In vivo autonomous camera with on-board data storage or digital wireless transmission in regulatory approved band

1. A capsule camera apparatus, comprising:

a housing adapted to be swallowed;

a light source within the housing;

a camera within the housing for capturing a first digital image and a second digital image of a scene illuminated by the light source;

a processing circuit within the housing that processes the first digital image and the second digital image, at least a portion of each digital image having a higher resolution than the remainder of that digital image;

a motion detector within the housing that detects a motion based on a difference between the higher resolution portion of the first digital image provided in a first partial frame buffer and the higher resolution portion of the second digital image provided in a partial frame buffer; and

a motion evaluator within the housing that designates the second digital image for further processing based on a metric on the motion.

2. A capsule camera apparatus as in claim 1 , wherein the motion evaluator designates the second digital image to be deleted.

3. A capsule camera apparatus as in claim 1 , further comprising an archival storage device, wherein the motion evaluator designates the second digital image to be stored into the archival storage device.

4. A capsule camera apparatus as in claim 3 , further comprising a register for storing the metric, the register being accessible by the motion evaluator during operation and being initialized with a value provided in the archival storage device.

5. A capsule camera apparatus as in claim 3 , further comprising a register for storing the metric, the register being accessible by the motion evaluator during operation and being updated according to free space available in the archival storage device.

6. A capsule camera apparatus as in claim 3 , wherein the archival storage device comprises a semiconductor memory device.

7. A capsule camera apparatus as in claim 6 , wherein the semiconductor memory device comprises a flash memory device.

8. A capsule camera apparatus as in claim 3 , further comprising an output port for accessing the archival storage device.

9. A capsule camera apparatus as in claim 8 , wherein the output port is accessed through a connector.

10. A capsule camera apparatus as in claim 8 , wherein the output port is accessed at a feed-through on the housing.

11. A capsule camera apparatus as in claim 8 , wherein the capsule is capable of receiving power from an external power source.

12. A capsule camera apparatus as in claim 1 , wherein a portion of the first digital image is stored in a first partial frame buffer and a portion of the second digital image is stored in a second partial frame buffer and the motion evaluator determines which of the first and second partial frame buffers is to be overwritten by a third digital image according to the motion detected.

13. A capsule camera apparatus as in claim 1 , wherein the motion detector computes motion vectors between a portion of the first digital image and a portion of the second digital image.

14. A capsule camera apparatus as in claim 1 , wherein the motion detector computes average absolute differences between corresponding portions of the first digital image and the second digital image.

15. A capsule camera apparatus as in claim 14 , wherein the metric depends on a variance computed from the average absolute differences.

16. A capsule camera apparatus as in claim 1 , wherein the motion detector computes for the first digital image and the second digital image each a center-of-mass.

17. A capsule camera apparatus as in claim 16 , wherein the metric depends on a difference between the centers-of-mass computed.

18. A capsule camera apparatus as in claim 1 , further comprising one or more sensors for detecting one or more environmental parameters.

19. A capsule camera apparatus as in claim 1 , further comprising a transmitter within the housing for transmitting data over a wireless link.

20. A capsule camera apparatus as in claim 19 , wherein the motion evaluator causes the designated digital image to be transmitted over the wireless link.

21. A capsule camera apparatus as in claim 19 , further comprising a protocol encoder for encoding data for transmission by the transmitter.

22. A capsule camera apparatus as in claim 19 , wherein the capsule camera apparatus is designed to communicate with a base station, the base station comprising a receiver that receives data over the wireless link.

23. A capsule camera apparatus as in claim 22 , wherein the base station further comprises an interface to a workstation.

24. A capsule camera apparatus as in claim 22 , wherein the base station further comprises an archival storage system.

25. A capsule camera apparatus as in claim 22 , further comprising a transmitter in the base station to allow bidirectional communication over the wireless link.

26. A capsule camera apparatus as in claim 25 , further comprising a register for storing the metric, the register being accessible by the motion evaluator during operation and being initialized with a value provided over the wireless link.

27. A capsule camera apparatus as in claim 1 , wherein the designated digital image is compressed using an image compression algorithm.

28. A capsule camera apparatus as in claim 27 , wherein the first compression ratio is provided to the designated digital image when operated upon by the motion detector which is different from a second compression ratio provided to the designated digital image for further processing.

