1. An endocervical canal seal, comprising:
an elongated seal assembly extending along an axis adapted to be introduced into an endocervical canal in a reduced cross-section configuration and to be immobilized in the canal in an expanded cross-section configuration;
a passageway through the seal assembly for receiving a treatment tool;
markings on seal assembly for indicating the axial relationship of seal assembly and the endocervical canal.
2. The endocervical canal seal of claim 1, wherein the passageway includes a fluid seal.
3. The endocervical canal seal of claim 1 wherein the seal assembly has proximal and medial portions that have a first expanded cross-section and the distal portion have has a second expanded cross-section that is larger than the first cross-section.
4. The endocervical canal seal of claim 3 wherein the first and second expanded cross-sections are expanded by fluid inflation.
5. The endocervical canal seal of claim 1 wherein the markings include numbers configured to indicate the length of the seal assembly disposed within the endocervical canal.
6. The endocervical canal seal of claim 1 wherein the markings include a plurality of colored portions.
7. The endocervical canal seal of claim 1 further comprising a proximal collar with a locking mechanism that selectively locks the seal assembly to a shaft of the treatment tool.
8. A system for uterine cavity treatments, comprising:
a seal assembly extending along an axis and adapted to be introduced into an endocervical canal in a reduced cross-section configuration and to be immobilized in the canal in an expanded cross-section configuration;
an axially-extending probe shaft slidably received in a central passage in the seal assembly, wherein the probe shaft carries a distal expandable-collapsible energy-delivery surface; and
at least one marking on the probe shaft for indicating the axial relationship of the probe shaft and seal assembly.
9. The system of claim 8 further comprising a flexible seal in the central passage configured to receive the probe shaft.
wherein the passageway includes a fluid seal.
10. The system of claim 8 wherein the seal assembly has proximal and medial portions that have a first expanded cross-section and the distal portion have has a second expanded cross-section that is larger than the first cross-section.
11. The system of claim 10 wherein the first and second expanded cross-sections are expanded by fluid inflation.
12. The system of claim 8 wherein the markings include numbers configured to indicate the length of the shaft seal assembly disposed within the endocervical canal.
13. The system of claim 8 wherein the markings include colors configured to indicate the length of the shaft seal assembly disposed within the endocervical canal.
14. The system of claim 8 further comprising an electrical system configured to enable a signal to indicate an axial relationship between the seal assembly and the probe shaft.
15. The system of claim 14 wherein the electrical system includes electrical circuit components in the probe shaft.
16. The system of claim 14 wherein the electrical system includes an electrical component in the seal assembly.
17. The system of claim 14 further comprising a locking mechanism carried by the seal assembly for selectively locking the seal assembly to the probe shaft.
18. A method of using an endometrial ablation system, comprising
positioning a seal assembly in an endocervical canal with a distal seal end proximate an internal os;
introducing a probe shaft through a central passage in the seal assembly;
expanding a distal expandable-collapsible energy-delivery surface carried by the probe shaft; and
observing the axial relationship between the seal assembly and probe shaft to check system parameters against measurements of the endocervical canal and uterine cavity.
19. The method of claim 18 wherein the positioning step is preceded by the step of measuring the length of the endocervical canal.
20. The method of claim 18 wherein the positioning step is preceded by the step of measuring the length of the uterine cavity.
21. The method of claim 18 wherein the positioning step includes expanding the cross-section of the seal assembly.
22. The method of claim 18 wherein the introducing step is preceded by the step of setting a length dimension of the energy-delivery surface when expanded in the uterine cavity.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. An image processing apparatus for processing light field information indicating an intensity distribution of light and an incident direction of light, the image processing apparatus comprising:
an image generating unit configured to generate a derivative information from the light field information;
an analyzing unit configured to analyze the derivative information and obtain information representing a feature of the derivative information;
an information generating unit configured to generate first additional information to be attached to the derivative information, based on the information representing the feature of the derivative information; and
an attaching unit configured to attach the first additional information to the derivative information.
