Method and apparatus for imaging tissue topography
First Claim
1. An image capture device for the acquisition of the topography of a skin tissue surface, comprising:
- a plurality of illumination sources for illuminating said surface;
an optical imaging system adapted for the capture of a plurality of images of said surface;
a controller for controlling said illumination sources and said optical system enabling changing the illumination directions and capturing said plurality of images with different spatial properties,wherein during the acquisition of at least one image the plurality of individual illumination sources illuminate the surface simultaneously,wherein properties of the plurality of simultaneously illuminating sources are characterised to a single virtual source based on a calibration obtained from the illumination properties measured individually for each position and each illumination source previously,at least two polarisers for eliminating specular reflection from said captured images, a first polariser positioned between the illumination sources and the surface, and a second polariser between the surface and the optical imaging system; and
a processor for analysing the differences between images captured with different illumination properties to reconstruct the topography of said surface based on a diffusive reflection model to produce a three dimensional image of said skin tissue surface,wherein the variation in illumination properties for different points within the imaged area are taken into account to specify the surface properties for subsequent processing,wherein data for each image and position are adjusted according to prior calibration data to compensate for the errors due to variations in the illumination intensity or in the illumination direction,wherein said calibration data characterize the effective intensities and directions of the illumination sources for each image and position within the viewing area, andwherein said prior calibration data were obtained from calibration images using a reference surface with known shape and optical properties, and such calibration data is used during subsequent measurements.
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Abstract
The present invention relates to an optical device for imaging and measuring characteristics of an objects surface shape, surface spectral reflectance and structure of sub-surface layers. In particular, the invention relates to imaging of topography of human skin and skin sub-surface layers and determination of concentration of skin constituents. The present invention has applications in areas such as skin care, dermatology, cosmetics, wound management and tricology. The imaging device of the invention significantly improves photometric stereo measurements by suppressing specular reflection and allows accurate determination of the surface shape. Consequently the device allows elimination of the influence of the shape and illumination conditions on spectral measurements and allows accurate measurement of skin constituents.
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Citations
22 Claims
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1. An image capture device for the acquisition of the topography of a skin tissue surface, comprising:
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a plurality of illumination sources for illuminating said surface; an optical imaging system adapted for the capture of a plurality of images of said surface; a controller for controlling said illumination sources and said optical system enabling changing the illumination directions and capturing said plurality of images with different spatial properties, wherein during the acquisition of at least one image the plurality of individual illumination sources illuminate the surface simultaneously, wherein properties of the plurality of simultaneously illuminating sources are characterised to a single virtual source based on a calibration obtained from the illumination properties measured individually for each position and each illumination source previously, at least two polarisers for eliminating specular reflection from said captured images, a first polariser positioned between the illumination sources and the surface, and a second polariser between the surface and the optical imaging system; and a processor for analysing the differences between images captured with different illumination properties to reconstruct the topography of said surface based on a diffusive reflection model to produce a three dimensional image of said skin tissue surface, wherein the variation in illumination properties for different points within the imaged area are taken into account to specify the surface properties for subsequent processing, wherein data for each image and position are adjusted according to prior calibration data to compensate for the errors due to variations in the illumination intensity or in the illumination direction, wherein said calibration data characterize the effective intensities and directions of the illumination sources for each image and position within the viewing area, and wherein said prior calibration data were obtained from calibration images using a reference surface with known shape and optical properties, and such calibration data is used during subsequent measurements. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22)
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21. A method of capturing images for the acquisition of the topography of a skin tissue surface, comprising the steps of:
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illuminating said surface using a plurality of illumination sources; capturing a plurality of images of said illuminated surface using an optical system; controlling said illumination sources and said optical system enabling changing spatial properties of the illumination and capturing said plurality of images with different illumination directions, wherein during the acquisition of at least one image the plurality of individual illumination sources illuminate the surface simultaneously, wherein properties of the plurality of simultaneously illuminating sources are characterised to a single virtual source based on a calibration obtained from the illumination properties measured individually for each position and each illumination source previously, wherein the intensities of the illumination sources are calibrated using a reference surface with known shape and optical properties, and such calibration data is used during subsequent measurements to compensate for the variations of illumination intensities; eliminating specular reflection from said captured images; and analysing the differences between images captured with different illumination properties to reconstruct the topography of said surface based on a diffusive reflection model, wherein the variation in illumination properties for different points within the imaged area are taken into account to specify the surface properties for subsequent processing, and wherein calibration data is acquired for each position within the viewing area and each illumination source to compensate for the errors due to variations in the illumination intensity or in the illumination direction.
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Specification