Visible light and ir combined image camera

Abstract

A camera producing visible light images with thermal data. The camera may include visible light lens and sensor, an infrared light lens and sensor, and a display. The display displays some of the visible light image and thermal data from the respective sensors. The visible light image is divided into an array of zones where each zone may provide thermal data associated with the corresponding portion of the target shown in the zone. The camera may sense infrared images also provide audible alarms where the alarm is emitted with a tone of variable output to indicate the relative level of the alarm.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A camera producing visible light images with thermal data, the camera comprising:
 a visible light (VL) lens;   a VL sensor associated with the VL lens and having an array of VL sensor elements that produce a VL image of a target scene;   an IR lens;   an IR sensor associated with the IR lens and having an array of IR sensor elements for detecting thermal data in the target scene, the array of IR sensor elements having substantially fewer sensor elements than the array of VL sensor elements; and   a display for displaying at least some of the VL image and the thermal data in register, the displayed VL image being divided into an array of zones where each zone corresponds to one of the IR sensor elements, the display displaying the outline of each zone in the array of zones, the thermal data being selectively displayed within the corresponding zones over portions of the VL image.   
     
     
         2 . The camera of  claim 1 , wherein the array of IR sensor elements is an 8 by 8 array. 
     
     
         3 . The camera of  claim 1 , wherein the thermal data from the array of IR sensor elements is scaled to fit the entire display. 
     
     
         4 . The camera of  claim 3 , wherein the array of VL sensor elements is windowed and scaled to fit the entire display. 
     
     
         5 . The camera of  claim 1 , wherein the display displays the thermal data of the array of IR sensor elements that meet certain user-defined criteria. 
     
     
         6 . The camera of  claim 1 , wherein the user-defined criteria is an absolute temperature threshold. 
     
     
         7 . The camera of  claim 1 , wherein the display displays the thermal data of the centrally located sensor elements in the array of IR sensor elements.