizes the capture, obtaining, ma-nipulating, display, or the like, of visual information.
A diverter is a reflective or partially reflective surface or object or material or boundary that diverts at least a portion of rays of light to or from an instrument.
Preferably the diverter either is, or has properties similar to, a mirror, beamsplitter, or selector. The diverter may also be a holographic optical element, or other material that diverts rays of light to or from an optical path of a user of the apparatus of the invention. An example of a diverter is an automobile windshield that a driver can see through, but where the diverter (windshield) diverts some rays of light that would otherwise reach the driver's eyes into a camera or similar sensing element. A
diverter may also be comprised of a boundary between different materials, such a,s a difference in materials within eyeglasses, for diverting rays of light; into an eye of a wearer of the eyeglasses. Such a boundary may be a step boundary such as an interface between two materials having different properties, or it may be a delta boundary (an approximation to a Dirac delta measure in space) such as a thin film, deposited, for example, at a 45 degree angle, within the lens material of eyeglass lenses.
A key inventive concept is that of a diverter transmitting light in a getting of greater biological sensitivity for allowing the diverter to appear to a biological in-strument such as the human eye to be transparent, while having a getting of lesser biological sensitivity for allowing the diverter to appear reflective to a, camera or display system, aremac, or other kind of instrument or indicator without so much appearing so strongly reflective to the biological vision system. Within the getting of lesser biological sensitivity there is a getting of preferably not lesser machine sensitiv-ity in which the diverter is reflective. Thus the reflectivity, from the machine's point of view, preferably improves, or at the very least, remains the same within the getting of lesser biological sensitivity, or even if the reflectivity from the machine's point of view decreases, it does not decrease as much as the reflectivity from the biological point of view.
For example, in one embodiment; the getting of lesser biological sensitivity is a short time interval during which the diverter is reflective, owing to an electrochromic characteristic. Embodiments of the invention that use an electrochromic diverter are called electrochromic embodiments. An electrochromic diverter is a diverter having either a reflectivity that is responsive to an electrical input to the diverter or to the surrounding structure of the apparatus, or a transmissivity that is responsive to an electrical input to the diverter or to the surrounding structure of the apparatus. Thus an electrochromic diverter is a diverter that can be changed in reflectivity character-istics or transmissivity characteristics in response to an electrical input.
It might, for example, become darker under control of an electrial signal. Thus a camera or other sensor seeing by reflection in the diverter will see only the reflection and not the transmission, or will at least see less of the transmission. Even if the amount of reflection the machine sees is no greater in the getting of lesser biological sensitivity, it.
will still see roughly the same amount of reflection and less of the transmission. Thus a nearly equal reflectivity seen by the machine, along with a lesser transrnissivity, may still give rise to better signal to noise ratio if we regard the transmission (transmitted light) as noise (unwanted signal) and the reflected light as signal (desired signal).
Therefore a camera synchronized with a periodic train of pulses delivered to a control system will allow the camera to see during brief intervals of lesser biological sensi-tivity. Interspersed with these intervals of lesser biological sensitivity during which the camera sees, there are intervals of greater biological sensitivity during which the biological system sees through the diverter. The intervals of greater biological sensi-tivity are preferably longer in time, such as by having the periodic train of pulses of the control system be such that the intervals of greater biological sensitivity are of greater than fifty percent duty cycle, and the intervals of lesser biological sensitivity be less than or equal to fifty percent duty cycle. Preferably the duty cycle of the intervals of lesser biological sensitivity are much shorter than fifty percent, so that the biological system perceives the diverter as being transparent. In some embod-iments, the diverter is embodied as a discontinuity, such as by being embedded in lens material of eyeglasses, so that this transparency makes it completely invisible to biological systems. Preferably; the diverter is also invisible to persons other than a person using the apparatus of the invention.
The term "biological" refers to a response of a biological vision system such as a human biological vision system, or the like, or to an instrumented biological vision system such as an adversarial security guard or the like looking through a video surveillance system at a time in the present (e.g. as by way of closed circuit television) or in the future (e.g. by way of playing back recordings of closed circuit television depicting the user of the apparatus of the invention).
It is desired that the diverter appear transparent to the user of the personal imag-ing system, such that the user can see through it while at the same time light can be diverted to a camera, or diverted from a display, aremac, or the Like for display into or viewing by at least one eye of the user, or for projection onto subject matter visible to the user. Moreover, it is sometimes further desired that the diverter appear transparent to others. For example, in an eyeglass embodiment of the invention, it is preferable that both of the user's eyes be visible to others, so that the eyeglasses have a normal appearance. It may also be desirable that this normal appearance be preserved even though others may be looking through instruments such as video surveillance cameras. Thus, for example, in some embodiments of the invention it is preferable that the apparatus have a normal looking appearance to adversarial security guards looking presently or in the future (ie at surveillance recordings) by wav of video surveillance cameras. Accordingly, the apparatus of the invention us-ing a synchronized electrochromic diverter is preferably not synchronized, or easily synchronizable by adversaries, to the video surveillance cameras, and will therefore appear more transmissive to the video surveillance cameras than to the instruments such as a camera, or the like, within the apparatus of the invention.
A getting of lesser biological sensitivity may also be a spectral band. An embod-iment of the invention using a spectrally concealed diverter uses a getting of greater biological sensitivity in a spectral band of greater sensitivity to the biological vision system. It uses a spectral band of lesser sensitivity for a getting of lesser biological sensitivity, in which the diverter appears reflective. Thus concealment of the diverter is by way of spectral response. In some embodiments, there is a combination of spec-tral getting and temporal getting, so that the diverter is transparent most of the time and in most of the visible spectrum, but is reflective in a lesser visible portion of the spectrum and for only brief time pulses.
However, in the preferred embodiment of the spectrally concealed diverter, there is no significant electrically controlled temporal variation in the optical properties of the diverter. This results in a pure spectral getting, which makes the diverter easier to manufacture. The lower cost of the purely spectral concealment is important when the diverter is large, as, for example, when the diverter is the entire windshield (or a large portion thereof ) of a vehicle.
In the vehicle embodiment, a windshield that transmits more visible light and transmits less infrared lght may be constructed. Thus an optical instrument such as an infrared camera or other sensor seeing by reflection in the diverter (windshield) will see only the reflection and not the transmission, or might at least see at least approximately the the same amount of the reflection and less of the transmission.
Therefore an optical instrument such as an infrared seeing camera mounted outside the vehicle, above the windshield, looking down, will see what the driver sees (e.g.
it will see down the road or the like, in the direction the driver is facing) by way of a reflected image. Even if the amount of reflection the camera sees is no greater in the getting of lesser biological sensitivity, it will still see roughly the same amount of reflection and less of the transmission. Thus a nearly equal reflectivity seen by the machine, along with a lesser transmissivity, may still give rise to better signal to noise ratio if we regard the transmission (transmitted light) as noise (unwanted signal) and the reflected light as signal (desired signal).
Two preferred embodiments of spectral getting include embodiments having' an infrared camera in which the camera optics are lowtap spectrally concealed, and a bandpass camera, in which the camera optics are bandtap spectrally concealed.
In a spectrally concealed camera system in whiclu the spectral concealment is lowtap concealment, an infrared camera is spectrally concealed. Lowtap spectral concealment is concealment in which the diverter has a. normal appearance in the normal visible spectrum as a typical adversarial person would see it, or as seen in normal biological vision. In the preferred embodiment, the diverter is a dichroic element. The dichroic element passes visible light and reflects infrared light, so it is a diverter that is like clear glass in the visible, and like a mirror in the infrared regions of the spectrum. Lowtap concealment taps into the low end of the spectrum, e.g. the instrumentation such as a camera or other optical instrument taps into the lower end of the frequency spectrum.
In a spectrally concealed embodiment the spectral concealment is bandtap con-cealment, using a bandpass instrument. For example, a bandtap system allows an optical instrument such as a camera to sample rays of light in a narrow spectral band in which the diverter is reflective. The diverter is transmissive in other regions of the spectrum, and therefore the apparatus allows the user to see through it, naturally, and the apparatus also allows others to see the user. natnxrally.
The diverter may also be polarizationally concealed. A polarizationally concealed diverter may also be temporally concealed, transmitting light in a getting time interval of greater biological sensitivity and reflecting light in a getting time interval of lesser biological sensitivity, or it may also be spectrally concealed, by having a getting spectrum of greater biological sensitivity where light is transmitted, and a getting spectrum of lesser biological sensitivity where light is reflected. A
polarizationally concealed diverter may also be purely polarizationally concealed.
The polarizationally concealed diverter reflects, to a greater degree; light with certain polarization properties, and transmits, to a greater degree, light not having these properties. In a preferred embodiment, the diverter is a dichroic optical element reflecting polarized light into a camera or similar optical instrument, and transmitting light of the opposite polarization, so that to the biological system the diverter appears transparent but to the camera the diverter appears, at least partially, reflective.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention will now be described in more detail, by way of examples which in no way are meant to limit the scope of the invention, but, rather, these examples will serve to illustrate the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an eyetap system with concealed getting.
FIG. 2A shows a concealed getting eyetap system in eyeglasses with comfort bands.
FIG. 2B shows a concealed getting eyetap system in eyeglasses with infrared ghost image Mocker.
FIG. 3 shows an eyeglass based aimer.
FIG. 4 shows an aimer concealed in an eyeglass lens designed to look like an eyeglass lens of bifocal eyeglasses.
