CN115813320A

CN115813320A - Capsule endoscope with double lenses

Info

Publication number: CN115813320A
Application number: CN202211346640.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 夏然; 彭璨; 夏斌
Original assignee: Shenzhen Siji Intelligent Control Technology Co ltd
Current assignee: Shenzhen Siji Intelligent Control Technology Co ltd
Priority date: 2019-09-22
Filing date: 2019-09-22
Publication date: 2023-03-21
Also published as: CN112535450A; CN115624307A; CN112535450B

Abstract

The present disclosure describes a capsule endoscope with dual lenses, comprising: the capsule comprises a capsule shell with a cylindrical capsule shell, an acquisition module arranged on the capsule shell and a processing module; the acquisition module is provided with a first acquisition unit and a second acquisition unit which are used for acquiring images of the inner wall of the tissue cavity, the first acquisition unit comprises a first optical lens and a first imaging element, the second acquisition unit comprises a second optical lens and a second imaging element, and a first optical center of the first optical lens and a second optical center of the second optical lens are formed on the same generatrix of the capsule shell or are positioned in the same generatrix of the capsule shell; the processing module is used for receiving first image information from the first imaging element and second image information from the second imaging element, and the first image information and the second image information contain information of the same tissue characteristics of the inner wall of the tissue cavity. Thus, the measurement distance between the capsule endoscope and the inner wall of the tissue cavity can be accurately measured.

Description

Capsule endoscope with double lenses

The application is a divisional application of patent applications with application date of 2019, 09 and 22, application number of 201910896165.4 and invented name of "capsule endoscope with binocular ranging system".

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to a capsule endoscope having a dual lens.

Background

In clinical diagnosis, for example, when a lesion (e.g., polyp) occurs on the inner wall of the stomach cavity of a subject, a doctor or the like needs to acquire accurate information of a lesion area of the subject for diagnosis and treatment. In recent years, a subject swallows a capsule endoscope, and a doctor or the like analyzes an image in a gastric cavity captured by the capsule endoscope to acquire lesion information in a lesion area of the subject. Currently, capsule endoscopy technology is well developed, but from the clinical feedback, capsule endoscopy has many problems to be solved, one of which is to measure the distance between the capsule endoscope in the tissue cavity and the inner wall of the stomach cavity.

As an example of the capsule endoscope distance measurement, patent document (CN 107049211 a) discloses an apparatus for measuring a distance between a capsule endoscope and a stomach wall by emitting light to the stomach wall and receiving reflected light of the light, and calculating the distance between the capsule endoscope and the stomach wall by comparing the light intensity of the incident light and the light intensity of the reflected light.

However, in the above patent document, the calculation of the light intensity of the reflected light is complicated, there are many other factors affecting the light intensity such as different gastric juice compositions, different light incident angles, etc. in addition to the distance, and it is easily affected by the environment of the gastric cavity, thereby making it difficult to accurately measure the distance between the capsule endoscope and the inner wall of the gastric cavity.

Disclosure of Invention

The present disclosure has been made in view of the above-described state of the art, and an object thereof is to provide a capsule endoscope having a binocular ranging system capable of accurately performing ranging.

To this end, the present disclosure proposes a capsule endoscope comprising: a capsule housing including a cylindrical capsule case, a first case and a second case provided at both ends of the capsule case; the acquisition module is arranged on the capsule shell and is provided with a first acquisition unit and a second acquisition unit which are used for acquiring images in a tissue cavity, the first acquisition unit and the second acquisition unit are arranged on the same side, the first acquisition unit comprises a first optical lens and a first imaging element, the second acquisition unit comprises a second optical lens and a second imaging element, and the first optical lens and the second optical lens are integrally formed with the capsule shell; and a processing module that receives first image information from the first imaging element and second image information from the second imaging element, the first image information and the second image information containing information of a same tissue feature within the tissue cavity, and calculates a measured distance between the capsule endoscope and the tissue feature based on the first image information, the second image information, and a relative position between the first acquisition unit and the second acquisition unit.

In this case, by providing two image capturing units on the capsule housing and performing optical calculation based on the image information captured by the two image capturing units and the relative position between the two image capturing units, the measurement distance between the capsule endoscope and the inner wall of the tissue cavity can be accurately measured.

In addition, in the capsule endoscope according to the present disclosure, optionally, a first optical axis of the first optical lens is parallel to a second optical axis of the second optical lens, the first optical axis being perpendicular to a first imaging plane of the first imaging element, and the second optical axis being perpendicular to a second imaging plane of the second imaging element. Therefore, the measurement distance between the capsule endoscope and the inner wall of the tissue cavity can be obtained by conveniently carrying out optical calculation.

