Ophthalmic Image Inversion Correction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Ophthalmic surgery, particularly vitreoretinal surgery, faces challenges due to inverted images provided by systems with primary lenses, requiring mental corrections from surgeons, which can lead to surgical errors and decreased accuracy.
Innovation Solution
A system that includes a primary lens, an image sensor, and a processing resource to identify and correct the boundary between the lens and peripheral images, inverting only the necessary portions to produce a corrected image without inversions, displayed for the surgeon.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If a primary lens is used to view the surgical field, then the field of view is expanded, but the image becomes inverted requiring mental correction by the surgeon
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies digital image processing to invert the inverted image back to its correct orientation. The processing resource detects the boundary between the lens image and peripheral image, then inverts the lens image portion to counteract the optical inversion caused by the primary lens, providing the surgeon with a correctly oriented view that eliminates the need for mental correction while maintaining the expanded field of view
2Measurement precision
If digital image processing is used to correct the inverted image, then the ends of surgical instruments are portrayed accurately, but portions of the image that were not previously inverted become inverted
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by selectively inverting only the lens image portion of the digital image while leaving the peripheral image portion unchanged. The processing resource identifies the boundary between these two regions and applies inversion transformation only to the lens image area, thereby correcting the inverted instruments without causing additional inversions in the peripheral areas, maintaining both accuracy and ease of operation
3Measurement precision
If an inverter lens is used to correct the inverted image, then the ends of surgical instruments are portrayed accurately, but the image becomes more complex and distracting
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical inverter lens system with a digital image processing approach. Instead of using additional optical elements to physically invert the image, the system uses a processing resource to detect the lens image boundary and apply digital inversion transformation, thereby achieving the same corrective function with reduced mechanical complexity and fewer optical components
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 provides a more accurate and less distracting view of surgical instruments, reducing mental corrections and improving surgical outcomes by ensuring that no portion of the image is inverted or less than 10% is inverted, enhancing the precision and ease of ophthalmic surgery.
Implementation Method 1
a primary lens that inverts a portion of an image of a surgical field through which light reflected from an eye undergoing ophthalmic surgery passes
Implementation Method 2
an image sensor that converts the light passed through the primary lens into a lens image and light that has not passed through the primary lens into a peripheral image
Data Source
Figure 1A~1B
Figure 1C~2
Figure 3
AI summary
A system and method for ophthalmic surgery in which a portion of the light reflected by the eye passes through a lens that inverts the image and a portion of the light reflected by the eye does not pass through the lens. A digital image of both light that passed through the lens (lens image) and light that has not (peripheral image) is created using an image sensor. A processing resource identifies the boundary between the lens image and peripheral image and inverts at least a portion of either the lens image or the peripheral image to produce a corrected image in which no or only a small portion of the image is inverted as compared to the eye.