29. A capsule camera apparatus as in claim 1 , further comprising a register for storing the metric, the register being accessible by the motion evaluator during operation.

30. A capsule camera apparatus as in claim 1 , wherein the metric is designed to prefer motion in the forward direction along the length of the GI tract.

31. A capsule camera apparatus as in claim 1 , wherein the motion detector accords little or no weight to retrograde motion.

32. A capsule camera apparatus, comprising:

a housing adapted to be swallowed, said housing enclosing:

a light source;

a camera for capturing a first digital image and a second digital image of a scene illuminated by the light source;

a motion detector that detects a motion based on computed motion vectors each representing a difference between a portion of the first digital image provided in a first partial frame buffer and a portion of the second digital image provided in a partial frame buffer; and

a motion evaluator that designates the second digital image for further processing, based on a metric on the detected motion, wherein the metric has a value that depends on (i) a count of zero-valued motion vectors, (ii) an average of the absolute differences between corresponding portions of the first digital image and the second digital image, or (iii) a variance computed from the average absolute differences.

33. A method for operating a capsule camera, comprising:

providing a housing adapted to be swallowed;

providing a light source and a camera within the housing;

capturing a first digital image and a second digital image of a scene illuminated by the light source;

processing, within the housing, the first digital image and the second digital image, at least a portion of each digital image having a higher resolution than the remainder of that digital image;

detecting, within the housing, a motion based on a difference between the higher resolution portion of the first digital image provided in a first partial frame buffer and the higher resolution portion of the second digital image provided in a second partial frame buffer, and

evaluating, within the housing, the motion to designate the second digital image for further processing based on a metric on the motion.

34. A method as in claim 33 , wherein the motion evaluator designates the second digital image to be deleted.

35. A method as in claim 33 , wherein the evaluating comprises designating the second digital image to be stored into an archival storage device.

36. A method as in claim 35 , further comprising accessing the archival storage device through an output port.

37. A method as in claim 36 , wherein the output port is accessed through a connector.

38. A method as in claim 36 , wherein the output port is accessed at a feed-through on the housing.

39. A method as in claim 36 , wherein capsule receives power from an external power source.

40. A method as in claim 35 , further comprising storing the metric in a register, the register being accessible by the motion evaluator during operation and being initialized with a value provided in the archival storage device.

41. A method as in claim 35 , further comprising storing the metric in a register, the register being accessible by the motion evaluator during operation and being updated according to free space available in the archival storage device.

42. A method as in claim 33 , wherein the archival storage device comprises a semiconductor memory device.

43. A method as in claim 42 , wherein the semiconductor memory device comprises a flash memory device.

44. A method as in claim 33 , wherein a portion of the first digital image is stored in a first partial frame buffer and a portion of the second digital image is stored in a second partial frame buffer and the evaluating determines which of the first and second partial frame buffers is to be overwritten by a third digital image according to the motion detected.

45. A method as in claim 33 , wherein the detecting comprises computing motion vectors between a portion of the first digital image and a portion of the second digital image.

46. A method as in claim 33 , wherein the detecting comprises computing average absolute differences between corresponding portions of the first digital image and the second digital image.

47. A method as in claim 46 , wherein the metric depends on a variance computed from the average absolute differences.

48. A method as in claim 33 , wherein the detecting comprises computing for the first digital image and the second digital image each a center-of-mass.

49. A method as in claim 48 , wherein the metric depends on a difference between the centers-of-mass computed.

50. A method as in claim 33 , further comprising providing one or more sensors for detecting one or more environmental parameters.

51. A method as in claim 33 , further comprising providing a transmitter within the housing for transmitting data over a wireless link.

52. A method as in claim 51 , wherein the evaluating designates the second digital image to be transmitted over the wireless link.

53. A method as in claim 51 , further comprising encoding in a protocol encoder the data to be transmitted.

54. A method as in claim 51 , further comprising providing a base station that receives data over the wireless link.

55. A method as in claim 54 , further comprising providing an interface to a workstation in the base station.

56. A method as in claim 54 , further comprising providing an archival storage in the base station.

57. A method as in claim 54 , further comprising transmitting from the base station in bidirectional communication over the wireless link.

58. A method as in claim 57 , further comprising storing the metric in a register, the register being accessible by the motion evaluator during operation and being initialized with a value provided over the wireless link.

59. A method as in claim 33 , further comprising compressing the designated digital image using an image compression algorithm.

