Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Lingfei Meng

Kathrin Berkner

Sapna A Shroff

Noah Denis Bedard

Nikhil Balram

Ivana Tosic

Liyang Lu

Vipin Namboodiri

Krishna Prasad Agara Venkatesha Rao

Liang Gao

A plenoptic otoscope enables three-dimensional and/or spectral imaging of the inside of the ear to assist in improved diagnosis of inflammations and infections. The plenoptic otoscope includes a primary imaging system and a plenoptic sensor. The primary imaging system includes an otoscope objective and relay optics, which cooperate to form an image of an inside of an ear at an intermediate image plane. The plenoptic sensor includes a microimaging array positioned at the intermediate image plane and a sensor array positioned at a conjugate of the pupil plane. An optional filter module may be positioned at the pupil plane or one of its conjugates to facilitate three-dimensional and/or spectral imaging.

Plenoptic otoscope

A plenoptic otoscope captures images used in making a medical diagnosis. For example, the plenoptic data can be processed to produce enhanced imagery of the ear interior, and this enhanced imagery can be used in making a medical diagnosis.

Use of plenoptic otoscope data for aiding medical diagnosis

A multimode fundus camera enables three-dimensional and/or spectral/polarization imaging of the interior of the eye to assist in improved diagnosis. In one aspect, the multimode fundus camera includes a first imaging subsystem, a filter module, and a second imaging subsystem. The first imaging subsystem is positionable in front of an eye to form an optical image of an interior of the eye. The filter module is positioned at a pupil plane of the first imaging subsystem or at a conjugate thereof. The second imaging subsystem include a microimaging array and a sensor array. The microimaging array is positioned at the image plane or a conjugate thereof, and the sensor array is positioned at the pupil plane or a conjugate thereof.

Simultaneous capture of filtered images of the eye

A collimated object is adjustable to produce collimated light propagating along different propagation directions. The plenoptic imaging system under calibration captures plenoptic images of the object adjusted to different propagation directions. The captured plenoptic images includes superpixels, each of which includes subpixels. Each subpixel captures light from a corresponding light field viewing direction. Based on the captured plenoptic images, a calibration module calculates which propagation directions map to which subpixels. The mapping defines the light field viewing directions for the subpixels. This can be used to improve processing of plenoptic images captured by the plenoptic imaging system.

Object space calibration of plenoptic imaging systems

This invention presents an approach to first estimate a depth/disparity map using spectrally coded plenoptic camera, and then based on the disparity map the parallax between different spectral channels is rectified. Based on our new technique, we can reconstruct not only multispectral images but also a depth/disparity map. Moreover, the quality of reconstructed spectral images is significantly improved using our parallax rectification.

Disparity estimation for multiview imaging systems

A multimode fundus camera enables three-dimensional and/or spectral/polarization imaging of the interior of the eye to assist in improved diagnosis.

A plenoptic camera captures a plenoptic image of an object illuminated by a point source (preferably, collimated illumination). The plenoptic image is a sampling of the four-dimensional light field reflected from the object. The plenoptic image is made up of superpixels, each of which is made up of subpixels. Each superpixel captures light from a certain region of the object (i.e., a range of x,y spatial locations) and the subpixels within a superpixel capture light propagating within a certain range of directions (i.e., a range of u,v spatial directions). Accordingly, optical properties estimation, surface normal reconstruction, depth estimation, and three-dimensional rendering can be provided by processing only a single plenoptic image. In one approach, the plenoptic image is used to estimate the bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) of the object surface.

Estimating surface properties using a plenoptic camera

The spatial resolution of captured plenoptic images is enhanced. In one aspect, the plenoptic imaging process is modeled by a pupil image function (PIF), and a PIF inversion process is applied to the captured plenoptic image to produce a better resolution estimate of the object.

Optimization of plenoptic imaging systems

Color plenoptic images captured by a spectrally-coded plenoptic imaging system are combined with higher resolution higher resolution images captured by a conventional imaging system, resulting in color images with higher resolution than those captured by the plenoptic imaging system alone.

Plenoptic color imaging system with enhanced resolution

Various types of illuminators for plenoptic otoscopes. The illuminators provide illuminating light to image the inside of the ear.

Otoscope illumination

Resolution-enhanced plenoptic imaging system

Estimation of metrics using a plenoptic imaging system

Calibration for plenoptic imaging systems. The calibration preferably is performed automatically by a processor. In one approach, the processor accesses a plenoptic image captured by the plenoptic imaging system. The plenoptic image is analyzed to determine reference points for superpixels of the plenoptic imaging system, for example the centers of the superpixels. The reference points are used to determine a location of each superpixel relative to the detector array.

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Redwood City, CA, United States of America

Lingfei Meng