Endoscopic Video Brightness Mapping for Low-Light Enhancement
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Solution Overview
Problem
Minimally invasive surgery faces challenges with inconsistent illumination in surgical cavities due to unidirectional lighting from endoscopes, leading to poor imaging in poorly illuminated regions and potential oversaturation in brighter areas.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that generate a brightness map based on regional gradients to enhance low brightness regions in endoscopic video frames, adjusting pixel values to increase brightness in low regions without saturating high brightness areas, using techniques like compressed sparse matrices and iterative conjugate gradient methods for real-time processing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If illumination level is increased to improve brightness in poorly illuminated regions, then brightness in low-light regions is improved, but regions that are already brightly illuminated become oversaturated
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by computing a brightness map that assigns different brightness adjustment factors to different regions of the image. The brightness map is generated by analyzing local brightness gradients, allowing each region to be enhanced according to its specific lighting conditions rather than applying a uniform adjustment across the entire image.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the image into different brightness regions by computing a brightness map that identifies areas with different illumination levels. This segmentation is achieved through gradient-based analysis that divides the image into regions requiring different enhancement strategies, enabling selective brightness adjustment.
2Illumination intensity
If camera gain is increased to improve brightness in poorly illuminated regions, then brightness in low-light regions is improved, but image quality deteriorates due to noise and saturation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a brightness map as an intermediary element that mediates between the original image and the enhanced output. This brightness map serves as a spatially-varying gain control that selectively amplifies signals in dark regions while suppressing gain in already-bright regions, thereby improving low-light areas without compromising overall image quality.
3Illumination intensity
If illumination is increased to improve visibility in surgical cavity, then brightness is improved, but light distribution becomes uneven causing some regions to be oversaturated
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by using real-time brightness map computation that adapts to changing lighting conditions in the surgical field. The brightness map is dynamically updated for each frame, allowing the system to respond to variations in illumination and tissue properties, thereby maintaining uniform effective illumination across different regions despite the static physical lighting setup.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for enhancing low brightness regions in endoscopic video includes receiving a sequence of video frames captured during an endoscopic procedure. A brightness map is generated for each frame of the sequence of video frames. The brightness map is generated based on smoothing regional brightness in the respective frame based on regional brightness gradients. The brightness map for the respective frame includes scaling weights corresponding to pixels of the respective frame. An enhanced sequence of video frames is generated in real-time by adjusting pixel values of each frame of the sequence of video frames by scaling the pixel values of the respective frame by the scaling weights of the brightness map for the respective frame to enhance brightness of low brightness regions of the respective frame. The enhanced sequence of video frames is displayed in real-time.