Endoscopic imaging apparatus and method

An endoscopic imaging apparatus comprising:

• at least one light source configured to provide excitation signals to an imaging region via a common transmission path, each excitation signal having one of a plurality of different colours;
• a controller configured to control the at least one light source to provide the excitation signals as a repeating time-interleaved sequence that comprises at least an excitation signal of a first one of the colours and a subsequent excitation signal of a second one of the colours;
• and
• a monochrome detector configured, for each of at least some of the excitation signals, to receive at least part of a respective response signal emitted from the imaging region in response to the excitation signal and to generate image data based on the at least part of the response signal.

An endoscopic imaging method comprising:

• providing by at least one light source excitation signals to an imaging region via a common transmission path, each excitation signal having one of a plurality of different colours;
• controlling by a controller the at least one light source to provide the excitation signals as a repeating time-interleaved sequence that comprises at least an excitation signal of a first one of the colours and a subsequent excitation signal of a second one of the colours;
• and
• for each of at least some of the excitation signals, receiving by a monochrome detector at least part of a respective response signal emitted from the imaging region in response to the excitation signal and generating image data based on the at least part of the response signal.

An endoscopic imaging apparatus comprising:

• at least one light source configured to provide excitation signals to an imaging region via a common transmission path, each excitation signal having one of a plurality of different colours;
• a controller configured to control the at least one light source to provide the excitation signals;
• a detector configured, for each of at least some of the excitation signals, to receive at least part of a respective response signal emitted from the imaging region in response to the excitation signal and to generate image data based on the at least part of the response signal;
• and
• an optical element positioned in the common transmission path and configured to reflect at least part of each of the excitation signals towards the imaging region, and to transmit at least part of each of the response signals to the detector;
• wherein the optical element is configured to act as a dichroic mirror for a first range of wavelengths comprising at least one of the plurality of colours, and to act as a beamsplitter for a second range of wavelengths comprising at least one other of the plurality of colours.