JPH0618219A - Measuring method of object through endoscope - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To allow measurement of an object easily at the site by providing an electronic endoscope, a light source unit for feeding illumination light to the endoscope, and an image signal processor for photographing means of the endoscope. CONSTITUTION:A light guide 13 is inserted into an inserting part 11 and the terminal of the guide 13 is connected with a light source unit 3 thus transmitting illumination light from a lamp 14 through an end face on the tip 15 side and an illumination lens 16 to an object. Reflected light from the object is transmitted through an objective lens 18 arranged at the tip part 15 and focused on a CCD 19 arranged on the focal plane. A signal produced from the CCD 19 through photoelectric conversion is transmitted through a signal line 20 and inputted to an image signal processor 4 and an output signal therefrom is inputted to an image memory 21 in a measuring apparatus 9 and temporarily stored therein. Image signal outputted from the memory 21 can be outputted through a synthesizer 22 to a monitor 5. In other words, image 6A of a blade 6 can be displayed on a monitor and the size of flaw 8 in an object can be measured.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention uses the positions of two or more specific points whose relative positions are known in advance,
The present invention relates to a method for measuring an object with an endoscope that measures the length and the like of the object.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As described in Japanese Patent Application No. 2-146881, it is often necessary not only to observe a flaw on a blade of a jet engine with an endoscope but also to measure its length as a numerical value. is there. Since the endoscope is generally used in such a way that the distance to the object is unspecified, it is not possible to simply calculate the length of the flaw from the image.

As a method for measuring the length and the like, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-70903, two parallel laser beams are emitted from the tip of an endoscope, and an inspection portion is measured with reference to a laser spot of a constant distance generated on an object. However, this method requires a device that oscillates a laser beam and a structure of an endoscope that can emit a laser beam, which makes the device complicated and expensive.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-244011 discloses an example of a so-called twin-lens endoscope having two objective image pickup systems. Let's measure the three-dimensional shape of a target portion by stereoscopic vision. It is what The structure of the endoscope is complicated and effective, and it also has the drawback that the tip of the endoscope becomes thicker and cannot be inserted into a small object.

Further, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 63-246716 discloses an endoscope having a structure in which the distal end portion is the same as usual, and is characterized by its bending mechanism. Bending from the first position to the second position, and the position of the target portion in the image at both positions,
It is intended to measure the three-dimensional shape of the target portion by using the angle of curvature detected separately by the detecting means. Although there is no disadvantage that the tip of the endoscope becomes thicker, special detection means for detecting the bending angle must be provided, and even when the detection means is provided, the guide is not provided as in this conventional example. It is difficult to obtain high accuracy by the method of detecting the bending angle of the tip through a wire or the like.

Furthermore, Japanese Patent Application No. 2-146881 discloses that a figure is constructed by using the shape and size data of an object,
By superimposing this on the image of the object, the coordinates of an arbitrary point on the image are obtained and measurement is performed. This method is extremely unique, but the only troublesome point is that the shape and size data of the object must be prepared in advance.

[0007]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] By the way, Japanese Patent Application No. 4
In Japanese Patent Publication No. 71299/71, a plurality of images of the same target object are captured while moving the image capturing means, and the position of a specific point on the target object in these images is tracked by a cross-correlation calculation. The movement vector of the imaging means is estimated based on the difference in the position of the specific point, the three-dimensional shape of the object is estimated based on the movement vector, and the process is repeated to measure the shape of the object. Techniques for increasing accuracy have been proposed.

This method is an epoch-making method for eliminating the drawbacks in the above-mentioned respective prior examples, but a huge amount of numerical calculation is required for calculation of the movement vector of the image pickup means,
Even with today's high-performance computers, you have to wait for a certain amount of time to complete the calculation. Therefore, it has a drawback that it cannot be used easily.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is not necessary to provide a special structure such as a laser beam emission to the endoscope, and the diameter is large like that of a twin-lens endoscope. In addition, there is no need to detect the bending angle by using another means, and it is not necessary to prepare the shape and dimension data of the entire object in advance, use an expensive computer or wait for the processing result to appear. The object is to provide a method of measuring an object with an endoscope that has a simple structure and that can easily measure the object at the site of use by using a small-diameter endoscope. There is.

