Process, system and software arrangement for determining at least one location in a sample using an optical coherence tomography

• US 8,081,316 B2
• Filed: 08/08/2005
• Issued: 12/20/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/06/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: The General Hospital Corporation (Mass General Brigham, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: The General Hospital Corporation (Mass General Brigham, Inc.)
• Inventors: de Boer, Johannes Fitzgerald, Park, Boris Hyle
• Primary Examiner(s): LEE, HWA S
• Application Number:
  US11/200,228
• Publication Number:
  US 20060039004A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,325 Days
• Field of Search: 356/479, 356/497
• US Class Current: 356/497
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/1005 for measuring distances inside the eye, e.g. thickness of the cornea A61B3/11 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/102 for optical coherence tomography [OCT]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/1225 using coherent radiation
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 2290/45 Multiple detectors for detecting interferometer signals
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 2290/70 Using polarization in the interferometer
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 9/02004 using frequency scans
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 9/02011 using temporal polarization variation
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 9/02044 Imaging in the frequency domain, e.g. by using a spectrometer
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 9/02067 by electronic control systems, i.e. using feedback acting on optics or light
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 9/02068 Auto-alignment of optical elements
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 9/02069 Synchronization of light source or manipulator and detector
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 9/02083 characterised by particular signal processing and presentation
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 9/02091 Tomographic interferometers, e.g. based on optical coherence
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/4795 spatially resolved investigating of object in scattering medium in vivo A61B

Abstract

A system, process and software arrangement are provided to determine at least one position of at least one portion of a sample. In particular, information associated with the portion of the sample is obtained. Such portion may be associated with an interference signal that includes a first electromagnetic radiation received from the sample and a second electro-magnetic radiation received from a reference. In addition, depth information and/or lateral information of the portion of the sample, may be obtained. At least one weight function can be applied to the depth information and/or the lateral information so as to generate resulting information. Further, a surface position, a lateral position and/or a depth position of the portion of the sample may be ascertained based on the resulting information.

Claims

1. A system to determine at least one position of at least one portion of a sample, comprising:

a computer processing arrangement which obtains information associated with the at least one portion of the sample, the at least one portion being associated with an interference signal that includes a first electro-magnetic radiation received from the sample and a second electro-magnetic radiation received from a reference, wherein the computer processing arrangement further;

I. obtains at least one of depth information or lateral information of the at least one portion of the sample,

II. applies at least one weight function to the at least one of the depth information or the lateral information so as to generate resulting information,

III. ascertains a particular information which is at least one of a surface position, a lateral position or a depth position of the at least one portion of the sample based on the resulting information, and

IIIA. modifies a length of the reference based on the particular information.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the depth information or the lateral information includes flow information within the at least one portion of the sample.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the depth information or the lateral information includes at least one of birefringence information and polarization information associated with the at least one portion of the sample.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the depth information or the lateral information includes spectroscopic information of the at least one portion of the sample.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein, after ascertaining the particular information, the processing arrangement:

IV. at least one of estimates or predicts at least one of the surface position, the lateral position and the depth position as a function of the particular information.

6. The system according to claim 5, wherein the processing arrangement:

V. performs at least one of procedures (I)-(IIIA) to obtain a set of data associated with the particular information; and

VI. performs procedure (IV) based on the set of data.

7. The system according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the depth information or the lateral information includes intensity information of the at least one portion of the sample.

8. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a delay arrangement associated with at least one of the sample and the reference, and which facilitates variable transmissive optical paths therein.

9. The system according to claim 1, wherein at least a section of a particular path of the at least one of the sample and the reference is non-reciprocal.

10. The system according to claim 1, wherein the reference receives radiation via a path that is different from a path along which the radiation is transmitted from the reference.

11. The system according to claim 9, wherein the reference is a transmissive reference.

12. The system according to claim 1 , wherein, after modifying the length, the computer processing arrangement performs at least one of procedures (I)-(IIIA) based on a new position of the reference.

13. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the computer processing arrangement modifies the length of the reference using a controllable parameter.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein the controllable parameter is a responsiveness parameter which is used to dynamically control a level of modification of the length of the reference.

15. The system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one portion includes a feature of the sample, and wherein the computer processing arrangement determines the lateral position of the feature.

16. The system according to claim 1, wherein the lateral information includes flow information within the at least one portion of the sample.

17. The system according to claim 1, wherein the lateral information includes at least one of birefringence information and polarization information associated with the at least one portion of the sample.

18. The system according to claim 1, wherein the lateral information includes spectroscopic information of the at least one portion of the sample.

19. The system according to claim 1, wherein the lateral information includes intensity information of the at least one portion of the sample.

20. The system according to claim 1, wherein the computer processing arrangement modifies a lateral scan range of the sample based on the lateral position.

21. The system according to claim 20, wherein, after modifying the lateral scan range, the computer processing arrangement performs at least one of procedures (I)-(III) based on a new lateral scan range.

22. The system according to claim 14, wherein the computer processing arrangement modifies the lateral scan range using a controllable parameter.

23. The system according to claim 22, wherein the controllable parameter is a responsiveness parameter which is used to dynamically control a level of modification of the lateral scan range.

24. The system according to claim 1, wherein the computer processing arrangement generates an image of the at least one portion of the sample based on at least one of the depth information or the lateral information of the at least one portion of the sample, and wherein the modification of the length of the reference is performed during the generation of the image.