In addition, in the capsule endoscope according to the present disclosure, the relative position may include a first vertical distance between a first optical center of the first optical lens and the first imaging plane, a second vertical distance between a second optical center of the second optical lens and the second imaging plane, and a third vertical distance between the first optical axis and the second optical axis. From this, can conveniently carry out optical computation in order to obtain the measuring distance between capsule endoscope and the inner wall of tissue cavity.

In addition, in the capsule endoscope according to the present disclosure, the first image information may include a first intersection point between the first optical axis and the first imaging plane, a first imaging point on the first imaging plane of the tissue feature, and a first linear distance between the first intersection point and the first imaging point, and the second image information may include a second intersection point between the second optical axis and the second imaging plane, a second imaging point on the second imaging plane of the tissue feature, and a second linear distance between the second intersection point and the second imaging point. Therefore, the measurement distance between the capsule endoscope and the inner wall of the tissue cavity can be obtained by conveniently carrying out optical calculation.

In addition, in the capsule endoscope according to the present disclosure, the processing module may optionally perform denoising processing on the first image information and the second image information. Therefore, the interference caused by the noise information can be effectively reduced, and the necessary information required by the distance measurement in the image information can be read more accurately.

In addition, in the capsule endoscope according to the present disclosure, optionally, the denoising process includes removing at least information of a tissue having a similar morphology to the tissue feature in the first image information and the second image information. In this case, it is helpful to identify the same tissue features in the first and second image information, i.e., the information required for ranging, more accurately, so that optical calculations can be conveniently performed to derive the measured distance between the capsule endoscope and the inner wall of the tissue cavity.

In addition, in the capsule endoscope according to the present disclosure, optionally, the capsule endoscope further includes a dividing module, wherein the dividing module is configured to divide the tissue cavity into a plurality of tissue regions, and divide a tissue inner wall of each tissue region into a plurality of distance measurement regions, each distance measurement region is regarded as one distance measurement point during distance measurement of the distance measurement region, a relative distance between the capsule endoscope and the tissue region is maintained, and a measured distance of the distance measurement region is obtained by acquiring the tissue characteristics of the distance measurement region. In this case, the tissue cavity is divided into a plurality of tissue regions, and the distance measurement is performed for each tissue region, so that the distance measurement can be performed for the entire tissue cavity conveniently.

Additionally, in the capsule endoscope of the present disclosure, optionally, the processing module constructs a three-dimensional structural model of the tissue cavity based on the measured distances of the plurality of ranging regions and the corresponding deflection angles of the capsule endoscope when measuring the respective ranging regions. In this case, the measured distances of the respective ranging regions and the deflection angle of the capsule endoscope can be used conveniently to construct a three-dimensional structural model of the tissue cavity.

In addition, in the capsule endoscope related to the present disclosure, optionally, in the acquisition module, a distance between the first acquisition unit and the second acquisition unit is adjustable. Therefore, the capsule endoscope can be conveniently adjusted to be suitable for tissue cavities with different sizes.

Further, in the capsule endoscope according to the present disclosure, optionally, the first imaging element and the second imaging element share the same imaging plane. In this case, it is possible to effectively avoid the difference in image information due to the difference in parameters of different imaging elements, thereby more accurately reading information required for ranging in the image information.

According to the present disclosure, the measurement distance between the capsule endoscope and the inner wall of the tissue cavity can be accurately measured.

Drawings

Fig. 1 (a) is a schematic external view showing a capsule endoscope according to the present disclosure, and fig. 1 (b) is a schematic block diagram showing an internal configuration of the capsule endoscope according to the present disclosure.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram schematic diagram illustrating an acquisition module of a capsule endoscope according to the present disclosure.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating ranging by the capsule endoscope according to the present disclosure.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating the calculation of range finding by the capsule endoscope according to the present disclosure.

Fig. 5 (a) is a schematic diagram showing first image information related to the present disclosure, and fig. 5 (b) is a schematic diagram showing second image information related to the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating three-dimensional structural modeling of a tissue cavity by a capsule endoscope according to the present disclosure.

Fig. 7 is a schematic flow diagram illustrating ranging by the capsule endoscope according to the present disclosure.

Description of reference numerals:

1 … capsule endoscope, 10 … capsule housing, 11 … capsule housing, 12 … first housing, 13 … second housing, 20 … acquisition module, 21 … first acquisition unit, 211 … first optical lens, 212 … first imaging element, 22 … second acquisition unit, 221 … second optical lens, 222 … second imaging element, 30 … processing module, 31 … storage unit, 32 … transmission unit, 40 … partitioning module, 2 … tissue cavity, 200 zxft 5749 tissue cavity inner wall.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description thereof is omitted. The drawings are schematic and the ratio of the dimensions of the components and the shapes of the components may be different from the actual ones.