FIG. 5 shows an eyetap embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 6 shows a vehicular embodiment of the invention for use in airplanes, boats, trucks; buses, cars, and other vehicles.
FIG. 7 shows a cargo carrier roof box embodiment.
FIG. 8 shows an eyetap system using auxiliary noneyet;ap cameras to interpolate an eyetap viewpoint with a getting of biological sensitivity.
FIG. 9 shows a block diagram of the system using auxiliary noneyetap cameras to interpolate an eyetap viewpoint with a getting of biological sensitivity.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
While the invention shall now be described with reference to the preferred em-bodiments shown in the drawings, it should be understood that the intention is not to limit the invention only to the particular embodiments shown but rather to cover all alterations, modifications and equivalent arrangements possible within the scope of appended claims.
FIG. 1 depicts an eyetap system with concealed getting. The apparatus is meant for being viewed by eye 100, but of course the apparatus does not actually include the eye 100 as a part of the apparatus of the invention. A diverter 110 diverts a portion of the rays of light that would have otherwise entered through the lens of eye 100. This light is diverted into a sensor 130. A satisfactory sensor 130 is a video camera. Sensor 130 is preferably sensitive to a different getting than eye 100, or, more importantly, sensor 130 is preferably sensitive to a different getting than other sensors such as eyes of other biological organisms such as other people.
A common problem with EyeTap devices is that the images can become milky or otherwise reduced in contrast or quality because of light shining into the sensor 130 or the diverter 110 other than light from intended subject matter. Thus a housing for the apparatus preferably includes at least a portion 150 that preferably functions as a light shield to the getting of sensor 130, more than it functions as a light shield to the eye 100 or to other sensors.
For example, a portion 150 of the housing for the apparatus is electrochromic, so that it becomes more opaque during a time interval when sensor 130 is more sensitive to light, and more transparent during a time interval when sensor 130 is less sensitive to light. The result can be a light shield that is more transparent to the user, and less transparent to the sensor 130, so that there can be a light shield around the camera that does not appreciably block the user's ability to see around and through the apparatus.
Alternatively, sensor 130 can be an infrared camera; and all or part of the housing for the apparatus can be made of material that is opaque or at least dark in the infrared, but more clear or transparent in the visible spectrum. In this way, a very good and quite complete lens hood, shield, or light Mocker can be constrlacted around the camera and diverter that does not obstruct the vision of the user.
For purposes of illustration, portion 150 is the top of the housing. since light coming from above is a major problem. It should be understood; however; that portion 150 could be any portion of the housing, or it could be another element or accessory. For example, in an eyeglass based version of the invention, portion could be a separate element such as a baseball cap with a plastic brim that is clear in the visible and dark or opaque in the infrared, so that the wearer's vision is not obstructed (and the wearer does not have the dark and evil appearance when seen by others, as might happen with a baseball cap) but the sensor's effective vision is hooded, vignetted, or shielded, or stray light is kept out of the sensor or diverter or associated portions of the system.
In a preferred eyeglass based embodiment of the invention, the camera body is borne by the nose 140 of the wearer. This means that tl a camera body is the nose-bridge, or is very closely integrated with the nosebridge of the eyeglasses, and a portion of the camera body may extend into the cavity to the left of the nose (here a right eyetap is illustrated but the left eye or both eyes could be tapped within the scope of the invention).
A back portion 120C of the housing is shown, and preferably blocks more of the getting to which sensor 130 is sensitive, compared to how much it blocks the getting to which eye 100 or other sensors are sensitive, so that the user can see in a less obstructed way, and so that others can see the user's eyes in a less obstructed way.
Portion 120 of the housing is the portion around sensor 130, such as the portion in front of and behind sensor 130.
Wont portions 120A and 120B must allow incoming light to reach diverter 110 so front portions 120A and 120B are transparent in the getting to which sensor is sensitive. However, the portion 120A nearest sensor 130 is preferably dark in the human getting (getting of greater biological sensitivity) to help conceal a lens of sensor 130 from being seen by persons other than the user. Conversely, portion 120B
further from a lens of sensor 130 is preferably transparent in the human getting near sensor 130, so that others can easily see the eye 100 of the user, a,nd so that less of the field of view of eye 100 is obstructed.
In one embodiment, using an infrared camera for sensor 130, the front portion is entirely transparent in the infrared, whereas the transparency in visible light varies such that the left side is opaque in the visible, and the right side is transparent.
In some embodiments the diverter 110 allows getting selectivity to separate human getting from machine getting. In one embodiment the diverter 110 is a 45 degree ''hot mirror" that reflects infrared (heat) into sensor 130, and transmits visible light into eye 100.
The illustration of Fig. 1 simply serves as an example of how variable character-istics of the getting work to conceal or reveal views across the various gettings. The invention is not necessarily always directed at making the user's eyes visible to others.
For example, the invention may take the form of dark sunglasses that are transparent in the infrared, to allow infrared cameras to see out without losing light, but very dark to hide the wearer's eyes in the visible, so that others cannot see the strange eye movements that are typical of a person looking at the world through a computer screen.
FIG. 2A shows a an eyeglass based embodiment of the invention. The portion 150 of the eyeglass frames may be the entire eyeglass frames, entirely made out of, for example, visibly clear plastic that is opaque in the infrared.
Preferably the eyeglass frames are cttt on a numerical control machine, responsive to live or previously recorded input from a machine vision system, Cyberwarc~ (TM) scanner, or the like;
aimed at the head of the intended wearer, so that the eyeglasses will fit perfectly onto the head of the wearer, to ensure that the apparatus has a carefully positioned EyeTap.
One or more comfort bands 210 are for going behind the head of the wearer, to keep the glasses on. Preferably there is at least one comfort band that goes below the bump at the back of the wearer's head, and one that goes above the bump.
Preferably there is means for keeping the two comfort bands from separating from each other more than by a, certain amount of distance.
Comfort bands 210 may be released or connected to a back portion 220 of the eyeglass frames. A release capability allows the eyeglasses to be removed under certain conditions. A sleeve 230 receives an attachment pin 230A located at the ends of comfort bands 210. This sleeve is mounted within a block of material 240 and held in place with security set screw 250.
Security set screw 250 may be a thumb screw that can be operated without tools or other equipment. Alternatively, security set screw 250 can be a special security screw that requires a special wrench or key.
The key can be used to install the eyeglasses and then the wearer of the eyeglasses can conveniently leave behind the key, so that he or she has an articulable inability to remove the eyeglasses. Alternatively, the wearer can carry the key, on his or her person. but conveniently forget where it was placed on his or her body (e.g.
forget what pocket it was in) and therefore have an articulable inability to remove the eyeglasses. The wearer can also leave the key in a locker in a secure locker morn, such as the locker room of a secure facility. The secure facility may be a decontamination facility, so that assailants or terrorists washing the wearer to remove the eyeglasses would need to either wait outside the locker room, or accompany him or her therein. Such a method of doing business in security eyeglasses would deter assailants, terrorists, or corrupt officials from abusing the wearer of the eyeglasses;
because such assailants, terrorists, or corrupt officials would need to either allow the wearer to escape to the safety of the locker room, or the assailants, terrorists. or corrupt officials would need to comply with conditions of the locker room in order to enter with the wearer. These conditions can include various security screening procedures as might be found in a secure decontamination facility.
In the event of attempted breakage of the eyeglasses by assailants, terrorists, corrupt officials, or other criminals. an automatic alarm may sound and may include audible deterrence, in addition to chemical deterrence such as automatic release of a marker chemical such as that sold under the trade name Dye Witness (TM).
This alarm may be engaged to the continuity of comfort bands 210, so that if, for example, wire cutters or bolt cutters were used to cut through comfort bands 210, the alarm would be activated, marking the assailants for later identification and prosecution.
Comfort bands 210 are preferably made of copper, so that they are somewhat soft and flexible, and also so that they tarnish nicely to match typical hair color of a typical wearer. Copper, being a conductive material, is also suitable for the continuity based safety alarm described above.
Additionally, comfort bands 210 may sense, by conduction, the scalp of the wearer;
to determine if the eyeglasses are worn (to thwart short-circuit forced removal of the apparatus), as well as to receive brainwave EEG signals. For this purpose a lattice of comfort bands that form a skull cap may be preferable, and may also function as a shield for other electrodes.
Additionally, the comfort bands may form part of a ground plane antenna for wireless communications, especially when they help ground the antenna to the head of the user, to eliminate or reduce electromagnetic radiation wasted on the user, and therefore improve transmission to the airwaves while reducing exposure of the user to electromagnetic radiation.
FIG. 2B depicts an eyeglass based embodiment, showing an extra infrared Mocker 299 more extensive than portion 150 of the eyeglass frames. In this situation, a wide angle lens on camera sensor 130 makes it responsive to a wide field of view.
This field of view is too great to be re-synthesized by an aremac, so a small field aremac 260A resynthesizes the central 1/3 of the camera's field of view in linear dimension (e.g. 1/9 of the image area) whereas a framing aimer 260F allows the wearer to see a rectangular viewfinder to aim the camera sensor 130.
One aspect of the wide angle embodiment of the invention is the Mocker 299 that typically appears to the wearer (and to other people looking at the wearer) as a clear plastic sheet, almost invisible, whereas in the infrared region of the spectrum to which camera sensor 130 is sensitive, the Mocker 299 is opaque. Therefore Mocker 299 prevents ghost images from passing through diverter 110 into camera sensor 130.
