Method and device for examining or imaging an interior surface of a cavity

1. A method for joining images of an interior surface of a tubular cavity having a longitudinal lumen and an interior wall surface, the method comprising:

acquiring a first image that has a longitudinal view of the tubular cavity, wherein the longitudinal view includes a view of at least a portion of the lumen and the interior wall surface of the tubular cavity;

acquiring a second image that has a perpendicular view of the tubular cavity, wherein the perpendicular view includes a view of the interior wall surface of the tubular cavity;

flattening the first image; and

joining the flattened first image with the second image.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein flattening the first image comprises compressing one or more regions of the first image and expanding one or more other regions of the first image.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein flattening the first image further comprises excising a portion of the first image that has a view of the lumen.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising converting the flattened first image to have a rectangular configuration before joining with the second image.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first image is acquired by an imaging device that is located on the distal end of an endoscope.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the second image is acquired by an imaging device that is located on a sidewall of the endoscope.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the tubular cavity is an interior portion of a colon.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising acquiring location data of the first image and location data of the second image, and wherein the location data is used to join the flattened first image with the second image.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising acquiring orientation data of the first image and orientation data of the second image, and wherein the orientation data is used to join the flattened first image with the second image.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

acquiring additional images;

flattening images that have a longitudinal view of the tubular cavity; and

joining the flattened images with images that have a perpendicular view of the tubular cavity until a complete image of the interior surface of the tubular cavity is generated.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising detecting if the joined images do not form a complete image of the interior surface of the tubular cavity and generating a warning.

12. An endoscopic device comprising:

an insertion tube;

an imaging device positioned on a side wall of the insertion tube, the imaging device configured to acquire images of an interior surface of a tubular cavity; and

a processor configured to form a composite image based on the acquired images, wherein forming the composite image comprises:

determining whether an acquired image has a view of at least a portion of a lumen of the tubular cavity;

flattening images that have been determined to have a view of at least a portion of the lumen of the tubular cavity; and

joining the flattened images with images that have been determined to not have a view of at least a portion of the lumen of the tubular cavity.

13. The device of claim 12 , wherein the insertion tube is steerable.

14. The device of claim 12 , wherein flattening images that have been determined to have a view of at least a portion of a lumen of the tubular cavity comprises compressing one or more regions of the images and expanding one or more other regions of the images.

15. The device of claim 14 , wherein flattening images further comprises excising the portion of the image that has a view of the lumen.

16. The device of claim 12 , further comprising a positioning sensor, and wherein the processor comprises a memory that is configured to store the acquired images and the positional information associated with each of the acquired images.

17. The device of claim 16 , wherein forming the composite image further comprises:

comparing the positional information of each of the acquired images to determine the location of the views of the tubular cavity contained in each image; and

joining images that contain views of adjacent regions of the tubular cavity.