Patent Application
20080004503
The present invention will be understood and appreciated more fully from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the drawings in which:
It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements shown in the figures have not necessarily been drawn accurately or to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements may be exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity, or several physical components may be included in one functional block or element. Further, where considered appropriate, reference numerals may be repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements.
In the following description, various aspects of the present invention will be described. For purposes of explanation, specific configurations and details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will also be apparent to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without the specific details presented herein. Furthermore, well-known features may be omitted or simplified in order not to obscure the present invention.
The device, system and method of the present invention may be used with an imaging system or device such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,604,531 entitled “In Vivo Video Camera System,” which is incorporated herein by reference. A further example of an imaging system and device with which the system and method of the present invention may be used is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,009,634 entitled “Device for In Vivo Imaging,” which is incorporated herein by reference. For example, a swallowable imaging capsule such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,009,634, may be used in the present invention.
Reference is made to
The in-vivo sensing device 12 may include at least one sensor such as an imager 18 for capturing image data in the form of image frames of images of the gastrointestinal tract or other body lumens or cavities, a viewing window 20, one or more illumination sources 22, an optical system 24, a power supply such as a battery 26, a processor 28, a transmitter 30, and an antenna 32 connected to the transmitter 30. As the in-vivo sensing device 12 traverses the gastrointestinal tract or other body lumens, it takes images thereof at a rate of a given number of frames per second. The series of images captured by the imager 18 of the in-vivo sensing device 12 form frames of a video movie. The imager 18 may be and/or contain a CMOS imager. Alternatively, other imagers may be used, e.g. a CCD imager or other imagers.
The image data and or other data captured by the in-vivo sensing device 12 may be transmitted as a data signal by wireless connection, e.g. by wireless communication channel, from the in-vivo sensing device 12 and received by the data recorder 14 via one or more receiving antennas 34, for example an antenna array that may, for example, at least partially surround the patient. The received data signal may be, for example, downloaded to the workstation 16 for processing by a work station processor 38, and for analysis, and display, for example, with a display unit 36. Downloading and/or processing in the workstation 36 may occur off-line for example after the data recorder 14 has completed receiving and recording the data signal received from the in-vivo sensing device 12, or may occur in real-time. In one embodiment of the present invention, the data recorder 14 and the workstation 16 may be integrated into a single unit, for example, may be integrated into a single portable unit. In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the data recorder 14 may include display capability, for example the data recorder 14 may include a viewer 40 for viewing information and/or images, for example information and/or images transmitted by the in-vivo sensing device 12. In another embodiment, processing and/or analysis may be performed at least partially within the data recorder 14 by a data recorder processor 42.
Reference is now made to
The data recorder 14 may include a telemetry extraction unit 56 for extracting telemetry information from the data signal, and a header extraction unit 58, for extracting header information from the telemetry information. Header information may include, for example, the identity of the in-vivo sensing device 12. Apart from header information, telemetry information may include, for example, such information as, the number of frames captured by the imager 18. The data recorder 14 may include a mosaic to RGB interpolation unit 60 to obtain an RGB representation of the image data. In some embodiments, a color bar generator 62 may be included for generating a color bar from the RGB interpolated data. Typically, the color bar consists, for example, of a bar or other shape including a series of colors or a series of areas of color (e.g., a series of stripes or bars of color, arranged to form a large bar or rectangular area), each color corresponding to an image or group of images being displayed, where the color areas are displayed in the same sequence or order that the images or groups of images are typically displayed. Based on the color scheme shown on the color bar a person viewing a series of images taken by the imager of the in-vivo sensing device 12 may identify certain milestones in the anatomy of, for example, the gastrointestinal tract. For example, first gastric image, first duodenal image, cecal valve, first cecal image, etc. A method for creating a color bar is described, for example, in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0075551 entitled “System and method for presentation of data streams,” which is incorporated herein by reference.
In accordance with some embodiments, the data recorder 14 includes a localization calculation unit 64 adapted to perform localization calculations for determining the location of the in-vivo sensing device 12 as it moves through the gastrointestinal tract or other body lumens of the patient. A method for determining the location of the in-vivo sensing device 12 is described, for example, in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0148816 entitled “Array system and method for locating an in vivo signal source,” which is incorporated herein by reference. The data recorder may include an image combining unit 66 adapted to combine at least some of the image frames of the data signal to form an image of an enlarged field of view. A method for combining image frames to form an image of an enlarged field of view is described, for example, in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0045790 entitled “System and method for three dimensional display of body lumens,” which is incorporated herein by reference.
The received data signal may undergo processing by any number or combinations of the various units described above and shown in
The present invention also provides methods for recording the data signal received from the in-vivo sensing device 12. According to some embodiments, the method may include, demodulating the data signal, extracting telemetry and header information from the demodulated signal, and storing the processed signal in the storage unit 68. According to some embodiments, the demodulated signal may be deinterleaved. The deinterleaved signal may undergo error correction. Error correction may be performed by convolution decoding. In addition block code correction may be carried out after convolution decoding. In some embodiments, following error correction the data signal may undergo decompressing.
According to some embodiments, the method also includes generating RGB images from mosaic images of the decompressed signal. In addition, a color bar may be generated from the RGB images. The method may also include determining the location of the in-vivo sensing device as it traverses the gastrointestinal tract or other body lumens or cavities in the body of a person who has swallowed the in-vivo sensing device 12. The method may include forming a combined single image from image frames captured by the imager 18 of the in-vivo sensing device 12 to a combined single image in-vivo sensing device 12 of a larger field of view. The method may further include the steps of downloading, typically to a workstation, data that has been initially processed in the data recorder and performing, typically in the workstation, further image processing or other processing on the initially processed data The data may then be displayed, for example, on the workstation screen, as processed images or a movie.
While the present invention has been described with reference to one or more specific embodiments, the description is intended to be illustrative as a whole and is not to be construed as limiting the invention to the embodiments shown. It is appreciated that various modifications may occur to those skilled in the art that, while not specifically shown herein, are nevertheless within the true spirit and scope of the invention.