[0010]

A method of measuring an object by an endoscope according to the present invention comprises a first process of capturing a first image of an object to be inspected by the endoscope, and a method for measuring the object of the endoscope. A second process of displacing at least the tip portion by an unspecified amount to capture a second image of the inspection object; and a second process on the inspection object in the first image and the second image. A third process of detecting the amount of displacement of at least the distal end portion of the endoscope by using the positions of two or more specific points whose relative positions are known in advance; Of the plurality of inspection target points included in one of the first image and the second image, and using the relative positions of the plurality of inspection target points calculated in the fourth process. The inspection target specified by the plurality of inspection points. To measure the quantitative.

[0011]

EXAMPLES Examples will be described below with reference to the drawings.

1 to 11 relate to the first embodiment,
FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing a flow of a front stage of a method of measuring an object with an endoscope, FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing a flow of a latter stage of a method of measuring an object with an endoscope, and FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an endoscope apparatus that realizes a method of measuring an object with an endoscope, and FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an object on a monitor. 6 is an explanatory view for explaining the positional relationship between the feature points of the object, FIG. 7 is an explanatory view for explaining the positional relationship of the object feature points on the X and Z planes, and FIG. 8 is a part of FIG. 7. Explanatory drawing, FIG. 9 is an explanatory view for explaining the positional relationship of the measurement points of the object on the X and Z planes, FIG. 10 is an explanatory view for explaining the positional relationship of the measurement points of the object, and FIG. 11 is for the endoscope. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the principal part of a modification.

As shown in FIG. 4, an endoscope apparatus 1 according to one embodiment includes an electronic endoscope 2, a light source device 3 for supplying illumination light to the electronic endoscope 2, and an electronic endoscope 2. A video signal processing device 4 for performing signal processing for the image pickup means, a standard video signal generated by the video signal processing device 4 is displayed on the monitor 5, and a simulated figure of an object such as the blade 6 is displayed. A measuring device 9 for measuring a measured amount such as a length or an area of an inspection target portion such as a scratch 8 of an object such as a blade 6
Composed of and.

The electronic endoscope 2 has an elongated insertion portion 11, and a wide operation portion 12 is formed on the rear end side of the insertion portion 11.

A light guide 13 is inserted into the insertion portion 11. By connecting the end of the light guide 13 to the light source device 3, the illumination light of the lamp 14 is electrically mounted and illuminated from the end face on the tip 15 side. The light is emitted toward the subject through the lens 16. The tip portion 15 can be bent vertically and horizontally by a bending mechanism (not shown).

The illuminated object is lit by a target lens 18 provided at the tip 15 of a CC arranged at its focal plane.
The image is formed on D19. A mosaic color filter is attached to the image pickup surface of the CCD 19 to separate colors for each pixel.

The signal photoelectrically converted by the CCD 19 is
It is input to the video signal processing device 4 via the signal line 20,
After the video signal processing, it is input to the image memory 21 of the measuring device 9 and temporarily stored. The video signal read from the image memory 21 can be output to the monitor 5 via the synthesizing device 22, and the image 6A of the object (the blade 6 in this case) can be displayed on the monitor image.

This measuring device 9 is provided with scratches 8 on the object.
CPU24 that executes a measurement program for measuring the size (length) and the like, and a floppy disk that reads these data from the floppy disk in which data that defines the shape and size of the object is recorded and outputs it to CPU24. Control of the device 25, a magnetic disk device 26 used for copying and using this data, recording an execution program of the measuring device 9, etc., a keyboard 27 used for data input, etc. Figure generation device 2 for generating a simulated figure of the object 6 or a cursor under the light
8 and.

