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US 12,750,593 B2Granted
Depth-based auto-exposure management
AssigneeIntuitive Surgical Operations, Inc.
InventorZhen He
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present application is a U.S. National Stage Application under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of International Application No. PCT/US2022/033477, filed on Jun. 14, 2022, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/210,828, filed Jun. 15, 2021, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Claims19
An apparatus comprising:
- one or more processors;
- and
- memory storing executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to:
- obtain a depth map corresponding to an image frame captured by an image capture system in accordance with an auto-exposure parameter set to a first setting, the depth map indicating depth values for pixel units of the image frame;
- obtain an object map corresponding to the image frame, the object map indicating which of the pixel units depict an object of a predetermined object type;
- determine, based on at least one of the depth map or the object map, a frame auto-exposure value and a frame auto-exposure target for the image frame;
- compute, based on the frame auto-exposure value and the frame auto-exposure target, an auto-exposure gain associated with the image frame;
- determine, based on the auto-exposure gain, a second setting for the auto-exposure parameter;
- and
- update the auto-exposure parameter to the second setting such that a subsequent image frame will be captured by the image capture system in accordance with the auto-exposure parameter set to the second setting.
7 more elements
A method comprising:
- obtaining, by a computing device, a depth map corresponding to an image frame captured by an image capture system in accordance with an auto-exposure parameter set to a first setting, the depth map indicating depth values for pixel units of the image frame;
- generating, by the computing device and based on the depth map, a specular threshold map corresponding to the image frame, the specular threshold map indicating specular thresholds for the pixel units;
- determining, by the computing device and based on the specular threshold map, a frame auto-exposure value and a frame auto-exposure target for the image frame;
- computing, by the computing device based on the frame auto-exposure value and the frame auto-exposure target, an auto-exposure gain associated with the image frame;
- determining, by the computing device and based on the auto-exposure gain, a second setting for the auto-exposure parameter;
- and
- updating, by the computing device, the auto-exposure parameter to the second setting such that a subsequent image frame will be captured by the image capture system in accordance with the auto-exposure parameter set to the second setting.
4 more elements
A system comprising:
- an illumination source configured to illuminate tissue within a body during a performance of a medical procedure;
- an image capture device configured to capture an image frame in accordance with an auto-exposure parameter set to a first setting, the image frame depicting an internal view of the body that features the tissue illuminated by the illumination source;
- and
- one or more processors configured to:
- generate, based on a depth map corresponding to the image frame, a specular threshold map corresponding to the image frame, the depth map indicating depth values for pixel units of the image frame and the specular threshold map indicating specular thresholds for the pixel units;
- determine, based on the specular threshold map, a frame auto-exposure value and a frame auto-exposure target for the image frame;
- compute, based on the frame auto-exposure value and the frame auto-exposure target, an auto-exposure gain associated with the image frame;
- determine, based on the auto-exposure gain, a second setting for the auto-exposure parameter;
- and
- update the auto-exposure parameter to the second setting such that a subsequent image frame will be captured by the image capture system in accordance with the auto-exposure parameter set to the second setting.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.