It is noted that the terms "comprises" and "comprising," and any variations thereof, in this disclosure, such that a process, method, system, article, or apparatus that comprises or has a list of steps or elements is not necessarily limited to those steps or elements expressly listed, but may include or have other steps or elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.

In addition, the headings and the like referred to in the following description of the present disclosure are not intended to limit the content or scope of the present disclosure, but merely serve as a reminder for reading. Such a subtitle should neither be understood as a content for segmenting an article, nor should the content under the subtitle be limited to only the scope of the subtitle.

Fig. 1 (a) is an external view schematically showing a capsule endoscope 1 according to the present disclosure, and fig. 1 (b) is a block diagram schematically showing an internal configuration of the capsule endoscope 1 according to the present disclosure. Fig. 2 is a block diagram schematic diagram illustrating the acquisition module 20 of the capsule endoscope 1 according to the present disclosure.

In the present embodiment, the capsule endoscope 1 may include: capsule housing 10, acquisition module 20, and processing module 30 (see fig. 1). The capsule housing 10 may include a capsule case 11 having a cylindrical shape. The acquisition module 20 may be disposed in the capsule housing 10, and may have a first acquisition unit 21 and a second acquisition unit 22 capable of image acquisition within the tissue cavity 2, the first acquisition unit 21 and the second acquisition unit 22 may be disposed on the same side, the first acquisition unit 21 may include a first optical lens 211 and a first imaging element 212, the second acquisition unit 22 may include a second optical lens 221 and a second imaging element 222, and the first optical lens 211 and the second optical lens 221 may be integrally molded with the capsule housing 11. The processing module 30 may receive first image information from the first imaging element 212 and second image information from the second imaging element 222, the first image information and the second image information may contain information of the same tissue feature (feature point) P1 on the inner wall 200 of the tissue cavity 2, and the processing module 30 may derive a measured distance (straight-line distance) h1 between the capsule endoscope 1 and the feature point P1 through optical calculation based on the first image information, the second image information and the relative position between the first acquisition unit 21 and the second acquisition unit 22.

According to the present disclosure, by providing two image capturing units on the capsule housing 10 and performing optical calculation based on the image information captured by the two image capturing units and the relative position between the two image capturing units, the measurement distance h1 between the capsule endoscope 1 and the inner wall 200 of the tissue cavity 2 can be accurately measured. In addition, by designing the first optical lens 211 and the second optical lens 221 in an integrally molded manner with the capsule housing 11, the volume of the capsule endoscope 1 can be effectively reduced, thereby facilitating the evacuation thereof out of the subject.

In the present embodiment, the capsule endoscope 1 may be a medical device formed into a shape like a capsule that can be introduced into a tissue cavity 2 of a subject (e.g., a human body). The capsule endoscope 1 may be a capsule-type casing in appearance (see fig. 1). The capsule-shaped casing may be composed of a cylindrical capsule casing 11, and a first casing 12 and a second casing 13 having a hemispherical shape and located at both ends of the capsule casing 11. The capsule casing 11 is coupled to the first casing 12 and the second casing 13 to form a capsule casing which is an airtight sealed structure, thereby maintaining a liquid-tight state inside the capsule endoscope 1. In some examples, the first and second shells 12 and 13 may be fixed to the capsule shell 11 by a screw-on manner. In other examples, the first housing 12 and the second housing 13 may also be fixed to the capsule housing 11 by means of adhesion.

In the present embodiment, the tissue cavity 2 may be a digestive lumen or the like in the human body, and the digestive lumen may be, for example, a stomach lumen, a large intestine lumen, a small intestine lumen or the like. The capsule endoscope 1 according to the present embodiment will be described in detail below with reference to the stomach cavity as an example.

In the present embodiment, the capsule endoscope 1 can perform image acquisition within the tissue cavity 2 by the acquisition module 20. Acquisition module 20 may be disposed on capsule housing 10 and may have a first acquisition unit 21 and a second acquisition unit 22 capable of image acquisition. The first acquisition unit 21 may include a first optical lens 211 and a first image forming element 212, and the second acquisition unit may include a second optical lens 221 and a second image forming element 222.

