Patent Document ID: 7894648
Application ID: 11454561
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A system for evaluating objective quality of a colonoscopy procedure performed with an endoscope having a camera, comprising: an input for receiving information representative of the colonoscopy procedure, including colonoscopy images of the inner lining of a human colon, including colon mucosa; a processor coupled to the input to process the images of the colon, generate data representative of the colonoscopy procedure, and compute a set of quality metrics representative of the quality of the colonoscopy procedure as a function of the colonoscopy procedure data, the set of quality metrics including: a) withdrawal time, wherein the withdrawal time is representative of a duration of a withdrawal phase during which the endoscope is withdrawn from the colon, b) clear withdrawal time, wherein the clear withdrawal time is representative of the withdrawal time less a duration of non-informative images, c) number of camera motion direction changes, d) ratio of the number of camera motion direction changes to clear withdrawal time, and e) close-global inspection ratio, wherein the close-global inspection ratio is representative of a ratio of colon wall view images to colon lumen view images; and an output coupled to the processor for outputting the computed quality metrics.