Patent Application
20190086198
The present inventive concept relates generally to tissue and organ blood flow and perfusion imaging and, more particularly, to determining target distances during imaging with large field of view and illumination.
During the imaging process, the distance from the target (sample) to the camera lens needs to be within a certain range to ensure quality of the image, sufficient illumination and size of the field of view (FOV). This is distance is referred to herein as the “object distance.” In some imaging applications, an approximate dimension of the target needs to be estimated without contacting the sample. Imaging applications include both surgical imaging and clinical imaging for in-patient as well as out-patient procedures.
Some systems use a near infra-red distance sensor to obtain the proper object distance. However, in these systems, the distance information needs to feedback to a computer continuously in real time, which increases the complexity of the software algorithm. Furthermore, the cost of near infra-red distance sensors is relatively is high. Although, ultrasonic distance sensors tend to be cheaper than near infra-red sensors, they are also less accurate.
Furthermore, during an imaging procedure knowing the dimension of the target tissue/organ (target region) is an advantage. Some systems provide a surgical/clinical ruler that can placed beside the target. The target is imaged with the rule beside it, thus, revealing the approximate dimension of the target region. This solution typically requires contact with the tissue/organ and may increase the complexity and duration of the procedure. Furthermore, when imaged, ticks of the ruler placed beside the target might not be visible or clear in near infra-red image. Accordingly, improved systems of determining object distance and/or target dimensions may be desired.
Some embodiments of the present inventive concept provide methods for determining parameters during a clinical procedure, the methods including projecting a first pattern from a light emitter onto an object plane associated with a target to be imaged; projecting a second pattern from the light emitter onto the object plane associated with the target to be imaged; and manipulating the first and second patterns such that the first and second patterns overlap at one of a common point, line or other geometry indicating a proper object distance from the target to be imaged.
In further embodiments, projecting the first and second patterns may include projecting the first and second patterns having marks indicating a unit of measure indicating dimensions of the target to be imaged. The units of measure may function in at least two dimensions.
In still further embodiments, projecting the first and second patterns may include projecting first and second crosshair patterns onto the object plane, each of the crosshair patterns having tick marks on the axes indicating a unit of measure.
In some embodiments, manipulating may further include manipulating the first and second crosshair patterns such that center points of each directly overlap indicating the proper object distance from the target.
In further embodiments, the method maybe performed during one of a clinical and/or surgical imaging procedure in real time.
In still further embodiments, the light emitter may be a first light emitter that projects the first pattern onto the object plane and a second light emitter that projects the second pattern onto the object plane.
In some embodiments, projecting may further include projecting the first and second patterns onto the object plane using first and second laser emitters, respectively, each having wavelengths of from about 350 nm to about 1000 nm.
In further embodiments, the method may be non-invasive and performed in real time.
In some embodiments, the object distance may be a distance from the target to a camera lens.
In further embodiments, a wavelength of the emitters and corresponding patterns may be selected such that functionality is not affected ambient light.
Still further embodiments provide related systems and computer program products.
Embodiments of the present inventive concept will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying figures, in which some embodiments of the inventive concept are shown. This inventive concept may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout. In the figures, layers, regions, elements or components may be exaggerated for clarity. Broken lines illustrate optional features or operations unless specified otherwise.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the inventive concept. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. As used herein, phrases such as “between X and Y” and “between about X and Y” should be interpreted to include X and Y. As used herein, phrases such as “between about X and Y” mean “between about X and about Y.” As used herein, phrases such as “from about X to Y” mean “from about X to about Y.”
Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this inventive concept belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the specification and relevant art and should not be interpreted in an idealized or overly for trial sense unless expressly so defined herein. Well-known functions or constructions may not be described in detail for brevity and/or clarity.
