Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US7753842?dq=5,579,517
Timestamp: 2015-07-02 13:34:45
Document Index: 281784247

Matched Legal Cases: ['Application No. 60', 'art 24', 'art 24', 'art 24', 'art 34', 'art 34', 'art 34', 'art 24', 'art 54', 'art 54', 'art 54', 'art 54', 'arts 34', 'art 54', 'art 54', 'art 54', 'art 54', 'art 54', 'art 54', 'art 54', 'art 54', 'art 54', 'art 54', 'art 54', 'art 54', 'art 54', 'Application No. 2003', 'Application No. 02743598']

Patent US7753842 - In vivo imaging device with a small cross sectional area - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign inAdvanced Patent SearchPatentsAn in vivo imaging device may include a capsule shaped housing and an image sensor. The capsule shaped housing may have a longitudinal axis and a window. The image sensor (e.g., a CMOS sensor) may include a pixel array portion and a circuitry portion. The circuitry portion may be segregated, for example...http://www.google.com/patents/US7753842?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US7753842 - In vivo imaging device with a small cross sectional areaAdvanced Patent SearchPublication numberUS7753842 B2Publication typeGrantApplication numberUS 11/892,815Publication dateJul 13, 2010Filing dateAug 27, 2007Priority dateJun 28, 2001Fee statusPaidAlso published asEP1421775A2, EP1421775A4, US20050259487, US20080200757, WO2003003706A2, WO2003003706A3Publication number11892815, 892815, US 7753842 B2, US 7753842B2, US-B2-7753842, US7753842 B2, US7753842B2InventorsArkady Glukhovsky, Gavriel MeronOriginal AssigneeGiven Imaging Ltd.Export CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (107), Non-Patent Citations (33), Referenced by (4), Classifications (18), Legal Events (2) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetIn vivo imaging device with a small cross sectional area
US 7753842 B2Abstract
An in vivo imaging device may include a capsule shaped housing and an image sensor. The capsule shaped housing may have a longitudinal axis and a window. The image sensor (e.g., a CMOS sensor) may include a pixel array portion and a circuitry portion. The circuitry portion may be segregated, for example longitudinally, from the pixel array portion. The pixel array portion may be disposed within said housing substantially parallel to said longitudinal axis.
A light deflecting element disposed at an angle smaller than 45 degrees with respect to the pixel array portion introduces image distortion which is compensated by a distortion compensation mechanism.
1. An in vivo imaging device, comprising:
a capsule shaped housing having a longitudinal axis and an optical window at an end of the housing;
a CMOS image sensor comprising a pixel array portion and a circuitry portion, wherein said pixel array portion is disposed within said housing substantially parallel to said longitudinal axis;
a light deflecting element for deflecting received light to said pixel array portion, wherein the angle between said light deflecting element and said pixel array portion is smaller than 45� thereby distorting an image projected onto said pixel array portion; and
a mechanism to compensate for said distortion.
2. The device of claim 1 wherein the pixel array portion is continuous with the circuitry portion.
3. The device of claim 1 wherein the circuitry portion comprises circuitry selected from the group consisting of timing circuitry, analog to digital conversion circuitry, input/output (I/O) circuitry, transmitting circuitry or a combination thereof.
4. The device of claim 1, wherein the light deflecting element is a mirror.
5. The device of claim 1, wherein said mechanism to compensate for said distortion includes an optical system configured to change an image to compensate for distortion of an image by the light deflecting element before the image reaches said pixel array portion.
6. The device of claim 5, wherein said optical system comprises a lens within said housing, configured to collect light rays coming through said optical window.
7. The device of claim 1 further comprising an aperture for reflected light to progress through.
8. The device of claim 1,further comprising a plurality of light emitting devices.
9. The device of claim 1, wherein said mechanism to compensate for said distortion comprises a workstation for processing distorted image data after acquisition.