The synthesizing device 22 is controlled by the video signal (also referred to as a subject image or image signal) output from the image memory 21 and the CPU 24, and the graphic generating device 28 is controlled.
It is also possible to output one of the object simulated figure (signal) output from the monitor 5 to the monitor 5, or to superimpose the image and the figure and output to the monitor 5.

The position of each cursor when the cursor is moved on the monitor screen by operating the keyboard 27 is grasped by the CPU 24.

A method of measuring the object 6 using this endoscope apparatus 1 will be described.

The distal end portion 15 of the electronic endoscope 2 is at the first position shown by the solid line in FIG. The Z axis is provided so as to coincide with the optical axis of the objective lens 18 of the electronic endoscope 2, and the center of the objective lens 18 is the origin 0 of the coordinate system.

The characteristic points on the object 6 are corners A and B in this case, and the distance 1 between A and B is known.

So that the line segment AB and the XZ plane are parallel,
An XYZ Cartesian coordinate system can be provided including the origin 0 and the Z axis which have already been determined. Then, the line segment Ax Bx, which is an image projected on the XZ plane of the line segment AB, is parallel to the line segment AB, and therefore its length is also 1.

There is a flaw on the object 6 and it is desired to measure its length. Points on both ends of the scratch are designated as points C and D.

The tip portion 15 can be moved by using the bending function of the electronic endoscope 2. In general, most of the electronic endoscopes 2 can be bent vertically, horizontally, or in four directions, and can be bent in any direction by combining them. Further, even an endoscope that can be bent in only two directions, the upper and lower directions, can also be bent in any direction by rotating the endoscope around the optical axis.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, the electronic endoscope 2
The tip portion 15 of B is bent in the XZ plane. The bending mechanism is as described in many prior art examples, but it may be considered that the bending is performed around a certain point R in the endoscope. The position of the point R differs depending on the model of the endoscope, but the distance L between the point R and the center of the objective lens is known for each model.

In FIG. 3, first, a first image of the object 6 is picked up at the first position of the electronic endoscope 2 shown by the solid line. Next, as shown in the same drawing, the distal end portion 15 of the electronic endoscope 2 is bent by an angle θ in the XZ plane, and a second portion indicated by a broken line is shown.
The second image of the object 6 is captured in that state.

FIG. 5 shows how the image of the object is displayed on the monitor 5. The cursor shown in FIG.
The cross-shaped mark generated by the graphic generator 28 in FIG. 2 is superimposed on the image of the object read from the image memory 21 by the synthesizer 22, and the monitor 5
Is displayed as shown in FIG. FIG. 5 also shows an XY coordinate system which is an in-screen coordinate system.

The position of the cursor is controlled by the CPU 24 based on the operation of the keyboard 27 by the operator,
It can be moved to any position on the screen. Also CP
U24 always knows the position of the cursor on the screen,
Using the position data on the XY coordinate system, the following calculation is performed to calculate the target measurement value.

It is now assumed that the cursor is positioned at the position of the point A on the image of the object 6 as shown in FIG. At that time, the coordinates (X, Y) of the cursor position in the XY coordinate system are determined.
FIG. 6 shows the XYZ coordinate system defined in the actual space as described above. Placing the cursor on the point A in FIG. 5 means that a straight line g connecting the origin 0 and the point A as shown in FIG. 6 is determined. In addition to the projection point Ax of the point A on the XZ plane, consider the projection point Ay of the point A on the YZ plane.

The angle between the point Ax and the Z axis is a1, and the angle between the point Ay and the Z axis is ay. When the angle of incidence is a, the size of the image is h, and the focal length of the lens is f, it can be generally expressed as h = f.tana. This h is the size of the image projected on the image pickup device or the like provided in the endoscope, and the size of the image on the XY coordinate system in FIG. 5 is in a fixed proportional relationship with this h. If the conversion coefficient including the proportional constant is ft, the size H of the image on the XY coordinate system can be expressed as H = ft.tana. ft is a known coefficient that is determined by the combination of the elements that make up the system, such as the focal length of the lens, the type of image sensor, and the unit of the XY coordinate system as described above.