Rays 200L from subject matter in view of the apparatus of the invention are diverted, at least in part, as rays 200D for pickup by sensor 130. Sensor 130 may be sensitive to some rays 200T that could be transmitted through diverter 110.
Despite the fact that a hot mirror may be used for diverter 110, it may still ad.min a small portion of visible light due to incomplete stoppage. Many hot mirrors, for example, still transmit a small portion of infrared light. Alternatively, sensor 130 may be sensitive to Borne visible light despite inserting a visible blocking infrared filter in front of sensor 130. A satisfactory visible blocking infrared filter is a "Covert Infrared"
filter. or a Kodak (TM) wratten infrared filter.
However, despite attempts to keep out contamination, the diverter 110 is often of dichroic nature (a typical diverter might be a dichroic filter) which admit some out of band light. especially the more we deviate from 45 degrees (assuming the hot mirror . ,. CA 02354114 2001-07-16 is a 45 degree hot mirror). Thus the wide angle nature of the apparatus means that some infrared rays 200T from stray subject matter to the right of the wearer would leak through the diverter 110 as transmitted rays that are not entirely reflected by diverter 110.
Thus rays 200B of light from subject matter to the right of the wearer of the appa-ratus are blocked by Mocker 299, since Mocker 299 is an IR blocking sheet (typically of plastic material that is transparent in visible light). Therefore rays 200B
do not contribute to rays 200T that would otherwise adversely affect the sensor 130 with a ghost image of subject matter to the right of the wearer superimposed with images of subject matter in front of the wearer.
FIG. 3 depicts an embodiment of the invention for use as a camera ,jammer for providing privacy to the wearer of the device. Diverter 110 is preferably a hot mirror to reflect infrared rays from an infrared laser 330. IR, laser 330 directs a beam of IR light as ray 331, to be reflected by diverter 110 and emerge as ray 332;
which the wearer of the eyeglasses can aim into an offending camera. The light, source this reduces the contrast of the camera. A much weaker laser 335 produces ray 336 of visible (typically red) light that reflects partially in diverter 110 and emerges as ray 337 for being viewed by a wearer of the apparatus.
Diverter 110 typically only reflects a small portion of of ray 336. Therefore ray 337 will be much weaker than ray 336, because the hot mirror is for reflecting infrared light and transmitting visible light. Thus the wearer of the apparatrus can see a relatively unobstructed view through diverter 110, together with a moderately bright aimer in ray 337. The aimer serves to allow the wearer to aim the apparatus at the intended target, namely the offending camera.
Multiple aimers can also be incorporated into the wearer's apparatus, and image tracking with a wearable camera can also be used to track the offending cameras, and keep a large number of cameras saturated with bright infrared light. Thus if the tracking algorithm continues to work after the wearer has sighted the offending cameras in a viewfinder, the wearer could continue to do other things while a wearable computer maintained the locations of the offending cameras and kept them saturated in infrared light.
Thus, for example, a person discussing this patent application, and showing a patent agent the drawings while meeting in a restaurant, such as Second Cup, where cameras are concealed in objects that look like smoke detectors, could keep all the offending cameras saturated, in order to maintain privacy and confidentiality of the patent drawings; despite the use of the surveillance cameras in the restaurant.
A similar invention may also be used as a light meter, for photographers to have a wearable spot meter. Instead of infrared laser 330, a lightmeter can be aimed by the wearer of the apparatus to measure light from a given location that is visible by way of laser 335.
Alternatively, instead of laser 330, a retinal scanner could be used, so that the device could be used to positively identify persons encountered by the wearer, in which laser 335 is used to aim the retinal scanner into an eye of a subject to be positively identified.
Such a device, trademark of applicant, for eyedentification (T1VI) produces light at a wavelength in the near infrared, with laser 330. A satisfactory wavelength for laser 330 is 890 nanometers. A camera and laser 330 combination are aimed by the wearer of the apparatus, into an eye of a subject to be identifeyed (TM). To identifeye (TM) the subject, the wearer positions the aimer of laser 335 to indicate to the wearer that the laser 330 is positioned so that the laser 330 shines into at least one of the subjects eyes, and a headworn camera of the apparatus captures a recording of blood vessels in the subjects eyes. The pattern of blood vessels in the subject's eyes provides a unique identification of the subject. Such a device is particularly suited to unwilling subjects, such as clerks or functionaries who refuse to show identification cards when asked for identification.
The EyeTap technology may be combined with the EyeDentification (TM) tech-nology illustrated here, so that face recognition and retinal scans can be provided from unwilling or uncooperative subjects in a dynamic realtime environment. By combining facial thermographs and retinal scans of unwilling or uncooperative sub-jects, the apparatus can covertly and quickly identify persons in a dynamic real world environment.
Such an apparatus is particularly useful for war crimes, or for investigation of atrocities perpetrated by governments and large organizations, comprised of officials who might otherwise refuse to show identifcation. Unlike ordinary citizens who can be required to show their identification cards to police, the officials who have previously escaped accountability can now be brought under some degree of scrutiny.
FIG. 4 depicts an aimer in an eyeglass lens 400 made to have the same appearance as lenses of typical bifocal eyeglasses. Laser 330 is concealed in the eyeglass frame . CA 02354114 2001-07-16 at the edge of (or beyond the edge of ) the eyeglass lens 400. Preferably laser 330 operates vitrionically (e.g. preferably from being embedded in the lens material), with ray 331 being preferably inside the lens material. Optics 431 reflects beam 331 to generate beam 3318 which is directed toward diverter 41CI. Diverter 410 is preferably disguised as the cut line typical of flat top bifocal eyeglasses. Therefore, although diverter 410 is preferably transparent in the visible (or other getting of biological sensitivity) and reflective in the infrared (or other getting of machine sensitivity), any residual incompleteness of this transparency in the getting of biological sensitivity (e.g. residual incompleteness of transparency in the spectrum of visible light) will be more forgiven by virtue of placement in the location common to the cut line of bifocal eyeglasses.
Laser 335 concealed also in the eyeglass frames produces ray 336 reflected by optics 436 to produce ray 337 of reflected light.
Preferably ray 331 is infrared and ray 336 is visible red light. Ray 3318 is diverted away from an eye of the wearer of the eyeglasses by diverter 410 so that it emerges as ray 332. Ray 3378 is diverted by diverter 410 so that it emerges toward an eye of the wearer of the eyeglasses, as ray 337.
FIG. 5 depicts an embodiment of the invention used in an eyetap device. A
diverter 110 is used to divert eyeward bound light (light coming toward and collinear with rays passing through eye 100) into sensor 130. Portion 120C of a housing is opaque to infrared light (or light of another machine getting), whereas portion 120B
is transparent to both the machine and biological gettings.
Aremac 160 with associated optics is for resynthesizing light rays for being viewed by eye 100. In the infrared getting, for example, the wearer can see in total darkness, by way of seeing through infrared sensor 130.
Preferably diverter 110 is invisible to others, but in some embodiments, diverter 110 is still visible to others. Therefore, preferably there is a dummy side of the device, even if it is only a one eyetap device. Thus in Fig. 5 there is shown a, right eyetap, but the left eye. position has at least a dummy diverter 110D; so that the eyeglasses have a normal appearance.
FIG. 6 depicts an embodiment of the invention used in a vehicle such as an aircraft, boat, truck, or car. Rays 600L of headward bound light are rays of light that:
. shine toward; and ~ are collinear with a line passing through a point approximately at, a head 600. Typically the head 600 will be the head of a driver. Preferably the point will be a point close to the eyes of the driver. At least a portion of the rays 600L are diverted into a camera or similar kind of sensor 130 by a c:liverter 110.
Preferably the diverter is the windshied of the vehicle. Alternatively the diverter may be affixed to the windshield or be near the windshield.
Preferably the windshield reflects infrared light and passes visible light, so that the getting of machine sensitivity is infrared light, and the getting of biological sensitivity is visible light.
Preferably the sensor 130 is responsive to infrared light, and is located at a point such that it responds to rays 600L of headward bound light. If the windshield or diverter 110 were flat, the distance from sensor 130 to the point 130P
(principal point) where the central optical axis of sensor 130 intersects diverter 110, would be equal to the distance from the head 600 to that same point. This distance is known as the EyeTap distance.
However, generally the windshield or diverter 110 is curved, so that the distance may be adjusted. Since the curve is often anisotropic, (e.g. giving astigmatism in the reflection), the sensor 130 may also be compensated optically and computationally.
l~Toreover, aremac 160 will preferably be responsive to an output of sensor 130.
Preferably a processor is responsive to an output from sensor 130 and aremac is responsive to an output from the processor. Thus the processor can compensate further for distortions in the windshield or diverter 110 and thus cause aremac 160 to synthesize rays 160L of synthetic light. Preferably each ray 160L of synthetic light is:
~ responsive to; and ~ collinear with, a corresponding ray 600L of headward bound light. The above condition is called the collinearity criterion.
Thus the apparatus preferably meets the eyetap criterion. An autofocus camera of sensor 130 preferably drives the focus of the aremac 160. Alternatively the camera sensor 130 may be fixed focus, of sufficient depth of field, and a separate distance sensor adjusts a focus distance of aremac 160 depending on a sense of where a driver of the vehicle is looking.
An eye tracker 601 may determine where the driver is looking, and focus the aremac 160 to match the depth plane of subject matter that the driver is looking at.
Tracker 601 may also track the position of the head, a,nd it may also be connected to the processor so that aremac 160 can resynthesize the output to maintain the collinearity criterion.
