Wearable Telescopic Imaging Device for Real-Time Magnified Capture
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current optical devices, such as smart microscopes, are large, stationary, and expensive, and fail to provide real-time capturing of magnified images during medical or dental procedures, limiting their utility in dynamic environments like open-heart surgery.
Innovation Solution
A user-wearable device combining telescopic lenses and image capturing technology that allows for real-time capturing of magnified images within selected light wavelength ranges, enabling concurrent viewing and capturing of images with the same or different magnification levels, and digital enhancement for improved visualization.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If smart microscopes are used to capture magnified images, then image magnification and capturing capability are improved, but device size, cost, and portability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The wearable device combines telescopic viewing and image capturing functions into a single integrated system. The same optical components (objective lens, beam splitter, eyepiece) serve both the practitioner's eye and the camera sensor, eliminating the need for separate microscope systems and reducing overall device complexity and cost.
Solution Approach 2:
The camera captures an optical copy of the magnified image through the beam splitter without requiring a separate magnification path. The camera records what the practitioner sees through the telescopic lens, creating a duplicate view that can be stored or transmitted digitally while maintaining the same magnification level.
2Measurement precision
If smart microscopes are used for image capturing, then image capturing capability is improved, but real-time capturing during procedures deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The device transitions from a stationary microscope setup to a dynamic wearable system that moves with the practitioner. The telescopic lens and camera are mounted on headgear or eyewear, allowing the practitioner to capture images in real-time while moving between patients or during procedures, eliminating the need to return to a fixed microscope station.
Solution Approach 2:
The practitioner captures images independently without requiring assistance from laboratory personnel or pathologists. The wearable device allows direct observation and simultaneous image capture during procedures, enabling the practitioner to document findings immediately without transferring samples to external equipment.
3Illumination intensity
If telescopic lens is used for magnified viewing, then viewing magnification is improved, but image capturing at same magnification level deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The beam splitter acts as an intermediary that divides the light path from the objective lens into two separate paths: one to the eyepiece for direct viewing and another to the camera sensor for image capture. This allows both the practitioner's eye and the camera to receive the same magnified image simultaneously without interfering with each other's magnification quality.
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
Enables real-time, precise image capture and viewing during procedures, enhancing procedural assistance and documentation with a portable, cost-effective solution that maintains the same level of magnification as the viewed image.
Implementation Method 1
Head-borne or wearable eyewear utilizing telescopic lens provide a practitioner with a magnified view of an area that the practitioner is viewing
Implementation Method 2
A beam splitter positioned within the housing directs light from the objective lens to both the eyepiece and the camera
Implementation Method 3
An objective lens is positioned within the housing at a desired distance from the beam splitter
Data Source
AI summary
A telescopic/image capture device that allows for the concurrent viewing and capturing an image of an object, wherein the captured image is magnified to the same level than that of the viewed image. Further included are filters incorporated into the device to allow for the attenuation of light in undesired wavelengths while allowing light in desired wavelengths to pass unattenuated. In still a further aspect of the invention, a second telescopic lens is incorporated into the path of light to be captured by the image capture device, wherein the image captured and recorded is of a greater magnification than that of the user viewable image.