Optical imaging system and methods thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018270474-A1
Application number	US-201615547590-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 8, 2016
Priority date	Feb 6, 2015
Publication date	Sep 20, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

An optical imaging system utilizes a three-dimensional (3D) light scanner to capture topography information, color reflectance information, and fluorescence information of a target object being imaged, such as a surgical patient. The system also utilizes the topography information of the target object to perform an image mapping process to project the captured fluorescence or other intraoperative images back onto the target object with enhanced definition or sharpness. Additionally, the system utilizes the topography information of the target object to co-register two or more images, such as a color image of the target object with a fluorescence image for presentation on a display or for projection back onto the target object.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An optical imaging system to image a target object comprising:
a controller; a light emitter module coupled to the controller to illuminate the target object with light; and an image detection module coupled to the controller, the image detection module having a field of view to image the target object; wherein the controller controls the light emitter and the image detection module, such that in one mode the image detection module captures a three-dimensional (3D) topography image of the target object, and in a second mode the image detection module captures a specific image of the target object.

2 . The optical imaging system of claim 1 , wherein the image detection module comprises a CCD or CMOS imaging sensor.

3 . The optical imaging system of claim 1 , further comprising a filter in operative arrangement with the field of view of the image detection module.

4 . The optical imaging system of claim 3 , wherein the filter is configured to be selectively moved into or out of the field of view of the image detection module.

5 . The optical imaging system of claim 3 , wherein the filter comprises a fluorescence emission filter, and the specific image comprises a fluorescence image.

6 . The optical imaging system of claim 1 , wherein the filter comprises a plurality of filters each having a different pass-band, and the specific image comprises a multi-spectral image.

7 . The optical imaging system of claim 1 , wherein the filter comprises a tunable filter to change the pass-band thereof, and the specific image comprises a hyperspectral image.

8 . The optical imaging system of claim 1 , further comprising an imaging probe in optical communication with the image detection module, the imaging probe selected from the group consisting of: of an endoscope, a fiberscope, a borescope, or a videoscope.

9 . The optical imaging system of claim 8 , wherein the imaging probe includes a light guide, which is selected from the group consisting of: an optical fiber, a relay lens, or a liquid light guide.

10 . The optical imaging system of claim 1 , further comprising another image detection module coupled to the controller to expand the field of view to image the target object.

11 . The optical imaging system of claim 1 , further comprising an external light source to illuminate the target object.

12 . The optical imaging system of claim 1 , wherein the controller controls the image detection module to capture a plurality of imaging frames at a predetermined rate, whereby one portion of the plurality of imaging frames is associated with the topography image and another portion of the plurality of imaging frames is associated with the specific image.

13 . The optical imaging system of claim 1 , further comprising a fluorescence detection module coupled to the controller, wherein the image detection module detects the three-dimensional (3D) topography image of the target object, and the fluorescence detection module captures the specific image of the target object as a fluorescence image.

14 . The optical imaging system of claim 13 , further comprising a beam splitter,
wherein the image detection module is positioned at a substantially right angle to the fluorescence imaging module, wherein the beam splitter is positioned relative to the image detection module and fluorescence imaging module, such that light of one range of wavelengths received from the target object is delivered to the image detection module and light of another range of wavelengths received from the target object is delivered to the fluorescence imaging module.

15 . The optical imaging system of claim 1 , wherein the 3D topography image is captured by the image detection module using scanning triangulation, structured light, time-of-flight, conoscopic holography, modulated light, stereo-camera, Fourier 3D scanning, low-coherence interferometry, common-path interference 3D scanning, or contact profilometer.

16 . The optical imaging system of claim 1 , wherein the light emitter module illuminates the target object using sequential projection techniques, binary patterns and gray coding, gray-level patterns, phase shift, photometric stereo techniques, a combination of phase shifting and gray coding, full-frame spatially varying color patterns, a rainbow 3D camera, continuously varying color coding, stripe indexing (single shot), stripe indexing using colors, stripe indexing using segment patterns, stripe indexing using repeated gray-scale patterns, stripe indexing based on a De Bruijn sequence, grid indexing (2D spatial grid patterns), pseudo-random binary array (PRBA), mini-patterns used as code words, color-coded grids, a 2D array of color-coded dots, or combinations thereof.

17 . The optical imaging system of claim 1 , further comprising a peripheral interface coupled to the controller.

18 . The optical imaging system of claim 17 , wherein the peripheral interface is configured to communicate with an imaging or sensing instrument.

19 . The optical imaging system of claim 18 , wherein the imaging or sensing instrument is configured to perform optical spectroscopies, absorption spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy (CARS), surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), multiplex or frequency-modulated spectroscopy, X-ray spectroscopy, attenuated total reflectance spectroscopy, electron paramagnetic spectroscopy, electron spectroscopy, gamma-ray spectroscopy, acoustic resonance spectroscopy, auger spectroscopy, cavity ring down spectroscopy, circular dichroism spectroscopy, cold vapour atomic fluorescence spectroscopy, correlation spectroscopy, deep-level transient spectroscopy, dual polarization interferometry, EPR spectroscopy, force spectroscopy, Hadron spectroscopy, Baryon spectroscopy, meson spectroscopy, inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy (IETS), laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), mass spectroscopy, Mossbauer spectroscopy, neutron spin echo spectroscopy, photoacoustic spectroscopy, photoemission spectroscopy, photothermal spectroscopy, pump-probe spectroscopy, Raman optical activity spectroscopy, saturated spectroscopy, scanning tunneling spectroscopy, spectrophotometery, ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS), video spectroscopy, vibrational circular dichroism spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), color microscopy, reflectance microscopy, fluorescence microscopy, oxygen-saturation microscopy, polarization microscopy, infrared microscopy, interference microscopy phase contrast microscopy, differential interference contrast microscopy, hyperspectral microscopy, total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy, confocal microscopy, non-linear microscopy, 2-photon microscopy, second-harmonic generation microscopy, super-resolution microscopy, photoacoustic microscopy, structured light microscopy, 4Pi microscopy, stimulated emission depletion microscopy, stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy, ultrasound microscopy, reflectance imaging, fluorescence imaging, Cerenkov imaging, polarization imaging, ultrasound imaging, radiometric imaging, oxygen saturation imaging, optical coherence tomography, infrared imaging, thermal imaging, photoacoustic imaging, spectroscopic imaging, hyper-spectral imaging, fluoroscopy, gamma imaging, X-ray computed tomography, or combinations thereof.

20 . The optical imaging system of claim 1 , further comprising a tracki

Assignees

• Univ Akron

Inventors

• Liu Yang

Classifications

• A61B5/0064

  Body surface scanning · CPC title

• A61B6/5247

  combining images from an ionising-radiation diagnostic technique and a non-ionising radiation diagnostic technique, e.g. X-ray and ultrasound · CPC title

• A61B5/7425

  Displaying combinations of multiple images regardless of image source, e.g. displaying a reference anatomical image with a live image · CPC title

• G06T2207/10081

  Computed x-ray tomography [CT] · CPC title

• A61B6/037

  Emission tomography · CPC title