Abstract: This invention provides an infrared illuminator and camera system for imaging of auto vehicle license plates. The system works in ambient light conditions, ranging from bright sunlight, to dim light, to dark, to zero ambient light. It yields high-contrast imaging of the letters and numbers on retro-reflective license plates. The images of the license letter and number combinations can be read manually by a remote operator. They can be converted to text format with optical character recognition computer hardware and software. The text data can then be compared to data files listing license numbers to provide further data about the owner of a licensed vehicle. A decision can be made quickly about whether to allow a vehicle to proceed through a gate, or whether to take other action.

Abstract: This invention provides a surveillance camera unit that is suited for secure placement in an upper corner of a room, abutting two walls and a ceiling, allowing the day or night surveillance of an entire room with a field of view that captures the scene of the entire floor and all four walls, under bright light conditions and under no-light. The upper corner placement is ideal for minimizing the risk of an observed person grabbing onto the unit or tying something to it, either for purposes of destroying himself, the unit, or the surveillance camera equipment within the unit. The unit is substantially a truncated tetrahedron, with each of the four corners truncated and sealed. A back angle of a few degrees greater than perpendicular of each of the rear walls with respect to each of the other walls of the unit allows it to be mounted snugly within a corner even where the angles of the walls of the room are not square angles.

Abstract: A camera system switches electronically between infrared radiation sensing and visible light sensing depending on ambient conditions, to optimize visible picture quality for surveillance. An electronic CCD camera has an optical bandpass filter having a stop band between the infrared radiation spectrum and the visible light spectrum to provide high quality visible light images when not in the infrared mode and high quality mono infrared images when not in visible light mode. A control circuit compares the camera signal with a photocell signal and controls the camera's sensing mode and an if illuminator's operation in accordance with the ambient conditions.