# US 2020/0404145 A1 · Laser mapping imaging and videostroboscopy of vocal cords > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2020/0404145 A1 - Document ID: US20200404145A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 16/812,015 - Filed: 2020-03-06 - Published: 2020-12-24 - Earliest claimed: 2019-06-20 - Assignees: Ethicon, Inc. - Applicants: Ethicon LLC - Inventors: Joshua D. Talbert; Donald M. Wichern - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20200404145A1 ## CPC - A61B 1/043: {for fluorescence imaging} - A61B 1/00004: {characterised by electronic signal processing} - A61B 1/00006: {of control signals} - A61B 1/00039: {provided with input arrangements for the user} - A61B 1/00042: {for mechanical operation} - A61B 1/0005: {combining images e.g. side-by-side, superimposed or tiled} - A61B 1/00087: {Tools (A61B17/00234 takes precedence)} - A61B 1/045: Control thereof - A61B 1/05: characterised by the image sensor, e.g. camera, being in the distal end portion - A61B 1/063: {for monochromatic or narrow-band illumination} - A61B 1/0638: {providing two or more wavelengths} - A61B 1/0661: {Endoscope light sources} - A61B 1/267: for the respiratory tract, e.g. laryngoscopes or bronchoscopes - A61B 1/2673: {for monitoring movements of vocal chords} - A61B 5/0033: {Features or image-related aspects of imaging apparatus, e.g. for MRI, optical tomography or impedance tomography apparatus; Arrangements of imaging apparatus in a room} - A61B 5/0071: {by measuring fluorescence emission} - G01N 21/6456: {Spatial resolved fluorescence measurements; Imaging} - G01S 7/483: Details of pulse systems - G01S 17/89: for mapping or imaging - G06T 7/0012: {Biomedical image inspection} - H04N 23/56: provided with illuminating means - H04N 23/72: Combination of two or more compensation controls - H04N 23/74: by influencing the scene brightness using illuminating means - H04N 23/745: Detection of flicker frequency or suppression of flicker wherein the flicker is caused by illumination, e.g. due to fluorescent tube illumination or pulsed LED illumination - A61B 1/000095: {for image enhancement} - A61B 2017/00154: {pulsed} - A61B 2017/00172: {Pulse trains, bursts, intermittent continuous operation} - A61B 2017/00194: {Means for setting or varying the repetition rate} - G06T 2207/10064: Fluorescence image - G06T 2207/10068: Endoscopic image - G06T 2207/30024: Cell structures in vitro; Tissue sections in vitro - H04N 23/555: {for picking-up images in sites, inaccessible due to their dimensions or hazardous conditions, e.g. endoscopes or borescopes} - H04N 25/531: by controlling rolling shutters in CMOS SSIS - A61B: DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION (usefulness limited to only animals A61D) - G01N: INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES (measuring or testing apparatus or processes other than immunoassay, involving enzymes or microorganisms C12M, C12Q) - G01S: RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES - G06T: IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL - H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION ## Abstract Laser mapping imaging and videostroboscopy is described. A system includes an emitter for emitting pulses of electromagnetic radiation and an image sensor comprising a pixel array for sensing reflected electromagnetic radiation. The system includes a controller configured to cause the emitter to emit the pulses of electromagnetic radiation at a strobing frequency determined based on a vibration frequency of vocal cords of a user. The system is such that at least a portion of the pulses of electromagnetic radiation emitted by the emitter comprises a laser mapping pattern. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A system for endoscopic imaging, the system comprising: an emitter for emitting pulses of electromagnetic radiation; an image sensor comprising a pixel array for sensing reflected electromagnetic radiation; and a controller in electronic communication with the emitter and the image sensor, wherein the controller is configured to cause the emitter to emit the pulses of electromagnetic radiation at a strobing frequency; wherein the strobing frequency is determined based on a vibration frequency of vocal cords of a user; and wherein at least a portion of the pulses of electromagnetic radiation emitted by the emitter comprises a laser mapping pattern. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to continuously determine the vibration frequency of the vocal cords of the user and adjust the strobing frequency of the emitter in accordance with the vibration frequency of the vocal cords. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the controller comprises one or more processors for executing instructions stored in non-transitory computer readable storage medium, the instructions comprising: determining the vibration frequency of the vocal cords of the patient; calculating the strobing frequency based on the vibration frequency; causing the emitter to emit the pulses of electromagnetic radiation at the strobing frequency; and suppressing at least a portion of the pulses of electromagnetic radiation emitted by the emitter. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The system of claim 3, wherein the instructions are such that suppressing at least the portion of the pulses of electromagnetic radiation emitted by the emitter comprises one or more of: suppressing a pulse of electromagnetic radiation emitted during a pixel readout portion of a readout period of the image sensor; and suppressing a pulse of electromagnetic radiation emitted during a blanking portion of the readout period of the image sensor; wherein the pulses of electromagnetic radiation are suppressed such that an aggregate amount of illumination which is the sum of the amplitude and the duration of all non-suppressed pulses for a first blanking period of the image sensor is equal to the aggregate amount of illumination in a successive blanking period of the image sensor. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, further comprising a microphone for sensing sound emitted by the user such that the vibration frequency of the vocal cords of the user can be calculated based on the sound. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to suspend a readout period of the image sensor for a suspended period and cause the emitter to emit one or more pulses of electromagnetic radiation during the suspended period. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein two or more partial exposure frames captured by the image sensor are combined to generate a combined exposure frame, wherein the combined exposure frame comprises data for a single wavelength of electromagnetic radiation. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The system of claim 7, wherein the single wavelength of electromagnetic radiation comprises one or more of: a red wavelength of visible light; a green wavelength of visible light; a blue wavelength of visible light; or the laser mapping pattern. ### Claim 9 (depends on 7) The system of claim 7, wherein the combined exposure frame is processed to be substantially artifact free by normalizing the combined exposure frame using digital gain. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein two or more exposure frames captured by the pixel array of the image sensor are combined to generate a combined exposure frame representing pixel data responsive to a single wavelength of electromagnetic radiation pulsed by the emitter, wherein the combined exposure frame is processed to generate a normalized exposure frame by normalizing using digital gain. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the image sensor is configured to generate a plurality of exposure frames, wherein each of the plurality of exposure frames corresponds to one or more pulses of electromagnetic radiation emitted by the emitter. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The system of claim 11, wherein the pixel array of the image sensor senses reflected electromagnetic radiation to generate the plurality of exposure frames during a readout period of the pixel array, wherein the readout period comprises a duration of time when active pixels in the pixel array are read. ### Claim 13 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the emitter is configured to emit, during a pulse duration, a plurality of sub-pulses of electromagnetic radiation having a sub-duration shorter than the pulse duration. ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein one or more of the pulses of electromagnetic radiation emitted by the emitter comprises electromagnetic radiation emitted at two or more wavelengths simultaneously as a single pulse or a single sub-pulse. ### Claim 15 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the pulses of electromagnetic radiation emitted by the emitter is a fluorescence excitation emission that results in a fluorescence exposure frame created by the image sensor, and wherein the controller is configured to provide the fluorescence exposure frame to a corresponding system that determines a location of a critical tissue structure within a scene based on the fluorescence exposure frame. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The system of claim 15, wherein the fluorescence excitation emission comprises one or more of: electromagnetic radiation having a wavelength from about 770 nm to about 790 nm; or electromagnetic radiation having the wavelength from about 795 nm to about 815 nm. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The system of claim 16, wherein the controller is further configured to: receive the location of the critical tissue structure from the corresponding fluorescence system; generate an overlay frame comprising the location of the critical tissue structure; and combine the overlay frame with a color image frame depicting the scene to indicate the location of the critical tissue structure within the scene. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The system of claim 17, wherein sensing the reflected electromagnetic radiation by the pixel array comprises generating a laser mapping exposure frame by sensing reflected electromagnetic radiation resulting from the emitter pulsing the laser mapping pattern, and wherein the controller is further configured to: provide the laser mapping exposure frame to a corresponding laser mapping system that determines a topology of the scene and/or dimensions of one or more objects within the scene; provide the location of the critical tissue structure to the corresponding laser mapping system; and receive a topology and/or dimension of the critical tissue structure from the corresponding laser mapping system. ### Claim 19 (depends on 18) The system of claim 18, wherein the critical structure comprises one or more of a nerve, a ureter, a blood vessel, an artery, a blood flow, or a tumor. ### Claim 20 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to synchronize timing of the pulses of electromagnetic radiation during a blanking period of the image sensor, wherein the blanking period corresponds to a time between a readout of a last row of active pixels in the pixel array and a beginning of a next subsequent readout of active pixels in the pixel array. ### Claim 21 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein two or more pulses of electromagnetic radiation emitted by the emitter result in two or more instances of reflected electromagnetic radiation that are sensed by the pixel array to generate two or more exposure frames that are combined to form an image frame. ### Claim 22 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the emitter is configured to emit a sequence of pulses of electromagnetic radiation repeatedly sufficient for generating a video stream comprising a plurality of image frames, wherein each image frame in the video stream comprises data from a plurality of exposure frames, and wherein each of the exposure frames corresponds to one or more pulses of electromagnetic radiation. ### Claim 23 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the pulses of electromagnetic radiation are emitted in a pattern of varying wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation, and wherein the emitter repeats the pattern of varying wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation. ### Claim 24 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the pulses of electromagnetic radiation comprise a red emission, a green emission, a blue emission, and a laser mapping emission such that reflected electromagnetic radiation sensed by the pixel array corresponding to each of the red emission, the green emission, the blue