Image capture and video processing systems and methods for multiple viewing element endoscopes

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.

2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said daisy chain multiple sensor system is an endoscopic system.

3. The system according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of said plurality of daisy chained image sensors is arranged as a system-on-chip ASIC.

4. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said compression unit, self-packet buffer, chained packet buffer, arbitration unit, serial unit and central control circuit are arranged as a system-on-chip ASIC, and wherein said sensor array is external to said ASIC.

5. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said central control circuit is configured to de-interleave the interleaved video packets and re-generate separated images as captured by said plurality of daisy chain image sensors.

6. The system according to claim 5 , wherein only a last-in-chain serial unit is connected to an input of said central control circuit by a single serial line.

7. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said plurality of daisy chained image sensors comprise a first daisy chained image sensor, a second daisy chained image sensor and a third daisy chained image sensor.

8. The system according to claim 7 , wherein said first daisy chained image sensor is a first side-pointing image sensor, said second daisy chained image sensor is a front pointing image sensor and said third daisy chained image sensor is a second side-pointing image sensor of an endoscope tip.

9. The system according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of said plurality of daisy chained image sensors comprises an identifier.

10. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said compression unit is configured to add packet headers to said video packets.

11. The system according to claim 10 , wherein said packet headers comprise image sensor identifiers.

12. The system according to claim 11 , wherein said packet headers further comprise at least one of time stamps and/or coordinate identifiers.

13. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said compression unit is configured to generate video packets comprising 256 bytes to 4 Kbytes per packet.

14. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said self-packet buffer and chained packet buffer size is 2 to 64 Kbytes.

15. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said self-package buffer and chained packet buffers are configured to store data at a rate of 0.1 Gigabits to 10 Gigabits per second.

16. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said arbitration unit is configured to draw and interleave, alternately, one video packet from said self-packet buffer and two video packets from said chained packet buffer.

17. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said arbitration unit is configured to draw and interleave, alternately, one video packet from said self-packet buffer and a variable number of video packets from said chained packet buffer.

18. The system according to claim 1 , wherein serial units of said plurality of daisy chained image sensors are configured to transfer serial data at identical bitrate.

19. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said serial unit is configured to transfer data at a rate of 0.1 Gigabits to 10 Gigabits per second.

20. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said plurality of daisy chained image sensors are configured to capture frames with identical frame rate.

21. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said plurality of daisy chained image sensors are configured to capture frames with a variable frame rate that depends on a position of the at least one of said daisy chained image sensors in the daisy chained multiple sensor system.

22. The system according to claim 21 , wherein said frame rates vary dynamically.

23. The system according to claim 1 , wherein commands to configure a mode of operation of at least one of said daisy chained image sensors as well as status related to the mode of operation is communicated back to the central control circuit as ancillary data packets interleaved with the video packets.

24. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said central control circuit is positioned at a proximal end of an endoscope.

25. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said central control circuit is located in a device external to an endoscope.

26. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said plurality of daisy chained image sensors are charge coupled device (CCD) sensors or complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) sensors.