Multi-band Optical Filter for Endoscope Tissue Visualization
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electronic endoscope systems using narrow-band filters for illuminating biological structures suffer from information loss and reduced image brightness due to limited transmission ranges, leading to incomplete tissue visualization.
Innovation Solution
An electronic endoscope system with a light source and optical filter configured to emit visible light and have transmission peaks at multiple wavelengths in a continuous region, allowing for enhanced brightness and contrast while preventing information loss, by using an optical filter with transmissivity higher than zero but less than half between peaks and zero elsewhere.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a narrow band filter is used to illuminate a particular biological structure, then tissue information of the biological structure can be visualized, but information in other wavelength bands is lost and image brightness decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The optical filter is divided into multiple wavelength transmission bands, each targeting different biological structures with specific absorption characteristics. Instead of using a single narrow band filter, the system segments the spectrum into multiple bands (e.g., first transmission band for hemoglobin absorption, second transmission band for other biological markers), allowing simultaneous acquisition of information from different tissue components without information loss.
Solution Approach 2:
The optical filter is designed with multi-functionality to serve multiple diagnostic purposes simultaneously. By incorporating multiple transmission bands within the visible light wavelength region, a single filter configuration can highlight different biological structures (blood vessels, tissue layers, cellular components) in one imaging session, eliminating the need for multiple separate narrow-band imaging procedures and preventing information loss across wavelength bands.
2Measurement precision
If a narrow band filter is used to illuminate a particular biological structure, then tissue information of the biological structure can be visualized, but the amount of light is decreased and image brightness decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The optical filter segments the visible spectrum into multiple transmission bands, with each band allowing sufficient light transmission for its target biological structure. By distributing the filtering function across multiple bands rather than using a single restrictive narrow band, the system maintains adequate illumination intensity for each wavelength region while still achieving selective visualization of different tissue components.
Solution Approach 2:
The optical filter parameters are optimized to balance selectivity and light transmission. Each transmission band is designed with appropriate bandwidth and transmission characteristics to allow sufficient light intensity through while maintaining the ability to highlight specific biological structures. The filter transmissivity is carefully controlled to prevent excessive light blocking that would reduce image brightness.
3Illumination intensity
If an optical filter with multiple transmission peaks is used, then brightness and contrast are enhanced and information loss is prevented, but the filter design becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
A single optical filter is designed to perform multiple functions by incorporating multiple transmission bands within the visible light region. This multi-functional filter can simultaneously target different biological structures (hemoglobin-rich vessels, other tissue components) without requiring multiple separate filters or complex filter switching mechanisms, thereby enhancing brightness and contrast while managing design complexity through integration.
Solution Approach 2:
The optical filter employs composite material structures or multi-layer coatings to achieve multiple transmission peaks at different wavelengths within a single filter component. By using composite optical materials and layered designs, the system accomplishes complex spectral filtering characteristics in one integrated element, avoiding the need for multiple discrete filters and reducing overall system complexity despite the enhanced functional requirements.
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 system generates and displays spectral images with improved brightness and contrast, preventing information loss and enabling deeper tissue visualization, such as vessel structures near and within the surface layer, while maintaining diagnostic performance.
Implementation Method 1
an optical filter which has transmission peaks at least at two particular wavelengths in a continuous wavelength region including a visible light wavelength region
Implementation Method 2
a wavelength region of around 420 nm at which hemoglobin has a larger absorptive property
Data Source
AI summary
A light source device for an electronic endoscope includes a light source that emits light having a visible light wavelength region and an optical filter that has transmission peaks at a plurality of particular wavelengths in a continuous wavelength region including the visible light wavelength region. The plurality of particular wavelengths include wavelengths of around 420 nm, around 550 nm and around 650 nm. The optical filter has a constant transmissivity higher than zero and lower than a half of each of the transmission peaks in a wavelength region between the transmission peaks and the constant transmissivity in the wavelength region between the transmission peaks is higher than a transmissivity in a wavelength region other than between the transmission peaks.