INTELLIGENT CAMERA ILLUMINATION AND PROJECTOR

Abstract

An imaging system, medical microscope, surgical light, robotic system, imaging method, and computer-readable storage medium. The imaging system creates an optimized image of a region to be imaged and includes an irradiation system. The irradiation system has at least a first and a second individually adjustable radiation emitter for individual irradiation of the region to be imaged. A camera system includes at least one camera that creates an image of the region to be imaged. An image analysis unit is adapted to analyze the image and digitally provide an analysis result. A control unit is adapted to control the irradiation system based on the analysis result and change an irradiation of the first and/or second radiation emitter in an intensity of the radiation and/or in a wavelength of the radiation to achieve an optimized irradiation for the image.

Claims

1. An imaging system for creating an optimized image of a region to be imaged, the imaging system comprising: an irradiation system comprising at least a first radiation emitter and a second radiation emitter, the first radiation emitter and the second radiation emitter each being individually adjustable for individual irradiation of the region to be imaged; a camera system comprising at least one camera that creates an image of the region to be imaged; an image analysis unit adapted to analyze the image and digitally provide an analysis result; and a control unit adapted to control the irradiation system based on the analysis result and to change an irradiation of the first radiation emitter and/or the second radiation emitter to change an intensity of radiation and/or a wavelength of radiation in order to achieve an optimized irradiation for the image of the region to be imaged.

2. The imaging system according to claim 1, further comprising a filter that is controllable by the control unit and is adapted to controllably selectively lower the intensity of radiation and/or to filter wavelengths in order to serve as the first radiation emitter (12) and/or second radiation emitter together with an upstream radiation source.

3. The imaging system according to claim 2, wherein the filter is adapted to set a different absorption of radiation at at least two different portions through which radiation passes, so that the intensity of radiation is locally selectively adjustable.

4. The imaging system according to claim 1, further comprising at least one projector, the at least one projector having a grid-shaped or matrix-shaped arrangement of individually controllable radiation emitters that include the first radiation emitter and the second radiation emitter, so that a projected irradiation with individually controllable radiations is provided for different regions of the region to be imaged.

5. The imaging system according to claim 4, wherein the at least one projector comprises a first projector and a second projector, wherein the first projector emits a first wavelength.

6. The imaging system according to claim 5, wherein the first projector emits wavelengths in the IR range and/or UV range and/or X-ray range, and the second projector emits wavelengths in the visible range in order to provide the user with an adapted illumination of the region to be imaged.

7. The imaging system according to claim 4, wherein the irradiation system is a lighting system and the control unit is adapted to control the lighting system such that a provided, in particular colored, picture is projected via the lighting system directly into the region to be imaged in order to act as an augmented reality projector.

8. The imaging system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one camera has a sensor with a matrix-shaped arrangement of semiconductor sensor pixels for radiation measurement.

9. The imaging system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one camera comprises a 3D camera to create a 3D image with depth information.

10. The imaging system according to claim 1, further comprising a prism in order to realize in sections a common beam path of the irradiation system and the camera system.

11. The imaging system according to claim 1, wherein characterized in that the camera system comprises at least two sensors having different sensitivities for different wavelength ranges in order to combine a highest possible sensitivity for different wavelength ranges.

12. The imaging system according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is adapted to iteratively perform imaging, analyzing, and adapting of irradiation to obtain the optimized irradiation for the image and thus the optimized image of the region to be imaged.

13. A medical microscope comprising the imaging system according to claim 1.

14. A surgical light, wherein the surgical light comprises the imaging system according to claim 1.

15. A surgical robotic system comprising at least one robot and the imaging system according to claim 1.

16. An imaging method comprising the step of creating an optimized image of a region to be imaged with the imaging system according to claim 1, wherein the imaging system is in a medical microscope, in a surgical light, in a robotic system with robots, or in an endoscope.

17. An imaging method for creating an optimized image of a region to be imaged, the imaging method comprising the steps of: irradiating the region to be imaged with at least a first radiation emitter and a second radiation emitter, the first radiation emitter and the second radiation emitter each being individually adjustable; imaging the irradiated region to be imaged by a camera system comprising a camera; analyzing an image by an image analysis unit; and controlling the first radiation emitter and the second radiation emitter such that an irradiation of the first radiation emitter and/or the second radiation emitter is changed in an intensity of the radiation and/or in a wavelength of the radiation in order to achieve the optimized image of the region to be imaged.

18. A computer-readable storage medium comprising commands which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the imaging method according to claim 17.

19. A computer program comprising commands which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the imaging method according to claim 17.

20. The imaging system according to claim 1, wherein the irradiation system is a lighting system.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0045] The present disclosure is explained in more detail below by way of preferred configuration examples with reference to the accompanying figures. The following is shown:

[0046] FIG. 1 shows a schematic perspective view of an imaging system according to a first preferred embodiment;

[0047] FIG. 2 shows a schematic front view of an imaging system according to a further, second preferred embodiment with a uniform beam path;

[0048] FIG. 3 shows a schematic view of a radiation emitter of the lighting system; and

[0049] FIG. 4 shows a flow diagram of an imaging method according to a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0050] The figures are schematic in nature and are intended only for understanding the present disclosure. Identical elements are provided with the same reference signs. The features of the various embodiments may be interchanged.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0051] FIG. 1 shows, in order to explain the present disclosure and its principles, a schematic side view of an intelligent imaging system 1 according to a preferred embodiment. The imaging system 1 has a combined lighting and camera system with a camera system 2 in the form of a single camera 4 for an image A and a lighting system 6. A field of view 8 of the camera 4 is schematically shown and directed to an image region B or respectively to the surface to be captured. Likewise, an illumination field or an illumination cone (illuminable surface) 10 of the lighting system 6 is shown, which is also directed to the image region B. Thus, in this embodiment, there is a static relation between the camera system 2, the image region A, and the spaced lighting system 6. The lighting system 6 and the camera system 4 are in a sense independent of each other and use different optical paths.

[0052] The irradiation system 6 comprises a projector in the form of an LCD projector, in which a projected image can be generated within the resolution area of the projector. In particular, the present projector has a resolution of 20*10 pixels, so that two hundred separate, individually controllable light beams with different wavelengths and different intensities can be irradiated into the illumination field 10 of the projector. It can also be said that the irradiation system 6 with the projector has two hundred individually controllable radiation emitters 12.

[0053] The imaging system 1 furthermore comprises an image analysis unit 14, which is adapted to analyze the digital image A of the camera system 2 with respect to underexposure and an overexposure and to provide it as an analysis result digitally to a control unit 16. This control unit 16 of the imaging system 1 is in turn specially adapted to control the lighting system 6 on the basis of the analysis result with the regions of overexposure and underexposure and to change and adapt an illumination of the two hundred individually controllable radiation emitters 12 in each case in an intensity of the radiation and further preferably in a wavelength of the radiation in order to obtain an optimized irradiation for the image A with a homogeneous illumination intensity and consequently a homogeneous detection intensity.

[0054] For illustration purposes, a first object 18, a second object 20 and a third object 22 are shown schematically in the image region B in FIG. 1. During a surgical procedure on a patient, these objects may represent different tissue areas, for example, that exhibit different colors and degrees of reflection, which pose a challenge for a corresponding image. The imaging system 1 can now illuminate each individual object in a targeted manner with an individually adjustable intensity. In particular, even if the objects move, for example during an operation, when an intracorporeal anatomy is moved relative to the imaging system, for example because a part of the patient's body is moved or because the imaging system 1 is moved and repositioned, the new tissue structure can be analyzed by the imaging system 1 and can be illuminated in the best possible way. Manual adjustment is not required and the best possible adapted modality of illumination of the image region B is automatically provided.

[0055] For this purpose, the lighting system 6, controlled by the control unit 14, can change the intensity of the light beam that hits the corresponding object in the illumination field in a targeted manner. If, as in the present case, a projector, such as an LCD projector, DLP projector or laser projector/projection device is used, a projected picture can be generated within the resolution area of the projector and can be projected into the illumination field of the projector. With a fixed geometry between camera and illumination, one or more beams of the lighting system intersect with an optical path of the camera sensor of the camera 4 onto the image region. Thus, when the imaging system 1 selectively adapts the intensity and preferably also the wavelength of the light reflected from an object, the intensity of the light reflected to the camera sensor changes on the beam going from the object to the camera sensor, resulting in a changed saturation of the camera sensor. Thus, adapted illumination conditions are generated, which are adapted to the observed scene or respectively to the image region and to the image sensor of the camera. An example of this is here the creation of an image without overexposed or underexposed regions. As indicated above, a partially underexposed or overexposed image may occur if the observed scene or respectively the image region B contains objects with a low degree of reflection and objects with a high degree of reflection. Using a simple lighting system according to prior art for all objects usually results in either overexposing the objects with high degree of reflection or underexposing the objects with low degree of reflection. With the intelligent imaging system 1 according to the present disclosure, the beams illuminating the overexposed parts can be attenuated and the beams illuminating the underexposed objects can be amplified and brightened, resulting in an (overall) image that captures all objects in the correct illumination.

