Image capture and video processing systems and methods for multiple viewing element endoscopes
First Claim
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1. A daisy chain multiple sensor system comprising a plurality of daisy chained image sensors, wherein at least one of said daisy chained image sensors comprises:
- a sensor array to capture images and generate video packets from said captured images;
a compression unit to compress said video packets and generate compressed video packets;
a self-packet buffer configured to store said compressed video packets;
a de-serializer unit configured to receive serialized video packets from a previous-in-chain image sensor and convert said serialized video packets to parallel video packets;
a chained packet buffer configured to store said parallel video packets corresponding to the previous-in-chain image sensor;
an arbitration unit configured to interleave the video packets stored in the self-packet buffer and the chained packet buffer;
a serial unit to serially output the interleaved video packets, wherein the serial unit is configured to transfer serial data at bitrates that depend on a position of the at least one of said daisy chained image sensors in the daisy chained multiple sensor system, and wherein a serial unit data transfer rate of the at least one of said daisy chained image sensors is n+1 times a serial unit data transfer rate of said previous-in-chain image sensor, where n is a number of preceding image sensors in said daisy chained multiple sensor system; and
,a central control circuit configured to manage said compression unit, self-packet buffer, de-serializer unit, chained packet buffer, arbitration unit and serial unit.
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Abstract
A multiple sensor endoscope system includes daisy chained image sensors and a central control unit. At least one daisy-chained image sensor has a sensor array for capturing images and generating video packets from captured images, a video compression unit that compresses the video packets, a self-packet buffer that stores the video packets, a serial-to-parallel de-serializer input unit that converts serialized input video packets to parallel data, and a chain packet buffer that stores the video packets received from previous-in-chain image sensors.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. A daisy chain multiple sensor system comprising a plurality of daisy chained image sensors, wherein at least one of said daisy chained image sensors comprises:
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a sensor array to capture images and generate video packets from said captured images; a compression unit to compress said video packets and generate compressed video packets; a self-packet buffer configured to store said compressed video packets; a de-serializer unit configured to receive serialized video packets from a previous-in-chain image sensor and convert said serialized video packets to parallel video packets; a chained packet buffer configured to store said parallel video packets corresponding to the previous-in-chain image sensor; an arbitration unit configured to interleave the video packets stored in the self-packet buffer and the chained packet buffer; a serial unit to serially output the interleaved video packets, wherein the serial unit is configured to transfer serial data at bitrates that depend on a position of the at least one of said daisy chained image sensors in the daisy chained multiple sensor system, and wherein a serial unit data transfer rate of the at least one of said daisy chained image sensors is n+1 times a serial unit data transfer rate of said previous-in-chain image sensor, where n is a number of preceding image sensors in said daisy chained multiple sensor system; and
,a central control circuit configured to manage said compression unit, self-packet buffer, de-serializer unit, chained packet buffer, arbitration unit and serial unit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification