Patent ID: 8489178

Claim:
A vein enhancer, for projecting an enhanced image of a patient's veins onto a target area of the patient to more easily perform a venipuncture, said vein enhancer comprising: a means to transmit a first wavelength of light on the target area, a means to capture an image formed by said light at said first wavelength being differentially absorbed and reflected by subcutaneous veins and surrounding tissue of the target area, said means to capture said image being further configured to output a signal representative of said image; a means to perform image processing of said image, said image processing comprising one or more analyses of the subcutaneous veins detected within said image and said one or more analyses at least comprising determining a depth of one or more of said detected veins; a means to project said image onto the target area using a second wavelength, with said detected veins in said image directly overlying the subcutaneous veins therein, said projection means further configured to selectively project data received from said one or more analyses onto the target area; wherein said means to perform image processing being further configured to vary an output intensity of said means to transmit a first wavelength.