It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being “on”, “attached” to, “connected” to, “coupled” with, “contacting”, etc., another element, it can be directly on, attached to, connected to, coupled with or contacting the other element or intervening elements may also be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being, for example, “directly on”, “directly attached” to, “directly connected” to, “directly coupled” with or “directly contacting” another element, there are no intervening elements present. It will also be appreciated by those of skill in the art that references to a structure or feature that is disposed “adjacent” another feature may have portions that overlap or underlie the adjacent feature.
It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections, these elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element, component, region, layer or section from another element, component, region, layer or section. Thus, a first element, component, region, layer or section discussed below could be termed a second element, component, region, layer or section without departing from the teachings of the inventive concept. The sequence of operations (or steps) is not limited to the order presented in the claims or figures unless specifically indicated otherwise.
Spatially relative terms, such as “under”, “below”, “lower”, “over”, “upper” and the like, may be used herein for ease of description to describe one element or feature's relationship to another element(s) or feature(s) as illustrated in the figures. It will be understood that the spatially relative terms are intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. For example, if a device in the figures is inverted, elements described as “under” or “beneath” other elements or features would then be oriented “over” the other elements or features. Thus, the exemplary term “under” can encompass both an orientation of over and under. The device may be otherwise oriented (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the spatially relative descriptors used herein interpreted accordingly. Similarly, the terms “upwardly”, “downwardly”, “vertical”, “horizontal” and the like are used herein for the purpose of explanation only unless specifically indicated otherwise.
As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art, embodiments of the present inventive concept may be embodied as a method, system, data processing system, or computer program product. Accordingly, the present inventive concept may take the form of an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects, all generally referred to herein as a “circuit” or “module.” Furthermore, the present inventive concept may take the form of a computer program product on a non-transitory computer usable storage medium having computer usable program code embodied in the medium. Any suitable computer readable medium may be utilized including hard disks, CD ROMs, optical storage devices, or other electronic storage devices.
Computer program code for carrying out operations of the present inventive concept may be written in an object oriented programming language such as Matlab, Mathematica, Java, Smalltalk, C or C++. However, the computer program code for carrying out operations of the present inventive concept may also be written in conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C” programming language or in a visually oriented programming environment, such as Visual Basic.
Certain of the program code may execute entirely on one or more of a user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).
The inventive concept is described in part below with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, devices, systems, computer program products and data and/or system architecture structures according to embodiments of the inventive concept. It will be understood that each block of the illustrations, and/or combinations of blocks, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the block or blocks.
These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable memory or storage that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory or storage produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function/act specified in the block or blocks.
The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions/acts specified in the block or blocks.
As discussed above, during the imaging process, the distance from the target (sample) to the camera lens needs to be within a certain range to ensure quality of the image, sufficient illumination and size of the field of view. This is distance is referred to herein as the “object distance.” Furthermore, it is also useful to know the dimensions of the target region. Accordingly, some embodiments of the present inventive concept provide this information in a non-invasive manner. Some embodiments discussed herein measure the dimensions of the target region without contacting the target while ensuring the proper object distance during the imaging procedure as will be discussed herein with respect to
Referring first to
Furthermore, the system illustrated in
In some embodiments, the first and second light emitters 110 and 120, respectively, may be low power (mW level) laser emitters having wavelengths in a range from about 350 nm to about 1100 nm. Each laser can project a pattern on an object plane, for example, a crosshair pattern as will be discussed further below. It will be understood that embodiments of the present inventive concept are not limited to a crosshair pattern and that any pattern that lends itself to embodiments discussed herein may be used without departing from the scope of the present inventive concept. For example, the patterns may be one horizontal line and one vertical line, which when configured correctly may look like a cross. The pattern may be etched on the lens (115 and 125) associated with the light emitters 110 and 120. Although embodiments discussed herein discuss etching as the method of placing the pattern on the lens 115/125, embodiments of the present inventive concept are not limited thereto. For example, the pattern may be tattooed on the lens using ink without departing from the scope of the present inventive concept.