10. The device of claim 1, comprising an optical system, wherein the optical system is substantially parallel to said longitudinal axis.
11. The device of claim 1, comprising an optical system, wherein the optical system is disposed between the image sensor and the light deflecting element. Description
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/482,218, now abandoned, which was filed Dec. 29, 2003, as a National Phase Application of PCT International Application No. PCT/IL02/00526, International Filing Date Jun. 27, 2002, which claims priority of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/301,141, filed Jun. 28, 2001, all of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
Reference is now made to FIG. 1 which is a schematic diagram illustrating an embodiment of an autonomous in-vivo imaging device. The device 10A typically includes a capsule-like housing 18 having a wall 18A. The device 10A has an optical window 21 and an imaging system for obtaining images from inside a body cavity or lumen, such as the GI tract. The imaging system may include an illumination unit 23. The illumination unit 23 may include one or more light sources 23A. The one or more right sources 23A may be a white light emitting diode (LED), or any other suitable light source, known in the art, The imaging system of the device 10A may include an imager 24, such as a CMOS or CCD, which acquires the images and an optical system 22 which focuses the images onto the imager 24. Typically, the imager 24 is arranged so that it's surface 27 is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis 19 of the device 10A. The illumination unit 23 illuminates the inner portions of the body lumen through an optical window 21. Device 10A further includes a transmitter 26 and an antenna 27 for transmitting the image signal of the imager 24, and one or more power sources 25. The power source(s) 26 may be any suitable power sources such as but not limited to silver oxide batteries, lithium batteries, or other electrochemical cells having a high energy density, or the like. The power source(s) 25 may provide power to the electrical elements of the device 10A.
Typically, in the gastrointestinal application, as the device 10A is transported through the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, the imager, such as but not limited to a multi-pixel CMOS imager acquires images (frames) which are processed and transmitted to an external receiver/recorder (not shown) worn by the patient for recording and storage. The recorded data may then be downloaded from the receiver/recorder to a computer or workstation (not shown) for display and analysis. During the movement of the device 10A through the GI tract, the imager may acquire frames at a fixed or at a variable frame acquisition rate. For example, in one embodiment the imager (such as, but not limited to a CMOS imager) may acquire images at a fixed rate of two frames per second (2 Hz). However, other different frame rates may also be used, depending, inter alia, on the type and characteristics of the specific imager or camera or sensor array implementation which is used, and on the available transmission bandwidth of the transmitter 26. The downloaded images may be displayed by the workstation by replaying them at a desired frame rate. This way, the expert or physician examining the data is provided with a movie-like video playback which may enable the physician to review the passage of the device through the GI tact.
Decreasing the cross-sectional area of such devices may be limited by the cross-sectional area of the imaging sensor, such as for example the imager 24 of FIG. 1 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 6 is a cross sectional view illustrating an in-vivo imaging device having a reduced cross-sectional area and including the CMOS imager of FIG. 5, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;
In the following description, various aspects of the present invention will be described. For purposes of explanation, specific configurations and details are set s forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will also be apparent to one skilled in be art that the present invention may be practiced without the specific details presented herein. Furthermore, well known features may be omitted or simplified in order not to obscure the present invention.
The remaining surface portion 30B of the CMOS imager 30, may include, inter alia, integrated circuitry (not shown in detail) for performing various control and timing functions, analog to digital (A/D) conversion circuitry (not shown) for converting the analog signal sampled from the individual pixels and various input/output (I/O) circuitry (not shown in detail for sending the image digitized data and control signals as output signals to devices or circuitry (not shown) such as but not limited to a transmitter like the transmitter 26 of FIG. 1, or any other signal processing circuit or element or unit which may be connected to the CMOS imager 30, as is known in the art.