Preferably sensor 130 is concealed in a car antenna or the like, or some similar appendage of the vehicle that does not have an unusual appearance such as might attract vandals to vandalize the sensor when the vehicle is parked.
FIG. 7 shows a roof box cargo carrier embodiment of the invention in which a roof box cargo carrier 700 is used to conceal a much larger sensor 130, as well as other navigational apparatus.
FIG. 8 shows an eyetap system with one or more additional auxiliary cameras that are responsive to other points away from the eye point of the wearer.
Sensor 130 is an infrared eyetap sensor responsive to eyeward bound rays 200L
of infrared light, whereas an even wider angle camera sensor 830 in the nosebridge of the eyeglasses is responsive to rays 800L of incoming light.
Auxiliary camera sensors 830A in the left and right temple side pieces are respon-sive to rays 800A.
Preferably the two camera sensors 830A and sensor 830 are responsive to a getting of biological sensitivity, such as visible light whereas sensor 130 is responsive in a getting of lesser biological sensitivity such as the infrared portion of the spectrum.
Typically the image from sensor 130 is a greyscale image whereas the images from the other three cameras are color images. The epipola,r geometry between sensor 130 and the other three sensors is fixed and known, so that sensor data from the three color cameras can be used to interpolate the viewpoint of sensor 130.
The interpolated viewpoint might ordinarily be slightly lacking, as viewpoint.
interpolation is somewhat imprecise. However, the luminance signal of sensor 130 is combined with an interpolated chrominance signal, so that the result is a natural color image from the viewpoint of the right eye of the wearer.
Alternatively, a statistical analysis of the color images is used to colorize the image from sensor 130. In this way. the apparatus can be completely covert, since the diverter 110 operates in a getting of lesser biological sensitivity, and is therefore concealable in eyeglass lens material, or the like.
Fig. 9 shows a block diagram of this embodiment, in which left camera sensor 930L and right camera sensor 9308 are both connected to a viewpoint interpolator 900 to generate an interpolated signal 901. Signal 901 is a,n approximation to a video signal that would have been seen from the viewpoint of the wearer's right eye 100.
Eyetap camera 130 by way of diverter 110 provides an actual signal from this same viewpoint, but at a getting of lesser biological sensitivity.
In applications where it is desired to have a video signal that has a natural ap-pearance (such as natural color or natural visible light greyscale) signal 901 may be used.
Alternatively, an even better Point of Eye (PoE) signal 911 may be generated by colorizing eyetap signal 931 with statistics derived from interpolated PoE
signal 901.
The final eyetap signal 911 rnay be fed to a processor 920; to provide a computer mediated reality environment (or at least a viewfinder function) by way of aremac 160.
In all aspect's of the present invention, references to "camera" mean any device or collection of devices capable of simultaneously determining a quantity of light arriving from a plurality of directions and or at a plurality of locations, or determining some other attribute of light arriving from a plurality of directions and or at a plurality of locations.
References to "processor" . or "computer" shall include sequential instruction, par-allel instruction, and special purpose architectures such as digital signal processing hardware, Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), programmable logic devices, as well as analog signal processing devices.
References to "eyeward bound" light refer to rays of light that are collinear with rays passing through a point near the center of projection of an eye of a user of the apparatus of the invention, regardless of whether or not the rays are blocked before they reach this point.
References to ''eyesward bound" light refer to rays of light that are collinear with rays passing through a point near the eyes of a user of the apparatus of the invention, regardless of whether or not the rays are blocked before they reach this point.
References to "headward bound" light refer to rays of light that are collinear with rays passing through a point near the head of a user of the apparatus of the invention, regardless of whether or not the rays are blocked before they reach this point.
From the foregoing description, it will thus be evident that the present invention provides a design for differently sensitive optics for an EyeTap device. As various changes can be made in the above embodiments and operating methods without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings should be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.
Variations or modifications to the design and construction of this invention, within the scope of the invention, may occur to those skilled in the art upon reviewing the disclosure herein. Such variations or modifications, if within the spirit of this invention, are intended to be encompassed within the scope of any claims to patent protection issuing upon this invention.
g :~j'_ i ' ~ '~~31 FIELD OF THE INVENTION PRUP~~E~TE ~i~i~:zI.EG~IJEf;W ' The present invention pertains generally to a vision system for use by the visually impaired, for those with a visual memory impairment, or for improvement of seeing, remembering, visual communication, or for information display, capture, processing, or the like.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A "getting" is a region of a space, such as a polarization space, time--polarization space, time-frequency space, time-frequency-polarization space, or th.e like, or a region of time such as a time interval or periodic train of time intervals or random or pseudorandom tune variations, or a region of frequency such as a frequency spectrum, frequency band, frequency region, or the like.
The concept of "getting" generalizes the concept of "setting" (time and place, more commonly known as "time-space" ) and emphasizes the capture, obtaining, ma-nipulating, display, or the like, of visual information.
A diverter is a reflective or partially reflective surface or object or material or boundary that diverts at least a portion of rays of light to or from an instrument.
Preferably the diverter either is, or has properties similar to, a mirror, beamsplitter, or selector. The diverter may also be a holographic optical element, or other material that diverts rays of light to or from an optical path of a user of the apparatus of the invention. An example of a diverter is an automobile windshield that a driver can see through, but where the diverter (windshield) diverts some rays of light that would otherwise reach the driver's eyes into a camera or similar sensing element. A
diverter may also be comprised of a boundary between different materials, such a,s a difference in materials within eyeglasses, for diverting rays of light; into an eye of a wearer of the eyeglasses. Such a boundary may be a step boundary such as an interface between two materials having different properties, or it may be a delta boundary (an approximation to a Dirac delta measure in space) such as a thin film, deposited, for example, at a 45 degree angle, within the lens material of eyeglass lenses.
A key inventive concept is that of a diverter transmitting light in a getting of greater biological sensitivity for allowing the diverter to appear to a biological in-strument such as the human eye to be transparent, while having a getting of lesser biological sensitivity for allowing the diverter to appear reflective to a, camera or display system, aremac, or other kind of instrument or indicator without so much appearing so strongly reflective to the biological vision system. Within the getting of lesser biological sensitivity there is a getting of preferably not lesser machine sensitiv-ity in which the diverter is reflective. Thus the reflectivity, from the machine's point of view, preferably improves, or at the very least, remains the same within the getting of lesser biological sensitivity, or even if the reflectivity from the machine's point of view decreases, it does not decrease as much as the reflectivity from the biological point of view.
For example, in one embodiment; the getting of lesser biological sensitivity is a short time interval during which the diverter is reflective, owing to an electrochromic characteristic. Embodiments of the invention that use an electrochromic diverter are called electrochromic embodiments. An electrochromic diverter is a diverter having either a reflectivity that is responsive to an electrical input to the diverter or to the surrounding structure of the apparatus, or a transmissivity that is responsive to an electrical input to the diverter or to the surrounding structure of the apparatus. Thus an electrochromic diverter is a diverter that can be changed in reflectivity character-istics or transmissivity characteristics in response to an electrical input.
It might, for example, become darker under control of an electrial signal. Thus a camera or other sensor seeing by reflection in the diverter will see only the reflection and not the transmission, or will at least see less of the transmission. Even if the amount of reflection the machine sees is no greater in the getting of lesser biological sensitivity, it.
will still see roughly the same amount of reflection and less of the transmission. Thus a nearly equal reflectivity seen by the machine, along with a lesser transrnissivity, may still give rise to better signal to noise ratio if we regard the transmission (transmitted light) as noise (unwanted signal) and the reflected light as signal (desired signal).
Therefore a camera synchronized with a periodic train of pulses delivered to a control system will allow the camera to see during brief intervals of lesser biological sensi-tivity. Interspersed with these intervals of lesser biological sensitivity during which the camera sees, there are intervals of greater biological sensitivity during which the biological system sees through the diverter. The intervals of greater biological sensi-tivity are preferably longer in time, such as by having the periodic train of pulses of the control system be such that the intervals of greater biological sensitivity are of greater than fifty percent duty cycle, and the intervals of lesser biological sensitivity be less than or equal to fifty percent duty cycle. Preferably the duty cycle of the intervals of lesser biological sensitivity are much shorter than fifty percent, so that the biological system perceives the diverter as being transparent. In some embod-iments, the diverter is embodied as a discontinuity, such as by being embedded in lens material of eyeglasses, so that this transparency makes it completely invisible to biological systems. Preferably; the diverter is also invisible to persons other than a person using the apparatus of the invention.
The term "biological" refers to a response of a biological vision system such as a human biological vision system, or the like, or to an instrumented biological vision system such as an adversarial security guard or the like looking through a video surveillance system at a time in the present (e.g. as by way of closed circuit television) or in the future (e.g. by way of playing back recordings of closed circuit television depicting the user of the apparatus of the invention).
It is desired that the diverter appear transparent to the user of the personal imag-ing system, such that the user can see through it while at the same time light can be diverted to a camera, or diverted from a display, aremac, or the Like for display into or viewing by at least one eye of the user, or for projection onto subject matter visible to the user. Moreover, it is sometimes further desired that the diverter appear transparent to others. For example, in an eyeglass embodiment of the invention, it is preferable that both of the user's eyes be visible to others, so that the eyeglasses have a normal appearance. It may also be desirable that this normal appearance be preserved even though others may be looking through instruments such as video surveillance cameras. Thus, for example, in some embodiments of the invention it is preferable that the apparatus have a normal looking appearance to adversarial security guards looking presently or in the future (ie at surveillance recordings) by wav of video surveillance cameras. Accordingly, the apparatus of the invention us-ing a synchronized electrochromic diverter is preferably not synchronized, or easily synchronizable by adversaries, to the video surveillance cameras, and will therefore appear more transmissive to the video surveillance cameras than to the instruments such as a camera, or the like, within the apparatus of the invention.
