System and method for displaying an image stream

• US 20040027500A1
• Filed: 07/02/2003
• Published: 02/12/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Given Imaging Limited (Medtronic Plc)
• Original Assignee: Given Imaging Limited (Medtronic Plc)
• Inventors: Krupnik, Hagai, Iddan, Gavriel J., Horn, Eli, Rabinovitz, Raphael, Skala, Michael, Davidson, Tal
• Granted Patent: US 7,474,327 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/809
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/00045 Display arrangement
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/0005 combining images e.g. side-by-side, superimposed or tiled
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/041 Capsule endoscopes for imaging

Abstract

A system and method may display an image stream, where an original image stream may be divided into two or more subset images streams, each subset image stream being displayed simultaneously or substantially simultaneously. Post processing may be used to fuse images shown simultaneously or substantially simultaneously. The images may be collected from an ingestible capsule traversing the GI tract.

Claims

1. A method for displaying an image stream, the method comprising:

displaying an original image stream as a plurality of subset image streams, at least one of the plurality of the subset image streams including at least a portion of the original image stream.

31. The method according to claim 1 comprising:

obtaining an image stream containing at least one circular image; and

generating an at least partially shape-distorted image from at least one circular image.

32. The method according to claim 31 wherein the shape-distorted image is selected from a group including:

square, hexagonal, octagonal, sector-shaped, and near-sector-shaped image.

33. The method according to claim 31 wherein the shape-distorted image is generated from a group including:

linear shape distortion, non-linear shape distortion, and truncation.

35. The method according to claim 31 comprising:

defining at least one array of image data along at least one radius of the circular image; and

re-mapping the at least one array of image data along at least one direction of the at least one radius

36. The method according to claim 31 comprising displaying the plurality of subset image streams as a stream of substantially fused images.

37. The method according to claim 36 wherein the stream of substantially fused images comprises at least one substantially fused image.

38. The method according to claim 37 comprising generating the at least one substantially fused image from at least two images.

39. The method according to claim 38 wherein one of the at least two images is an at least partially shape-distorted image.

2. A method for displaying an image stream, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of image streams, each image stream acquired by an imager; and

displaying substantially simultaneously a set of the image streams.

3. A method for displaying an image stream, the method comprising:

displaying an original image stream as a plurality of subset image streams, at least one of the plurality of the subset image streams including at least a portion of the original image stream; and

displaying the plurality of subset image streams as a stream of substantially fused images.

4. A method according to claim 3 further comprising the step of:

generating the stream of substantially fused images from the plurality of subset image streams displayed substantially simultaneously.

5. The method according to claim 3 wherein the stream of substantially fused images comprises at least one substantially fused image.

6. The method according to claim 3 further comprising the step of:

generating at least one substantially fused image from at least two images.

7. The method according to claim 6 wherein the at least two images appear consecutively in the original image stream.

8. The method according to claim 6 wherein the at least two images share at least one spectral characteristic.

9. The method according to claim 8 wherein the spectral characteristic is selected from a group including:

hue, saturation, and intensity.

10. The method according to claim 6 wherein the at least two images appear in at least two different original image streams.

11. The method according to claim 3 wherein the images in the original image stream have a shape selected from the group including:

square, rectangle, hexagon, octagon, and circle.

12. The method according to claim 5 wherein the at least one substantially fused image has a shape selected from the group including:

square, rectangle, cross, and honeycomb structured, flower shaped.

13. The method according to claim 3 further comprising the step of performing post-processing on at least one section of one image in the plurality of subset image streams.

14. The method according to claim 13 wherein the post processing is selected from a group including:

smoothing convolution, mirroring, overlapping, linear fade-out, fade in, non-linear fade-out fade-in, truncation, linear shape distortion, and non-linear shape distortion, normalization on intensity.

15. The method according to claim 3 further comprising displaying at least two images from the plurality of subset image streams substantially simultaneously and side by side.

16. The method according to claim 3 further comprising displaying at least two images from the plurality of subset image streams substantially simultaneously and at least partially overlapping.

