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US 6,190,308 B1Granted
Endoscopic video system for correcting a video image of an object to be studied
AssigneeKarl Storz GmbH & Co. KG
InventorsKlaus Irion, Karl-Heinz Strobl, Uwe Faust, David Chatenever
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Abstract
An endoscopic video system for correcting a video image of an object to be studied has a processing unit controlling an electronic image recorder which has a multiplicity of image elements, each generating an output signal upon illuminating a known test object. The processing unit has a learning mode of operation, wherein it determines and records a correction value corresponding to a difference between an output signal of the known test object and a generated one by each of the image elements, and a recording mode, wherein an output signal generated by each image element upon illuminating an object to be studied is adjusted at the correction value.
Claims27
An endoscopic video system having
- an endoscope,
- an illumination device,
- an optical fiber guide for transmitting light from said illumination device to at least one light exit aperture at a distal end of said endoscope,
- an endoscope lens, which images an object field illuminated by said illumination device and which is disposed at the distal end of said endoscope,
- an electronic image recorder having a multiplicity of image elements, which records an image of said lens to produce an image signal, and
- an image processing unit which processes and depicts the image signal from said image recorder in real time on a display unit, characterized by the following features:
- said image processing unit is provided with a learning mode and a recording mode,
- at least one known test object illuminated by said illumination device to have an image of the one known test object recorded in said learning mode,
- said image processing unit compares in said learning mode the output signal from each image element of said image recorder with a predetermined desired output signal for said one known test object, determines therefrom for each said image element the deviation in intensity and color of the recorded image compared to said test object, resulting due to one of a group of factors including:
- variances in the illumination, lens edge cut-offs, variances in sensitivity of said image recorder, and combinations of these, and determines therefrom a correction value assigned to the respective image element, said correction value being formed from one of a group of output signals including from each said image element, from the adjacent image elements, from a plurality of image elements, and combinations of these, wherein the determination of the correction value for each respective image element is independent of the determination of the correction values for all other image elements,
- and an object to be studied illuminated by said illumination device in said recording mode, said image processing unit corrects the respective output signal from each image element representing said object to be studied by means of the correction value assigned to said image element in said learning mode.
8 more elements
A process for calibrating an endoscopic video system comprising the steps of:
- disposing an endoscope before a test object,
- illuminating the test object with a source of light;
- imaging the test object on an image recorder having a plurality of imaging elements which generate a plurality of output signals;
- comparing each of the output signals which a desired output signal known for said test object to calculate and record a correction value specific for each imaging element and resulting due to one of a group of factor including:
- variances in the illumination, variances in sensitivity of said image recorder, and combinations of these, wherein the calculation of the correction value for each imaging element is independent of the calculation of the correction values for all other imaging elements;
- illuminating an object to be studied with the source of light to have a plurality of actual output signals generated by the imaging elements of the image recorder;
- adjusting each actual output signal generated by a respective individual image element with the respective recorded correction value.
4 more elements
An endoscopic video system for correcting a video image of an object to be studied, comprising:
- an optical system having opposite sides and including an endoscope at a one end of the optical system, a lens disposed in the endoscope, a light source and an illuminating fiber optic bundle between the source and the lens for illuminating an object field, the optical system projecting an image at its opposite side;
- an electronic image recorder for recording the projected image at the opposite side of the optical system and having a multiplicity of image elements, each generating an output signal which represents intensity and color of an incident image spot projected on said image recorder;
- and
- an image processing unit connected to the image recorder and having a learning mode, wherein a known test object is introduced in the image field and imaged on the image recorder, and a correction value is generated from the output signal of each image element to compensate variances resulting due to one of a group of factors including:
- variances in the illumination, variances in sensitivity of said image recorder, and combination of these, the image processing unit recording the correction value for each image element, wherein the generation of the correction value for each image element is independent of the generation of the correction values for all other image elements,
- the image processing unit having a recording mode, wherein the object to be studied is introduced in the object field and imaged on the image recorder to have its video image enhanced by adjusting the output signal of each image element representing the object to be studied with the correction value recorded in the learning mode.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.