IP Library › Granted Patent US 11,800,969
Granted Patent B2
US 11,800,969 · App. 16/986,232 · Granted Oct 31, 2023

Method and device for monitoring colonoscope withdrawal speed

Inventors: Honggang Yu (Wuhan, CN); Bin Liu (Wuhan, CN); Shan Hu (Wuhan, CN); Lianlian Wu (Wuhan, CN)
Assignee: WUHAN ENDOANGEL MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
A61B1/00009G06T3/4007G06T7/0014G06T7/10G06T7/20G06T11/60G06T2207/10016G06T2207/10068G06T2207/20132G06T2207/30028
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,800,969
App. No.
16/986,232
Filed
Aug 5, 2020
Granted
Oct 31, 2023
Kind
B2
Art Unit
2641
USPC
382/128
Abstract

A method for monitoring a colonoscope withdrawal speed, the method including: 1) acquiring, a real-time video of colonoscopy, decoding the video into images, cropping the images, and zooming-out the images cropped where texture information of the images is retained; 2) converting the images including the texture information to grayscale images; 3) obtaining Hash fingerprints of the images; 4) calculating a Hamming distance between the images; 5) comparing the Hash fingerprints of a current colonoscopy image with n previous colonoscopy images, to obtain an overlapping rate of the current colonoscopy image with any one of the n previous colonoscopy images; 6) calculating a weighted similarity of the images at a point in time t; 7) converting a weighted overlapping rate of the images at the point in time t into a stability coefficient; and 8) calculating a mean stability coefficient of colonoscopy images within a period of time 0-t.

Claims (81)

1. A method, comprising:

1) acquiring, by endoscopic equipment, a real-time video of colonoscopy; decoding the video into images, cropping the images, and zooming-out the cropped images to remove the color and leave texture information of the images;

2) converting the images comprising the texture information to grayscale images;

3) obtaining Hash fingerprints of the grayscale images;

4) calculating a Hamming distance between the images;

5) comparing the Hash fingerprints of a current colonoscopy image with n previous colonoscopy images where n is a number, to obtain an overlapping rate of the current colonoscopy image with any one of the n previous colonoscopy images, thereby obtaining a similarity between the current colonoscopy image and the any one of the n previous colonoscopy images;

6) calculating a weighted similarity of the images at a point in time t, wherein the weighted similarity refers to a weighted average value of similarity between a current image and its previous 9 frames, thereby acquiring a representative value of the similarity within the point in time t, and the closer two frames are, the higher the weighted similarity is;

7) converting the weighted similarity of the images at the point in time t into a stability coefficient;

8) calculating a mean stability coefficient of colonoscopy images within a period of time 0-t as follows: the mean stability coefficient=100−weighted similarity, time 0 is a timepoint where the colonoscopy withdrawal process begins, and the time t is any given timepoint;

9) analyzing the real-time video of colonoscopy to obtain a first boundary between a standard colonoscopy video where a withdrawal time exceeds 6 min and a sub-standard colonoscopy video where a withdrawal time is between 5-6 min and a second boundary between the sub-standard colonoscopy video and a low-quality colonoscopy video where a withdrawal time is less than 5 min, respectively; and

10) monitoring in real time, according to the operations 1) to 8), a stability coefficient of a withdrawal process, and feeding back the stability coefficient to an operator, wherein: when the stability coefficient is less than the first boundary, indicating the withdrawal speed of the colonoscopy is within a normal range and the withdrawal speed meets the requirement of standard colonoscopy guideline; when the stability coefficient is greater than the first boundary, indicating the withdrawal speed of the colonoscopy is not within the normal range; when the stability coefficient is between the first boundary and the second boundary, a warning signal is presented in a dashboard monitoring real-time withdrawal speed during colonoscopy; and when the stability coefficient is greater than the second boundary, an emergency alarm is given.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein in 1), the cropped images are zoomed-out by bicubic interpolation.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein in 2), the images are converted to the grayscale images by the following equation: Gray=0.30×R+0.59×G+0.11×B; where R, G and B represent brightness values of red color, green color and blue color, respectively.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein in 3), the Hash fingerprints of the images are obtained by difference Hashing (dHash).