In addition, the first and second acquisition units 21, 22 may be arranged on the same side of the capsule housing 10. Thereby, image acquisition by the capsule endoscope 1 in the tissue cavity 2 can be facilitated. In some examples, preferably, the first and second acquisition units 21, 22 may be arranged along the same generatrix of the outer surface of the capsule housing 11. In this case, adjustment is facilitated such that the first optical axis A1 of the first optical lens 211 is parallel to the second optical axis A2 of the second optical lens 221, and image acquisition is performed on the inner wall 200 of the tissue cavity 2 in the same direction.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating ranging performed by the capsule endoscope 1 according to the present disclosure. In the present embodiment, the capturing region when the first capturing unit 21 performs image capturing and the capturing region when the second capturing unit 22 performs image capturing may have an overlapping region (see fig. 3). In this case, by acquiring two images each including an overlapping region, it is possible to help acquire information necessary for optical calculation, for example, the feature point P1 located in the overlapping region.

In addition, in some examples, the first acquisition unit 21 and the second acquisition unit 22 may have a fixed relative position therebetween. In other examples, the first acquisition unit 21 and the second acquisition unit 22 have an adjustable relative position therebetween. In this case, the overlapping area of the acquisition region of the first acquisition unit 21 and the acquisition region of the second acquisition unit 22 can be easily adjusted by adjusting the distance.

Additionally, in some examples, the first optical lens 211 and the second optical lens 221 may be integrally molded with the capsule housing 11. In this case, the volume of the capsule endoscope 1 can be effectively reduced, thereby facilitating the discharge of the capsule endoscope 1 outside the body.

On the other hand, by integrally forming the first optical lens 211 and the second optical lens 221 with the capsule housing 11, the refraction of light can be effectively reduced to improve the accuracy of measuring the distance h1. Specifically, in this embodiment, light propagating within the tissue cavity 2 enters the first imaging element 212 (or the second imaging element 222) through the first optical lens 211. In the above process, the light directly passes through the first optical lens 211 (or the second optical lens 221) integrally formed in the capsule housing 11, and therefore the medium and path of light propagation can be effectively reduced, which contributes to more accurately obtaining the measurement distance h1 between the capsule endoscope 1 and the characteristic point P1.

Additionally, in some examples, the first optical lens 211 and the second optical lens 221 may be formed by the capsule housing 11. In this case, the capsule housing 11 can be made to have good airtightness. In other examples, the capsule housing 11 may have two through holes (not shown), and the first optical lens 211 and the second optical lens 221 may be respectively embedded in the two through holes. In this case, it is possible to facilitate the replacement of the first optical lens 211 and the second optical lens 221 according to different tissue cavities 2.

In addition, in some examples, the first optical center O1 of the first optical lens 211 and the second optical center O2 of the second optical lens 221 may be formed on the same generatrix of the capsule housing 11. In this case, the measured distance h1 between the capsule endoscope 1 and the inner wall 200 of the tissue cavity 2 can be easily calculated optically.

Additionally, in some examples, the first optical center O1 of the first optical lens 211 and the second optical center O2 of the second optical lens 221 may be located within a bus bar of the capsule housing 11. In this case, the protrusion of the surface of the capsule endoscope 1 can be reduced, thereby contributing to less resistance to the movement of the capsule endoscope 1 within the tissue cavity 2.

In addition, in some examples, the focal length of the first optical lens 211 may be the same as the focal length of the second optical lens 221. In this case, the first and second pickup units 21 and 22 can be adapted to the same or similar object distances.

In addition, in some examples, the angle of view θ 1 of the first optical lens 211 may be the same as the angle of view θ 2 of the second optical lens 221. In this case, when the distances between the first and second collecting units 21 and 22 and the inner wall 200 of the tissue cavity 2 are the same, the first and second optical lenses 211 and 221 can be made to collect the inner wall 200 of the tissue cavity with the same or similar area.

In addition, in some examples, the first optical lens 211 and the second optical lens 221 may be optical lenses having the same focal length and viewing angle. In this case, the first optical lens 211 and the second optical lens 221 are adapted to light rays of the same or similar wavelengths, so that the information displayed by the feature point P1 in the first image information and the second image information can be made the same or similar, thereby facilitating recognition and reading.

In addition, in some examples, the sensitivity of the first imaging element 212 may be the same as the sensitivity of the second imaging element 222. Thereby, the same feature point P1 can be made to have the same sharpness in the first image information and the second image information.

In addition, in the present embodiment, the first and second pickup units 21 and 22 may have a predetermined relative position therebetween. Thus, the measurement distance h1 between the capsule endoscope 1 and the tissue cavity inner wall 200 can be calculated easily.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating calculation of distance measurement by the capsule endoscope 1 according to the present disclosure. In some examples, the first optical axis A1 of the first optical lens 211 may be parallel to the second optical axis A2 of the second optical lens 221, the first optical axis A1 may be perpendicular to the first imaging plane B1 of the first imaging element 212, and the second optical axis A2 may be perpendicular to the second imaging plane B2 of the second imaging element 222 (see fig. 4). Thus, optical calculations can be conveniently performed to derive the measured distance h1 between the capsule endoscope 1 and the inner wall 200 of the tissue cavity 2.