A getting of lesser biological sensitivity may also be a spectral band. An embod-iment of the invention using a spectrally concealed diverter uses a getting of greater biological sensitivity in a spectral band of greater sensitivity to the biological vision system. It uses a spectral band of lesser sensitivity for a getting of lesser biological sensitivity, in which the diverter appears reflective. Thus concealment of the diverter is by way of spectral response. In some embodiments, there is a combination of spec-tral getting and temporal getting, so that the diverter is transparent most of the time and in most of the visible spectrum, but is reflective in a lesser visible portion of the spectrum and for only brief time pulses.
However, in the preferred embodiment of the spectrally concealed diverter, there is no significant electrically controlled temporal variation in the optical properties of the diverter. This results in a pure spectral getting, which makes the diverter easier to manufacture. The lower cost of the purely spectral concealment is important when the diverter is large, as, for example, when the diverter is the entire windshield (or a large portion thereof ) of a vehicle.
In the vehicle embodiment, a windshield that transmits more visible light and transmits less infrared lght may be constructed. Thus an optical instrument such as an infrared camera or other sensor seeing by reflection in the diverter (windshield) will see only the reflection and not the transmission, or might at least see at least approximately the the same amount of the reflection and less of the transmission.
Therefore an optical instrument such as an infrared seeing camera mounted outside the vehicle, above the windshield, looking down, will see what the driver sees (e.g.
it will see down the road or the like, in the direction the driver is facing) by way of a reflected image. Even if the amount of reflection the camera sees is no greater in the getting of lesser biological sensitivity, it will still see roughly the same amount of reflection and less of the transmission. Thus a nearly equal reflectivity seen by the machine, along with a lesser transmissivity, may still give rise to better signal to noise ratio if we regard the transmission (transmitted light) as noise (unwanted signal) and the reflected light as signal (desired signal).
Two preferred embodiments of spectral getting include embodiments having' an infrared camera in which the camera optics are lowtap spectrally concealed, and a bandpass camera, in which the camera optics are bandtap spectrally concealed.
In a spectrally concealed camera system in whiclu the spectral concealment is lowtap concealment, an infrared camera is spectrally concealed. Lowtap spectral concealment is concealment in which the diverter has a. normal appearance in the normal visible spectrum as a typical adversarial person would see it, or as seen in normal biological vision. In the preferred embodiment, the diverter is a dichroic element. The dichroic element passes visible light and reflects infrared light, so it is a diverter that is like clear glass in the visible, and like a mirror in the infrared regions of the spectrum. Lowtap concealment taps into the low end of the spectrum, e.g. the instrumentation such as a camera or other optical instrument taps into the lower end of the frequency spectrum.
In a spectrally concealed embodiment the spectral concealment is bandtap con-cealment, using a bandpass instrument. For example, a bandtap system allows an optical instrument such as a camera to sample rays of light in a narrow spectral band in which the diverter is reflective. The diverter is transmissive in other regions of the spectrum, and therefore the apparatus allows the user to see through it, naturally, and the apparatus also allows others to see the user. natnxrally.
The diverter may also be polarizationally concealed. A polarizationally concealed diverter may also be temporally concealed, transmitting light in a getting time interval of greater biological sensitivity and reflecting light in a getting time interval of lesser biological sensitivity, or it may also be spectrally concealed, by having a getting spectrum of greater biological sensitivity where light is transmitted, and a getting spectrum of lesser biological sensitivity where light is reflected. A
polarizationally concealed diverter may also be purely polarizationally concealed.
The polarizationally concealed diverter reflects, to a greater degree; light with certain polarization properties, and transmits, to a greater degree, light not having these properties. In a preferred embodiment, the diverter is a dichroic optical element reflecting polarized light into a camera or similar optical instrument, and transmitting light of the opposite polarization, so that to the biological system the diverter appears transparent but to the camera the diverter appears, at least partially, reflective.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention will now be described in more detail, by way of examples which in no way are meant to limit the scope of the invention, but, rather, these examples will serve to illustrate the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an eyetap system with concealed getting.
FIG. 2A shows a concealed getting eyetap system in eyeglasses with comfort bands.
FIG. 2B shows a concealed getting eyetap system in eyeglasses with infrared ghost image Mocker.
FIG. 3 shows an eyeglass based aimer.
FIG. 4 shows an aimer concealed in an eyeglass lens designed to look like an eyeglass lens of bifocal eyeglasses.
FIG. 5 shows an eyetap embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 6 shows a vehicular embodiment of the invention for use in airplanes, boats, trucks; buses, cars, and other vehicles.
FIG. 7 shows a cargo carrier roof box embodiment.
FIG. 8 shows an eyetap system using auxiliary noneyet;ap cameras to interpolate an eyetap viewpoint with a getting of biological sensitivity.
FIG. 9 shows a block diagram of the system using auxiliary noneyetap cameras to interpolate an eyetap viewpoint with a getting of biological sensitivity.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
While the invention shall now be described with reference to the preferred em-bodiments shown in the drawings, it should be understood that the intention is not to limit the invention only to the particular embodiments shown but rather to cover all alterations, modifications and equivalent arrangements possible within the scope of appended claims.
FIG. 1 depicts an eyetap system with concealed getting. The apparatus is meant for being viewed by eye 100, but of course the apparatus does not actually include the eye 100 as a part of the apparatus of the invention. A diverter 110 diverts a portion of the rays of light that would have otherwise entered through the lens of eye 100. This light is diverted into a sensor 130. A satisfactory sensor 130 is a video camera. Sensor 130 is preferably sensitive to a different getting than eye 100, or, more importantly, sensor 130 is preferably sensitive to a different getting than other sensors such as eyes of other biological organisms such as other people.
A common problem with EyeTap devices is that the images can become milky or otherwise reduced in contrast or quality because of light shining into the sensor 130 or the diverter 110 other than light from intended subject matter. Thus a housing for the apparatus preferably includes at least a portion 150 that preferably functions as a light shield to the getting of sensor 130, more than it functions as a light shield to the eye 100 or to other sensors.
For example, a portion 150 of the housing for the apparatus is electrochromic, so that it becomes more opaque during a time interval when sensor 130 is more sensitive to light, and more transparent during a time interval when sensor 130 is less sensitive to light. The result can be a light shield that is more transparent to the user, and less transparent to the sensor 130, so that there can be a light shield around the camera that does not appreciably block the user's ability to see around and through the apparatus.
Alternatively, sensor 130 can be an infrared camera; and all or part of the housing for the apparatus can be made of material that is opaque or at least dark in the infrared, but more clear or transparent in the visible spectrum. In this way, a very good and quite complete lens hood, shield, or light Mocker can be constrlacted around the camera and diverter that does not obstruct the vision of the user.
For purposes of illustration, portion 150 is the top of the housing. since light coming from above is a major problem. It should be understood; however; that portion 150 could be any portion of the housing, or it could be another element or accessory. For example, in an eyeglass based version of the invention, portion could be a separate element such as a baseball cap with a plastic brim that is clear in the visible and dark or opaque in the infrared, so that the wearer's vision is not obstructed (and the wearer does not have the dark and evil appearance when seen by others, as might happen with a baseball cap) but the sensor's effective vision is hooded, vignetted, or shielded, or stray light is kept out of the sensor or diverter or associated portions of the system.
In a preferred eyeglass based embodiment of the invention, the camera body is borne by the nose 140 of the wearer. This means that tl a camera body is the nose-bridge, or is very closely integrated with the nosebridge of the eyeglasses, and a portion of the camera body may extend into the cavity to the left of the nose (here a right eyetap is illustrated but the left eye or both eyes could be tapped within the scope of the invention).
A back portion 120C of the housing is shown, and preferably blocks more of the getting to which sensor 130 is sensitive, compared to how much it blocks the getting to which eye 100 or other sensors are sensitive, so that the user can see in a less obstructed way, and so that others can see the user's eyes in a less obstructed way.
Portion 120 of the housing is the portion around sensor 130, such as the portion in front of and behind sensor 130.
Wont portions 120A and 120B must allow incoming light to reach diverter 110 so front portions 120A and 120B are transparent in the getting to which sensor is sensitive. However, the portion 120A nearest sensor 130 is preferably dark in the human getting (getting of greater biological sensitivity) to help conceal a lens of sensor 130 from being seen by persons other than the user. Conversely, portion 120B
further from a lens of sensor 130 is preferably transparent in the human getting near sensor 130, so that others can easily see the eye 100 of the user, a,nd so that less of the field of view of eye 100 is obstructed.
In one embodiment, using an infrared camera for sensor 130, the front portion is entirely transparent in the infrared, whereas the transparency in visible light varies such that the left side is opaque in the visible, and the right side is transparent.
In some embodiments the diverter 110 allows getting selectivity to separate human getting from machine getting. In one embodiment the diverter 110 is a 45 degree ''hot mirror" that reflects infrared (heat) into sensor 130, and transmits visible light into eye 100.
The illustration of Fig. 1 simply serves as an example of how variable character-istics of the getting work to conceal or reveal views across the various gettings. The invention is not necessarily always directed at making the user's eyes visible to others.