emission, and the laser mapping emission can be processed to generate a color RGB image frame comprising an overlay of laser mapping data. ### Claim 25 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the pulses of electromagnetic radiation comprise a luminance emission, a red chrominance emission, a blue chrominance emission, and a laser mapping emission such that reflected electromagnetic radiation sensed by the pixel array corresponding to each of the luminance emission, the red chrominance emission, the blue chrominance emission, and the laser mapping emission can be processed to generate a YCbCr image frame comprising an overlay of laser mapping data. ### Claim 26 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein sensing reflected electromagnetic radiation by the pixel array comprises generating a laser mapping exposure frame by sensing reflected electromagnetic radiation resulting from the emitter pulsing the laser mapping pattern, wherein the laser mapping exposure frame comprises information for determining real time measurements comprising one or more of: a distance from an endoscope to an object; an angle between an endoscope and the object; or surface topology information about the object. ### Claim 27 (depends on 26) The system of claim 26, wherein the laser mapping exposure frame comprises information for determining the real time measurements to an accuracy of less than 10 centimeters. ### Claim 28 (depends on 26) The system of claim 26, wherein the laser mapping exposure frame comprises information for determining the real time measurements to an accuracy of less than one millimeter. ### Claim 29 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the pulses of electromagnetic radiation emitted by the emitter comprises a plurality of tool-specific laser mapping patterns for each of a plurality of tools within a scene. ### Claim 30 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the laser mapping pattern emitted by the emitter comprises a first output and a second output that are independent from one another, wherein the first output is for light illumination and the second output is for tool tracking. ### Claim 31 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the pulses of electromagnetic radiation emitted by the emitter is a hyperspectral emission that results in a hyperspectral exposure frame created by the image sensor, and wherein the controller is configured to provide the hyperspectral exposure frame to a corresponding hyperspectral system that determines a location of a critical tissue structure within a scene based on the hyperspectral exposure frame. ### Claim 32 (depends on 31) The system of claim 31, wherein the hyperspectral emission comprises: electromagnetic radiation having the wavelength from about 513 nm to about 545 nm and electromagnetic radiation having the wavelength from about 900 nm to about 1000 nm; or electromagnetic radiation having the wavelength from about 565 nm to about 585 nm and electromagnetic radiation having the wavelength from about 900 nm to about 1000 nm. ### Claim 33 (depends on 32) The system of claim 32, wherein the controller is further configured to: receive the location of the critical tissue structure from the corresponding hyperspectral system; generate an overlay frame comprising the location of the critical tissue structure; and combine the overlay frame with a color image frame depicting the scene to indicate the location of the critical tissue structure within the scene. ### Claim 34 (depends on 33) The system of claim 33, wherein sensing the reflected electromagnetic radiation by the pixel array comprises generating a laser mapping exposure frame by sensing reflected electromagnetic radiation resulting from the emitter pulsing the laser mapping pattern, and wherein the controller is further configured to: provide the laser mapping exposure frame to a corresponding laser mapping system that determines a topology of the scene and/or dimensions of one or more objects within the scene; provide the location of the critical tissue structure to the corresponding laser mapping system; and receive a topology and/or dimension of the critical tissue structure from the corresponding laser mapping system. ### Claim 35 (depends on 34) The system of claim 34, wherein the critical structure comprises one or more of a nerve, a ureter, a blood vessel, an artery, a blood flow, or a tumor. ### Claim 36 A method comprising: determining a vibration frequency of vocal cords of a patient; pulsing a plurality of pulses of electromagnetic radiation by an emitter at a strobing frequency that substantially matches the vibration frequency of the vocal cords; receiving a plurality of exposure frames captured by a pixel array of an image sensor, wherein the pixel array is configured to sense reflected electromagnetic radiation; wherein at least a portion of the pulses of electromagnetic radiation emitted by the emitter comprises a laser mapping pattern. ### Claim 37 (depends on 36) The method of claim 36, further comprising: combining two or more exposure frames of the plurality of exposure frames to generate a combined exposure frame; and processing the combined exposure frame to generate a normalized exposure frame by normalizing the combined exposure frame using digital gain; wherein the two or more exposure frames are sensed by the pixel array in response to a single wavelength of electromagnetic radiation pulsed by the emitter. ### Claim 38 (depends on 36) The method of claim 36, further comprising: suppressing a pulse of electromagnetic radiation emitted during a pixel readout portion of a readout period of the image sensor; and suppressing a pulse of electromagnetic radiation emitted during a blanking portion of the readout period of the image sensor; wherein the pulses of electromagnetic radiation are suppressed such that an aggregate amount of illumination which is the sum of the amplitude and the duration of all non-suppressed pulses for a first blanking period of the image sensor is equal to the aggregate amount of illumination in a successive blanking period of the image sensor. ### Claim 39 (depends on 36) The method of claim 36, further comprising suspending a readout period of the image sensor for a suspended period and causing the emitter to emit one or more pulses of electromagnetic radiation during the suspended period.