In addition, in some examples, the relative position between the first and second acquisition units 21 and 22 may include a first vertical distance h2 between the first optical center O1 of the first optical lens 211 and the first imaging plane B1, a second vertical distance h3 between the second optical center O2 of the second optical lens 221 and the second imaging plane B2, and a third vertical distance h4 between the first optical axis A1 and the second optical axis A2 (see fig. 4). Thus, optical calculations can be conveniently performed to derive the measured distance h1 between the capsule endoscope 1 and the inner wall 200 of the tissue cavity 2.

Additionally, in some examples, the first imaging plane B1 and the second imaging plane B2 may share the same imaging plane. In this case, on the one hand, optical calculations can be easily performed to derive the measured distance h1 between the capsule endoscope 1 and the inner wall 200 of the tissue cavity 2, and on the other hand, differences in image information due to different element parameters can be effectively avoided.

Additionally, in some examples, the first vertical distance h2 and the second vertical distance h3 may be the same. Thereby, optical calculations can be conveniently performed to obtain the measured distance h1 between the capsule endoscope 1 and the inner wall 200 of the tissue cavity 2.

In the present embodiment, the capsule endoscope 1 can perform image acquisition in the tissue cavity 2 through the acquisition module 20, and form first image information on the first imaging element 212 and second image information on the second imaging element 222, wherein the first image information and the second image information can include a common feature point P1. Thereby, information required for ranging can be obtained, so that optical calculation is conveniently performed to obtain the measurement distance h1 between the capsule endoscope 1 and the inner wall 200 of the tissue cavity 2.

In this embodiment, the processing module 30 may perform an optical calculation based on the first image information, the second image information, and the relative position between the first acquisition unit 21 and the second acquisition unit 22 to derive the measured distance h1 between the capsule endoscope 1 and the inner wall 200 of the tissue cavity 2.

In some examples, the first image information and the second image include information required to perform optical calculations. When the capsule endoscope 1 performs distance measurement, the image capturing area of the first capturing unit 21 and the image capturing area of the second capturing unit 22 have an overlapping area (see fig. 3). In this case, by identifying a certain characteristic point P1 in the overlapping region in the first image information and the second image information, respectively, optical calculations can be conveniently performed to derive the measured distance h1 between the capsule endoscope 1 and the inner wall 200 of the tissue cavity 2.

In addition, in some examples, the first image information may include a first intersection point P2 between the first optical axis A1 of the first optical lens 211 and the imaging plane of the first imaging element 212, a first imaging point P3 of the feature point P1 on the first imaging element 212, and a first linear distance h5 (see fig. 5) between the first intersection point P2 and the first imaging point P3. The second image information may include a second intersection point P4 between the second optical axis A2 of the second optical lens 221 and the imaging plane of the second imaging element 222, a second imaging point P5 of the feature point P1 on the second imaging element 222, and a second straight-line distance h6 (see fig. 5) between the second intersection point P4 and the second imaging point P5.

Additionally, in some examples, the first imaging plane B1 and the second imaging plane B2 may be located on the same plane, and the first optical center O1 and the second optical center O2 may be located on the same generatrix of the capsule housing 11 (see fig. 4). Thus, optical calculations can be conveniently performed to derive the measured distance h1 between the capsule endoscope 1 and the inner wall 200 of the tissue cavity 2. However, the present embodiment is not limited thereto, and the first and second acquisition units 21 and 22 may be arranged in other structural relationships, for example, the first and second imaging planes B1 and B2 may be located in two planes parallel to each other but different from each other.

In the present embodiment, the measured distance h1 between the capsule endoscope 1 and the inner wall 200 of the tissue cavity 2 can be calculated from the following formula (I) according to the principle of light propagation, like a triangle

h1= (h 2 × h3 × h 4)/(h 3 × h5+ h2 × h 6) … … formula (I).

Where h2 is a first perpendicular distance between the first optical center O1 and the first imaging plane B1, h3 is a second perpendicular distance between the second optical center O2 and the second imaging plane B2, h4 is a third perpendicular distance between the first optical axis A1 and the second optical axis A2, h5 is a first straight-line distance between the first intersection point P2 and the first imaging point P3, and h6 is a second straight-line distance between the second intersection point P4 and the second imaging point P5 (see fig. 4). In addition, P6 shown in fig. 4 is an imaginary point intersecting the capsule shell 11 when a straight line perpendicular to the capsule shell 11 passes through the characteristic point P1. h7 is a vertical distance between the characteristic point P1 and the first optical axis A1, and h8 is a vertical distance between the characteristic point P1 and the second optical axis A2.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 4, the first optical axis A1 is parallel to the second optical axis A2, the first optical axis A1 is perpendicular to the first imaging plane B1, the second optical axis A2 is perpendicular to the second imaging plane B2, a triangle formed by connecting the first optical center O1, the first intersection point P2 and the first imaging point P3 and a triangle formed by connecting the first optical center O1, the feature point P1 and the imaginary point P6 are similar triangles, and formula (II) can be obtained from the similar triangles

h1/h7= h2/h5 … … formula (II).