From the above, the relationship between the coordinates (X, Y) of the cursor in FIG. 5 and the angles a1 and ay in FIG. 4 is X = ft.tan (a1) Y = ft.tan (ay). Therefore, if the coordinates (X, Y) of the cursor are specified on the monitor image, the incident angles a1 and ay are obtained as a1 = arctan (X / ft) ay = arctan (Y / ft).

Similarly, with respect to the point B, the incident angles b1 and by can be obtained by moving the cursor.

For points A and B, the incident angles a1 and b1 from the projected point on the XZ plane were obtained.

Next, as shown in FIG. 3, the electronic endoscope 2 is bent, and the distal end portion is moved to the second position moved by the angle θ in the XZ plane. And using the obtained second image,
In the same manner as above, the incident angles a2 and b2 from the projection points of the points A and B on the XZ plane can be obtained.

If the angle θ of movement of the tip of the endoscope is small, it may be considered that the center of the objective lens, which coincides with the origin 0, moves on the X axis. Therefore, the incident angle a1,
The relationship between b1, a2 and b2 is as shown in FIG.

When the amount of movement of the objective lens is S, both S and angle θ are unknown amounts, but the following relationship holds from FIG.

S = ZA * tan1−ZA * tan (a2 + θ) = ZB * tanb1−ZB * tan (b2 + θ) (1) where ZA * ZB is the Z coordinate of the points Ax and Bx, This is also the Z coordinate of points A and B from FIG.

The above equation can be expressed as ZB = kA.ZA (2). Here, kA = {tan (a1) -tan (a1 + θ)} / {tan (b1) -tan (b1 + θ)} (3) In FIG. 8 extracted from FIG. 7, the length of the line segment Ax Bx is known. Is the value l. Taking the angle β as shown in FIG. 8,

[Equation 1] If the equation (2) ZB = kA.ZA is used here,

[Equation 2] On the other hand, from FIG. 8 again, l · cosβ = ZB · tanb1−ZA · tana1 = (kA · tanb1−tana1) · ZA (5) From (4) and (5)

[Equation 3] Solving this equation for ZA,

[Equation 4] Using these relations, ZA and ZB with θ and S unknown
Can be obtained, and the procedure will be described below.

First, since θ, which is the movement angle of the endoscope, is not so large, kA is obtained by substituting θ = 0 in the equation (3). Once kA is determined, ZA can be found by equation (6). By using this ZA in the equation (1), the X movement amount S of the tip portion can be obtained. By the way, in FIG. 7, if a known length L from the center point R of the curvature to the center of the objective lens is used, there is a relationship of S = L · tan θ. From this, since θ = arctan (S / L), θ is obtained when S is given. This θ is again substituted into the equation (3) to obtain kA, and so on. This calculation is repeated until S reaches a sufficiently stable value. By doing this, unknown values of S, θ, ZA
, ZB can be obtained.

In FIG. 3, the projection point Cx on the XZ plane can be determined for the point C, which is one end of the flaw 8, in the same manner as the points A and B. Then, as in FIG. 9, it is obtained from the first and second images. Assuming that the incident angles on the XZ plane are C1 and C2 as shown in FIG. 9, S = ZC · tan (c1) -ZC · tan (c2 + θ) ∴ZC = S / {tan (c1) -tan (c2 + θ) } As described above, since S and θ, which are the quantities relating to the movement of the endoscope distal end portion, have already been obtained, the Z coordinate Zc of the point C can be easily obtained by the above equation. Similarly, the Z coordinate Zd is also obtained for the point D at the other end of the flaw.

By using the coordinates (X, Y) on the screen of the cursor in FIG. 5, the incident angle a1 on the XZ plane and the incident angle a on the YZ plane with respect to the point A in FIG.
The procedure for finding y has already been described. In exactly the same way, by designating the positions of the points C and D by the cursor on the monitor screen, the incident angle c of each of the points C and D on the XZ plane can be specified.
The incident angles cy on the YZ plane as well as 1 and d1
, Dy can be obtained.

