Method and system for eliminating image motion blur in a multiple viewing elements endoscope

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10524645-B2
Application number	US-201514604494-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 23, 2015
Priority date	Jun 18, 2009
Publication date	Jan 7, 2020
Grant date	Jan 7, 2020

Abstract

In a multiple viewing elements endoscope, fuzziness and blur in the images due to movement of the endoscope is reduced by using flashing illuminators instead of continuous illumination. In one embodiment, LED illuminators are flashed at high intensity and for a very short duration. To address interlacing artifacts, LEDs are flashed once at the end of a field and again at the beginning of the following field to minimize the time difference between the capture of the two fields. In another embodiment, the LEDs are flashed once wherein the single flash overlaps the end of a field and the beginning of the following field. In some embodiments, still images may be captured with fine detail by pressing a button on the endoscope handle which activates the LEDs to flash along with the capture of an image. In one embodiment, pressing a button for still image capture results in the capture of two fields, each accompanied by a flash, which are interlaced to form a single still image frame.

First claim

I claim:

1. A method of reducing blur and noise in an image generated by an endoscope system, comprising the steps of:
providing an endoscope system comprising an endoscope having a tip;
one or more viewing elements positioned in said tip, wherein each viewing element comprises an image sensor and lens assembly;
one or more discrete illuminators positioned in said tip to illuminate the fields of view of said viewing elements; and
a controller external to said endoscope for concurrently controlling the viewing elements and the illuminators, wherein the controller is configured to flash the illuminators in a pair of flashes, each flash of the pair of flashes having a pre-set duration relative to a single interlaced image frame comprising a first integration frame having a first length, a first beginning, and a first end, and a second integration frame having a second length, a second beginning, and a second end, wherein a first flash of said pair of flashes is configured to have a first pre-set duration beginning after said first beginning and ending at said first end of said first integration frame and being shorter than said first length of said first integration frame, and wherein a second flash of said pair of flashes is configured to have a second pre-set duration beginning at said second beginning and ending before said second end of said second integration frame and being shorter than said second length of said second integration frame;
setting said first pre-set duration of said first flash to a fraction of said first length to begin part way through said first integration frame and end at said first end of said first integration frame, and setting said second pre-set duration of said second flash to a fraction of said second length to begin at said second beginning and end part way through said second integration frame;
evaluating said single interlaced image frame for blur;
reducing said first pre-set duration such that said first flash begins later than the previous first flash began and still ends at the end of said first integration frame, and reducing said second pre-set duration such that said second flash still begins with said second integration frame but ends before the previous second flash ended to reduce or eliminate blur;
re-evaluating said single interlaced image frame for noise;
increasing said first pre-set duration such that said first flash begins before the previous first flash began and still ends at the end of said first integration frame, and increasing said second pre-set duration such that said second flash still begins with said second integration frame but ends after the previous second flash ended to reduce or eliminate noise; and
applying said first pre-set duration to all following first flashes and said second pre-set duration to all following second flashes once blur and noise have been satisfactorily reduced or eliminated to be within a predetermined range.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more discrete illuminators comprise light emitting diodes (LEDs).

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more discrete illuminators comprise optic fibers.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more discrete illuminators comprise at least two discrete illuminators, and wherein the at least two illuminators comprise a combination of light emitting diodes (LEDs) and optical fibers.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first length of the first integration frame and the second length of the second integration frame each ranges from approximately 1/120 of a second to 1/30 of a second.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first pre-set duration of the first flash and the second pre-set duration of the second flash each ranges from approximately 1/1000 of a second to 1/60 of a second.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first length of the first integration frame and the second length of the second integration frame are each equal to approximately 1/60 of a second, and the first pre-set duration of the first flash and the second pre-set duration of the second flash are each equal to approximately 1/125 of a second.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the endoscope further comprises a handle with buttons for controlling functions of the endoscope and the controller; and wherein a button on the endoscope handle may be pressed to flash the one or more discrete illuminators.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the controller comprises:
a camera board for controlling power supply to the one or more discrete illuminators and controlling the operation of the image sensors of the viewing elements; and
a field programmable gate array (FPGA) in communication with the camera board for performing logical tasks implemented by hardware and logical tasks related to video image processing.

Assignees

• Endochoice Inc

Inventors

• Davidson Tal

Classifications

• A61B1/045 Primary

  Control thereof · CPC title

• A61B1/0684

  using light emitting diodes [LED] · CPC title

• A61B1/0625

  for multiple fixed illumination angles · CPC title

• A61B1/06

  with illuminating arrangements · CPC title

• A61B1/0655

  Control therefor · CPC title