Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080297593 | Rendering for an Interactive 360 Degree Light Field Display - An interactive, autostereoscopic system for displaying an object in 3D includes a mirror configured to spin around a vertical axis when actuated by a motor, a high speed video projector, and a processing system including a graphics card interfaced to the video projector. An anisotropic reflector is bonded onto an inclined surface of the mirror. The video projector projects video signals of the object from the projector onto the inclined surface of the mirror while the mirror is spinning, so that light rays representing the video signals are redirected toward a field of view of a 360 degree range. The processing system renders the redirected light rays so as to interactively generate a horizontal-parallax 3D display of the object. Vertical parallax can be included in the display by adjusting vertically the displayed views of the object, in response to tracking of viewer motion by a tracking system. | 12-04-2008 |
20090052838 | Electrically controlled optical elements and method - The configuration of an optical system can be electronically controlled using switchable wave plates in conjunction with polarized light. | 02-26-2009 |
20090268015 | AUGMENTED STEREOSCOPIC VISUALIZATION FOR A SURGICAL ROBOT - A robotic surgical system positions and holds an endoscope. A visible imaging system is coupled to the endoscope. The visible imaging system captures a visible image of tissue. An alternate imaging system is also coupled to the endoscope. The alternate imaging system captures a fluorescence image of at least a portion of the tissue. A stereoscopic video display system is coupled to the visible imaging system and to the alternate imaging system. The stereoscopic video display system outputs a real-time stereoscopic image comprising a three-dimensional presentation of a blend of a fluorescence image associated with the captured fluorescence image, and the visible image. | 10-29-2009 |
20090270678 | AUGMENTED STEREOSCOPIC VISUALIZATION FOR A SURGICAL ROBOT USING TIME DUPLEXING - An endoscope with a stereoscopic optical channel is again held and positioned by a robotic surgical system. A capture unit captures (1) at a first time, a first image from light from the channel; and (2) at a second time different from the first time, a second image from the light. Only one of the first image and the second image includes a combination of a fluorescence image and a visible image. The other of the first image and the second image is a visible image. An intelligent image processing system generates an artificial fluorescence image using the captured fluorescence image. An augmented stereoscopic display system outputs an augmented stereoscopic image of at least a portion of the tissue comprising the artificial fluorescence image. | 10-29-2009 |
20100104018 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND COMPUTER-ACCESSIBLE MEDIUM FOR PROVIDING BODY SIGNATURE RECOGNITION - Provided and described herein are, e.g., exemplary embodiments of systems, methods, procedures, devices, computer-accessible media, computing arrangements and processing arrangements in accordance with the present disclosure related to body signature recognition and acoustic speaker verification utilizing body language features. For example, certain exemplary embodiments can include a computer-accessible medium containing executable instructions thereon. When one or more computing arrangements executes the instructions, the computing arrangement(s) can be configured to perform certain exemplary procedures, including (i) receiving first information relating to one or more visual features from a video, (ii) determining second information relating to motion vectors as a function of the first information, and (iii) computing a statistical representation of a plurality of frames of the video based on the second information. Further, the computing arrangement(s) can be configured to provide the statistical representation to a display device and/or recording the statistical representation on a computer-accessible medium, for example. | 04-29-2010 |
20100250000 | OPTIC FIBER CONNECTION FOR A FORCE SENSING INSTRUMENT - In one embodiment, a surgical instrument includes a housing linkable with a manipulator arm of a robotic surgical system, a shaft operably coupled to the housing, a force transducer on a distal end of the shaft, and a plurality of fiber optic strain gauges on the force transducer. In one example, the plurality of strain gauges are operably coupled to a fiber optic splitter or an arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) multiplexer. A fiber optic connector is operably coupled to the fiber optic splitter or the AWG multiplexer. A wrist joint is operably coupled to a distal end of the force transducer, and an end effector is operably coupled to the wrist joint. In another embodiment, a robotic surgical manipulator includes a base link operably coupled to a distal end of a manipulator positioning system, and a distal link movably coupled to the base link, wherein the distal link includes an instrument interface and a fiber optic connector optically linkable to a surgical instrument. A method of passing data between an instrument and a manipulator via optical connectors is also provided. | 09-30-2010 |