These angles and ZC and CD which have already been obtained
By using the X and Y coordinates XC, XD of the points C, D
, YC, YD can be obtained as follows.

XC = ZC.tanc1 XD = ZD.tand1 YC = ZC.tancy YD = ZD.tandy FIG. 10 shows the relationship between the coordinates and the angle of the point C.

In this way, an arbitrary point C on the object,
Three-dimensional coordinates of D (XC, YC, ZC) and (XD, YD, ZD) are obtained.

To obtain the length of the line segment CD, which corresponds to the length of the scratch,

[Equation 5] It is easily calculated by the calculation of.

The flow of these processes is shown in FIGS. Here, as described above, l, ft, and L are known quantities, and l is the distance between the characteristic points A and B on the object 6, and ft is the incidence of light rays on the optical system of the electronic endoscope 2. Conversion coefficient from corner to image size on screen L: Length from the center of curvature of the electronic endoscope 2 to the tip portion 15.

In FIG. 1, starting from step (hereinafter abbreviated as S) 1, in S2, at the first position of the electronic endoscope 2 shown by the solid line in FIG. A first image of the object 6 including C and D is captured. At S3, the position of each of the points A, B, C, and D in the first image is designated by the cursor, and their image-like coordinates are obtained.
Using the conversion coefficient ft known in S4, the incident angles (a1, ay), (b1, b) of the points A, B, C, D from the image coordinates are obtained.
y), (c1, cy), and (d1, dy) are calculated. In S5, the electronic endoscope 2 is bent, and the distal end portion 15 is moved by an arbitrary small amount. In that state, in S6, points A, B, C, D
A second image including is captured. Points A, B, C, D at S7
The position of each image in the second image is designated by the cursor, and their image-like coordinates are obtained. Using the known conversion count ft in S8, the incident angles (a2, ay), (b2, by), (c2, cy), (d2,) of the points A, B, C, D from the image coordinates are calculated.
dy) is calculated.

Turning to FIG. 2, θ = 0 is set as the initial value of the bending angle θ in S9. In step S10, the ratio KA of the Z coordinates of the points A and B is calculated using a1, a2, b1, b2 and θ. In S11, the Z coordinate ZA of the point A and the tip movement amount S are calculated using a1, b1, KA and the known amount l. It is determined whether or not the tip portion movement amount S calculated in S12 is almost the same as S obtained by the previous calculation. If YES, the process proceeds to S14, and if NO, S
Proceed to 13. In S13, the tip end movement amount S and the known length L
A new value of the bending angle θ is calculated, and the process returns to S10 and S10.
The process of S12 is repeated. In S14, the final S, θ and c1, c2, d1, and d2 are used, and the Z coordinate Z of the points C and D is used.
Find c and Zd. In S15, ZC, ZD, c1, d1, c
Using y and dy, the X and Y coordinates XC, YC and X of the points C and D
Find D and YD. In S16, the three-dimensional distance between the CDs, which is the length of the scratch, is obtained using the X, Y, and Z coordinates of points C and D, and the process proceeds to S17 and ends.

A series of calculations in the flow of this processing are small-scale calculations using trigonometric functions, as described above,
The results can be obtained instantly even when executed on a small microcomputer or personal computer.

Therefore, by using the electronic endoscope 2 having a simple structure and a small diameter, it is possible to easily measure scratches or the like on the object at the site of use.

Recently, the television camera itself has become very small, and the size of a human finger is commercially available. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 11, the elongated insertion member 30
If the bending mechanism 31 including a small motor (not shown) is provided and such a small television camera 32 is attached to the tip, the measuring method of the first embodiment can be applied similarly to the electronic endoscope 2.