The CMOS imager 24 may include an imaging sensor part 24A which is may be typically located at the center of the frontal surface of the CMOS imager 24. The imaging sensor part 24A may include the two dimensional array of light sensitive diodes (not shown in detail) comprising the sensor pixels (not shown in detail), and may also include integrated amplification circuitry (not shown) and switching circuitry (not shown) for controlling the pixel sampling or readout, and may also include electrical conducting paths for connecting the pixels to the functional units that perform the readout of the pixels.
The remaining surface portion 24B of the of the CMOS imager 24, which surrounds the imaging sensor part 24A, may include, inter alia, integrated circuitry (not shown in detail for performing various control and timing functions, analog to digital (A/D) conversion circuitry (not shown) for converting the analog signal sampled from the individual pixels and various input/output (I/O) circuitry (not shown in detail) for sending the image digitized data and control signals as output signals to devices or circuitry (not shown) such as but not limited to a transmitter like the transmitter 26 of FIG. 1, or any other signal processing circuit or element or unit which may be connected to the CMOS imager 24.
The advantage of the imager configuration shown in FIG. 3, is that it makes possible to position the optical system 22 (best seen in FIG. 1) in the center of the optical window 21 (See FIG. 1) without unduly increasing the cross-sectional area of the entire device 10A of FIG. 1). However, with the configuration (shown in FIG. 3) of the CMOS imager 24, if it is desired to minimize the cross-sectional area of the device 10A, the diminishing of the cross-sectional area of the entire device IA may be limited by tee diagonal of the entire CMOS imager 24.
Similar to the CMOS imager 24 of FIG. 3, the square CMOS imager 34 of FIG. 4 may have a square imaging sensor part 34A (having a side length of Ai) including the imaging pixels (the pixels are not shown in detail) and a remaining surface part 34B which surrounds the imaging sensor part 34A and which may include all the supporting circuitry (not shown) as disclosed in detail hereinabove for the surface part 24B of FIG. 3. The entire CMOS imager 34 has a side S, and diagonal D. It can be seen from FIG. 4 that the internal diameter of the wall 28A of the housing 28 may not be smaller than the length of the diagonal D of the square CMOS imager 34. Thus, using the configuration of the CMOS imager 34, it is not possible to decrease the diameter of the housing 28 to a length smaller than the diagonal D of the entire CMOS imager 34.
Reference is now made to FIG. 5 which is a schematic top view showing the layout of a rectangular CMOS imager having segregated pixel array area and support circuitry areas, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The CMOS imager 54 may include a square imaging sensor part 54A (having a side length of Ai) including the imaging pixels (the pixels are not shown in detail) and a remaining surface part 54B which is longitudinally segregated from the imaging sensor part 54A and which may include all the necessary supporting circuitry (not shown) as disclosed in detail hereinabove.
The length Li of the CMOS imager 54 is adapted such that all the necessary supporting circuitry may be accommodated in the part 54B. Thus, when the CMOS imager 54 is compared to the CMOS imager 34 of FIG. 4, the dimensions of the imaging sensor parts 34A and 54A are the same (both imaging sensor parts may be a square having a side length of Ai), the CMOS imager 34 has a square shape having a side Si while the CMOS imager 54 has an elongated shape having a length Li.
The CMOS imager 54 is disposed longitudinally within the housing 58 such that the light rays 47 generated by the light sources 53A are reflected from the intestinal wall and pass through the optical window 21A. The reflected light rays are collected by the optical system 22A and are deflected towards the part 54A of the CMOS imager 54 to create an image to be sensed by the light sensing pixels (not shown) included in the part 54A. Preferably, but not necessarily, the CMOS imager 54 is disposed such that its longitudinal axis (not shown) is aligned parallel to the longitudinal axis 59 of the device 50. The angle α between the surface of the mirror 55 and the surface of the CMOS imager may be 45�, but may also be smaller than 45�. If the angle α is smaller than 45�, the image projected upon the pixels of the part 54A of the CMOS imager 54 may be distorted. Thus, the optical system 22A may be configured to suitably change the collected image in order to compensate for the distortion before the image reaches the part 54A of the CMOS imager 54. Alternatively, the distortion in the acquired image may be corrected after the acquisition by suitably processing the image data at a stage later than image acquisition. For example a distorted image may be processed in a workstation (not shown) after the image has been transmitted by the transmitter 26A. Such a distortion may be compensated by suitable computational algorithms, as is known in the art.
