Image capture unit in a surgical instrument

Abstract

In a minimally invasive surgical system, an image capture unit includes a prism assembly and sensor assembly. The prism assembly includes a beam splitter, while the sensor assembly includes coplanar image capture sensors. Each of the coplanar image capture sensors has a common front end optical structure. e.g., the optical structure distal to the image capture unit is the same for each of the sensors. A controller enhances images acquired by the coplanar image capture sensors. The enhanced images may include (a) visible images with enhanced feature definition, in which a particular feature in the scene is emphasized to the operator of minimally invasive surgical system; (b) images having increased image apparent resolution; (c) images having increased dynamic range; (d) images displayed in a way based on a pixel color component vector having three or more color components; and (e) images having extended depth of field.

1 - 29 . (canceled) 
     
     
         30 . An apparatus comprising:
 a first image capture sensor;   a second image capture sensor;   a prism assembly, positioned to receive light, comprising:
 a beam splitter comprising a plurality of notch filters, the plurality of notch filters configured to reflect a first set of a plurality of light components of the received light, and the plurality of notch filters configured to pass a second set of a plurality of light components of the received light; and 
 a surface configured to reflect the first set of light components onto the first image capture sensor; and 
   a reflective unit positioned to receive the second set of light components, the reflective unit configured to reflect the second set of light components onto the second image capture sensor, wherein where first image capture sensor is configured to capture a first image of a scene and the second image capture sensor is configured to capture a second image of the scene, wherein each point in space is represented by two pixels with each of the two pixels having a different multi-color component vector.   
     
     
         31 . The apparatus of  claim 30 , further comprising:
 a source of illumination configured to produce the first set of light components.   
     
     
         32 . The apparatus of  claim 31 , wherein the source of illumination is further configured to produce the second set of light components. 
     
     
         33 . The apparatus of  claim 30 , wherein each point in space in the scene is captured by respective pixels in the first and second images, each of the respective pixels in the first and second images having a different color component. 
     
     
         34 . The apparatus of  claim 33 , further comprising:
 a controller coupled to the first and second image capture sensors, wherein the controller is configured to demosaic each of the first and second images, each pixel in the demosaiced images has a corresponding color component vector, the controller further configured to combine the corresponding color component vector for each pixel from the demosaiced images.   
     
     
         35 . The apparatus of  claim 34 , wherein the controller is further configured to generate an output image, where each pixel in the output image has a color component vector with fewer color components than the combined color component vector. 
     
     
         36 . The apparatus of  claim 30 , further comprising:
 a fluorescence excitation illumination source.   
     
     
         37 . The apparatus of  claim 36 , wherein the first set of light components comprises light produced by the fluorescence excitation illumination source. 
     
     
         38 . The apparatus of  claim 37 , wherein the first image capture sensor is configured to capture a color image with the first set of light components, and the second image capture sensor is configured to capture a monochrome image with the second set of light components. 
     
     
         39 . The apparatus of  claim 37 , wherein the second set of light components comprises fluorescence light produced as a result of the fluorescence excitation illumination source. 
     
     
         40 . The apparatus of  claim 36 , further comprising:
 a window configured to supply the received light to the prism assembly, the window comprising a notch filter configured to block light from the fluorescence excitation illumination source.   
     
     
         41 . The apparatus of  claim 30 , wherein each of the second set of light components is a complement of a respective one of the first set of light components. 
     
     
         42 . The apparatus of  claim 30 , wherein the plurality of notch filters are part of a single multi-notch filter. 
     
     
         43 . The apparatus of  claim 30 , further comprising:
 a lens configured to focus different wavelengths of light at different distances from the lens, wherein the lens is configured to supply the receive light to the prism assembly.   
     
     
         44 . The apparatus of  claim 43 , further comprising:
 a controller coupled to the first and second image capture sensors, wherein the controller is configured to process images captured by the first and second image capture sensors with a digital filter kernel, wherein the digital filter kernel processes the captured images based on known longitudinal color aberrations from the lens to enhance a sharpness and focus of an output image.   
     
     
         45 . The apparatus of  claim 30 , wherein one of the second set of light components includes wavelengths of a color component other than wavelengths of the color component included in the first set of light components. 
     
     
         46 . The apparatus of  claim 31 , wherein the second set of light components includes light from a source other than the source of illumination.