Further, in FIG. 5, when the operator positions the cursor on a specific point in the image of the object, the coordinate (X, Y) in the image of that point is specified. In the above description, the operation of aligning the cursor is performed on both the first image and the second image, but the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, the cross-correlation calculation disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 4-71299. Using the method of extracting corresponding points between a plurality of images using, the operator designates the specific points with the cursor only in the first image, and the positions of those specific points in the second image are automatically calculated by the CPU. You may get it.

Further, in the above description, the measurement for obtaining the length of a scratch or the like is taken as an example, but since the coordinates of an arbitrary point on the object can be obtained, the area of a region surrounded by a large number of points or The volume can also be obtained.

Next, the second embodiment will be described.

FIG. 12 is a configuration diagram showing the configuration of the endoscope apparatus according to the second embodiment.

In the first embodiment, the electronic endoscope 2 as shown in FIG. 2 was used as the endoscope, but as shown in FIG. 12, the endoscope device 52 of the second embodiment has a fiberscope 60.
The television camera 54 is connected to the.

That is, the light guide 62 for transmitting the illumination light from the light source device 3, the illumination lens 64 for irradiating the object with the illumination light transmitted through the light guide 62, and the illumination light via the objective lens 66 are obtained. The image of the object transmitted by the image guide 67 is obtained by connecting the television camera 54 to the connecting member 61 provided on the proximal end side of the fiberscope 60 including the image guide 67 for transmitting the image of the acquired object. Are to be imaged. The television camera 54 uses the condenser lens 68 to capture the image of the object transmitted by the image guide 67 from the CCD.
An image is formed on the imaging surface of 69.

The television camera 54 has a built-in video signal processing device 4 for processing the signal from the CCD 69, and is connected to the measuring device 9 described in the first embodiment by a cable 70. Further, the illumination light from the light source device 3 receives the universal cable 6 connected to the image forming member 61.
3 is supplied to the light guide 62.

The measuring method of the first embodiment can also be applied to the endoscope apparatus 52 having the above-mentioned configuration, and the same effect can be obtained.

Next, the third embodiment will be described.

FIGS. 13 to 15 relate to the third embodiment, FIG. 13 is an external view showing the external appearance of a tip adapter attached to the tip of an endoscope, FIG. 14 is a sectional view showing the structure of the tip adapter, and FIG. It is sectional drawing which shows the structure of the modification of a front-end | tip adapter.

The third embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that the endoscope itself is not provided with a bending mechanism, but a tip adapter 75 having a built-in bending mechanism is prepared as shown in FIG. By the fitting member 76 provided at the base end of 75,
This is an example in which an endoscope that can be detachably attached to the tip of the endoscope 77 is used, and other configurations are the same as in the first embodiment.

That is, as shown in FIG. 14, the tip adapter 75 includes a rigid tip portion 78 and a bending portion 79 composed of a plurality of joint pieces (not shown) integrally connected to each other.
And the fitting member 76, and is attached to the distal end of the endoscope 77 by the fitting member 76.

Further, the internal structure of the tip adapter 75 is
A light guide 81 that receives the illumination light transmitted through the endoscope light guide 80 and transmits it to the tip of the tip adapter 75.
An illumination lens system 82 for illuminating an object with the illumination light transmitted by the light guide 81, and an objective lens system 83.
An image guide 84 for transmitting an image of an object to the base end of the distal end adapter 75 via a plurality of expansion and contraction bidirectional SMAs (shape memory alloy) 8 for bending and driving the bending portion 79.
It consists of 5. One end of the SMA 85 has the tip portion 78.
And the other end is fixed to the base end side of the bending portion 79. In addition, a plurality of contacts 86, 8 for energizing SMA are provided on the distal end surface of the endoscope 77 and the proximal end surface of the fitting member 76.
7 is provided, and the bending portion 79 is bent in a desired direction by electrically driving the SMA 85 through this contact.

Although the SMA 85 is bidirectional for expansion and contraction, it may be a plate-shaped SMA that stores a bent shape.