In addition, a triangle formed by connecting the second optical center O2, the second intersection point P4, and the second imaging point P5, and a triangle formed by connecting the second optical center O2, the feature point P1, and the virtual point P6 are similar triangles to each other, and formula (III) can be obtained from the similar triangles

h1/h8= h3/h6 … … formula (III).

Further, the mathematical relationship among the perpendicular distance h7 between the characteristic point P1 and the first optical axis A1, the perpendicular distance h8 between the characteristic point P1 and the second optical axis A2, and the perpendicular distance h4 between the first optical axis A1 and the second optical axis A2 also satisfies the formula (IV)

h4= h7+ h8 … … formula (IV).

By combining the above formulae (II), (III) and (IV), the formula (I) can be derived, and the measured distance h1 can be calculated.

Additionally, in some examples, processing module 30 may also denoise the first image information and the second image information. Therefore, the interference caused by the noise information can be effectively reduced, and the information required by the distance measurement in the image information can be read more accurately.

In addition, in some examples, the denoising process may include at least removing information of a tissue similar to the morphology of the feature point P1 in the first image information and the second image information. In this case, it is helpful to more accurately recognize the feature point P1 common in the first image information and the second image information, that is, information required for ranging.

Additionally, in some examples, processing module 30 may include a storage unit 31 (see fig. 1). The memory unit 31 may be used to store image information acquired by the capsule endoscope 1 within the tissue cavity 2. In addition, in some examples, the information of the above-described relative positions, such as the first vertical distance h2, the second vertical distance h3, and the third vertical distance h4, may be stored in the storage unit 31.

Additionally, in some examples, the processing module 30 may be located inside the capsule endoscope 1. Thereby, the capsule endoscope 1 can easily process part of the information locally. In some examples, considering the energy consumption, volume, etc. of the capsule endoscope 1, it is preferable that the processing module 30 located inside the capsule endoscope 1 can be used to perform simpler processing such as sorting the image information into the storage unit 31.

Additionally, in some examples, the processing module 30 may be located external to the capsule endoscope 1. In this case, reading of more complex image information, for example, when performing more complex processing, may be performed by the processing module 30 located outside the capsule endoscope 1.

Additionally, in some examples, the processing module 30 may also include a transmission unit 32 (see fig. 1). Information stored by the storage unit 31, such as image information or relative position information, may be transmitted to an external device (not shown) by the transmission unit 32, for example, via coupling between a coil of the external device and a coil of the capsule endoscope 1.

In addition, in some examples, the transmission unit 32 may transmit the information in the storage unit 31 to an external device through a wireless transmission manner, such as bluetooth transmission, WIFI transmission, NFC transmission, and the like. In this case, it is possible to facilitate the transmission of information to external devices by the capsule endoscope 1 located within the tissue cavity 2.

In addition, in some examples, the transmission unit 32 may also transmit the information in the storage unit 31 to an external device through a wired transmission manner, such as a USB interface transmission manner. In this case, when the capsule endoscope 1 is discharged from the body, the external device can perform information transmission with the capsule endoscope 1 by wired transmission, thereby effectively reducing the power consumption in the capsule endoscope 1 and enabling the capsule endoscope 1 to transmit information even when the power is consumed.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating three-dimensional structural modeling of a tissue cavity 2 by the capsule endoscope 1 according to the present disclosure. In some examples, the capsule endoscope 1 may further include a partitioning module 40. The dividing module 40 may be used to divide the tissue cavity 2 into a plurality of tissue regions. For example, the tissue cavity 2 may be divided into a tissue region 2a, a tissue region 2b and a tissue region 2c (see fig. 6), and the inner wall 200 of each tissue region (tissue region 2a, tissue region 2b or tissue region 2 c) is divided into a plurality of ranging

regions

200a, 200b, 200c. For example, the inner wall 200 of the tissue region 2a is divided into a ranging region 200a, a ranging region 200b, and a ranging region 200c (see fig. 6). In this case, it is convenient to be able to perform distance measurements on different regions of the tissue cavity 2.