For example, the invention may take the form of dark sunglasses that are transparent in the infrared, to allow infrared cameras to see out without losing light, but very dark to hide the wearer's eyes in the visible, so that others cannot see the strange eye movements that are typical of a person looking at the world through a computer screen.
FIG. 2A shows a an eyeglass based embodiment of the invention. The portion 150 of the eyeglass frames may be the entire eyeglass frames, entirely made out of, for example, visibly clear plastic that is opaque in the infrared.
Preferably the eyeglass frames are cttt on a numerical control machine, responsive to live or previously recorded input from a machine vision system, Cyberwarc~ (TM) scanner, or the like;
aimed at the head of the intended wearer, so that the eyeglasses will fit perfectly onto the head of the wearer, to ensure that the apparatus has a carefully positioned EyeTap.
One or more comfort bands 210 are for going behind the head of the wearer, to keep the glasses on. Preferably there is at least one comfort band that goes below the bump at the back of the wearer's head, and one that goes above the bump.
Preferably there is means for keeping the two comfort bands from separating from each other more than by a, certain amount of distance.
Comfort bands 210 may be released or connected to a back portion 220 of the eyeglass frames. A release capability allows the eyeglasses to be removed under certain conditions. A sleeve 230 receives an attachment pin 230A located at the ends of comfort bands 210. This sleeve is mounted within a block of material 240 and held in place with security set screw 250.
Security set screw 250 may be a thumb screw that can be operated without tools or other equipment. Alternatively, security set screw 250 can be a special security screw that requires a special wrench or key.
The key can be used to install the eyeglasses and then the wearer of the eyeglasses can conveniently leave behind the key, so that he or she has an articulable inability to remove the eyeglasses. Alternatively, the wearer can carry the key, on his or her person. but conveniently forget where it was placed on his or her body (e.g.
forget what pocket it was in) and therefore have an articulable inability to remove the eyeglasses. The wearer can also leave the key in a locker in a secure locker morn, such as the locker room of a secure facility. The secure facility may be a decontamination facility, so that assailants or terrorists washing the wearer to remove the eyeglasses would need to either wait outside the locker room, or accompany him or her therein. Such a method of doing business in security eyeglasses would deter assailants, terrorists, or corrupt officials from abusing the wearer of the eyeglasses;
because such assailants, terrorists, or corrupt officials would need to either allow the wearer to escape to the safety of the locker room, or the assailants, terrorists. or corrupt officials would need to comply with conditions of the locker room in order to enter with the wearer. These conditions can include various security screening procedures as might be found in a secure decontamination facility.
In the event of attempted breakage of the eyeglasses by assailants, terrorists, corrupt officials, or other criminals. an automatic alarm may sound and may include audible deterrence, in addition to chemical deterrence such as automatic release of a marker chemical such as that sold under the trade name Dye Witness (TM).
This alarm may be engaged to the continuity of comfort bands 210, so that if, for example, wire cutters or bolt cutters were used to cut through comfort bands 210, the alarm would be activated, marking the assailants for later identification and prosecution.
Comfort bands 210 are preferably made of copper, so that they are somewhat soft and flexible, and also so that they tarnish nicely to match typical hair color of a typical wearer. Copper, being a conductive material, is also suitable for the continuity based safety alarm described above.
Additionally, comfort bands 210 may sense, by conduction, the scalp of the wearer;
to determine if the eyeglasses are worn (to thwart short-circuit forced removal of the apparatus), as well as to receive brainwave EEG signals. For this purpose a lattice of comfort bands that form a skull cap may be preferable, and may also function as a shield for other electrodes.
Additionally, the comfort bands may form part of a ground plane antenna for wireless communications, especially when they help ground the antenna to the head of the user, to eliminate or reduce electromagnetic radiation wasted on the user, and therefore improve transmission to the airwaves while reducing exposure of the user to electromagnetic radiation.
FIG. 2B depicts an eyeglass based embodiment, showing an extra infrared Mocker 299 more extensive than portion 150 of the eyeglass frames. In this situation, a wide angle lens on camera sensor 130 makes it responsive to a wide field of view.
This field of view is too great to be re-synthesized by an aremac, so a small field aremac 260A resynthesizes the central 1/3 of the camera's field of view in linear dimension (e.g. 1/9 of the image area) whereas a framing aimer 260F allows the wearer to see a rectangular viewfinder to aim the camera sensor 130.
One aspect of the wide angle embodiment of the invention is the Mocker 299 that typically appears to the wearer (and to other people looking at the wearer) as a clear plastic sheet, almost invisible, whereas in the infrared region of the spectrum to which camera sensor 130 is sensitive, the Mocker 299 is opaque. Therefore Mocker 299 prevents ghost images from passing through diverter 110 into camera sensor 130.
Rays 200L from subject matter in view of the apparatus of the invention are diverted, at least in part, as rays 200D for pickup by sensor 130. Sensor 130 may be sensitive to some rays 200T that could be transmitted through diverter 110.
Despite the fact that a hot mirror may be used for diverter 110, it may still ad.min a small portion of visible light due to incomplete stoppage. Many hot mirrors, for example, still transmit a small portion of infrared light. Alternatively, sensor 130 may be sensitive to Borne visible light despite inserting a visible blocking infrared filter in front of sensor 130. A satisfactory visible blocking infrared filter is a "Covert Infrared"
filter. or a Kodak (TM) wratten infrared filter.
However, despite attempts to keep out contamination, the diverter 110 is often of dichroic nature (a typical diverter might be a dichroic filter) which admit some out of band light. especially the more we deviate from 45 degrees (assuming the hot mirror . ,. CA 02354114 2001-07-16 is a 45 degree hot mirror). Thus the wide angle nature of the apparatus means that some infrared rays 200T from stray subject matter to the right of the wearer would leak through the diverter 110 as transmitted rays that are not entirely reflected by diverter 110.
Thus rays 200B of light from subject matter to the right of the wearer of the appa-ratus are blocked by Mocker 299, since Mocker 299 is an IR blocking sheet (typically of plastic material that is transparent in visible light). Therefore rays 200B
do not contribute to rays 200T that would otherwise adversely affect the sensor 130 with a ghost image of subject matter to the right of the wearer superimposed with images of subject matter in front of the wearer.
FIG. 3 depicts an embodiment of the invention for use as a camera ,jammer for providing privacy to the wearer of the device. Diverter 110 is preferably a hot mirror to reflect infrared rays from an infrared laser 330. IR, laser 330 directs a beam of IR light as ray 331, to be reflected by diverter 110 and emerge as ray 332;
which the wearer of the eyeglasses can aim into an offending camera. The light, source this reduces the contrast of the camera. A much weaker laser 335 produces ray 336 of visible (typically red) light that reflects partially in diverter 110 and emerges as ray 337 for being viewed by a wearer of the apparatus.
Diverter 110 typically only reflects a small portion of of ray 336. Therefore ray 337 will be much weaker than ray 336, because the hot mirror is for reflecting infrared light and transmitting visible light. Thus the wearer of the apparatrus can see a relatively unobstructed view through diverter 110, together with a moderately bright aimer in ray 337. The aimer serves to allow the wearer to aim the apparatus at the intended target, namely the offending camera.
Multiple aimers can also be incorporated into the wearer's apparatus, and image tracking with a wearable camera can also be used to track the offending cameras, and keep a large number of cameras saturated with bright infrared light. Thus if the tracking algorithm continues to work after the wearer has sighted the offending cameras in a viewfinder, the wearer could continue to do other things while a wearable computer maintained the locations of the offending cameras and kept them saturated in infrared light.
Thus, for example, a person discussing this patent application, and showing a patent agent the drawings while meeting in a restaurant, such as Second Cup, where cameras are concealed in objects that look like smoke detectors, could keep all the offending cameras saturated, in order to maintain privacy and confidentiality of the patent drawings; despite the use of the surveillance cameras in the restaurant.
A similar invention may also be used as a light meter, for photographers to have a wearable spot meter. Instead of infrared laser 330, a lightmeter can be aimed by the wearer of the apparatus to measure light from a given location that is visible by way of laser 335.
Alternatively, instead of laser 330, a retinal scanner could be used, so that the device could be used to positively identify persons encountered by the wearer, in which laser 335 is used to aim the retinal scanner into an eye of a subject to be positively identified.
Such a device, trademark of applicant, for eyedentification (T1VI) produces light at a wavelength in the near infrared, with laser 330. A satisfactory wavelength for laser 330 is 890 nanometers. A camera and laser 330 combination are aimed by the wearer of the apparatus, into an eye of a subject to be identifeyed (TM). To identifeye (TM) the subject, the wearer positions the aimer of laser 335 to indicate to the wearer that the laser 330 is positioned so that the laser 330 shines into at least one of the subjects eyes, and a headworn camera of the apparatus captures a recording of blood vessels in the subjects eyes. The pattern of blood vessels in the subject's eyes provides a unique identification of the subject. Such a device is particularly suited to unwilling subjects, such as clerks or functionaries who refuse to show identification cards when asked for identification.
The EyeTap technology may be combined with the EyeDentification (TM) tech-nology illustrated here, so that face recognition and retinal scans can be provided from unwilling or uncooperative subjects in a dynamic realtime environment. By combining facial thermographs and retinal scans of unwilling or uncooperative sub-jects, the apparatus can covertly and quickly identify persons in a dynamic real world environment.
Such an apparatus is particularly useful for war crimes, or for investigation of atrocities perpetrated by governments and large organizations, comprised of officials who might otherwise refuse to show identifcation. Unlike ordinary citizens who can be required to show their identification cards to police, the officials who have previously escaped accountability can now be brought under some degree of scrutiny.