Further, as a modification of the tip adapter 75, as shown in FIG. 15, an air actuator 88 such as a Lavator is incorporated instead of the SMA, and air is taken in and out of the air actuator 88 by an air tube 89. The curved portion 79 may be curved.

Further, as a bending driving means, for example,
A piezoelectric element such as PvDF may be used.

The measuring method of the first embodiment can be applied to the endoscope apparatus of the third embodiment having the above-mentioned configuration, and the same effect can be obtained.

Next, a fourth embodiment will be described.

FIG. 16 is a configuration diagram showing the configuration of the endoscope apparatus according to the fourth embodiment.

The fourth embodiment is another type of endoscope.
This is an example applied to a borescope having a rigid insertion part and no bending mechanism. As shown in FIG. 16, the borescope 90
When the inside of the cavity 92 of the inspection object 91 is inspected using, the television camera 93 and the measuring device 9 are connected to the borescope 90. The television camera 93 is fixed to the inspection object 91 via a stand 95 having a rotating portion 94.

In this embodiment, not only the distal end of the endoscope is moved by bending as shown in FIG. 3, but the entire borescope 90 is rotated by using the rotating portion 94 of the stand 95.

In this case as well, the measuring method described in the first embodiment can be applied in exactly the same manner, and the same effect can be obtained.

Next, the fifth embodiment will be described.

FIG. 17 is a structural diagram showing the structure of the endoscope apparatus according to the fifth embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 17, the endoscope apparatus 100 of the fifth embodiment uses a portable personal computer 101 instead of the measuring apparatus in FIG. 5, and uses this portable personal computer via a connection cable 102. 10
The expansion board storage unit 103 that can be connected to 1 is provided,
In which, the video signal processing device 4 and the light source device 3 are incorporated,
The electronic endoscope 2 is connected to the video signal processing device 4 and the light source device 3 provided in the extension board storage unit 103. The image memory 104 and the synthesizing device 105 among the components of the measuring device are also built in the expansion board storage unit 103 side.

In the first embodiment, as in the configuration of the endoscope device 1 shown in FIG. 5, three devices, that is, the measuring device 9, the light source device 3, and the video signal processing device 4 are required in addition to the electronic endoscope 2. Therefore, if it is left as it is, it may be inconvenient to carry it to the inspection site. Further, each of them requires power supply, and the connection of the power supply line is troublesome.

However, in the fifth embodiment, the portable personal computer 101, the expansion board storage unit 103, and the electronic endoscope 2 can be simply constructed, so that the inspection can be easily carried to the site.

In this case as well, the measuring method described in the first embodiment can be applied in exactly the same manner, and the same effect can be obtained.

[0082]

As described above, the method of measuring an object using the endoscope of the present invention has a simple structure and uses an endoscope having a small diameter to easily measure the object at the site of use. There is an effect that can be measured.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing a first-stage flow of a method for measuring an object with an endoscope according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a subsequent flow of the method for measuring an object by the endoscope according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a positional relationship between an object and a tip of the endoscope according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of an endoscope apparatus that realizes a method of measuring an object using the endoscope according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an object on the monitor according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a positional relationship between feature points of an object according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a positional relationship in the X and Z planes of the feature points of the object according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a part of FIG. 7 according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a positional relationship between measurement points of an object on the X and Z planes according to the first example.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a positional relationship between measurement points of an object according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of a main part of a modified example of the endoscope according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of an endoscope apparatus according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 13 is an external view showing the external appearance of the tip adapter attached to the tip of the endoscope according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a sectional view showing the structure of the tip adapter according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a sectional view showing the structure of a modification of the tip adapter according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of an endoscope apparatus according to a fourth embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of an endoscope apparatus according to a fifth embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Endoscope device 2 ... Electronic endoscope 3 ... Light source device 4 ... Video signal processing device 5 ... Monitor 6 ... Blade 8 ... Scratch 9 ... Measuring device

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] October 29, 1992

[Procedure Amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0001

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention uses the positions of two or more specific points whose relative positions are known in advance,
The present invention relates to a method of measuring an object with an endoscope that measures the length and the like of the object.