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein in 5), the overlapping rate of the current colonoscopy image with any one of the n previous colonoscopy images is calculated by the following equation:

Sim

=

1

⁢

0

⁢

0

×

(

6

⁢

4

-

d

⁡

(

x

,

y

)

)

6

⁢

4

,

where d(x, y) represents the Hamming distance between different images, d(x, y)=Σx⊕y, x and y represent character strings corresponding to different images, respectively, referring to the Hash fingerprints of the images, and ⊕ represents exclusive OR.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein in 7), the weighted overlapping rate at the point in time t is converted into the stability coefficient by the following equation: ESim=100− Sim , where Sim represents the weighted similarity of the images at the point in time t.

7. A device, comprising:

an image acquisition module, configured to acquire, by endoscopic equipment, a real-time video of colonoscopy, decode the video into images, crop the images, and zoom-out the cropped images wherein texture information of the images is retained;

a grayscale image conversion module, configured to convert the images comprising the texture information to grayscale images;

a Hash fingerprint acquisition module, configured to obtain Hash fingerprints of the images;

a Hamming distance calculation module, configured to calculate a Hamming distance between different images;

a similarity calculation module, configured to compare the Hash fingerprints of a current colonoscopy image with n previous colonoscopy images, to obtain an overlapping rate of the current colonoscopy image with any one of the n previous colonoscopy images, thereby obtaining a similarity between the current colonoscopy image and the any one of the n previous colonoscopy images;

a weighted similarity calculation module, configured to calculate a weighted similarity of the images at a point in time t;

a stability coefficient conversion module, configured to convert the weighted overlapping rate at the point in time t into a stability coefficient;

a mean stability coefficient conversion module, configured to calculate a mean stability coefficient of colonoscopy images within a period of time 0-t;

a colonoscopy video analysis module, configured to analyze the real-time video of colonoscopy to obtain a first boundary between a standard colonoscopy video and a sub-standard colonoscopy video and a second boundary between the sub-standard colonoscopy video and a low-quality colonoscopy video, respectively; and

a withdrawal speed feedback module, configured to monitor in real time a stability coefficient of a withdrawal by a physician performing the colonoscopy, and feed the stability coefficient to the physician, wherein: when the stability coefficient is less than the first boundary, indicating the withdrawal speed of the colonoscopy is within a normal range; when the stability coefficient is greater than the first boundary, indicating the withdrawal speed of the colonoscopy is not within the normal range; when the stability coefficient is between the first boundary and the second boundary, a warning signal is given; and when the stability coefficient is greater than the second boundary, an emergency alarm is given.

8. The device of claim 7 , wherein in the similarity calculation module, the overlapping rate of the current colonoscopy image with any one of the n previous colonoscopy images is calculated by the following equation:

Sim

=

1

⁢

0

⁢

0

×

(

6

⁢

4

-

d

⁡

(

x

,

y

)

)

6

⁢

4

,

where d(x, y) represents the Hamming distance between different images, d(x, y)=Σx⊕y, x and y represent character strings corresponding to different images, respectively, referring to the Hash fingerprints of the images, and ⊕ represents exclusive OR.

9. The device of claim 7 , wherein in the stability coefficient conversion module, the weighted overlapping rate at the point in time t is converted into the stability coefficient by the following equation: ESim=100− Sim , where Sim represents the weighted similarity of the images at the point in time t.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Aug 5, 2020
From: YU, HONGGANG; LIU, BIN; HU, SHAN; WU, LIANLIAN
To: WUHAN ENDOANGEL MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
Reel/Frame 053414/0423 →
Priority Claims (1)
CN 201811481234.7 · Dec 5, 2018 · national
Continuity (2)
Continuation In Part PCTCN2019106102 · Sep 17, 2019
Related Publication 20200364880A1 · Nov 19, 2020