Additionally, in some examples, processing module 30 may construct a three-dimensional structural model of the tissue region based on the measured distances of multiple ranging regions (e.g., ranging region 200a, ranging region 200b, or ranging region 200 c) and the corresponding deflection angles of capsule endoscope 1 when making distance measurements for each ranging region (e.g., ranging region 20a, ranging region 20b, or ranging region 20 c), respectively.

Additionally, in some examples, as described above, the dividing module 40 may divide the tissue cavity 2 into a plurality of tissue regions and divide the inner wall 200 of each tissue region into a plurality of ranging regions. Moreover, the dividing module 40 constructs a three-dimensional structure model of each tissue region based on the measurement distance of each ranging region and the corresponding deflection angle of the capsule endoscope 1 during ranging, and then splices the three-dimensional structure models of each tissue region in a synthesis processing manner or the like to construct a three-dimensional structure model of the entire tissue cavity 2.

In addition, in some examples, the capsule endoscope 1 may regard each ranging area as one ranging point in the process of performing distance measurement on the ranging area, and maintain the relative distance between the capsule endoscope 1 and the tissue area, and obtain the measured distance h1 of the ranging area by acquiring the feature point P1 of the ranging area. In this case, the entire tissue cavity 2 can be conveniently range-measured.

In addition, in some examples, since the tissue cavity 2 generally has a complex internal structure, which may cause the capsule endoscope 1 to have a visual blind area when capturing images at a certain position inside the tissue cavity 2, the dividing module 40 divides the tissue cavity 2 into a plurality of tissue regions, and performs image capturing and distance measuring at each tissue region, which can effectively reduce the visual blind area of the capsule endoscope 1 inside the tissue cavity 2, so as to more fully capture the images.

Hereinafter, the capsule endoscope 1 according to the present embodiment will be described in detail by taking the stomach cavity as an example, and particularly, how the capsule endoscope 1 measures a distance in the tissue cavity 2 will be described in detail with reference to fig. 7. Fig. 7 is a schematic flow chart showing the ranging by the capsule endoscope 1 according to the present disclosure. However, the capsule endoscope 1 according to the present embodiment is also applicable to the other tissue cavities 2 described above.

In the present embodiment, the distance measurement method of the capsule endoscope 1 for measuring a distance in the stomach cavity may include the steps of: the capsule endoscope 1 is entered into the stomach cavity (step S100); performing image acquisition within the gastric cavity using acquisition module 20 (step S200); the first image information and the second image information acquired by the acquisition module 20 and the relative position between the first acquisition unit 21 and the second acquisition unit 22 are acquired by the processing module 30, so that optical calculation is performed to find the measurement distance h1 between the capsule endoscope 1 and the inner wall 200 of the tissue cavity 2 (step S300).

In addition, the distance measuring method may further include: the gastric cavity is divided into a plurality of tissue regions using the dividing module 40, and the inner wall 200 of each tissue region is divided into a plurality of ranging regions (step S400).

In addition, the distance measuring method may further include: the measured distances of the respective ranging areas are measured respectively (step S500). Then, the processing module 30 constructs a three-dimensional structural model of the stomach cavity based on the measured distances of the respective ranging regions and the corresponding deflection angles of the capsule endoscope 1 at the time of distance measurement for the respective ranging regions (step S600).

In step S200, when the capturing module 20 captures an image, the first capturing unit 21 and the second capturing unit 22 may have overlapping image capturing regions, so that the first image information and the second image information include common image information, for example, a feature point P1 located in the region. The feature point P1 forms a first imaging point P3 on the first imaging plane B1, and the feature point P1 forms a second imaging point P5 on the second imaging plane B2.

In addition, in step S300, the processing module 30 acquires the first image information, the second image information, and the relative position between the first imaging unit 21 and the second imaging unit 22, and performs optical calculation based on the first image information, the second image information, and the relative position to obtain the measured distance h1 between the capsule endoscope 1 and the feature point P1.

In step S300, as described above, the measured distance h1 between the capsule endoscope 1 and the inner wall 200 of the tissue cavity 2 can be calculated from the above formula (I) according to the principle of light propagation, like a triangle.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 4, the first optical axis A1 is parallel to the second optical axis A2, the first optical axis A1 is perpendicular to the first imaging plane B1, the second optical axis A2 is perpendicular to the second imaging plane B2, a triangle formed by connecting the first optical center O1, the first intersection point P2, and the first imaging point P3 and a triangle formed by connecting the first optical center O1, the feature point P1, and the imaginary point P6 are similar triangles to each other, and the above formula (II) can be obtained from the similar triangles.

The triangle formed by connecting the second optical center O2, the second intersection point P4, and the second imaging point P5 and the triangle formed by connecting the second optical center O2, the feature point P1, and the virtual point P6 are similar triangles to each other, and the above formula (III) can be obtained from the similar triangles.

