A Novel In-Vivo Capsule Camera with High Resolution Optically Unwarpped 360-Degre

描述(申请人提供)：每年，仅在美国，胃肠道(GI)疾病就占办公室就诊人数的3000多万。胃肠道疾病在早期阶段很容易治愈，但很难诊断。常见的检查程序，如内窥镜检查，并不充分和可靠。据推测，内窥镜检查是为了检查消化道的壁。然而，现有的内窥镜视野有限。即使有一个侧窗可以看到部分胃肠道壁，也不能同时获得360°的全景。随后，有限的视野和看不到周围区域的能力可能会导致患者严重的不适或损害，因为需要转动整个内窥镜来“环视”，并导致遗漏潜在的疾病部位的不良后果，例如裂孔疝气、胃炎、溃疡、息肉、胃/结肠癌。这项SBIR工作的主要目标是开发一种新型的在体胶囊相机，称为Neo360 EyeTM，具有高分辨率光学无翘曲360？成像能力，基于这项SBIR的主要研究人员最近开发的前所未有的360？光学成像技术。拟议的Neo360 Eye首次提供同步和未扭曲的360？全景视野，而不使用任何移动部件。与任何现有的360？成像系统不同的是，捕获的原始360？图像必须经过数字去翘曲才能查看，建议中的Neo360 Eye的独特光学设计实现了前所未有的光学去翘曲能力，从而消除了数字重新采样带来的伪影，保留了原始图像质量，像素利用率提高了70%(充分利用分辨率，没有浪费像素)，并且不需要外部计算资源来执行数字去翘曲和后处理。 提出的Neo360TM Eye概念在360？成像技术领域开辟了一条全新的道路。建议的Neo360TM Eye产品将极大地提高胃肠道诊断和治疗的效率、准确性和患者的舒适感。它还将为记录、手术计划和培训提供一个独特的工具。由于其简单的结构和光学设计，Neo360 Eye可以在实际的野外使用环境中以低成本和高可靠性制造。360？成像领域提出的技术突破将激励许多研究人员和从业者重新思考视频图像的捕获方式，也将激励许多商业企业将这项优雅的技术推向市场。除了为现有的胶囊摄像技术和许多其他医疗诊断仪器(内窥镜、胃镜、膀胱镜、结肠镜等)带来跨越式的性能提升外，本文开发的360？成像技术的潜在应用范围包括管道检测、涡轮发动机诊断、智能交通系统、安全和监视、车辆导航、移动机器人、电话会议、虚拟现实产品、实时图像的在线分发、事件和地点查看、城市建模、娱乐、体育网络广播等许多领域。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Every year, diseases of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract account for more than 30 million office visits in the United States alone. GI tract disorders are easy to cure in their early stages but are difficult to diagnose. Common exam procedures, such as endoscopy, are not adequate and reliable. Supposedly, endoscopy is to exam the walls of the digestive tract. However, existing endoscopes have a limited field-of-view (FOV). Even with a side window to view a portion of GI tract walls, a 360¿ panoramic view cannot be obtained simultaneously. Subsequently, limited FOV and lack of ability to see 360¿ surrounding areas may cause significant discomfort or damage to patients due to the need for turning entire endoscope to "look around", and lead to undesirable consequence of missing potential sites of disorders, e.g. hiatal hernia, gastritis, ulcers, polyps, stomach/colon cancer. The primary objectives of this SBIR effort are to develop a novel in-vivo capsule camera, dubbed as the Neo360 EyeTM, with high resolution optically unwarpped 360¿ imaging capability based on the unprecedented 360¿ optical imaging technique recently developed by the principal investigator of this SBIR. The proposed Neo360 Eye offers, for the first time, a simultaneous and unwarpped 360¿ panoramic FOV without using any moving parts. Unlike any existing 360¿ imaging systems in which the captured original 360¿ images have to be digitally unwarpped to be viewable, the unique optical design of the proposed Neo360 Eye enables an unprecedented optical unwarpping capability, thus eliminating artifacts introduced by digital re-sampling, preserving original image quality, increasing pixel utilization by 70% (fully use resolution, no wasted pixels), and abolishing the need for external computing resources to perform digital unwarpping and post-processing. The proposed Neo360TM Eye concept blasts an entirely new trail in the 360¿ imaging technology field. The proposed Neo360TM Eye product will greatly increase the efficiency, accuracy, and patient's comfort in GI tract diagnosis and treatment. It will also provide a unique tool for documentation, surgery planning, and training. Due to its simple structural and optical design, the Neo360 Eye can be manufactured at low cost with high reliability for practical field use environment. The proposed technology breakthrough in 360¿ imaging will inspire many researchers and practitioners to rethink the way video images are captured, also will motivate many commercial ventures to bring this elegant technology into market places. In addition to produce leapfrog performance advances for the existing capsule camera technology and many other medical diagnosis instruments (endoscopes, gastroscope, cystoscope, colonscope, etc.), potential applications of 360¿ imaging technology developed herein span a broad spectrum of pipe inspection, turbine engine diagnosis, smart transportation systems, security and surveillance, vehicle navigation, mobile robotics, teleconferencing, virtual reality products, on-line distribution of live images, event and location viewing, urban modeling, entertainment, sports webcasts, and many others.