Suppression of iron sight blooming in infrared weapon sights

1. A device for suppressing blooming for an infrared imager comprising:

an infrared imager;

an infrared image processing module;

a processor of said infrared image processing module;

at said infrared image processing module, receiving infrared scene imagery from said infrared imager;

in said infrared image processing module, processing said infrared scene to detect blooming;

in said infrared image processing module, processing said infrared scene to suppress blooming;

in an infrared display, displaying said infrared scene with blooming suppressed; wherein, said processor of said infrared image processing module executes instructions comprising:

determining a size of a grid of n×n based on a format of a sensor of said infrared imager;

creating a grid of n×n averages over an area of interest for a contiguous heat source proximate and in fixed relation to said infrared imager, whereby said region is down-sample;

calculating a mean of outer boxes of said n×n grid;

determining if said contiguous heat source proximate and in fixed relation to said infrared imager is detected based on said mean of said outer boxes of said n×n grid;

detecting, in a pattern moving out from a center, a radius of a signature of said contiguous heat source;

calculating an average of all boxes outside of said radius;

using said average as an estimate for an average within said contiguous heat source signature;

smoothing boxes at and adjacent to outside of said radius, whereby edge artifacts are prevented;

subtracting a mean outside of said radius from a mean inside said radius, producing a result;

feeding back said result into said history;

up-sampling offsets on a next frame back to original size; and

subtracting said offsets from an image.

2. The device for suppressing blooming for an infrared imager of claim 1 , wherein said feeding back said result into said history comprises feeding back said result into said history through an Infinite Impulse Response filter.

3. The device for suppressing blooming for the infrared imager of claim 1 , wherein said moving out from a center comprises moving out from a bottom center.

4. The device for suppressing blooming for the infrared imager of claim 1 , comprising:

setting a source of said boxes to zero to prevent feedback in a history, after said using said average and before said smoothing boxes.

5. The device for suppressing blooming for the infrared imager of claim 1 , wherein said sight blooming is produced by an iron front sight of a weapon.

6. The device for suppressing blooming for the infrared imager of claim 1 , wherein said blooming suppression suppresses known, dynamic, non-uniformities.

7. The device for suppressing blooming for the infrared imager of claim 1 , wherein said image does not display image artifacts in or outside of a region of said contiguous heat source.

8. The device for suppressing blooming for the infrared imager of claim 1 , wherein n equals 30.

9. A method for suppressing blooming for an infrared imager comprising:

specifying a size of a grid of n×n based on a format of a sensor of said infrared imager;

creating a grid of n×n averages over an area of interest for a contiguous heat source proximate and in fixed relation to said infrared imager, whereby said region is down-sampled;

calculating a mean of outer boxes of said n×n grid;

determining if said contiguous heat source proximate and in fixed relation to said infrared imager is detected based on said mean of said outer boxes of said n×n grid;

detecting, in a pattern moving out from a center, a radius of a signature of said contiguous heat source;

calculating an average of all boxes outside of said radius;

using said average as an estimate for an average within said contiguous heat source signature;

smoothing boxes at and adjacent to outside of said radius, whereby edge artifacts are prevented;

subtracting a mean outside of said radius from a mean inside said radius, producing a result;

feeding back said result into said history;

up-sampling offsets on a next frame back to original size; and

subtracting said offsets from an image;

displaying said image in a display for said infrared imager;

whereby said blooming in said image of said infrared imager is suppressed.

10. The method for suppressing blooming for the infrared imager of claim 9 , wherein said feeding back said result into said history comprises feeding back said result into said history through an Infinite Impulse Response filter.

11. The method for suppressing blooming for the infrared imager of claim 9 , wherein said moving out from a center comprises moving out from a bottom center.

12. The method for suppressing blooming for the infrared imager of claim 9 , wherein said infrared imager comprises an infrared sight.

13. The method for suppressing blooming for the infrared imager of claim 9 , wherein said sight blooming is produced by an iron front sight of a weapon.

14. The method for suppressing blooming for the infrared imager of claim 9 comprising the step of:

setting a source of said boxes to zero to prevent feedback in a history, after said step of using said average and before said step of smoothing boxes.

15. The method for suppressing blooming for the infrared imager of claim 9 , wherein said blooming suppression suppresses known, dynamic, non-uniformities.

16. The method for suppressing blooming for the infrared imager of claim 9 , wherein said image does not display image artifacts in or outside of a region of said contiguous heat source.

17. The method for suppressing blooming for the infrared imager of claim 9 , wherein thermal performance is not degraded.

18. The method for suppressing blooming for the infrared imager of claim 9 , wherein Local Adaptive Contrast Enhancement algorithms are not employed.

19. A computer program product including one or more non-transitory machine-readable mediums encoding instructions that when executed by one or more processors cause a process to be carried out for suppressing iron sight blooming for an infrared imager, the process comprising:

creating a grid of n×n averages over an area of interest for an iron sight, whereby said region is down-sampled;

calculating a mean of outer n×n boxes of said n×n grid;

determining if a hot iron sight is detected based on said mean of said outer boxes of said n×n grid, wherein said mean of said outer boxes is compared to a mean of a central box, when a difference between said mean of said outer boxes and said mean of said center box crosses a threshold based on a response of said system, subsequent suppression steps are executed, wherein said threshold is set to about 3.5 degrees whereby some signature is ensured;

detecting, in a pattern moving out from a bottom center, a radius of a signature of said hot iron sight;

calculating an average of all boxes outside of said radius;

using said average as an estimate for an average within said iron sight signature;

setting a source of said boxes to zero to prevent feedback in a history, wherein boxes outside of said radius are set to an offset of zero regardless of their mean, negating local artifacts outside of a detected bloom;

smoothing boxes at a threshold of radius detection and radius detection plus one whereby edge artifacts are prevented;

subtracting a mean outside of said radius from a mean inside said radius, producing a result;

feeding back said result into said history through an Infinite Impulse Response filter;

up-sampling offsets on a next frame back to original size; and

subtracting said offsets from an image;

displaying said image in a display of said infrared sight;

whereby said iron sight blooming is suppressed in said infrared sight.