Multicore fiber imaging

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11684240-B2
Application number	US-201916965513-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 25, 2019
Priority date	Jan 29, 2018
Publication date	Jun 27, 2023
Grant date	Jun 27, 2023

Abstract

The invention relates to multicore fiber imaging, such as used in endoscopy. Methods are described for processing images captured with such systems to achieve an improved depth of field image or extract 3D information concerning the images, without requiring the addition of additional optical components. One method for generating an image from light received by an imager via a multiplicity of waveguides includes receiving a digital image containing a plurality of pixels, the digital image including a plurality of regions within it wherein each of said regions corresponds to a waveguide core. Each region includes a plurality of pixels, and a first subset of pixels within each region is defined which at least partly correlates with light having been received at a corresponding core in a first spatial arrangement, the subset including less than all of the pixels within a region. A first image is generated from the first subset of pixels from said regions, combined to form an image over the whole waveguide array. The first spatial arrangement may correspond to a measure of angular dimension of the incident light for that region. In addition to increased depth of field, the modified images provided by the invention allow 3D visualisation of objects, eg. using stereographs or depth mapping techniques.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for generating one or more images from light received by an imager via a multiplicity of waveguides, the light generated from a light field incident on said multiplicity of waveguides, the method including:
receiving a digital image containing a plurality of pixels, the digital image including a plurality of regions, each of said regions corresponding to a waveguide core and including a plurality of pixels;
processing an image intensity pattern across each of said regions to determine a light field angular dimension measure for that region;
applying the angular dimension measure to one or more of the pixels included in each region to produce one or more sets of modified image data;
using the one or more sets of modified image data to generate one or more images.

2. An imaging system comprising:
a multicore optical fiber (MOF) extending from a proximal end to a distal end;
a light source for illuminating a scene at the distal end of the MOF;
an imager arranged with respect to the proximal end of the MOF to capture an image of light propagated along the MOF;
a data processing system configured to receive images captured by the imager and configured to execute instructions that cause the data processing system to perform a method as claimed in claim 1 .

3. The imaging system of claim 2 , wherein the MOF comprises an endoscope.

4. An image processing system comprising at least one processing unit and at least one memory for storing instructions for execution by the at least one processing unit, the instruction being executed to perform a method as claimed in claim 1 .

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the processing of the image intensity pattern across each of said regions includes analyzing each region by way of a simulated aperture technique involving, for each region, a computational comparison of image intensity under a first computational aperture with image intensity under a second computational aperture.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein pixels in one of said first and second computational apertures comprise a subset of pixels in the other of said first and second computational apertures.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein a set of pixels in each computational aperture are different, selected in accordance with the particular light field angular dimension measure to be extracted from the processing step.

Assignees

• Melbourne Inst Tech

Inventors

• Orth Antony

Classifications

• G06T2207/10052

  Images from lightfield camera · CPC title

• G06T2207/20216

  Image averaging · CPC title

• G02B6/02042

  Multicore optical fibres · CPC title

• G06T2207/10068

  Endoscopic image · CPC title

• G06T5/50

  using two or more images, e.g. averaging or subtraction · CPC title