Capsovision Inc.

Other

Divio, Inc.

Wu, Chenyu

Wang, Kang-huai

Wilson, Gordon

Luo, Jiafu

Lee, Chung-ta

Kang-Huai Wang

Gordon Cook Wilson

Chenyu Wu

Yi Xu

Mark Alfred Hadley

Jiafu Luo

Chung-Ta Lee

Ganyu Lu

Mikael Trollsas

Phat Bao Trinh

Chang-Wei Lin

James Blanc

Ren-Yuh Wang

Der-Ren Chu

Tong Wu

Sophia Wei-Chun Kao

Tony Hung-Yao Wu

Wei-Chun Lee

Chia-Hung Chen

Hai Huynh

Kam Wing Chow

Gordon C Wilson

Chenyu Yu

A method for imaging a patient's gastrointestinal tract using a capsule camera and a patient positioning system are disclosed. According to the method, the capsule camera is administered to a patient by swallowing the capsule camera through patient's mouth. For each target examination position selected from a set of examination positions: the patient positioning system is adjusted to a target positioner bed position associated with the target examination position with the patient on the positioner be. Adjusting patient positioning system comprises adjusting the positioner bed to tilt at a tilt angle, and wherein the set of examination positions comprises at least two different tilt angles; and the patient positioning system still is held at the target examination position for a pre-defined period of dwelling time to allow the capsule camera to capture stable pictures. Image data captured by the capsule camera are then collected.

Method and apparatus for gastric examination using a capsule camera

A method and apparatus of objective assessment of images captured from a human gastrointestinal (GI) tract are disclosed. According to this method, one or more images captured using an endoscope when the endoscope is inside the human gastrointestinal (GI) tract are received. Whether there is any specific target object is checked. When one or more specific target objects in the images are detected: areas of the specific target objects in the images are determined; an objective assessment score is derived based on the areas of the specific target objects in a substantial number of images from the images; where the step of detecting the specific target objects is performed using an artificial intelligence process.

Method and apparatus for objective assessment of gastrointestinal conditions based on images captured in the GI tract

Method for leveraging battery residue energy and a capsule endoscope using the method are disclosed. The capsule endoscope is capable of performing one or more functions at a first throughput or a first peak current when the battery has sufficient energy. According to this method, whether the battery energy is sufficient is determined. Upon determining the battery energy being insufficient, at least one function of the one or more functions is performed at a second throughput lower than the first throughput, or at least one function of the one or more functions is switched to another function requiring a second peak current lower than the first peak current.

Method and apparatus for leveraging residue energy of capsule endoscope

A method and apparatus for sharpening gastrointestinal (GI) images are disclosed. A target distance between the target region and the imaging apparatus is determined for a target region in the regular image. One or more filter parameters of a de-blurring filter are selected from stored filter parameters according to the target distance. A processed target region is generated by applying the de-blurring filter to the target region to improve sharpness of the target region. A method for characterizing an imaging apparatus is also disclosed. The imaging apparatus is placed under a controlled environment. Test pictures for one or more test patterns are captured at multiple test distances in a range including a focus distance using the imaging apparatus. One or more parameters associated a target point spread function are determined from each test picture for characterizing image formation of the imaging apparatus at the selected distance.

Method and apparatus of sharpening of gastrointestinal images based on depth information

A method of processing images captured using an endoscope comprising a camera is disclosed. According to this method, regular images captured by the camera are received while the endoscope travels through a human gastrointestinal (GI) tract. The regular images are mosaicked to determine any missed or insufficiently imaged area in a section of the human GI tract already travelled by the endoscope. If any missed or insufficiently imaged area is detected, information regarding any missed or insufficiently imaged area is provided. When a target area in the regular images is lack of parallax, the target area is determined as one missed area and an edge corresponding to a structure of the human lumen is highlighted. For a capsule endoscope, the endoscope can be configured to be controlled or steered to move so as to re-image the missed or insufficiently imaged area.

Method and apparatus for detecting missed areas during endoscopy

A method and apparatus of image stitching using confidence level of image matching on image pair to be stitched are disclosed. According to the present invention, the first quality of image matching is determined for a current image based on feature matching on first image pairs corresponding to the current image and a neighboring image set. If the first quality of image matching for at least one first image pair satisfies a first quality criterion, then the second quality of image matching is determined based on pixel-domain matching for one or more candidate image pairs, where each candidate image pair has a corresponding first quality of image matching satisfying the first quality criterion. If the second quality of image matching for a candidate image pair satisfies a second quality criterion, then the matched image pair is stitched.

Reconstruction of images from an in vivo multi-camera capsule with two-stage confidence matching

An integrated image sensor for capturing a mixed structured-light image and regular image using an integrated image sensor are disclosed. The integrated image sensor comprises a pixel array, one or more output circuits, one or more analog-to-digital converters, and one or more timing and control circuits. The timing and control circuits are arranged to perform a set of actions including capturing a regular image and a structured-light image. According to the present invention, the structured-light image captured before or after the regular image is used to derive depth or shape information for the regular image. An endoscope based on the above integrated image sensor is also disclosed. The endoscope may comprises a capsule housing adapted to be swallowed, where the components of integrated image sensor, a structured light source and anon-structured light source are enclosed and sealed in the capsule housing.