When the first and second light emitters are aimed at the object plane at a certain angle, at the proper object distance from the target, the center of the two cross hair patterns may overlap on top of each other, which indicates to the user that the camera lens is at the proper object distance from the sample, position B on
Although illustrated and discussed herein as a point that overlaps in the patterns, embodiments of the present inventive concept are not limited to this configurations. The overlapping pattern may take many forms other than a point, for example, a line, a shape and the like.
As will be discussed further herein, each pattern, for example, crosshairs, may include tick marks labeled in units of distance, for example, cm/inch, on both horizontal and vertical lines. When the right distance is obtained by overlapping the two patterns as discussed above, the tick marks on the crosshairs are in the right scale and will convey the dimensions of the target in the specific unit of distance.
Thus, as discussed above, a light source may generate a beam, for example, a laser beam with a low power, for example, several milliwatts, from the first and second light emitters 110 and 120, respectively. After the first and second beams 130 and 135, respectively, go through the first and second patterned lenses 115 and 125, respectively, a specific pattern, such as cross hair pattern can be projected onto a target plane. If the two beams are aimed at a proper angle, the centers of the projected patterns will overlap on top of each other (position B) on a target plane located at certain distance in front of the laser emitters, as illustrated in
Using the light emitters and the patterned lenses as discussed above embodiments of the present inventive concept provide distance marking and dimension measuring during real time clinical imaging, which includes both surgical imaging and other out-patient non-surgical imaging. The dimensions indicated on the patterns, as discussed above, can be obtained without contacting the subject and can be captured for the record by the camera.
Referring now to
Then, as illustrated in
The crosshair patterns of
Referring now to
In some embodiments, the plurality of patterns may include marks indicating a unit of measure indicating dimensions of the target to be imaged. Thus, target dimensions may be obtained without contacting the target and may be stored by capturing the image with the camera. In some embodiments, the plurality of patterns may be crosshair patterns projected onto the object plane. As discussed above, each of the crosshair patterns may have tick marks on the axes indicating a unit of measure. Thus, in these embodiments, the crosshair patterns may be manipulated such that center points of each directly overlap indicating the proper object distance from the target. The size/dimension of the target may be determined based on the tick marks or markings on the pattern (block 525). Methods in accordance with embodiments discussed herein may be performed during one of a clinical and/or surgical imaging procedure in real time.
In some embodiments, the images are projected using laser emitters having wavelengths of from about 350 nm to about 1000 nm. The method may be non-invasive and performed in real time.
It will be understood that although embodiments of the present inventive concept are discussed with respect to crosshair patterns, embodiments of the present inventive concept are not limited to this configuration. Any pattern that lends itself to the present inventive concept may be used without departing from the scope of the present inventive concept. Similarly, although only two light emitters (laser emitters) and associated patterns are discussed herein, embodiments are not limited to the use of only two emitters.
Referring now to
When a correct distance from the target (sample) to the camera (object distance) is achieved, it will appear as if only a single dot is present as dots Y, Z will overlap as shown in
Similarly, when the object distance is not right, the two dots Y, Z are not overlaying on top of each other as shown in
In embodiments illustrated in
It will be understood that the grid pattern illustrated in
As briefly discussed above, some embodiments of the present inventive concept provide method, systems and computer program products for determining an optimal object distance from a target region as well as the dimensions of the target itself. Embodiments provide the information based on overlapping patterns projected on an object plane using light emitters as discussed above.
In the specification, there have been disclosed embodiments of the inventive concept and, although specific terms are used, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation. The following claims are provided to ensure that the present application meets all statutory requirements as a priority application in all jurisdictions and shall be construed as setting forth the scope of the present inventive concept.
The present application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/222,273 (Attorney Docket No. 5218-233PR), filed Sep. 23, 2015, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference as if set forth in its entirety
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/US16/52788 | 9/21/2016 | WO | 00 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62222273 | Sep 2015 | US |