2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:
an obtaining unit configured to obtain second additional information, which is provided together with the light field information and includes subject information,
wherein the information generating unit generates the first additional information by extracting subject information, which is based on the information representing the feature of the derivative information, from the second additional information.
3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2,
wherein the information representing the feature of the derivative information is a depth of field of the derivative information, and
the information generating unit generates thee first additional information by extracting subject information in which a subject distance is included in the depth of field among pieces of subject information included in the second additional information.
4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2,
wherein the information representing the feature of the derivative information is a depth of field of the derivative information, and
the information generating unit generates the first additional information by extracting subject information in which a subject distance is included in a predetermined range to which the depth of field is expanded from among pieces of subject information included in the second additional information.
5. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2,
wherein the information representing the feature of the derivative information is a depth of field of the derivative information,
the image processing apparatus further includes a distance calculating unit configured to determine a subject distance with regard to each piece of subject information included in the second additional information, from the light field information and the second additional information, and
the information generating unit generates the first additional information by extracting subject information in which a subject distance determined by the distance calculating unit is included in the depth of field from among pieces of subject information included in the second additional information.
6. The image processing apparatus according to claim 5,
wherein the distance calculating unit includes:
a distance map generating unit configured to generate a distance map representing a distribution of subject distances in an imaging range of the light field information, from the light field information; and
a calculating unit configured to determine the subject distance, from position information on a subject included in subject information included in the second additional information and the distance map.
7. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising:
a bokeh amount map generating unit configured to generate a bokeh amount map representing a distribution of amounts of bokeh in the derivative information; and
a bokeh amount calculating unit configured to determine an amount of bokeh for each subject, from position information on a subject included in subject information included in the second additional information and the bokeh amount map,
wherein the information generating unit generates the first additional information by extracting subject information on a subject whose bokeh amount determined by the bokeh amount calculating unit is smaller than a predetermined threshold.
8. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1,
wherein the analyzing unit obtains information on a predetermined subject to be included in the derivative information, as information representing a feature of the derivative information, and
the information generating unit, using the information on the subject, obtains identification information on a predetermined subject to be included in the derivative information, as the first additional information.
9. The image processing apparatus according to claim 8,
wherein the information generating unit obtains the identification information, using recognition data that is prepared in advance and in which identification information on a subject is associated with subject information.
10. The image processing apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising:
an obtaining unit configured to obtain second additional information, which is provided together with the light field information and includes subject information; and
a second information generating unit configured to generate third additional information to be attached to the derivative information from the second additional information, with regard to a subject whose subject information could not be obtained by the information generating unit,
wherein the attaching unit attaches the first additional information and the third additional information to the derivative information.
11. The image processing apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising:
an obtaining unit configured to obtain second additional information, which is provided together with the light field information and includes subject information; and
a second information generating unit configured to generate fourth additional information to be attached to the derivative information, using information that is included in the derivative information and that represents a feature of a predetermined subject,
wherein the analyzing unit obtains position information on the predetermined subject as information representing a feature of the derivative information,
the information generating unit, using the position information, obtains identification information on the predetermined subject as the first additional information from subject information included in the second additional information, and
the second information generating unit generates the fourth additional information with regard to a subject whose identification information could not be obtained by the information generating unit among the predetermined subjects.
12. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the second additional information is provided as tag information of the light field information.
13. The image processing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the second additional information is provided as tag information of the light field information.
14. The image processing apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the second additional information is provided as tag information of the light field information.
15. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the derivative information is an image in which any one of subject distances is focused.
16. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the derivative information is an image to which corresponding light field information has a smaller range in which a subject distance is focusable than the light field information.
17. A method for controlling an image processing apparatus for processing light field information indicating an intensity distribution of light and an incident direction of light, the method comprising:
an image generating step of generating a derivative information from the light field information;
an analyzing step of analyzing the derivative information and obtaining information representing a feature of the derivative information;
an information generating step of generating first additional information to be attached to the derivative information, based on the information representing the feature of the derivative information; and
an attaching step of attaching the first additional information generated in the information generation step to the derivative information.
18. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium that stores a program for causing a computer to function as each unit of the image processing apparatus according to claim 1.