Real Image Stretching for Thermal Camera Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional thermal imaging systems face challenges in accurately distinguishing febrile individuals from normal individuals due to differences in image resolution and angle of view between real and thermal images, leading to potential misidentification and reduced diagnostic efficiency.
Innovation Solution
An automatic mapping method between real and thermal images is implemented, where the real image from a wider-angle camera is stretched or shortened to match the thermal image, ensuring optimal pixel utilization and accurate temperature measurement by detecting subject boundaries and adjusting image frames for maximum matching rates.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If the real image camera uses a wider angle of view to capture more area, then the coverage area increases, but the image resolution and matching accuracy with thermal image deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts the real image frame by stretching or shortening it in real-time to match the thermal image frame boundaries. This dynamic adjustment allows the wider-angle real image camera to maintain both broad coverage and accurate pixel-by-pixel correspondence with the thermal image, resolving the contradiction between coverage area and matching accuracy.
2Area of stationary object
If the thermal image frame is stretched to match the real image frame, then the coverage area increases, but the thermal image pixel density and temperature measurement accuracy deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of stretching the thermal image to match the real image, the system inverts the approach by stretching the real image to match the thermal image frame. This inversion preserves the original thermal image pixel density and ensures that temperature measurements remain accurate while still achieving comprehensive coverage through the wider-angle real image camera.
3Manufacturing precision
If manual frame matching is performed to align real and thermal images, then the mapping accuracy improves, but the operation time and complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements self-service automatic frame matching by detecting the thermal image frame boundaries and automatically calculating the stretching ratios and offset values needed to align the real image with the thermal image. This eliminates the need for manual frame matching operations, achieving high mapping accuracy while significantly reducing operation time and complexity.
4Manufacturing precision
If the real image resolution is increased to improve matching accuracy, then the image quality improves, but the data processing load and system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies local quality adjustment by selectively stretching or shortening specific regions of the real image frame based on the detected thermal image boundaries. Rather than uniformly increasing the entire real image resolution, the system locally adjusts only the necessary regions to achieve accurate pixel-by-pixel matching, thereby maintaining high matching accuracy while minimizing data processing load and system complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
An optimal automatic mapping method between a real image and a thermal image in a body heat tester, and the body heat tester using the method. The real image from the real imaging camera has wider angle of view than the thermal image from the thermal imaging camera, to maximize the use of thermal imaging without omission of thermal imaging pixels in a thermal inspection device using an infrared imaging device. The body heat tester comprises a thermal imaging camera, a real imaging camera and a data processing unit. The data processing unit matches the thermal and real images, obtains the reconstructed real image matched with the thermal image by stretching or shortening the top, bottom, left, and right of the real image based on the thermal image, and detects the body heat (temperature) of the subject using the thermal image and the reconstructed real image.