It is noted that in comparison to the configuration of the CMOS imaging unit 24 of FIG. 1 and the CMOS imaging unit 34 of FIG. 4 which are oriented perpendicular the longitudinal axis of the in vivo imaging device 10A, the configuration of the CMOS imager 54 being longitudinal and parallel to the axis 59 of the device 50 may enable a substantial reduction in the cross sectional area of the device 50 since the combination of the reduced area of the tight sensitive part 54A and the use of the mirror 55 allow such a reduction in cross-sectional area. It is noted that the cross sectional area (Ai)2 of the part 54A of FIG. 6 is substantially smaller than the cross sectional area (D)2 of the entire CMOS imager 34 of FIG. 4. The cross-sectional area of a cross section taken in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis the device 50 may therefore be substantially reduced in comparison to the cross sectional area of a cross section taken in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis 19 of the device 10A.
The device 60 includes a capsule-like housing 58 which has an optical window 21A. The device 60 may include an aperture 51, an optical system 65A and a mirror 55. The device 60 may include the CMOS imager 54 of FIG. 6. The mirror 55 may be substituted by any suitable light deflecting element such as a suitably configured prism (not shown), or the like, for deflecting the light rays 47C passing through by the aperture 51, towards the optical system 65A which projects an image on the part 54A of the CMOS imager 54. The optical system 65A may be a lens, a group of lenses, a zoom lens, a composite lens, a wide angle lens or any other suitable image forming optical element known in the art.
The CMOS imager 54 is disposed longitudinally within the housing 68 such that the light rays 47A and 47B generated by the light sources 53A are reflected from the intestinal wall 45 and pass through the optical window 21A as tight rays 47C and 47D, respectively. The reflected light rays 47C and 47D are deflected by the mirror 55 towards the optical system 22A. The optical system 65A thus focuses an image on the part 54A of the CMOS imager 54 the image may be sensed by the light sensing pixels (not shown) included in the part 54A. Preferably, but not necessarily, the CMOS imager 54 is disposed such that its longitudinal axis (not shown) is aligned parallel to the longitudinal axis 69 of the device 60. The angle α between the surface of the mirror 55 and the surface of the CMOS imager may be 45�, but may also be smaller than 45�.
If the angle α is smaller than 45�, the image projected upon the pixels of the part 54A of the CMOS imager 54 may be distorted. Thus, the optical system 65A may be configured to suitably change the collected image in order to compensate for the distortion before the image reaches the part 54A of the CMOS imager 54. Alternatively, the distortion in the acquired image may be corrected after the acquisition by suitably processing the Image data at a stage later than image acquisition. For example, a distorted image may be processed in a workstation (not shown) after the image has been transmitted by the transmitter 26A. Such a distortion may be compensated by suitable computational algorithms, as is known in the art.
Thus, the combination of the CMOS imager having segregated imaging and support circuitry parts disclosed hereinabove, and the longitudinal arrangement of such a segregated CMOS imager within the device allow the construction of autonomous or non-autonomous in vivo imaging devices with a small cross sectional area. The non-autonomous devices may include but are not limited to imaging heads or imaging units or imaging assemblies which are constructed as an integral part of, or are included within ,or are attached to catheter like devices, endoscope-like devices, trocars, or any other type of device which may be used for in vivo surgical and/or diagnostic purposes requiring imaging capabilities and may benefit from the reduced cross-sectional area of such imaging heads or imaging units or imaging assemblies.
