Systems, methods, and media for improving signal-to-noise ratio in single-photon data

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025035761-A1
Application number	US-202418601973-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 11, 2024
Priority date	Jan 31, 2023
Publication date	Jan 30, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

In accordance with some embodiments, systems, methods, and media for improving signal-to-noise ratio in single-photon data are provided. In some embodiments, a system comprises: a processor programmed to: generate, for each of a plurality of pixel locations, initial photon flux estimates based on a first set of photon transients including photon transients associated with the pixel location and neighboring pixel locations, each of the photon transients comprises a histogram of photon counts; identify, for a scene patch associated with each of the plurality of pixel locations, one or more similar scene patches using intensity information for each of the plurality of pixel locations; and generate, for each of the plurality of pixel locations, final photon flux estimates based on a second set of photon transients including photon transients associated with the scene patch and each of the one or more similar scene patches.

First claim

1 - 20 . (canceled)

21 . A system for generating imaging data comprising:
a processor; a circuit electrically connected to the processor to communicate a dataset comprising outputs from an array of single-photon detectors during a time period; and a memory having stored thereon a set of instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the system to:
determine a number of first local groupings of data values that comprise a data value representing a given pixel at a given time during the time period, based on spatiotemporal information of the dataset;
filter noise from each of the number of first local groupings of data values;
generate an initial intensity estimate for the number of first local groupings of data values;
identify correlations in intensity information between the first local groupings comprising the given pixel and non-local groupings that do not contain the given pixel; and
recover a final intensity estimate for the given pixel at the given time based the initial intensity estimates of the first local groupings and the non-local groupings.

22 . The system of claim 21 , further comprising:
a light source; and an image sensor comprising at least a subset of the array of single-photon detectors; wherein the set of instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the system to:
cause the light source to emit at least one pulse toward a scene, the pulse having a known attribute;
remove pure noise from the first local groupings of data, based upon a determination that data values within the first local groupings of data do not exhibit the known attribute.

23 . The system of claim 21 , wherein at least some single-photon detectors of the array of single-photon detectors form a detector of a fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) device, and wherein the dataset comprises raw photon data generated by the FLIM device.

24 . The system of claim 21 , wherein the array of single-photon detectors form at least a portion of a detector of a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) device, and wherein the dataset comprises raw photon data generated by the LIDAR device.

25 . The system of claim 21 , wherein the array of single-photon detectors comprises one or more high-time resolution sensors.

26 . The system of claim 21 , wherein the first local groupings comprise cubelets representing photon transient data associated with a first single photon detector and photon transients associated with neighboring single photon detectors of the array of single photon detectors.

27 . The system of claim 21 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the system to generate an aggregated intensity estimate for the given pixel at the given time, based upon intensity information of the first local groupings comprising the given pixel at the given time.

28 . The system of claim 21 , wherein noise is filtered based on performing a transform on data values of the first local groupings and removing data that falls within a noise profile.

29 . The system of claim 28 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the system to:
determine a set of 4D photon transient cubes for each local and non-local grouping; determine an energy of transform coefficients within a noise band for the set of 4D photon transient cubes; determine, for the set of 4D photon transient cubes, an energy of transform coefficients outside of the noise band; and select a noise reduction algorithm based on a ratio of the energy of transform coefficients within the noise band to the energy of transform coefficients outside of the noise band.

30 . The system of claim 27 wherein the aggregated intensity estimate is determined according to a weighted average of initial intensity estimate values for the given pixel at the given time within each of the first local groupings.

31 . The system of claim 21 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the system to determine a distance of a scene point from a given detector of the array of single-photon detectors, based on the final intensity estimate.

32 . A method for processing raw photon data from a single-photon detector comprising:
generating an initial photon flux estimate based on a first set of photon transients including a photon transient associated with the single-photon detector and photon transients associated with neighboring detectors;
wherein each of the photon transients comprises a histogram of photon counts during a plurality of time bins;
identifying one or more similar sets of photon transients using intensity information; and generating, for the single-photon detector, a final photon flux estimate based on a second set of photon transients including information from the first set of photon transients and the one or more similar sets of photon transients.

33 . The method of claim 32 , wherein the raw photon data was received via a fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) device, and comprises FLIM data.

34 . The method of claim 32 , wherein the raw photon data was received via a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) device, and comprises LIDAR data.

35 . The method of claim 32 , wherein the raw photon data comprises frame data of a high time resolution.

36 . The method of claim 32 , wherein the final photon flux estimate comprises less contribution from ambient light than the raw photon data.

37 . The method of claim 32 , further comprising removing noise from the first set of photon transients based on a correlation between flux information of the photon transients and a known modulation profile of incoming light.

38 . The method of claim 32 , wherein the similar sets of photon transients comprise flux information indicative of a feature of an incoming light signal that is also indicated by flux information of the first set of photon transients.

39 . The method of claim 38 , further comprising determining a set of transform values for the first set of photon transients and the one or more similar sets of photon transients.

40 . The method of claim 39 further comprising generating the final photon flux estimate based on a 4D photon transient set comprising local and non-local correlations of the first set of photon transients and the one or more similar sets of photon transients.

Assignees

• Wisconsin Alumni Res Found

Inventors

• Lee Jongho
• Gupta Mohit

Classifications

• G01S17/89

  for mapping or imaging · CPC title

• H04N23/81 Primary

  for suppressing or minimising disturbance in the image signal generation · CPC title

• G01N21/6458

  Fluorescence microscopy (fluorescence microscopes per se G02B21/0076 and G02B21/16) · CPC title

• G01S7/487

  Extracting wanted echo signals {, e.g. pulse detection} · CPC title

• G01S17/10

  using transmission of interrupted, pulse-modulated waves (determination of distance by phase measurements G01S17/32) · CPC title