Patent ID: 8228368

Claim:
A robotic surgical system comprising: an illumination channel, held and positioned by the robotic surgical system, wherein light from the illumination channel illuminates tissue; a stereoscopic optical channel, held and positioned by the robotic surgical system, configured to transport first light from the tissue; another optical channel, held and positioned by the robotic surgical system, configured to transport second light from the tissue wherein the stereoscopic optical channel is different from the another optical channel; an image capture system comprising: a first capture unit coupled to the stereoscopic optical channel wherein the first capture unit captures a stereoscopic visible image from the first light; and a second capture unit coupled to the another optical channel wherein the second capture unit captures a fluorescence image from the second light; an image processing system coupled to the first capture unit and to the second capture unit to receive the stereoscopic visible image and to receive the fluorescence image, wherein the image processing system is configured to use information associated with the fluorescence image to generate a first fluorescence image and to generate a second fluorescence image, and wherein the first fluorescence image and the second fluorescence image comprise a stereoscopic pair of fluorescence images; and an augmented stereoscopic display system coupled to the intelligent image processing system and to the image capture system, wherein the augmented stereoscopic display system outputs a stereoscopic image comprising a blend of the stereoscopic visible image and the stereoscopic pair of fluorescence images; wherein the augmented stereoscopic display system further comprises: a first blend circuit coupled to receive one of the first and second fluorescence images in the stereoscopic pair of fluorescence images, and to receive a visible left image of the stereoscopic visible image; a second blend circuit coupled to receive another one of the first and second fluorescence images in the stereoscopic pair of fluorescence images, and to receive a visible right image of the stereoscopic visible image; and a stereoscopic display coupled to the first blend circuit and to the second blend circuit.