20110082369 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR DISPLAYING ENHANCED IMAGING DATA ON A CLINICAL IMAGE - In one embodiment of the invention, an apparatus includes a display device. The display device displays a desaturated image of tissue captured in the visible electro-magnetic (EM) spectrum from a body cavity; and a first color enhanced image combined with the desaturated image. The first color enhanced image represents the first data captured from the body cavity outside the visible electromagnetic spectrum. The relative brightness between the desaturated image and the first color enhanced image is set to emphasize the first data over the tissue captured in the visible electromagnetic spectrum to provide improved information content. | 04-07-2011 |
20120002012 | IMAGING MODE BLOOMING SUPPRESSION - A minimally invasive surgical includes a scene anti-bloom process that allows switching between imaging modes on a stereoscopic display without causing a surgeon to look-away or being momentarily distracted by sudden changes in overall scene luminance. The process receives a switch from a first imaging mode to a second imaging mode. An overall scene luminance of a scene in the first imaging mode is less than an overall scene luminance of a scene in the second imaging mode. The process delays the switch to the second imaging mode until after an illumination output level of a visible illumination source has changed to a higher output level, and then switches to the second imaging mode. | 01-05-2012 |
20120002956 | DUAL OPTICAL PATH PRISM AND CAMERA IN A MINIMALLY INVASIVE SURGICAL SYSTEM - In a minimally invasive surgical system, a camera includes a prismatic element having a lens within the prismatic element. The lens corrects the resulting image focus for the non-visible light to make it substantially the same as the focus for the visible light. Alternatively, the lens corrects the resulting image focus for the visible light to make it substantially the same as the focus for the non-visible light. | 01-05-2012 |
20120004508 | SURGICAL ILLUMINATOR WITH DUAL SPECTRUM FLUORESCENCE - In a minimally invasive surgical system, an illuminator includes a visible color component illumination source and a hardware non-visible fluorescence emission illumination source. Thus, the illuminator outputs target image illumination light in a first spectrum where the first spectrum includes at least a portion of the visible spectrum. The illuminator also outputs target image illumination light in a second spectrum, where the second spectrum includes non-visible light with a wavelength the same as a wavelength in an emission from a fluorophore. | 01-05-2012 |
20120004557 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR FLUORESCENT IMAGING WITH BACKGROUND SURGICAL IMAGE COMPOSED OF SELECTIVE ILLUMINATION SPECTRA - A surgical site is simultaneously illuminated by less than all the visible color components that make up visible white light, and a fluorescence excitation illumination component by an illuminator in a minimally invasive surgical system. An image capture system acquires an image for each of the visible color components illuminating the surgical site and a fluorescence image, which is excited by the fluorescence excitation component from the illuminator. The minimally invasive surgical system uses the acquired images to generate a background black and white image of the surgical site. The acquired fluorescence image is superimposed on the background black and white image, and is highlighted in a selected color, e.g., green. The background black and white image with the superimposed highlighted fluorescence image is displayed for a user of the system. The highlighted fluorescence image identifies tissue of clinical interest. | 01-05-2012 |
20130038689 | IMAGE CAPTURE UNIT AND METHOD WITH AN EXTENDED DEPTH OF FIELD - In a minimally invasive surgical system, an image capture unit includes a prism assembly and sensor assembly. The prism assembly includes a beam splitter, while the sensor assembly includes coplanar image capture sensors. Each of the coplanar image capture sensors has a common front end optical structure, e.g., the optical structure distal to the image capture unit is the same for each of the sensors. A controller enhances images acquired by the coplanar image capture sensors. The enhanced images may include (a) visible images with enhanced feature definition, in which a particular feature in the scene is emphasized to the operator of minimally invasive surgical system; (b) images having increased image apparent resolution; (c) images having increased dynamic range; (d) images displayed in a way based on a pixel color component vector having three or more color components; and (e) images having extended depth of field. | 02-14-2013 |
20130041215 | FEATURE DIFFERENTIATION IMAGE CAPTURE UNIT AND METHOD IN A SURGICAL INSTRUMENT - In a minimally invasive surgical system, an image capture unit includes a prism assembly and sensor assembly. The prism assembly includes a beam splitter, while the sensor assembly includes coplanar image capture sensors. Each of the coplanar image capture sensors has a common front end optical structure, e.g., the optical structure distal to the image capture unit is the same for each of the sensors. A controller enhances images acquired by the coplanar image capture sensors. The enhanced images may include (a) visible images with enhanced feature definition, in which a particular feature in the scene is emphasized to the operator of minimally invasive surgical system; (b) images having increased image apparent resolution; (c) images having increased dynamic range; (d) images displayed in a way based on a pixel color component vector having three or more color components; and (e) images having extended depth of field. | 02-14-2013 |