FIG. 4 depicts an aimer in an eyeglass lens 400 made to have the same appearance as lenses of typical bifocal eyeglasses. Laser 330 is concealed in the eyeglass frame . CA 02354114 2001-07-16 at the edge of (or beyond the edge of ) the eyeglass lens 400. Preferably laser 330 operates vitrionically (e.g. preferably from being embedded in the lens material), with ray 331 being preferably inside the lens material. Optics 431 reflects beam 331 to generate beam 3318 which is directed toward diverter 41CI. Diverter 410 is preferably disguised as the cut line typical of flat top bifocal eyeglasses. Therefore, although diverter 410 is preferably transparent in the visible (or other getting of biological sensitivity) and reflective in the infrared (or other getting of machine sensitivity), any residual incompleteness of this transparency in the getting of biological sensitivity (e.g. residual incompleteness of transparency in the spectrum of visible light) will be more forgiven by virtue of placement in the location common to the cut line of bifocal eyeglasses.
Laser 335 concealed also in the eyeglass frames produces ray 336 reflected by optics 436 to produce ray 337 of reflected light.
Preferably ray 331 is infrared and ray 336 is visible red light. Ray 3318 is diverted away from an eye of the wearer of the eyeglasses by diverter 410 so that it emerges as ray 332. Ray 3378 is diverted by diverter 410 so that it emerges toward an eye of the wearer of the eyeglasses, as ray 337.
FIG. 5 depicts an embodiment of the invention used in an eyetap device. A
diverter 110 is used to divert eyeward bound light (light coming toward and collinear with rays passing through eye 100) into sensor 130. Portion 120C of a housing is opaque to infrared light (or light of another machine getting), whereas portion 120B
is transparent to both the machine and biological gettings.
Aremac 160 with associated optics is for resynthesizing light rays for being viewed by eye 100. In the infrared getting, for example, the wearer can see in total darkness, by way of seeing through infrared sensor 130.
Preferably diverter 110 is invisible to others, but in some embodiments, diverter 110 is still visible to others. Therefore, preferably there is a dummy side of the device, even if it is only a one eyetap device. Thus in Fig. 5 there is shown a, right eyetap, but the left eye. position has at least a dummy diverter 110D; so that the eyeglasses have a normal appearance.
FIG. 6 depicts an embodiment of the invention used in a vehicle such as an aircraft, boat, truck, or car. Rays 600L of headward bound light are rays of light that:
. shine toward; and ~ are collinear with a line passing through a point approximately at, a head 600. Typically the head 600 will be the head of a driver. Preferably the point will be a point close to the eyes of the driver. At least a portion of the rays 600L are diverted into a camera or similar kind of sensor 130 by a c:liverter 110.
Preferably the diverter is the windshied of the vehicle. Alternatively the diverter may be affixed to the windshield or be near the windshield.
Preferably the windshield reflects infrared light and passes visible light, so that the getting of machine sensitivity is infrared light, and the getting of biological sensitivity is visible light.
Preferably the sensor 130 is responsive to infrared light, and is located at a point such that it responds to rays 600L of headward bound light. If the windshield or diverter 110 were flat, the distance from sensor 130 to the point 130P
(principal point) where the central optical axis of sensor 130 intersects diverter 110, would be equal to the distance from the head 600 to that same point. This distance is known as the EyeTap distance.
However, generally the windshield or diverter 110 is curved, so that the distance may be adjusted. Since the curve is often anisotropic, (e.g. giving astigmatism in the reflection), the sensor 130 may also be compensated optically and computationally.
l~Toreover, aremac 160 will preferably be responsive to an output of sensor 130.
Preferably a processor is responsive to an output from sensor 130 and aremac is responsive to an output from the processor. Thus the processor can compensate further for distortions in the windshield or diverter 110 and thus cause aremac 160 to synthesize rays 160L of synthetic light. Preferably each ray 160L of synthetic light is:
~ responsive to; and ~ collinear with, a corresponding ray 600L of headward bound light. The above condition is called the collinearity criterion.
Thus the apparatus preferably meets the eyetap criterion. An autofocus camera of sensor 130 preferably drives the focus of the aremac 160. Alternatively the camera sensor 130 may be fixed focus, of sufficient depth of field, and a separate distance sensor adjusts a focus distance of aremac 160 depending on a sense of where a driver of the vehicle is looking.
An eye tracker 601 may determine where the driver is looking, and focus the aremac 160 to match the depth plane of subject matter that the driver is looking at.
Tracker 601 may also track the position of the head, a,nd it may also be connected to the processor so that aremac 160 can resynthesize the output to maintain the collinearity criterion.
Preferably sensor 130 is concealed in a car antenna or the like, or some similar appendage of the vehicle that does not have an unusual appearance such as might attract vandals to vandalize the sensor when the vehicle is parked.
FIG. 7 shows a roof box cargo carrier embodiment of the invention in which a roof box cargo carrier 700 is used to conceal a much larger sensor 130, as well as other navigational apparatus.
FIG. 8 shows an eyetap system with one or more additional auxiliary cameras that are responsive to other points away from the eye point of the wearer.
Sensor 130 is an infrared eyetap sensor responsive to eyeward bound rays 200L
of infrared light, whereas an even wider angle camera sensor 830 in the nosebridge of the eyeglasses is responsive to rays 800L of incoming light.
Auxiliary camera sensors 830A in the left and right temple side pieces are respon-sive to rays 800A.
Preferably the two camera sensors 830A and sensor 830 are responsive to a getting of biological sensitivity, such as visible light whereas sensor 130 is responsive in a getting of lesser biological sensitivity such as the infrared portion of the spectrum.
Typically the image from sensor 130 is a greyscale image whereas the images from the other three cameras are color images. The epipola,r geometry between sensor 130 and the other three sensors is fixed and known, so that sensor data from the three color cameras can be used to interpolate the viewpoint of sensor 130.
The interpolated viewpoint might ordinarily be slightly lacking, as viewpoint.
interpolation is somewhat imprecise. However, the luminance signal of sensor 130 is combined with an interpolated chrominance signal, so that the result is a natural color image from the viewpoint of the right eye of the wearer.
Alternatively, a statistical analysis of the color images is used to colorize the image from sensor 130. In this way. the apparatus can be completely covert, since the diverter 110 operates in a getting of lesser biological sensitivity, and is therefore concealable in eyeglass lens material, or the like.
Fig. 9 shows a block diagram of this embodiment, in which left camera sensor 930L and right camera sensor 9308 are both connected to a viewpoint interpolator 900 to generate an interpolated signal 901. Signal 901 is a,n approximation to a video signal that would have been seen from the viewpoint of the wearer's right eye 100.
Eyetap camera 130 by way of diverter 110 provides an actual signal from this same viewpoint, but at a getting of lesser biological sensitivity.
In applications where it is desired to have a video signal that has a natural ap-pearance (such as natural color or natural visible light greyscale) signal 901 may be used.
Alternatively, an even better Point of Eye (PoE) signal 911 may be generated by colorizing eyetap signal 931 with statistics derived from interpolated PoE
signal 901.
The final eyetap signal 911 rnay be fed to a processor 920; to provide a computer mediated reality environment (or at least a viewfinder function) by way of aremac 160.
In all aspect's of the present invention, references to "camera" mean any device or collection of devices capable of simultaneously determining a quantity of light arriving from a plurality of directions and or at a plurality of locations, or determining some other attribute of light arriving from a plurality of directions and or at a plurality of locations.
References to "processor" . or "computer" shall include sequential instruction, par-allel instruction, and special purpose architectures such as digital signal processing hardware, Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), programmable logic devices, as well as analog signal processing devices.
References to "eyeward bound" light refer to rays of light that are collinear with rays passing through a point near the center of projection of an eye of a user of the apparatus of the invention, regardless of whether or not the rays are blocked before they reach this point.
References to ''eyesward bound" light refer to rays of light that are collinear with rays passing through a point near the eyes of a user of the apparatus of the invention, regardless of whether or not the rays are blocked before they reach this point.
References to "headward bound" light refer to rays of light that are collinear with rays passing through a point near the head of a user of the apparatus of the invention, regardless of whether or not the rays are blocked before they reach this point.
From the foregoing description, it will thus be evident that the present invention provides a design for differently sensitive optics for an EyeTap device. As various changes can be made in the above embodiments and operating methods without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings should be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.
Variations or modifications to the design and construction of this invention, within the scope of the invention, may occur to those skilled in the art upon reviewing the disclosure herein. Such variations or modifications, if within the spirit of this invention, are intended to be encompassed within the scope of any claims to patent protection issuing upon this invention.
Claims (26)
1. A personal imager, said personal imager including:
.cndot. a diverter, said diverter for transmitting a greater quantity of light in a getting of greater biological sensitivity and reflecting a greater quantity of light in a getting of lesser biological sensitivity;
.cndot. an optical instrument more responsive to said getting of lesser biological sensitivity than to said getting of greater biological sensitivity, said optical instrument for rays of light reflected by said diverter.
.cndot. a diverter, said diverter for transmitting a greater quantity of light in a getting of greater biological sensitivity and reflecting a greater quantity of light in a getting of lesser biological sensitivity;
.cndot. an optical instrument more responsive to said getting of lesser biological sensitivity than to said getting of greater biological sensitivity, said optical instrument for rays of light reflected by said diverter.
