Optical imaging system and methods thereof

An optical imaging system to image a target object, comprising:

• a preoperative image detector configured to capture a preoperative image of the target object before the target object is positioned to be illuminated by at least one or more light rays projected onto the target object, wherein the preoperative image includes a three-dimensional (3D) topography of the target object;
• an image projector configured to emit the one or more light rays to project a corrected projection image of the preoperative image of the target object to be visualized by a user;
• a display configured to display the corrected projection image to be visualized by the user that is projected onto the display and enable the user to view via a surrounding environment of the user via the display simultaneously with the corrected projection image, wherein the display is partially transparent to light to enable the user to view the surrounding environment with natural vision simultaneously with the corrected projection image via the display;
• a tracker that is configured to track a position of the target object;
• and
• a controller that includes at least one graphics processing unit and is configured to:
• map each relative distance determined from image information captured from the 3D topography of the target object included in the preoperative image to the corrected projection image based on a position of the image projector, wherein the corrected projection image incorporates each relative distance determined from the image information captured from the 3D topography of the target object included in the preoperative image to thereby display at least a portion of the 3D topography of the target object included in the preoperative image in the corrected projection image;
• and
• instruct the image projector to project the corrected projection image to be visualized by the user via the display.

A method for imaging a target object, the method comprising steps of:

• capturing by a preoperative image detector a preoperative image of the target object before the target object before the target object is positioned to be illuminated by at least one or more light rays projected onto the target object, wherein the preoperative image includes a three-dimensional (3D) topography of the target object;
• emitting by an image projector the one or more light rays to project a corrected projection image of the preoperative image of the target object to be visualized by a user;
• displaying by a display the corrected projection image to be visualized by the user that is projected onto the display and enable the user to view via a surrounding environment of the user via the display simultaneously with the corrected projection image, wherein the display is partially transparent to light to enable the user to view the surrounding environment with natural vision simultaneously with the corrected projection image via the display;
• tracking by a tracker a position of the target object;
• and
• mapping by a controller each relative distance determined from image information captured from the 3D topography of the target object included in the preoperative image to the corrected projection image based on a position of the image projector, wherein the corrected projection image incorporates each relative distance determined from the image information captured by the 3D topography of the target object included in the preoperative image to thereby display at least a portion of the 3D topography of the target object included in the preoperative image in the corrected projection image;
• and
• instructing the image projector to project the corrected projection image to be visualized by the user via the display.