DE102022131156A1 - Camera arrangement for medical items and products - Google Patents

Abstract

A camera arrangement for surgical instruments is disclosed, comprising a camera (1), wherein the camera arrangement has a direct lighting strand (8) with a plurality of LEDs, the light of which is directed directly onto a reading area (20), and wherein the camera arrangement further has an indirect lighting strand (6) with a plurality of LEDs, the light of which is directed indirectly onto the reading area via a reflection dome (4), wherein the reflection dome (4) is arranged on a side of the two first lighting strands (6, 8) facing away from the reading area (20).

Description

Technical area

The present disclosure relates to the lighting concept of a camera arrangement for medical devices, e.g. surgical instruments. The camera arrangement detects at least machine-readable codes that are attached to medical devices, e.g. surgical instruments.

Background of the invention

In surgery, surgical instruments are recorded individually, e.g. to compile a selection of several instruments and make them available to the operator or surgeon. This recording can be done semi-automatically by manually sorting the instruments while electronic monitoring takes place using a camera system that serves as a scanner.

State of the art

The applicant’s DE 39 17 876 A1 discloses a system for loading a surgical instrument set. A handheld reading head automatically reads barcodes attached to the instruments. The scanned instrument is automatically displayed to the user on a monitor and is recorded as available on a list.

In this context, direct lighting units are known to make the respective machine-readable code of the surgical instruments visible to the camera.

The DMT100 document from IOSS discloses a camera arrangement designed as a table-top device with a camera eye on the top. During operation, a user holds the machine-readable two-dimensional data matrix code of the surgical instrument over the camera eye, which is then automatically read. Multi-channel LED lighting is provided, with the appropriate channel being automatically selected from four lighting channels.

A fundamentally similar tabletop device for scanning data matrix codes, even from curved surfaces of the surgical instruments concerned, is known under the product name Surgiscan or Surgiscan Ultra from 2DSurgical. The camera arrangement has an indirect lighting unit. The corresponding data sheet of the same name discloses LED lighting with 256 colors for constant lighting or for flash operation.

Brief description of the invention

The object of the present disclosure is to provide a camera arrangement at least for scanning machine-readable codes, the recognition reliability and speed of which are improved compared to the prior art.

This object is achieved with regard to the camera arrangement with the combination of features of claim 1.

The camera arrangement for or for the detection/visual handling/assessment or for use in handling medical devices, e.g. surgical instruments, according to the disclosure has a first camera which is set up and designed at least for detecting machine-readable codes of medical devices, e.g. surgical instruments. The camera arrangement has a first direct lighting strand with a plurality of LEDs (i.e. a number of LEDs are arranged on a first direct circular path, preferably around the first camera as the center), the light of which is preferably directed directly onto a reading area or work area for the medical device or its code through an at least partially circumferential, preferably ring-shaped diffuser. The camera arrangement also has a first indirect lighting strand with a plurality of LEDs (i.e. a number of LEDs are arranged on a first indirect circular path, preferably around the first camera as the center), the light of which is directed indirectly onto the reading area via a first, e.g. concave, reflection dome. The first (single or multi-piece) reflection dome is arranged on a side of the first two lighting strands facing away from the reading area. With this camera arrangement, various lighting scenarios are possible and the recognition reliability is improved. The rapid and early sufficient recognition reliability increases the overall recognition speed. The camera arrangement therefore enables the user to have an increased throughput of medical devices.

The term medical device includes, for example, the surgical instruments already mentioned or other medical instruments or medical devices or parts of medical devices or medical products or medical consumables.

As already mentioned, the reflection dome can also be made up of several parts, e.g. from several surfaces For example, a hollow cuboid is also easily possible in terms of device technology.

Based on an evaluation of the quality of the camera images (e.g. in terms of illumination but also in terms of reflection) on the surface of the medical device to be viewed, individual sections of the lighting strands can preferably be controlled separately and adjusted to the conditions in terms of brightness in order to achieve ideal lighting for the reading process (homogeneous illumination of the code / minimization of reflection / maximization of the contrast between the medical device and the code).