2. The personal imager of claim 1, said optical instrument being a light sensitive instrument for image capture, said personal imager further including a light producing optical device for image display, said light producing optical device directing rays of visible light at said diverter, said diverter at least partially reflecting said rays of visible light.
3. The personal imager of claim 2, where said rays of visible light are monochro-matic, said diverter being made for reflecting said rays of visible light.
4. The personal imager of claim 1, where said optical instrument is an imaging system for producing picture information of subject matter reflected in said diverter.
5. The personal imager of claim 1, where said getting is a temporal band.
6. The personal imager of claim 1, where said getting is a time interval.
7. The personal imager of claim 1, where said getting of greater sensitivity is a periodic train of time intervals having a duty cycle of greater than fifty percent and said getting of lesser sensitivity is a periodic train of time intervals having a duty cycle of not more than fifty percent.
8. The personal imager of claim 1, where said getting is a spectral distribution.
9. The personal imager of claim 1, where said getting is a spectral band.
10. The personal imager of claim 1, where said diverter is a windshield of a vehicle.
11. The personal imager of any of claims 1 to 10, where said imager further includes at least one camera responsive to said getting of greater biological sensitivity.
12. The personal imager of any of claims 1 to 10, where said imager further includes at least one camera primarily responsive to said getting of greater biological sensitivity, said personal images further including a viewpoint interpolator for interpolating a video signal from said camera to match, in viewpoint, the view-point of said optical instrument.
13. The personal images of any of claims 1 to 10, where said optical instrument is an infrared eyetap camera.
14. A personal images, said personal images including:
.cndot. a diverter, said diverter for transmitting a greater quantity of light in a spectral region of greater biological sensitivity and reflecting a greater quantity of light in a spectral region of lesser biological sensitivity;
.cndot. an optical sensing instrument more responsive to said spectral region of lesser biological sensitivity than to said spectral region of greater biological sensitivity, said optical sensing instrument arranged to be responsive to rays of light re-flected by said diverter.
.cndot. a diverter, said diverter for transmitting a greater quantity of light in a spectral region of greater biological sensitivity and reflecting a greater quantity of light in a spectral region of lesser biological sensitivity;
.cndot. an optical sensing instrument more responsive to said spectral region of lesser biological sensitivity than to said spectral region of greater biological sensitivity, said optical sensing instrument arranged to be responsive to rays of light re-flected by said diverter.
15. The personal images of claim 14, where said diverter is a windshield for a vehicle.
16. The personal images of claim 14, where said diverter is a windshield for a vehicle and said optical sensing instrument is mounted to be primarily responsive to rays of light that are:
.cndot. coming toward the head of a driver of said vehicle;
.cndot. collinear with lines passing through the head of a driver of said vehicle.
.cndot. coming toward the head of a driver of said vehicle;
.cndot. collinear with lines passing through the head of a driver of said vehicle.
17. The personal images of claim 16, including an adjuster for adjusting a position of a place from where said optical sensing instrument is responsive to light.
18. The personal imager of claim 10, including an adjuster for adjusting an effective center of projection of said optical sensing instrument.
19. A vehicle incorporating the personal imager of claim 16.
20. A personal images, said personal images including:
.cndot. optics, said optics for transmitting a greater quantity of visible light and reflecting a greater quantity of infrared light;
.cndot. an infrared optical instrument said optical instrument for rays of light reflected by said optics.
.cndot. optics, said optics for transmitting a greater quantity of visible light and reflecting a greater quantity of infrared light;
.cndot. an infrared optical instrument said optical instrument for rays of light reflected by said optics.
21. The personal images of claim 20, further including a display device, said display device for being visible to an eye of a user of said personal images.
22. A personal imaging system, said personal imaging system including:
.cndot. optics, said optics for transmitting a greater quantity of visible light and diverting a greater quantity of infrared light;
.cndot. an infrared optical instrument;
.cndot. a display device producing visible light, said optical instrument for rays of light diverted by said optics, said display device for being visible to an eye of a user of said personal imaging system, said display device satisfying a collinearity criterion between said infrared light and said visible light.
.cndot. optics, said optics for transmitting a greater quantity of visible light and diverting a greater quantity of infrared light;
.cndot. an infrared optical instrument;
.cndot. a display device producing visible light, said optical instrument for rays of light diverted by said optics, said display device for being visible to an eye of a user of said personal imaging system, said display device satisfying a collinearity criterion between said infrared light and said visible light.
23. A personal imaging system, said personal imaging system including:
.cndot. optics, said optics for transmitting a greater quantity of visible light and diverting a greater quantity of infrared light;
.cndot. an infrared optical instrument;
.cndot. a display device producing visible light;
said display device for being visible to an eye of a user of said personal imaging system, said display device producing rays of light collinear with corresponding rays of light of said optical instrument.
.cndot. optics, said optics for transmitting a greater quantity of visible light and diverting a greater quantity of infrared light;
.cndot. an infrared optical instrument;
.cndot. a display device producing visible light;
said display device for being visible to an eye of a user of said personal imaging system, said display device producing rays of light collinear with corresponding rays of light of said optical instrument.
24. A personal imaging system, said personal imaging system including:
.cndot. optics, said optics for transmitting a greater quantity of visible light and diverting a greater quantity of infrared light;
.cndot. an infrared camera;
.cndot. a display device producing visible light, said display device for providing a viewfinder for said infrared camera.
.cndot. optics, said optics for transmitting a greater quantity of visible light and diverting a greater quantity of infrared light;
.cndot. an infrared camera;
.cndot. a display device producing visible light, said display device for providing a viewfinder for said infrared camera.
25. A personal imaging system, said personal imaging system including:
.cndot. optics, said optics for transmitting a greater quantity of visible light and diverting a greater quantity of infrared light;
.cndot. an infrared retinal scanner;
.cndot. a display device producing visible light, said display device for providing a viewfinder for aiming said infrared retinal scanner.
.cndot. optics, said optics for transmitting a greater quantity of visible light and diverting a greater quantity of infrared light;
.cndot. an infrared retinal scanner;
.cndot. a display device producing visible light, said display device for providing a viewfinder for aiming said infrared retinal scanner.
26. A personal imaging system, said personal imaging system including:
.cndot. optics. said optics for transmitting a greater quantity of ambient light and diverting a greater quantity of time-gated light;
.cndot. a photographic spotflash meter;
.cndot. a display device producing visible light, said display device for providing a viewfinder for aiming said photographic spot-flash meter.
.cndot. optics. said optics for transmitting a greater quantity of ambient light and diverting a greater quantity of time-gated light;
.cndot. a photographic spotflash meter;
.cndot. a display device producing visible light, said display device for providing a viewfinder for aiming said photographic spot-flash meter.
Priority Applications (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA002354114A CA2354114A1 (en) | 2000-07-24 | 2001-07-16 | Eyetap device with concealment or viewability by way of materials having properties differently visible to instrumentation contained therein, than to other instrumentation |
| US10/145,309 US20020198685A1 (en) | 2001-06-26 | 2002-05-15 | Slip and fall decetor, method of evidence collection, and notice server, for uisually impaired persons, or the like |
Applications Claiming Priority (4)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA 2316473 CA2316473A1 (en) | 1999-07-28 | 2000-07-24 | Covert headworn information display or data display or viewfinder |
| CA2316473 | 2000-07-24 | ||
| CA2316098 | 2000-08-02 | ||
| CA002354114A CA2354114A1 (en) | 2000-07-24 | 2001-07-16 | Eyetap device with concealment or viewability by way of materials having properties differently visible to instrumentation contained therein, than to other instrumentation |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA2354114A1 true CA2354114A1 (en) | 2002-01-24 |
Family
ID=25682025
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA002354114A Abandoned CA2354114A1 (en) | 2000-07-24 | 2001-07-16 | Eyetap device with concealment or viewability by way of materials having properties differently visible to instrumentation contained therein, than to other instrumentation |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA2354114A1 (en) |
Cited By (3)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CN102397703A (en) * | 2011-11-23 | 2012-04-04 | 杭州尚想科技有限公司 | Novel routing vehicle system based on electroencephalogram control |
| WO2016118309A1 (en) * | 2015-01-20 | 2016-07-28 | Microsoft Technology Licensing, Llc | Head-mounted display device with protective visor |
| CN113589533A (en) * | 2018-06-01 | 2021-11-02 | 脸谱科技有限责任公司 | Head mounted display and method for determining line of sight of user wearing the same |
-
2001
- 2001-07-16 CA CA002354114A patent/CA2354114A1/en not_active Abandoned
Cited By (6)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CN102397703A (en) * | 2011-11-23 | 2012-04-04 | 杭州尚想科技有限公司 | Novel routing vehicle system based on electroencephalogram control |
| CN102397703B (en) * | 2011-11-23 | 2013-12-18 | 杭州尚想科技有限公司 | Routing vehicle system based on electroencephalogram control |
| WO2016118309A1 (en) * | 2015-01-20 | 2016-07-28 | Microsoft Technology Licensing, Llc | Head-mounted display device with protective visor |
| US9766461B2 (en) | 2015-01-20 | 2017-09-19 | Microsoft Technology Licensing, Llc | Head-mounted display device with stress-resistant components |
| US9851564B2 (en) | 2015-01-20 | 2017-12-26 | Microsoft Technology Licensing, Llc | Head-mounted display device with protective visor |
| CN113589533A (en) * | 2018-06-01 | 2021-11-02 | 脸谱科技有限责任公司 | Head mounted display and method for determining line of sight of user wearing the same |
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Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| EEER | Examination request | ||
| FZDE | Discontinued |