High-resolution thermal imaging system, apparatus, method and computer accessible medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016150976-A1
Application number	US-201414900485-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 25, 2014
Priority date	Jun 25, 2013
Publication date	Jun 2, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Exemplary of the present disclosure can include an apparatus for generating thermal imaging information of a biological structure(s), including detector arrangement(s) which can be configured to receive and detect light radiation(s), a determination arrangement(s) which can be configured to determine a position or an orientation of the detector arrangement(s) with respect to the biological structure(s) to generate data, and a computer arrangement configured to generate the thermal imaging information based on the radiation and the data when the detector arrangement(s) is moved. The thermal imaging information can include a 2-dimension temperature map(s) of a portion(s) of the biological structure(s). The thermal imaging information can include a 3-dimension temperature map(s) of a portion(s)

First claim

1 . An apparatus for generating thermal imaging information of at least one biological structure, comprising:
at least one detector arrangement which is configured to receive and detect at least one light radiation; at least one determination arrangement which is configured to determine at least one of a position or an orientation of the at least one detector arrangement with respect to the at least one biological structure to generate data; and a computer arrangement configured to generate the thermal imaging information based on the radiation and the data when the at least one detector arrangement is moved.

2 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the thermal imaging information includes at least one multi-dimension temperature map of at least one portion of the at least one biological structure.

3 . (canceled)

4 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the computer arrangement is further configured to provide an indication of whether there is an infection or an inflammation in at least one portion of the at least one biological structure based on the thermal imaging information.

5 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one determination arrangement is configured to determine at least one of the position or the orientation using at least one sensor arrangement.

6 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sensor arrangement includes at least one of a gyroscope, an accelerometer or a camera.

7 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the computer arrangement is further configured to generate a plurality of images based on the radiation prior to the generation of the thermal imaging information.

8 . The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the computer arrangement is further configured to generate at least one reference image based on the plurality of images.

9 . The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the thermal imaging information is generated based on the at least one reference image.

10 . The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the computer arrangement is further configured to determine if the at least one reference image contains all predetermined elements of the biological structures prior to the generation of the thermal imaging information.

11 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the computer arrangement is further configured to determine a diagnosis of the at least one biological structure based on the thermal imaging information.

12 . The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the diagnosis being determined includes at least one of (i) a probability or a likelihood of at least one of an infection or an inflammation of the at least one biological structure, or (ii) pneumonia.

13 . (canceled)

14 . The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the computer arrangement is further configured to determine the diagnosis based on a temperature difference between a first portion of the at least one biological structure and a different second portion of the at least one biological structure.

15 - 32 . (canceled)

33 . A system for determining a diagnosis for at least one biological structure, comprising:
a computer hardware arrangement configured to:
receive first information related to a plurality of images of the at least one biological structure;
combine the plurality of images into at least one reference image, wherein the at least one reference image includes thermal imaging information associated with the at least one biological structure;
determine a sufficiency of the at least one reference image; and
determine the diagnosis for the at least one biological structure based on the at least one reference image, and as a function of the sufficiency.

34 . The system of claim 33 , wherein the plurality of images include at least one thermal image and at least one visual image.

35 . The system of claim 33 , wherein the first information further includes at least one of a position or an orientation of the plurality of images.

36 . The system of claim 33 , wherein the plurality of images are combined into the at least one reference image using a stitching procedure.

37 . The system of claim 33 , wherein the sufficiency includes a determination of at least one of (i) whether the at least one biological structure is rotated in the at least one reference image, or (ii) if the at least one reference image includes all critical elements of the at least one biological structure.

38 . (canceled)

39 . The system of claim 33 , wherein the diagnosis includes at least one of (i) a probability or a likelihood of at least one of an infection or an inflammation of the at least one biological structure (ii) pneumonia.

40 . (canceled)

41 . The system of claim 33 , wherein the computer hardware arrangement is further configured to determine the diagnosis based on a temperature difference between a first portion of the at least one biological structure and a different second portion of the at least one biological structure.

42 . An apparatus for obtaining thermal imaging information of at least one biological structure, comprising:
at least one detector arrangement which is configured to receive and detect at least one light radiation; at least one controller arrangement which is configured to control multiple angles or multiple positions at which the at least one light radiation is received from the at least one biological structure, and detected by the at least one detector arrangement to generate data; and a computer arrangement configured to generate the thermal imaging information based on the radiation and the data when the positions or the angles of the receipt of the radiation are changed.

43 - 53 . (canceled)

54 . An apparatus for determining a probability or a likelihood of an infection or an inflammation of at least one biological structure, comprising:
at least one detector arrangement which is configured to receive and detect at least one radiation from the at least one biological structure; and a computer arrangement configured to:
generate thermal imaging information for at least one portion of the at least one biological structure based on the radiation, and
determine the probability or the likelihood of the infection or the inflammation based on the thermal imaging information.

55 - 67 . (canceled)

Assignees

• Gen Hospital Corp

Inventors

• Fang Qianqian
• Zimmermann Bernhard
• Wang Linda T
• Hibberd Patricia
• Cleveland Robert
• Lewis Jim

Classifications

• G16H40/63

  for local operation · CPC title

• A61B2562/0219

  Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches · CPC title

• A61B5/7282

  Event detection, e.g. detecting unique waveforms indicative of a medical condition (cough events A61B5/0823; seizures A61B5/4094; sleep apnoea A61B5/4818) · CPC title

• A61B2576/00

  Medical imaging apparatus involving image processing or analysis (A61B1/00009, A61B6/52 and A61B8/52 take precedence) · CPC title

• A61B5/7246

  using correlation, e.g. template matching or determination of similarity · CPC title