A further development stage is the combination of adaptive lighting as described above and a camera with autofocus (e.g. voice coil motor or liquid lens).

A simple development in terms of device technology with optimal lighting is provided when the first two lighting strands have approximately the same diameter in the sense of a double ring / double circular path and their backs are adjacent to one another. It should be noted that the first two lighting strands could be formed, for example, by a ring-shaped or circular path-shaped circuit board being equipped with a number of LEDs on both sides, whereby the circuit board defining the circular path has a certain plate width and the LEDs can also be radially offset from one another within this plate width (and can still be described as being on a circular path).

A simple development in terms of device technology with optimal lighting is also provided if at least one of the two first lighting strands is arranged and/or attached to a peripheral inner edge of the first reflection dome. Preferably, the first (e.g. ring-shaped) diffuser is also arranged and/or attached directly or indirectly to the peripheral inner edge of the first reflection dome.

According to a first embodiment, a control software or a control unit is programmed in such a way that a camera image can be generated, for which purpose the first two lighting strands can be controlled alternately one after the other. In a specific embodiment, for example, an exposure time of the first camera of 2 ms and a frequency of control of the two lighting strands of 500 Hz are provided.

Also disclosed is a method for operating a camera arrangement, wherein the exposure of the first camera occurs by controlling the first two lighting strands alternately one after the other. The autofocus is carried out, for example, by means of a voice coil motor or liquid lens.

According to a second embodiment, the control software or the control unit is programmed such that at least two (preferably several) images of the first camera can be generated one after the other, whereby each individual camera image can be generated by controlling only one of the two first lighting strands. The optimal camera image that was generated by means of the optimal first lighting strand can then be determined automatically by comparing the at least two (preferably several) camera images.

Also disclosed is a method for operating a camera arrangement, wherein at least two (preferably several) exposures of the first camera are carried out one after the other, and wherein each individual exposure is carried out by controlling only one of the two first illumination strands.

The medical devices can be handled advantageously if the first two lighting strands are arranged approximately horizontally and if the first reflection dome is arranged above the first two lighting strands, while the reading area is arranged below the first two lighting strands. This means that the light rays of the LEDs of the first direct lighting strand (at least with one component) are directed downwards, while the light rays of the LEDs of the first indirect lighting strand (at least with one component) are directed upwards into the first reflection dome.

The handling of the medical devices is further improved if a support, preferably a support surface, e.g. a support plate, is arranged below the reading area. The support surface can also advantageously limit a reading area in which the machine-readable code can be clearly read. The user can then place the medical devices to be read on the support surface or even simply slide them over the support surface under the camera.

In preferred embodiments, the first camera is arranged in a recess of the first reflection dome.

A second camera (ie preferably opposite to the first camera) is arranged on a side of the reading area facing away from the two first lighting strands and the first reflection dome and the first camera, wherein the camera arrangement further comprises a second direct lighting strand with a plurality of LEDs, the light of which is directed directly onto the reading area through an at least partially circumferential (e.g. ring-shaped) diffuser. Furthermore, the camera arrangement comprises a second indirect lighting strand with a plurality of LEDs, the light of which is directed indirectly onto the reading area via a second, e.g. concave, reflection dome. The second reflection dome is arranged on a side of the two second lighting strands facing away from the reading area. Here too, it should be noted that the two second lighting strands (in accordance with the first lighting strands) could be formed, for example, by a ring-shaped or circular-shaped circuit board being equipped with a number of LEDs on both sides, wherein the circuit board defining the circular path has a certain plate width and the LEDs can also be radially offset from one another within this plate width (and can still be described as being on a circular path).

With this camera arrangement, additional lighting scenarios are possible and the detection reliability is further improved. The faster and earlier sufficient detection reliability further increases the overall detection speed.

The supplementary lighting can be in the visible or non-visible wavelength range or can change its wavelength within different lighting scenarios. The two cameras are then designed for different wavelength ranges from the group of visible light, UV light and IR light.

Glare must be prevented, particularly when the two cameras are directed at each other (a common optical axis). Bandpass filters are preferably used for this purpose.