[0056] FIG. 2 shows a front view of an imaging system 1 according to a further, second preferred embodiment of the present disclosure. In contrast to the first embodiment of FIG. 1, the imaging system of FIG. 2 (partially) uses a common optical path 24 for both the lighting system 6 and the camera system 2. The emitted radiation of the lighting system 6 is irradiated in bundled form on the optical path 28 of the illumination onto a first deflecting prism 30 and is deflected onto the image region B. There, the radiation hits the surface to be captured having, for example, different tissue portions, is reflected, and is forwarded as an optical path to the camera 26. The optical path of the camera 26 is guided from the common optical path 24 to a second deflecting prism 32 which is opposite the first deflecting prism and which guides the beam path to the camera 4 and the camera sensor. Therefore, even in the case of spatially separated or respectively spaced lighting system and camera systems, an optical path of the radiation can be partially divided and the imaging system 1 can be even better adapted to, for example, an operation. In particular, such an imaging system can be easily integrated into a medical device, such as an endoscope or a surgical microscope. The optical system of the surgical microscope can simply be oriented to the intracorporeal tissue and the imaging system 1 creates a corresponding image A, which is specially adapted and particularly well illuminated.

[0057] FIG. 3 shows in a schematic view examples of three radiation emitters 12 which can be used in a lighting system 6 or respectively as a lighting system 6. Specifically, the lighting system 6 has a single light source 34 in the form of a surface emitting white (i.e. the entire color spectrum of visible light). The intensity of the illumination of the light source 34 is homogeneously distributed. A filter 36 with three filter elements 38 is connected in series in front of the light source 34. The emitted white light passes through the filter 36 (shown here as dashed arrows) and strikes an object to be irradiated, such as an intracorporeal tissue, from which it is reflected and falls on the camera 4 for an image A. In particular, each filter element 36 is individually controllable/drivable by the control unit 16 (not shown here), wherein both a degree of transmission of the filter element 36 and thus an intensity (indicated in FIG. 3 by the different thickness of the dashed line), and preferably furthermore even a wavelength range to be transmitted can be set. Thus, the object to be irradiated can be individually illuminated in certain areas and an image A can be further improved. In particular, the object to be illuminated can be divided into three portions in the same way as the three-part filter 36, and the control unit controls the filter elements 36 in such a way that an average (illumination) intensity of the three regions in the image is approximately the same in order to achieve homogeneous illumination and detection by a sensor of the camera 4.

[0058] FIG. 4 shows in a flowchart the process steps of an imaging method according to a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure. This imaging method can in particular be used with an imaging system of FIG. 1 or 2.

[0059] In a first step S1 of the imaging method for an optimized image of an image region B, the image region B is irradiated with at least a first and a second individually adjustable radiation emitter 12.

[0060] In a subsequent step S2, an image A of the region B to be imaged and irradiated is created by a camera system 2 comprising at least one camera 4.

[0061] In a step S3, the image is analyzed by an image analysis unit 14 with respect to underexposure and overexposure. For example, the image is divided into individual image portions in the width and height direction (type of pixel of the image), wherein an individual exposure value is determined for each pixel by the image analysis unit 14. Thus, an analysis matrix or table with entries for light intensity is created.

[0062] Subsequently, in a step S4, the at least first and second radiation emitters 12 are controlled by a control unit in order to change an irradiation of the first and second radiation emitters 12 in at least the intensity of the radiation and to achieve an optimized image A. Specifically, an intensity is selectively increased or decreased according to the analysis matrix. If the intensity value in the analysis matrix is increased above a standard value, for example 1.4 instead of 1.0, then the intensity is decreased, in particular by the difference between the actual value and the target value. On the other hand, if the intensity value in the analysis matrix is below the standard value, for example 0.7 instead of 1.0, the intensity is increased, in particular by (an absolute amount of) the difference between the target value and the actual value, i.e. by 30%.

[0063] In particular, (partial) regions of the image A can be defined in the acquired image A and these regions can be used for the analysis or respectively analysis matrix. In particular, the control unit may be set to specify that these regions of the image should have the same or at least similar (detected) radiation intensity on average (in particular with a deviation of less than 20%, in particular with a maximum deviation of 10%). In particular, the control unit may be adapted to analyze and detect predefined image properties such as objects and/or edges and to use these image properties for the analysis matrix.

[0064] With this imaging method, an optimal illumination of image region B is then achieved and a significantly better image A can be created and provided to the surgeon, for example.