Video Laryngoscope Imaging With Unsynchronized Camera Time Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Medical devices such as video laryngoscopes often operate on different clocks that are not synchronized, leading to challenges in aligning internal patient images with external environmental images, which can affect the accuracy and completeness of intubation procedures by limiting the visibility of contextual events during medical interventions.
Innovation Solution
A system that synchronizes airway images from a video laryngoscope with environmental images from a separate camera by determining time differences between device clocks and adjusting the image timestamps to align them, generating a combined, time-synchronized view of both image types without requiring clock synchronization.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If multiple medical devices with different clocks are used to capture airway images and environmental images, then the quantity and context of captured images is improved, but the synchronization accuracy and alignment of images deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces a central server as an intermediary that receives images from multiple devices with different clocks. The server performs timestamp normalization by calculating time offsets between devices and adjusting image timestamps accordingly, enabling synchronized presentation of images from unsynchronized sources without requiring clock synchronization between devices
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the time parameter representation by normalizing timestamps from different device clocks to a reference clock. This involves calculating time offsets between device clocks and the reference clock, then adjusting image timestamps to the reference time scale, allowing accurate temporal alignment despite hardware clock differences
2Measurement precision
If device clocks are synchronized to ensure accurate image alignment, then the image synchronization accuracy is improved, but the device complexity and synchronization requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts the synchronization function from the individual medical devices and relocates it to a central server. Devices simply capture and transmit images with their local timestamps without needing to synchronize clocks or implement synchronization logic, while the server handles all timestamp normalization and image alignment
Solution Approach 2:
Each device independently records its own timestamps without needing to query or synchronize with other devices. The devices serve themselves by autonomously timestamping images with their local clocks, and the central server later reconciles these independent timestamp records through offset calculation
Data Source
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AI summary
A time-synchronized video imaging system (10) includes an environmental camera (32) that acquires environmental images of a patient while a video laryngoscope (12) acquires airway images of the patient. A monitor (30) receives the airway images from the video laryngoscope and the environmental images from the environmental camera. The monitor time-synchronizes the airway images and the environmental images to each other to generate a combined view video file of the time-synchronized airway images and environmental images to permit review of macro or environmental effects on a patient intubation.