In order to enlarge the optically small barcodes and to increase the reading area of the machine-readable code, a camera arrangement with a parabolic mirror is also conceivable. This is arranged on one side of the reading area facing away from the first two lighting strands and the first reflection dome in order to optically enlarge the machine-readable code through its specific curvature. The distortion that arises as a result can be calculated from the image.

In a first embodiment, the parabolic mirror is convex.

In a second embodiment, the parabolic mirror is concave, with the first camera being arranged in a focus of the parabolic mirror. If further lighting is arranged, for example, adjacent to the focus of the concave parabolic mirror, the light of which is directed indirectly via the parabolic mirror onto the reading area, a further improved illumination or a further alternative lighting scenario of the reading area or work area is provided.

The codes that can be machine-read by the camera system are, in particular, two-dimensional area codes or barcodes, particularly data matrix codes, but also one-dimensional codes such as conventional barcodes. In addition, it is also possible to design the camera system for character recognition (OCR).

According to a further development of the camera arrangement, in particular its electronic evaluation unit, further adapted lighting scenarios are possible for other applications, for example for the inspection of surfaces or the inspection of cutting edges. In this case, the previously mentioned reading area of the machine-readable code is also an inspection area of the instrument.

Additional illumination in the UV range is useful, for example, to better detect contamination of the instrument.

The lighting strands mentioned can be circular or circular-arc-shaped. The lighting strands mentioned can also be polygonal lines with at least four sides and corners. The lighting strands can also have interruptions. The lighting strands are preferably LED strips.

Short description of the characters

• 1 is a camera arrangement according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure;
• 2 is a camera arrangement according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure;
• 3 is a camera arrangement according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure; and
• 4 is a camera arrangement according to a fourth embodiment of the present disclosure.

Description of the embodiments

Hereinafter, four embodiments of the present disclosure will be described based on the accompanying figures.

1 is a camera arrangement according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure in a side schematic sectional view.

A (first) camera 1 is accommodated in a camera housing 2, the lens or objective of which is directed downwards through a central recess 3 of, for example, a concave reflection dome 4. The lighting is formed by two lighting strands 6, 8, which are arranged and fastened to a circumferential inner edge of the reflection dome 4.

The lower lighting strand is called the direct lighting strand 8 because its LEDs, which are preferably evenly distributed around the circumference, emit their light through a surrounding, e.g. ring-shaped diffuser 9 downwards directly to the medical device, e.g. instrument, or to its machine-readable code. The diffuser 9 in front of the direct lighting strand 8 creates a greater light scattering. This type of lighting creates dark field lighting.

The upper lighting strand is called indirect lighting strand 6 because its LEDs, which are evenly distributed around the circumference, emit their light upwards into the reflection dome 4 and thus indirectly illuminate the medical device or its machine-readable code.

The surrounding inner edge of the reflection dome 4 and the two lighting strands 6, 8 and the diffuser 9 are approximately horizontal. At a distance a below the diffuser 9 there is a storage area 12 designed as a storage plate on which the medical device is placed. The distance a is dimensioned such that a sharp image of a medical device placed on it with the machine-readable code facing upwards can be captured by the camera 1. This area is called the reading area.

Furthermore, the camera 1 is also able to image surfaces of the instrument. The user of the camera arrangement can identify contamination by looking at a monitor (not shown) or an evaluation software of a control unit (not shown).

Finally, camera 1 is also able to image any cutting edges or cutting edges that may be present on the instrument. The user can inspect and evaluate these by looking at the monitor or the evaluation software of the control unit.

2 is a camera arrangement according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure in a side schematic sectional view.

The components and functions, especially the lighting, are located in an upper area. 1 implemented. The support surface 12 made of 1 is omitted. Instead, a further camera 11 is provided below the reading area 20, the lens or objective of which is directed upwards from below the reading area 20.

A second illumination with two second illumination strands 16, 18 in the infrared range of 850 nm makes a readout more robust against extraneous light.