60. A method as in claim 59 , wherein the first compression ratio is provided to the designated digital image when operated upon by the motion detector which is different from a second compression ratio provided to the designated digital image for further processing.

61. A method as in claim 33 , further comprising a register for storing the metric, the register being accessible by the motion evaluator during operation.

62. A method as in claim 33 , wherein the metric is designed to prefer motion in the forward direction along the length of the GI tract.

63. A method as in claim 33 , wherein the motion detector accords little or no weight to retrograde motion.

64. A method for operating a capsule camera, comprising:

providing a housing adapted to be swallowed;

providing a light source, a camera and a motion circuit within the housing;

capturing a first digital image and a second digital image of a scene, illuminated by the light source, with the camera;

detecting a motion with the motion circuit based on computed motion vectors each representing a difference between a portion of the first digital image provided in a first partial frame buffer and a portion of the second digital image provided in a second partial frame buffer; and

evaluating the motion with the motion circuit to designate the second digital image for further processing, based on a metric on the detected motion, wherein the metric has a value which depends on (i) a count of zero-valued motion vectors, (ii) an average of the absolute differences between corresponding portions of the first digital image and the second digital image, or (iii) a variance computed from the average absolute differences.

65. A capsule camera apparatus, comprising:

a housing adapted to be swallowed;

a light source within the housing;

a camera within the housing for capturing a first digital image and a second digital image of a scene illuminated by the light source;

means for processing, within the housing, the first digital image and the second digital image, at least a portion of each digital image having a higher resolution than the remainder of that digital image;

means for detecting, within the housing, a motion using a difference between the higher resolution portion of the first digital image provided in a first partial frame buffer and the higher resolution portion of the second digital image provided in a second partial frame buffer, and

means for designating, within the housing, the second digital image for further processing based on a metric on the motion.

66. A capsule camera apparatus as in claim 65 further comprising an archival storage, wherein the deposition comprises storing the second digital image in the archival storage.

67. A capsule camera apparatus as in claim 65 , wherein means for transmitting the designated digital image over a wireless link.

68. A capsule camera apparatus, comprising:

a housing adapted to be swallowed;

a light source within the housing;

a camera within the housing for capturing a digital image of a scene illuminated by the light source;

a processing circuit, within the housing, that processes the captured image to provide a processed digital image having at least one portion having a higher resolution than the remainder of the processed digital image;

a motion detection circuit, within the housing, that detects motion between the processed images corresponding to images captured at different times and selects the processed digital images based on a metric on motion;

an archival storage device for storing the selected digital images; and

an output port for retrieving the stored digital image from the archival storage system.

69. A capsule camera apparatus as in claim 68 , further comprising an image selection circuit for designating digital images to be stored into the archival storage device.

70. A capsule camera apparatus as in claim 68 , wherein the archival storage device comprises a semiconductor memory device.

71. A capsule camera apparatus as in claim 70 , wherein the semiconductor memory device comprises a flash memory device.

72. A capsule camera apparatus as in claim 68 , wherein the output port is accessed through a connector.

73. A capsule camera apparatus as in claim 68 , wherein the output port is accessed at a feed-through on the housing.

74. A capsule camera apparatus as in claim 68 , wherein the capsule is capable of receiving power from an external power source.

75. A method for providing a capsule camera apparatus, comprising:

providing a housing adapted to be swallowed;

providing a light source within the housing;

using a camera within the housing, capturing a digital image of a scene illuminated by the light source;

processing, within the housing, the captured image to provide a processed digital image having at least one portion having a higher resolution than the remainder of the processed digital image;

detecting, within the housing, motion between the processed images corresponding to images captured at different times and selecting the processed digital images based on a metric on motion;

storing the selected digital image in an archival storage device; and

retrieving the selected digital image from the archival storage system through an output port.

76. A method as in claim 75 , further comprising providing an image selection circuit for designating digital images to be stored into the archival storage device.

77. A method as in claim 75 , wherein the archival storage device comprises a semiconductor memory device.

78. A method as in claim 77 , wherein the semiconductor memory device comprises a flash memory device.

79. A method as in claim 75 , wherein the output port is accessed through a connector.

80. A method as in claim 75 , wherein the output port is accessed at a feed-through on the housing.

81. A method as in claim 75 , wherein the capsule is capable of receiving power from an external power source.