Automatic gain control for a confocal imaging system

Television – Camera – system and detail – With object or scene illumination

Reexamination Certificate

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

C348S255000

Reexamination Certificate

active

07321394

ABSTRACT:
Automatic gain control is provided for a confocal imaging system to improve the quality of images produced by the system. The confocal imaging system utilizes an illumination source, such as a laser, to produce illumination which enables imaging of an object. The automatic gain control is provided by an automatic gain controller which receives a raster scan video of two-dimensional frames of images from the confocal imaging system, converts the raster scan video into pixels, where each pixel has a brightness value, and then counts, in each frame, the number of pixels which are too bright, the number of pixels which are too dim, and the total number of pixels. After each frame is received, the laser of the confocal imaging system is controlled in accordance with signal(s) produced by the automatic gain controller, whereby the power to the illumination source is reduced when the number of pixels too bright exceeds a number representing a first percentage of the total pixels of the frame, and the number of pixels too dim is greater than a number representing a second percentage of the total pixels of the frame, and the power of the illumination source is increased when the number of pixels too dim is less than the number representing the second percentage of the total pixels of the frame, and the number of pixels too bright in the image is less than the number representing the first percentage of the total pixels of the frame. The automatic gain controller may be operative over either the entire frame of the image, or a rectangular region in the image.

REFERENCES:
patent: 5034613 (1991-07-01), Denk et al.
patent: 5546189 (1996-08-01), Svetkoff et al.
patent: 5719700 (1998-02-01), Corcuff et al.
patent: 5788639 (1998-08-01), Zavislan et al.
patent: 5880880 (1999-03-01), Anderson et al.
patent: 5995867 (1999-11-01), Zavislan et al.
patent: 6151073 (2000-11-01), Steinberg et al.
patent: 6151127 (2000-11-01), Kempe
patent: 6399942 (2002-06-01), Ishihara
patent: 6462770 (2002-10-01), Cline et al.
patent: 6782063 (2004-08-01), Stevenson et al.
patent: 6859230 (2005-02-01), Luo et al.
patent: 6906745 (2005-06-01), Fossum et al.
patent: 11284904 (1999-10-01), None
Rajadhyaksha et al., “In vivo Confocal Scanning Laser Microscopy of Human Skin: Melanin provides strong contrast,” The Journal of Investigative Dermatology, vol. 104, No. 6, Jun. 1995, pp. 946-952.
Rajadhyaksha and Zavislan, “Confocal laser microscope images tissue in vivo,” Laser Focus World, Feb. 1997, pp. 119-127.
Schmitt et al., “Optical characterization of dense tissues using low-coherence interferometry,” Proc. of SPIE, vol. 1889 (1993), pp. 197-211.
Brochure, Looking Through The Window of Life, Lucid VivaScope, Lucid Technologies, Inc., no date.
Kesterson et al. “Confocal Microscope Capability with Desktop Affordability”, Advanced Imaging, Oct. 1991, pp. 23-24.

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for the USA inventors and patents. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Automatic gain control for a confocal imaging system does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Automatic gain control for a confocal imaging system, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Automatic gain control for a confocal imaging system will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2794973

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.