In particular, if the second camera 11 has a bandpass filter 13 of 850nm. The two lighting strands 16, 18 and a second diffuser 19 and a second reflection dome 14 are positioned and operatively connected to the second camera 11 in such a way as the 1 explained above arrangement.

3 is a camera arrangement according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure in a side schematic representation.

The components and functions, especially the lighting, are located in an upper area. 1 implemented. The support surface 12 made of 1 has been omitted. Instead, a convex parabolic mirror 22 is arranged below the reading area 20. This is therefore arranged on the lower side of the reading area 20 facing away from the first two lighting strands 6, 8 and the first reflection dome 4 in order to optically enlarge the machine-readable code through its specific curvature. The distortion that occurs with this camera arrangement is calculated out of the image.

4 is a camera arrangement according to a fourth embodiment of the present disclosure in a side schematic sectional view.

The two lighting strands 6, 8 and the diffuser 9 and the interaction with the reflection dome 104 correspond in principle to the first embodiment of 1 . However, the reflection dome 104 has no recess for the camera 1. Instead, the camera 1 is below the reading area 20 in a focus 124 of a the reading area 20. The concave parabolic mirror 122 is open upwards in the direction of the reading area 20.

Directly below the focus 124 of the parabolic mirror 122, a further indirect lighting 106 is arranged, the light from the LEDs (not shown) of which is initially directed downwards and then indirectly via the parabolic mirror 122 onto the reading area 20. This provides further improved illumination and another alternative lighting scenario.

The light from the two upper lighting strands 6, 8, which passes the medical device, e.g. instrument, is also reflected via the parabolic mirror 122 to the reading area 20. The downward-directed parallel light from the lighting strands 6, 8 is reflected according to the 4 shown arrows via the parabolic mirror 122 to its focus 124.

• Die beiden Beleuchtungsstränge 6, 8 werden versetzt angesteuert in einer Frequenz von 500 Hz. Während einer Ansteuerung ist nur ein Beleuchtungsstrang 6, 8 von beiden aktiv. Somit entstehen verschiedene Beleuchtungsszenarien, welche auf unterschiedlichen Oberflächen des medical devices, z.B. Instruments andere Artefakte hervorheben. Für den Anwender ist die Taktung der Beleuchtungsstränge 6, 8 nicht sichtbar. Über das Kamerabild kann die Taktung wahrgenommen werden. Um dies zu kompensieren wird die Belichtungszeit des Sensors bzw. der Kamera 1 auf 2 ms eingestellt.

In all shown embodiments of the camera arrangement according to the 1 to 4 The following control options are provided for a flicker-free camera image:

• The two lighting strands 6, 8 are controlled offset at a frequency of 500 Hz. During a control, only one of the two lighting strands 6, 8 is active. This creates different lighting scenarios, which highlight different artifacts on different surfaces of the medical device, e.g. instruments. The timing of the lighting strands 6, 8 is not visible to the user. The timing can be perceived via the camera image. To compensate for this, the exposure time of the sensor or camera 1 is set to 2 ms.

Another variant of the lighting control is a control of the camera 1 synchronously with the lighting string 6, 8. In this case, only one lighting string 6, 8 is controlled with each newly recorded camera image. In order to show the user a "steady" camera image, only the camera image of one lighting string 6, 8 is displayed.

wobei F_Licht die mögliche Frequenz der Beleuchtung, n eine beliebige natürliche Zahl oder Null und y die Anzahl der Beleuchtungsszenarien ist.Synchronization of camera 1 to the lighting corresponds to the formula: $${\text{F}}_{\text{Light}}=\text{y}\left(20+\text{n}\right)\left[\text{Hz}\right],$$

where F _light is the possible frequency of illumination, n is any natural number or zero and y is the number of lighting scenarios.

wobei F_Kamera die Frequenz der Kamera 1 und m eine beliebige natürliche Zahl ist.A frequency of 20 Hz or frames per second is required to generate a smooth display of the camera images on a monitor (not shown) for the user. The frequency of camera 1 in this case is calculated using the formula $${\text{F}}_{\text{Light}}>=\text{m}*{\text{F}}_{\text{camera}}$$

where F _camera is the frequency of camera 1 and m is any natural number.