Single image sensor for capturing mixed structured-light images and regular images

A method and apparatus of processing and displaying images captured using an in vivo capsule camera are disclosed. One or more overlapped areas between a target image and each image in a neighboring image group are determined, which comprises at least two neighboring images around the target image. Marked pixels in the target image are then determined, where a pixel in the target image is designated as a marked pixel if the pixel is within an overlapped area between the target image and at least one neighboring image. If the total number of the marked pixels in the target image exceeds a threshold and the number of the marked pixels associated with the overlapped area(s) between the target image and any image in the neighboring image group is below the threshold, the target image is excluded from a set of images to be displayed on a display device.

Method of image processing and display for images captured by a capsule camera

Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and structures providing accurate and easy to use size measurement of physiological features identified from endoscopic examination. In sharp contrast to the prior art, systems, methods, and structures according to the present disclosure employ structured light that advantageously enables size and/or distance information about lesions and/or other physiological features in a gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Advantageously, systems, methods, and structures according to the present disclosure are applicable to both capsule endoscopes and insertion endoscopes.

Endoscope employing structured light providing physiological feature size measurement

A display device includes (a) a non-volatile memory containing corrective data for compensating input image data received; (b) display hardware receiving control and data signals for displaying an image; and (c) an image processing circuit that retrieves the corrective data from the non-volatile memory to generate the data signals for the display hardware, after applying the corrective data to each color component of each pixel in the input image data.

Methods to compensate manufacturing variations and design imperfections in a display device

A method and apparatus of processing images captured from human gastrointestinal (GI) tract by a capsule camera are disclosed. High frame-rate images captured from human gastrointestinal (GI) tract by a capsule camera are received for processing. The high frame-rate images comprise first images at a first spatial resolution corresponding to a regular frame rate and second images at a second spatial resolution, the first images and the second images are interleaved, and the second spatial resolution is lower than the first spatial resolution. Motion models among the high frame-rate images are derived by applying image registration to the high frame-rate images. The high frame-rate images are stitched according to the motion models to generate stitching outputs comprising stitched images and non-stitched images. The stitching outputs are provided.

Method and apparatus for image stitching of images captured using a capsule camera

A method for sharpening gastrointestinal (GI) images and an apparatus thereof are disclosed. A first target distance between a first target region in a regular image and an imaging apparatus is determined, and a second target distance between a second target region in the regular image and the imaging apparatus is determined. One or more first filter parameters for a first de-blurring filter and one or more second filter parameters for a second de-blurring filter are selected from stored filter parameters according to the first and second target distances respectively. A first processed target region is generated by applying the first de-blurring filter to the first target region to improve sharpness of the first target region. A second processed target region is generated by applying the second de-blurring filter to the second target region to improve sharpness of the second target region.

A capsule endoscopic system is disclosed, where the system comprises a capsule device and a docking device. The capsule device comprises a battery, a secondary coil, and a capsule housing to enclose the battery and the secondary coil in a sealed environment, where the capsule device consists of a first end and a second end in a longitudinal direction of the capsule device, and the battery is located in proximity to the first end and the secondary coil is located in proximity to the second end. The docking device comprises an opening on the docking device, a primary coil to generate an alternating magnetic field, and a primary core. The capsule endoscopic system is arranged so that at least a portion of the secondary coil is enclosed by the primary coil and the battery is outside the primary coil when the capsule device is at the docked position.

Docking system with inductive powering for capsule camera

A capsule endoscopic system is disclosed, where the system comprises a capsule device and a docking device. The capsule device comprises a battery, a secondary coil, and a capsule housing to enclose the battery and the secondary coil in a sealed environment, where the capsule device consists of a first end and a second end in a longitudinal direction of the capsule device, and the battery is located in proximity to the first end and the secondary coil is located in proximity to the second end. The docking device comprises an opening on the docking device, a primary coil to generate an alternating magnetic field, and a primary core. The capsule endoscopic system is arranged so that the primary coil is wrapped around at least a portion of the primary core.

A method and system for determining a travelled distance by a capsule camera are disclosed. A current global motion vector for a current image in the image sequence is determined, where the current global motion vector corresponds to movement made by the capsule camera between the current image and a reference image associated with the image sequence. A travelled distance by the capsule camera in the GI tract is determined according to the current global motion vector and prior global motion vectors derived for prior images between an initial image and the current image, where the travelled distance is measured from an initial location associated with the initial image to a current location associated with the current image. A method and system for displaying an image sequence captured by a capsule camera are also disclosed. The travelled distances associated with the image sequence are displayed on a display.

Growing community of inventors

Saratoga, CA, United States of America

Kang-Huai Wang