Distal End Hyperspectral Imaging Sensor for Endoscope
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional endoscopes with image sensors placed in handpiece units are prone to misalignment and damage, leading to image quality degradation, and cannot accommodate hyperspectral imaging due to size constraints, limiting their ability to capture high-quality color and hyperspectral data in a light deficient environment.
Innovation Solution
The system places an image sensor within the distal end of the endoscope, utilizing a monochrome sensor with minimal peripheral circuitry and applying super resolution and color motion artifact correction algorithms to enhance image quality and fit within the constrained space, while enabling hyperspectral imaging by pulsing electromagnetic radiation across various wavelengths.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the image sensor is placed in the handpiece unit, then the endoscope can capture color images, but the endoscope becomes delicate and prone to misalignment and damage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the image sensor from the handpiece unit and relocates it to the distal end of the endoscope. This separation removes the sensor from the vulnerable handpiece area, making the endoscope more robust against misalignment and damage while maintaining color imaging capability through the integrated distal sensor.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple types of pixel sensors are used for hyperspectral imaging, then hyperspectral data can be captured, but the pixel array size increases and cannot fit in the distal end
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs periodic action by sequentially pulsing electromagnetic radiation at different wavelengths (e.g., blue, green, red, and other spectral bands) and capturing images at each pulse. A single monochrome sensor records the reflected light intensity for each wavelength pulse, and software reconstructs the hyperspectral data from these sequential measurements, eliminating the need for multiple simultaneous pixel sensor types.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the wavelength parameter of the emitted electromagnetic radiation in sequence and measures the reflected light intensity at each wavelength using a single monochrome sensor. This parameter-based approach allows hyperspectral imaging capability with a compact sensor that fits in the distal end.
3Volume of moving object
If a monochrome sensor is used with minimal circuitry, then the sensor can fit in the distal end, but additional processing is required to achieve color and hyperspectral imaging
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces software algorithms as an intermediary between the simple monochrome sensor data and the final color/hyperspectral images. The software processes the sequential grayscale images captured at different wavelength pulses, combining them to reconstruct full-color and hyperspectral information, thereby achieving complex imaging functionality from a simple sensor.
4Loss of information
If light is pulsed at different wavelengths, then hyperspectral data can be obtained, but the imaging process requires fast computer processing capacity
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by capturing multiple sequential images at different wavelength pulses and storing them in memory before final reconstruction. This allows the processing system to work with pre-captured data frames, organizing the spectral information in advance and enabling efficient reconstruction algorithms to generate the final hyperspectral images without real-time processing pressure.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This configuration improves optical simplicity and mechanical robustness, increasing image resolution and sensitivity, allowing for high-definition color and hyperspectral imaging within the endoscope, overcoming the limitations of traditional designs.
Implementation Method 1
the pixel array senses reflected electromagnetic radiation from the pulsed electromagnetic radiation
Data Source
AI summary
Super resolution and color motion artifact correction in a pulsed hyperspectral imaging system. A method includes actuating an emitter to emit a plurality of pulses of electromagnetic radiation and sensing reflected electromagnetic radiation with a pixel array of an image sensor to generate a plurality of exposure frames. The method includes detecting motion across two or more sequential exposure frames, compensating for the detected motion, and combining the two or more sequential exposure frames to generate an image frame. The method is such that at least a portion of the plurality of pulses of electromagnetic radiation emitted by the emitter comprises one or more of electromagnetic radiation having a wavelength from about 513 nm to about 545 nm, from about 565 nm to about 585 nm, or from about 900 nm to about 1000 nm.