Throughout the website there are certain terms and phrases that need to be clarified. This section will therefore explain the nomenclature used throughout this website. Each of the subtitles below refers to a different naming convention.
Depth Sensing Surgical System
This refers to the final proof of concept that the team has constructed. May be used interchangeably with Depth Sensing Endoscope or Depth Sensing Endoscope project.
‘Color’ versus ‘Colour’
Throughout the documentation, the word ‘colour’ can be seen being spelt in both the English and American fashion. This is a deliberate feature of the website and not a misspelling. The American spelling ‘color’ is used to refer to entities and objects used in the final system (such as ‘ColoredDepth augmentation’). This is because whenever the word is used in a function name provided with the Kinect SDK, it is spelt ‘color’. To avoid confusion of future developers, function names that the team have written and the names of augmentations etcetera also use the American spelling of the word.
The English spelling of the word is used in documentation and comments but not in the actual code of the system.
ToolProximity
This is the name of one of the augmentations of the system. Changes the colour of the tool based on how far away it is from the background. May be referred to as ‘tool proximity’ when discussing the underlying logic of the augmentation, such as ‘tool proximity algorithm’.
ColoredDepth
The name of one of the augmentations of the system. Was previously called “GeneralDepth”, particularly in documentation of the user interface design. Changes the colour of every pixel of the camera’s field of view based on how far away that pixel is from the camera. May be referred to as ‘coloured depth’ when discussing the underlying logic of the augmentation, such as ‘coloured depth algorithm’.
ToolDepth
The name of one of the augmentations of the system. Also referred to as ColoredToolDepth. Changes the colour of the tool based on how far away it is from the camera. May be referred to as ‘tool depth’ or ‘coloured tool depth’ when discussing the underlying logic of the augmentation, such as ‘coloured tool depth algorithm’.
‘Laparoscope’ and ‘Endoscope’
While the correct term for the camera used in minimally invasive surgery is a laparoscope, the team did not realise for some time that this was a different thing entirely to an endoscope. Therefore, when reading this website the terms should be considered interchangeable, and both refer to a camera being used to perform minimally invasive surgery.
Tool
Refers to both the props used by the team to test the system and to the surgical tools that would be in the camera view in an actual surgical system rather than when using the Kinect. May also be called ‘prop’.
‘Augmentation’ and ‘Algorithm’
When referring to the augmentations implemented in the system, the words ‘augmentation’ and ‘algorithm’ are both used. Use of ‘augmentation’ refers to the final class of each augmentation that returns an image array. When the word ‘algorithm’ is used, such as ‘tool proximity algorithm’, then the actual underlying logic that performs the visual augmentation is being referred to rather than the class as a whole.
Strategy
Each augmentation is a C# class that implements the IVisualAugmenter interface. As the Strategy design pattern was followed when building this system, the IVisualAugmenter interface define a family of visual augmentation strategies used in the system. As each augmentation implements this interface, they are all visual augmentation strategies, and may then be referred to as strategies. The same goes for the Controller and ToolIdentification family of strategies.
UI
Stands for User Interface.
SDK
Stands for Software Development Kit.
API
Stands for Application Programming Interface.
NUI
Stands for Natural User Interface (deals with functions such as gesture and voice control which the Kinect provides facilities for).
Haptics
Also referred to as haptic feedback. Any kind of depth feedback given to the surgeon by way of touch (such as vibrations or tool stiffening).