20130041216 | INCREASED RESOLUTION AND DYNAMIC RANGE IMAGE CAPTURE UNIT IN A SURGICAL INSTRUMENT AND METHOD - In a minimally invasive surgical system, an image capture unit includes a prism assembly and sensor assembly. The prism assembly includes a beam splitter, while the sensor assembly includes coplanar image capture sensors. Each of the coplanar image capture sensors has a common front end optical structure, e.g., the optical structure distal to the image capture unit is the same for each of the sensors. A controller enhances images acquired by the coplanar image capture sensors. The enhanced images may include (a) visible images with enhanced feature definition, in which a particular feature in the scene is emphasized to the operator of minimally invasive surgical system; (b) images having increased image apparent resolution; (c) images having increased dynamic range; (d) images displayed in a way based on a pixel color component vector having three or more color components; and (e) images having extended depth of field. | 02-14-2013 |
20130041221 | IMAGE CAPTURE UNIT AND AN IMAGING PIPELINE WITH ENHANCED COLOR PERFORMANCE IN A SURGICAL INSTRUMENT AND METHOD - In a minimally invasive surgical system, an image capture unit includes a prism assembly and sensor assembly. The prism assembly includes a beam splitter, while the sensor assembly includes coplanar image capture sensors. Each of the coplanar image capture sensors has a common front end optical structure, e.g., the optical structure distal to the image capture unit is the same for each of the sensors. A controller enhances images acquired by the coplanar image capture sensors. The enhanced images may include (a) visible images with enhanced feature definition, in which a particular feature in the scene is emphasized to the operator of minimally invasive surgical system; (b) images having increased image apparent resolution; (c) images having increased dynamic range; (d) images displayed in a way based on a pixel color component vector having three or more color components; and (e) images having extended depth of field. | 02-14-2013 |
20130041226 | IMAGE CAPTURE UNIT IN A SURGICAL INSTRUMENT - In a minimally invasive surgical system, an image capture unit includes a prism assembly and sensor assembly. The prism assembly includes a beam splitter, while the sensor assembly includes coplanar image capture sensors. Each of the coplanar image capture sensors has a common front end optical structure, e.g., the optical structure distal to the image capture unit is the same for each of the sensors. A controller enhances images acquired by the coplanar image capture sensors. The enhanced images may include (a) visible images with enhanced feature definition, in which a particular feature in the scene is emphasized to the operator of minimally invasive surgical system; (b) images having increased image apparent resolution; (c) images having increased dynamic range; (d) images displayed in a way based on a pixel color component vector having three or more color components; and (e) images having extended depth of field. | 02-14-2013 |
20130331650 | Optic Fiber Connection for a Force Sensing Instrument - A surgical instrument that includes a housing linkable with a manipulator arm of a robotic surgical system, a shaft coupled to the housing, a force transducer on a distal end of the shaft, and a plurality of fiber optic strain gauges on the force transducer is disclosed. The plurality of strain gauges are coupled to a fiber optic splitter or an arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) multiplexer, which can be coupled to a fiber optic connector. A wrist joint coupled to an end effector is coupled to a distal end of the force transducer. A robotic surgical manipulator that includes a base link coupled to a distal end of a manipulator positioning system, and a distal link with an instrument interface, and a fiber optic connector optically linkable to a surgical instrument. A method of passing data between an instrument and a manipulator via optical connectors is also provided. | 12-12-2013 |
20140268356 | DYNAMIC FIELD OF VIEW THROTTLING AS A MEANS OF IMPROVING USER EXPERIENCE IN HEAD MOUNTED VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS - A head-mounted display (HMD) allows a user to view a virtual environment. The HMD displays a field of view to the user. However, the user may experience simulator sickness or motion sickness from viewing the field of view. The HMD is connected to a sensor which can monitor the user. By monitoring the user's physiological state, the user's simulator sickness can be detected or predicted. To reduce the negative effects, the field of view can be throttled. The field of view can also be throttled in order to provide a better user experience even if the user does not experience sickness. | 09-18-2014 |
20140327748 | RENDERING FOR AN INTERACTIVE 360 DEGREE LIGHT FIELD DISPLAY - An interactive, autostereoscopic system for displaying an object in 3D includes a mirror configured to spin around a vertical axis when actuated by a motor, a high speed video projector, and a processing system including a graphics card interfaced to the video projector. An anisotropic reflector is bonded onto an inclined surface of the mirror. The video projector projects video signals of the object from the projector onto the inclined surface of the mirror while the mirror is spinning, so that light rays representing the video signals are redirected toward a field of view of a 360 degree range. The processing system renders the redirected light rays so as to interactively generate a horizontal-parallax 3D display of the object. Vertical parallax can be included in the display by adjusting vertically the displayed views of the object, in response to tracking of viewer motion by a tracking system. | 11-06-2014 |