25. A process to determine at least one position of at least one portion of a sample, comprising:

obtaining information associated with the at least one portion of the sample, the at least one portion being associated with an interference signal that includes a first electro-magnetic radiation received from the sample and a second electro-magnetic radiation received from a reference;

obtaining at least one of depth information or lateral information of the at least one portion of the sample;

applying at least one weight function to the at least one of the depth information or the lateral information so as to generate resulting information;

with a computer arrangement, ascertaining a particular information which is at least one of a surface position, a lateral position or a depth position of the at least one portion of the sample based on the resulting information; and

modifying a length of the reference based on the particular information.

26. The method according to claim 25, further comprising generating an image of the at least one portion of the sample based on at least one of the depth information or the lateral information of the at least one portion of the sample, and wherein the modification of the length of the reference is performed during the generation of the image.

27. A software arrangement stored on a hardware storage arrangement and adapted to determine at least one position of at least one portion of a sample, comprising:

a first set of instructions which, when executed by a computer processing arrangement, obtains information associated with the at least one portion of the sample, the at least one portion being associated with an interference signal that includes a first electro-magnetic radiation received from the sample and a second electro-magnetic radiation received from a reference;

a second set of instructions which, when executed by the computer processing arrangement, obtains at least one of depth information or lateral information of the at least one portion of the sample;

a third set of instructions which, when executed by the computer processing arrangement, applies at least one weight function to the at least one of the depth information or the lateral information so as to generate resulting information;

a fourth set of instructions which, when executed by the computer processing arrangement, ascertains a particular information which is at least one of a surface position, a lateral position or a depth position of the at least one portion of the sample based on the resulting information; and

a further set of instructions which, when executed by the computer processing arrangement, causes a modification of a length of the reference based on the particular information.

28. The software arrangement according to claim 27, wherein at least one of the depth information or the lateral information includes flow information within the at least one portion of the sample.

29. The software arrangement according to claim 27, wherein at least one of the depth information or the lateral information includes at least one of birefringence information and polarization information associated with the at least one portion of the sample.

30. The software arrangement according to claim 27, wherein at least one of the depth information or the lateral information includes spectroscopic information of the at least one portion of the sample.

31. The software arrangement according to claim 27, wherein the depth information includes intensity information of the at least one portion of the sample.

32. The software arrangement according to claim 27, further comprising a fifth set of instructions which, when executed by the computer processing arrangement, after the particular information is ascertained, at least one of estimates or predicts at least one of the surface position, the lateral position and the depth position as a function of the particular information.

33. The software arrangement according to claim 32, wherein at least one of second through fourth sets of instructions are executed to obtain a set of data associated with the particular information, and wherein the fourth set is executed based on the set of data.

34. The software arrangement according to claim 27, wherein at least one of the depth information or the lateral information includes intensity information of the at least one portion of the sample.

35. The software arrangement according to claim 27, further comprising a delay arrangement associated with at least one the sample and the reference, and facilitates variable transmissive optical paths therein.

36. The software arrangement according to claim 27, wherein at least a section of a particular path of the at least one of the sample and the reference is non-reciprocal.

37. The software arrangement according to claim 27, wherein the reference receives radiation via a path that is different from a path along which the radiation is transmitted from the reference.

38. The software arrangement according to claim 36, wherein the reference is a transmissive reference.

39. The software arrangement according to claim 27, wherein, after modifying the length, at least one of second through fourth sets are executed based on a new position of the reference.

40. The software arrangement according to claim 27, further comprising an eighth set of instructions which, when executed by the computer processing arrangement, modifies the length of the reference using a controllable parameter.

41. The software arrangement according to claim 40, wherein the controllable parameter is a responsiveness parameter which is used to dynamically control a level of modification of the length of the reference.

42. The software arrangement according to claim 27, wherein the at least one portion includes a feature of the sample, and wherein the computer processing arrangement is configured to determine the lateral position of the feature.

43. The software arrangement according to claim 27, wherein the lateral information includes flow information within the at least one portion of the sample.

44. The system according to claim 27, wherein the lateral information includes at least one of birefringence information and polarization information associated with the at least one portion of the sample.

45. The software arrangement according to claim 27, wherein the lateral information includes spectroscopic information of the at least one portion of the sample.

46. The system according to claim 27, wherein the lateral information includes intensity information of the at least one portion of the sample.

47. The software arrangement according to claim 27, further comprising a eighth set of instructions which, when executed by the computer processing arrangement, modifies a lateral scan range of the sample based on the lateral position.

48. The software arrangement according to claim 47, wherein, after modifying the lateral scan range, the second through fourth sets are executed based on a new lateral scan range.

49. The software arrangement according to claim 27, further comprising a ninth set of instructions which, when executed by the computer processing arrangement, modifies the lateral scan range using controllable parameter.

50. The software arrangement according to claim 49, wherein the controllable parameter is a responsiveness parameter which is used to dynamically control a level of modification of the lateral scan range.

51. The software arrangement according to claim 27, further comprising a ninth set of instructions which, when executed by the computer processing arrangement, generates an image of the at least one portion of the sample based on at least one of the depth information or the lateral information of the at least one portion of the sample, and wherein the modification of the length of the reference is performed during the generation of the image.