17. The method according to claim 3 further comprising the step of displaying at least two images from the plurality of subset image streams substantially simultaneously and with a pre-defined space between said at least two images.

18. The method according to claim 17 further comprising the step of filling the space between said at least two images with at least one color.

19. The method according to claim 3 further comprising the steps of:

defining a relative position of at least two images from the plurality of subset image streams displayed substantially simultaneously; and

defining at least juxtaposed edges of the at least two images.

20. The method according to claim 19 further comprising:

performing a smoothing convolution on the at least juxtaposed edges of the at least two images; and

displaying the at least two images with the smoothing convolution.

21. The method according to claim 19 further comprising the steps of:

performing fade-out in intensity substantially near the at least juxtaposed edges of the at least two images;

at least partially overlapping the at least said two images, thereby obtaining at least one overlapping region; and

defining the overlapping region as a sum of at least two juxtaposed edges; and

normalizing intensity in said overlapping region.

22. The method according to claim 19 further comprising the steps of:

mirroring the juxtaposed edges;

performing fade-out in intensity on the said mirroring regions thereby obtaining faded-out mirroring regions;

overlapping the said faded-out mirroring regions; and

defining overlapping as a normalized sum of the faded-out mirrored regions.

23. The method according to claim 3 further comprising the step of:

generating at least two hexagonal images from the plurality of subset image streams.

24. The method according to claim 23 wherein the step of generating at least two hexagonal images includes at least truncating at least two images from the plurality of subset image streams so as to obtain at least two hexagonal images.

25. The method according to claim 23 wherein the step of generating at least two hexagonal images comprises distorting at least two images from the plurality of subset image streams so as to obtain at least two hexagonal images.

26. The method according to claim 23 wherein the stream of substantially fused images comprises at least one hexagonal image.

27. The method according to claim 26 further comprising displaying the plurality of subset image streams as a stream of images fused in a honeycomb structure.

28. The method according to claim 3 comprising:

obtaining an image stream containing circular images; and

defining hexagonal areas inside at least two circular images.

29. The method according to claim 28 comprising positioning the at least two circular images so that at least two edges of the hexagonal areas touch.

30. The method according to claim 28 comprising positioning the at least two circular images so that at least two edges of the hexagonal areas overlap.

40. The method according to claim 3 comprising defining a frequency of the stream of substantially fused images.

41. The method according to claim 3 comprising streaming the stream of substantially fused images.

42. The method according to claim 41 wherein streaming the stream of substantially fused images is selected from a group including:

video streaming, horizontal scrolling, and vertical scrolling.

34. The method according to 31 comprising:

defining at least one circular image as a function in Cartesian coordinates;

transforming the function to a polar coordinate function;

defining a ring with image data along an outer perimeter of the circular image; and

re-mapping image data from the ring.

43. A method for displaying an image stream, the method comprising:

accepting a plurality of image streams acquired by an image capture device;

fusing the plurality of image streams; and

displaying a fused image stream.

44. A display for displaying a fused image stream generated from at least two subset image streams, each subset image stream including at least images from an original image stream.

45. A system for displaying an image stream, the system comprising:

an image capture device;

an image storage means for accepting an original image stream;

a processing means for generating a plurality of subset image streams and fusing said subset images stream into a fused image stream; and

an image display means for displaying said fused image stream.

46. The system of claim 45 wherein the image capture device is configured for capturing images in a shape selected from the group consisting of:

circle, square, rectangle, hexagon, and octagon.

47. The system of claim 45 wherein the image capture device is an ingestible capsule.

48. The system of claim 45 wherein the images are images from a body lumen.

49. The system of claim 45 wherein the images are images from a gastrointestinal tract.

50. A system for displaying an image stream, the system comprising:

an image storage memory capable of accepting images acquired by an image capture device, the images forming an original image stream, said original image stream including at least one circular image;

a processing means for generating an at least partially shape-distorted image from at least one circular image; and

an image display controller capable of displaying substantially simultaneously at least two subset image streams, each subset image stream including at least partially shape-distorted images from the original image stream.