Further, the mathematical relationship among the perpendicular distance h7 between the characteristic point P1 and the first optical axis A1, the perpendicular distance h8 between the characteristic point P1 and the second optical axis A2, and the perpendicular distance h4 between the first optical axis A1 and the second optical axis A2 also satisfies the above-described formula (IV).

By combining the above formulas (II), (III) and (IV), formula (I) can be derived, and the measured distance h1 can be calculated.

According to the present disclosure, the measurement distance h1 between the capsule endoscope 1 and the inner wall 200 of the tissue cavity 2 can be accurately measured.

While the present disclosure has been described in detail in connection with the drawings and examples, it should be understood that the above description is not intended to limit the disclosure in any way. Those skilled in the art can make modifications and variations to the present disclosure as needed without departing from the true spirit and scope of the disclosure, which fall within the scope of the disclosure.

All references cited in this disclosure are incorporated by reference in their entirety as if fully set forth. Unless defined otherwise, technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

The present disclosure provides one of ordinary skill in the art with a general guide to many of the terms used in the present disclosure. Those of skill in the art will recognize many methods and materials similar or equivalent to those described herein that can be used in the practice of the present disclosure. Indeed, the disclosure is in no way limited to the methods and materials described.

Claims

1. A capsule endoscope with dual lenses, comprising: the capsule comprises a capsule shell with a cylindrical capsule shell, an acquisition module arranged on the capsule shell and a processing module; the acquisition module is provided with a first acquisition unit and a second acquisition unit which are used for acquiring images of the inner wall of the tissue cavity, the first acquisition unit comprises a first optical lens and a first imaging element, the second acquisition unit comprises a second optical lens and a second imaging element, and a first optical center of the first optical lens and a second optical center of the second optical lens are formed on the same generatrix of the capsule shell or are positioned in the same generatrix of the capsule shell; the processing module is configured to receive first image information from the first imaging element and second image information from the second imaging element, the first image information and the second image information containing information of a same tissue feature of the inner wall of the tissue cavity, and calculate a measured distance between the capsule endoscope and the tissue feature based on the first image information, the second image information, and a relative position between the first acquisition unit and the second acquisition unit.

2. The capsule endoscope of claim 1, wherein:

the first optical lens and the second optical lens are integrally formed with the capsule housing.

3. The capsule endoscope of claim 1, wherein:

the dividing module is used for dividing the inner wall of the tissue cavity into a plurality of tissue areas, dividing the inner walls of the plurality of tissue areas into a plurality of ranging areas, and regarding each ranging area of the plurality of ranging areas as a ranging point in the process of measuring the distance of the plurality of ranging areas;

the processing module obtains the measured distances of the plurality of ranging areas based on the images of the plurality of ranging areas acquired by the acquisition module, wherein the measured distances of the plurality of ranging areas are used for constructing a three-dimensional structure model of the inner wall of the tissue cavity according to the deflection angles of the capsule endoscope when the plurality of ranging areas are measured.

4. The capsule endoscope of claim 1, wherein:

the processing module further comprises a storage unit and a transmission unit, wherein the storage unit is used for storing the image information acquired by the capsule endoscope, and the transmission unit is used for transmitting the image information stored by the storage unit to an external device.

5. The capsule endoscope of claim 1, wherein:

the distance between the first acquisition unit and the second acquisition unit is fixed or adjustable.

6. The capsule endoscope of claim 1, wherein:

the relative position includes a first perpendicular distance between the first optical center and a first imaging plane of the first imaging element, a second perpendicular distance between the second optical center and a second imaging plane of the second imaging element, and a third perpendicular distance between a first optical axis of the first optical lens and a second optical axis of the second optical lens, wherein the first optical axis is parallel to the second optical axis, the first optical axis is perpendicular to the first imaging plane, and the second optical axis is perpendicular to the second imaging plane.

7. The capsule endoscope of claim 6, wherein:

the first image information includes a first intersection point between the first optical axis and the first imaging plane, a first imaging point of the tissue feature on the first imaging plane, and a first linear distance between the first intersection point and the first imaging point;

the second image information includes a second intersection point between the second optical axis and the second imaging plane, a second imaging point of the tissue feature on the second imaging plane, and a second linear distance between the second intersection point and the second imaging point.

8. The capsule endoscope of any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein:

the focal length of the first optical lens is the same as the focal length of the second optical lens.

9. The capsule endoscope of any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein:

the visual angle of the first optical lens is the same as that of the second optical lens.

10. The capsule endoscope of claim 6 or 7, wherein:

the first imaging plane and the second imaging plane are located in two different parallel planes.