Endoscopic Fluorescent Image Processing for Resolution
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing video endoscopy methods struggle to effectively capture and display fine, weakly fluorescing object structures due to low luminance and high noise levels in fluorescent images, which results in poor resolution and difficulty in identifying small structures.
Innovation Solution
A method that captures simultaneous or quasi-simultaneous image sequences of single images and fluorescent images using an endoscopic video system. The method determines transformation functions from the single images to align and superimpose fluorescent images, improving signal-to-noise ratio and enhancing the visibility of fine structures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If adjacent pixels of the fluorescent image are added for signal amplification, then the luminance of large fluorescent surfaces is increased, but the optical resolution of the fluorescent image decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from spatial domain processing (pixel addition) to frequency domain processing (Fourier transformation). By transforming images to the frequency domain, filtering, and then inverse transforming, the system achieves noise reduction without the spatial averaging that degrades resolution. This dimensional change in processing space resolves the contradiction between luminance enhancement and resolution preservation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical/optical approach of pixel addition with a computational signal processing approach using Fourier transformation and frequency domain filtering. This substitution allows for more sophisticated noise separation that preserves fine structural details while still enhancing the fluorescent signal, thereby maintaining optical resolution while improving luminance.
2Reliability
If noise filters and convolution filters are used for fluorescent images, then coarse structures that fluoresce over a large area are improved, but fine object structures remain difficult to detect
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs adaptive filtering in the frequency domain where the filtering operation is dynamically adjusted based on the specific frequency characteristics of each image. By using Fourier transformation, the system can selectively filter noise frequencies while preserving the frequency components corresponding to fine structures, making the filtering process dynamic rather than static and thus preserving both coarse and fine structure visibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter space by transforming images from the spatial domain to the frequency domain. This parameter transformation allows for selective manipulation of different frequency components, enabling the system to enhance coarse structures through low-pass filtering while simultaneously preserving fine structures by maintaining high-frequency components that would be lost in conventional spatial domain filtering.
3Illumination intensity
If image intensifiers are used to amplify fluorescent images, then the visibility of fluorescent glow is improved, but the resolution is reduced and technical complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the hardware-based image intensifier with a software-based computational approach using Fourier transformation and frequency domain filtering. This substitution eliminates the resolution loss and technical complexity associated with image intensifiers while achieving similar or superior signal enhancement through digital signal processing that preserves fine structural details.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a processed copy of the original fluorescent image through Fourier transformation and frequency domain filtering, rather than attempting to amplify the original image directly through hardware intensification. This copying approach in the frequency domain allows for noise reduction and signal enhancement without the degradation effects inherent in hardware-based intensification methods.
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
The method significantly improves the reproduction of fine, weakly fluorescing structures by enhancing the signal-to-noise ratio of fluorescent images, allowing for better detection and visualization of small diagnostic structures in video endoscopy.
Implementation Method 1
an object is irradiated with fluorescence-stimulating radiation and the light emitted by fluorescence is captured as a fluorescent image
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a method for performing video endoscopy with fluorescent light, comprising capturing a first image sequence comprised of temporally consecutive single images, using an endoscopic video system, capturing a second image sequence comprised of temporally consecutive fluorescent images, using the same endoscopic video system, forming a transformation function between different single images of the first image sequence, applying the transformation function to the consecutive fluorescent images of the second image sequence associated with the single images of the first image sequence to obtain transformed fluorescent images, superimposing a current fluorescent image of the second image sequence with at least one or several transformed fluorescent images obtained from the fluorescent images immediately preceding the current fluorescent image in the second image sequence to obtain an improved fluorescent image, and displaying a respective fluorescent image resulting in an improved second image sequence that is comprised of improved fluorescent images.