The device 80 may include a mirror 55 which is inclined at an angle α to the imaging part 54A of the CMOS imager 54, as disclosed hereinabove. The angle α may be equal to 45� or may be different than 45�. Making the angle α smaller than 45�, may enable further reduction of the diameter or the cross sectional area of the device 80 as disclosed hereinabove for the devices 50 and 60. An optical system 22C may be suitably aligned along the longitudinal axis 89 of the device 80. The optical system 22C may include a single lens, multiple lenses, or other suitable optical elements like filters, as disclosed in detail hereinabove for me optical systems 22, 22A and 65A of FIGS. 1,6 and 7, respectively.
The device 80 may include an illumination unit 23H which may include light sources 23B. The light sources 23B may be the while LED light sources disclosed in detail hereinabove, and possibly, as disclosed in WO 01/15995., but may also be any other suitable miniature light sources known in the art. The CMOS imager 54 may be connected to a suitable power source 85 by suitable electrically conducting wires 92 connected to the power source 85. The CMOS imager 54 may be connected to suitable electrically conducting wires 82 for transmitting the image data to an external device (not shown) for further processing and for displaying of the acquired images.
It is noted that in accordance with another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the image data may be transmitted wirelessly to a receiver or a receiver/recorder, as is disclosed in detail for the autonomous in vivo imaging device 10A, and possibly, as disclosed in WO 01/65995. In such a case the device 80 may include an internal power source, a wireless transmitter (such as but not limited to the transmitters 26 or 26A of FIGS. 1, 6 and 7) and an antenna (such as but not limited to the antenna 27 of the device 10A).
If the angle α is smaller than 45�, and a correction is needed for the distortion in the image, the distortion may be corrected by the optical system 22C (or by the optical system disposed between the part 54A of the CMOS imager 54 and the mirror 55, if the alternative optical arrangement is being used). Alternatively, image distortion may be corrected computationally by suitably processing the image data in a post-acquisition step, as is known in the art.
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Gastrointest Endosc 1997;45:AB40.Referenced byCiting PatentFiling datePublication dateApplicantTitleUS8348836 *Nov 17, 2009Jan 8, 2013Hoya CorporationScanning endoscope, scanning endoscope processor, and scanning endoscope apparatusUS20090076331 *Sep 4, 2008Mar 19, 2009Vision - Sciences Inc.Compact endoscope tip and method for constructing sameUS20100125167 *Nov 17, 2009May 20, 2010Hoya CorporationScanning endoscope, scanning endoscope processor, and scanning endoscope apparatusUS20110105847 *Nov 2, 2010May 5, 2011Boston Scientific Scimed, Inc.Endoscope including a variable state optical member* Cited by examinerClassifications U.S. Classification600/130, 600/109, 600/160International ClassificationH04N5/225, H01L27/146, A61B5/07, H04N5/335, H01L27/14, A61B1/04, A61B1/00, G11C7/00, A61B1/05Cooperative ClassificationA61B1/00096, A61B1/041, A61B1/04European ClassificationA61B1/04C, A61B1/00E4H7, A61B1/04Legal EventsDateCodeEventDescriptionJan 21, 2009ASAssignmentOwner name: GIVEN IMAGING LTD., ISRAELFree format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:GLUKHOVSKY, ARKADY;MERON, GAVRIEL;REEL/FRAME:022131/0085Effective date: 20031228Owner name: GIVEN IMAGING LTD.,ISRAELFree format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:GLUKHOVSKY, ARKADY;MERON, GAVRIEL;REEL/FRAME:22131/85Owner name: GIVEN IMAGING LTD.,ISRAELFree format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:GLUKHOVSKY, ARKADY;MERON, GAVRIEL;REEL/FRAME:22131/85Effective date: 20031228Dec 23, 2013FPAYFee paymentYear of fee payment: 4RotateOriginal ImageGoogle Home - Sitemap - USPTO Bulk Downloads - Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - About Google Patents - Send FeedbackData provided by IFI CLAIMS Patent Services