CHARACTERIZATION OF MOVING OBJECTS IN A STATIONARY BACKGROUND
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system for determination and mapping the quantity of chromophores having a distinct spectrum attached to moving objects in an spectrally rich environment that may include multiple chromophores attached to stationary objects. An area of inters is imaged at different times and different wavelengths, and the spectral properties of the or more chromophores attached to the moving objects are separated from the stationary spectral properties of the background, followed by spectral analysis of the moving objects to determine their quantity. Application to the retinal vasculature is illustrated, showing the imaging, analyzing and quantifying of the oxygen saturation of retinal blood, resolved for the different vascular compartments—capillaries, arterioles, venules, arteries, and veins. Changes in the structure of the vascular environment are also determined, whether growth of new vessels or the elimination of existing ones, by the generation of path maps based on analysis of differential images taken at a single wavelength of the moving components in the blood flow.
67 Citations
51 Claims
-
1-12. -12. (canceled)
-
13. A method for characterizing material movement in an essentially stationary and unchanging spectral background, comprising the steps of:
-
(i) producing at predetermined intervals of time, at least two images of said material in said background at a predetermined wavelength;
(ii) comparing at least among each other, images obtained from at least one set of at least two of said at least two images for determining regions of said images having a changed intensity level over at least one of said predetermined intervals of time;
(iii) superimposing said regions of said images in order to generate at least one path map of said material; and
(iv) comparing said at least one path map with a previously obtained path map to determine changes in paths present in said background. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
-
-
22. A method for characterizing material movement in an essentially stationary and unchanging spectral background, comprising the steps of:
-
(i) producing at predetermined intervals of time, at least two images of said material in said background at a predetermined wavelength;
(ii) comparing at least among each other, images obtained from at least one set of at least two of said at least two images for determining regions of said images having a changed intensity level over at least one of said predetermined intervals of time;
(iii) superimposing said regions of said images in order to generate at least one path map of said material; and
(iv) inspecting said at least one path map to determine the characteristics of paths present in said background. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
-
-
31-42. -42. (canceled)
-
43. A system for analyzing tissue of a subject, comprising:
-
(i) a light source for illuminating said tissue;
(ii) an imager for acquiring at predetermined intervals of time, at least two images of said tissue;
(iv) a discriminator comparing at least among each other, images obtained from at least one set of at least two of said at least two images, and determining regions of changed intensity level; and
(v) a superpositioner for generating at least one map of vascular path positions from said regions of changed intensity level. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45, 46, 47)
-
-
48. A system for characterizing material movement in an essentially stationary and unchanging spectral background comprising:
-
(i) a light source for illuminating said material and its background;
(ii) an imager for acquiring at predetermined intervals of time, at least two images of said material and its background;
(iv) a discriminator comparing at least among each other, images obtained from at least one set of at least two of said at least two images, and determining regions of changed intensity level; and
(v) a superpositioner for generating at least one path map of said material from said regions of changed intensity level. - View Dependent Claims (49, 50, 51)
-
Specification