To ensure that the change between the lighting scenarios, especially between the lighting strands 6, 8, is not visible to the human eye and to avoid flickering, F _light should be at least 100 Hz.

List of reference symbols:

1

first camera

2

first camera body

3

Recess

4; 104

first reflection dome

6

first indirect lighting line

8th

first direct lighting line

9

first diffuser

11

second camera

12

second camera body

13

Bandpass filter

14

second reflection dome

16

second indirect lighting strand

18

second direct lighting strand

19

second diffuser

20

Reading area

22

convex parabolic mirror

106

further indirect lighting

122

concave parabolic mirror

124

Focus

FLight

Frequency of lighting

FCamera

Camera frequency

a

Distance

m

natural number

n

natural number or zero

QUOTES INCLUDED IN THE DESCRIPTION

This list of documents listed by the applicant was generated automatically and is included solely for the better information of the reader. The list is not part of the German patent or utility model application. The DPMA accepts no liability for any errors or omissions.

Cited patent literature

• DE 3917876 A1 [0003]

Claims (13)

Camera arrangement with a first camera (1) which is set up and designed to capture machine-readable codes from medical devices, wherein the camera arrangement has a first direct lighting strand (8) with a plurality of LEDs whose light is directed directly onto a reading area (20), and wherein the camera arrangement further has a first indirect lighting strand (6) with a plurality of LEDs whose light is directed indirectly onto the reading area via a first reflection dome (4), wherein the first reflection dome (4) is arranged on a side of the two first lighting strands (6, 8) facing away from the reading area (20). Camera arrangement according to Claim 1 , wherein the rear sides of the first two lighting strands (6, 8) face each other. Camera arrangement according to one of the preceding claims, wherein at least one of the two first illumination strands (6, 8) is arranged and/or fastened to a circumferential inner edge of the first reflection dome (4). Camera arrangement according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the two first lighting strands (6, 8) can be controlled one after the other to generate a camera image. Camera arrangement according to one of the preceding claims, wherein at least two camera images of the first camera (1) can be generated one after the other, and wherein each individual camera image can be generated by controlling only one of the two first lighting strands (6, 8). Camera arrangement according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the two first lighting strands (6, 8) are arranged approximately horizontally, and wherein the first reflection dome (4) is arranged above the two first lighting strands (6, 8), while the reading area (20) is arranged below the two first lighting strands (6, 8). Camera arrangement according to one of the preceding claims, wherein a support (12) for the instrument is arranged below the reading area (20). Camera arrangement according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the first camera (1) is arranged in a recess (3) of the first reflection dome (4). Camera arrangement according to one of the preceding claims, wherein a second camera (11) is arranged on a side of the reading area (20) facing away from the two first lighting strands (6, 8) and the first reflection dome (4) and the first camera (1), wherein the camera arrangement further comprises a second direct lighting strand (18) with a plurality of LEDs whose light is directed directly onto the reading area (20), and wherein the camera arrangement further comprises a second indirect lighting strand (16) with a plurality of LEDs whose light is directed indirectly onto the reading area (20) via a second reflection dome (14), wherein the second reflection dome (14) is arranged on a side of the two second lighting strands (16, 18) facing away from the reading area (20). Camera arrangement according to Claim 9 , wherein the two cameras (1, 11) are designed for different wavelength ranges from the group visible light, UV light and IR light. Camera arrangement according to one of the Claims 1 until 7 , wherein a parabolic mirror (22; 122) is arranged on a side of the reading area (20) facing away from the two first lighting strands (6, 8) and the first reflection dome (4). Camera arrangement according to Claim 11 , wherein the parabolic mirror (22) is convex. Camera arrangement according to Claim 11 , wherein the parabolic mirror (122) is concave, and wherein the first camera (1) is arranged in a focus (124) of the parabolic mirror (122), and wherein a further indirect illumination (106) is provided, the light of which is directed indirectly via the parabolic mirror (122) onto the reading area (20).

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