[Procedure Amendment 2]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0004

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-244011 discloses an example of a so-called twin-lens endoscope having two objective image pickup systems. Let's measure the three-dimensional shape of a target portion by stereoscopic vision. It is what It has a drawback that the structure of the endoscope is complicated and expensive, and the diameter of the distal end portion of the endoscope is increased, so that the inside cannot be inserted into a small object.

[Procedure 3]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Name of item to be corrected] 0005

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

Further, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 63-246716 discloses an endoscope having a structure in which the distal end portion is the same as usual, and is characterized by its bending mechanism. Bending from the first position to the second position, and the position of the target portion in the image at both positions,
It is intended to measure the three-dimensional shape of the target portion by using the angle of curvature detected separately by the detecting means. Although the endoscope tip portion will not occur disadvantages that the thick diameter, must be provided a special detection means for detecting a bending angle, also In no event in which a sensing means, as in the prior art It is difficult to obtain high accuracy by the method of detecting the bending angle of the distal end portion through a guide wire or the like.

[Procedure amendment 4]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Name of item to be corrected] 0015

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

A light guide 13 is inserted into the insertion portion 11. By connecting the end of the light guide 13 to the light source device 3, the illumination light of the lamp 14 is transmitted and the end face on the side of the tip 15 is illuminated. The light is emitted toward the subject through the lens 16. The tip portion 15 can be bent vertically and horizontally by a bending mechanism (not shown).

[Procedure Amendment 5]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0016

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

The illuminated object is photographed by the objective lens 18 provided at the tip portion 15 of the CC arranged at the focal plane thereof.
The image is formed on D19. A mosaic color filter is attached to the image pickup surface of the CCD 19 to separate colors for each pixel.

[Procedure correction 6]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0018

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

This measuring device 9 is provided with scratches 8 on the object.
A CPU 24 that executes a measurement program for measuring the size (length) and the like, a magnetic disk device 26 that is used for recording a program for executing the measurement device 9, and the like,
A keyboard 27 used for data input, and a CP
It is composed of a graphic generator 28 for generating a cursor and numbers under the control of U24.

[Procedure Amendment 7]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0019

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

The synthesizing device 22 is controlled by the video signal (also referred to as a subject image or image signal) output from the image memory 21 and the CPU 24, and the graphic generating device 28 is controlled.
It is also possible to superimpose a cursor or a number output from the monitor and output it to the monitor 5.

[Procedure Amendment 8]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Name of item to be corrected] 0023

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

The object 6 on the feature point, in this case the corner A, there is B, A, the distance l between B are known.

[Procedure Amendment 9]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Name of item to be corrected] 0027

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, the electronic endoscope 2
The tip portion 15 of B is bent in the XZ plane. The bending mechanism is as described in many prior examples, but when bending is performed around a certain point R in the endoscope.
You can think. The position of the point R differs depending on the model of the endoscope, but the distance L between the point R and the center of the objective lens is known for each model.

[Procedure Amendment 10]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Name of item to be corrected] 0029

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

FIG. 5 shows how the image of the object is displayed on the monitor 5. The cursor shown in FIG.
The cross-shaped mark generated by the graphic generator 28 in FIG. 4 is superimposed on the image of the object read from the image memory 21 by the synthesizer 22, and the monitor 5
Is displayed as shown in FIG. FIG. 5 also shows an XY coordinate system which is an in-screen coordinate system.

[Procedure Amendment 11]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Name of item to be corrected] 0037

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

If the angle θ of movement of the tip of the endoscope is small, it may be considered that the center of the objective lens, which coincides with the origin 0, moves on the X axis. Therefore, the incident angle a1,
The relationship between b1, a2 and b2 is as shown in FIG .

[Procedure Amendment 12]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0039

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

S = ZA * tan1−ZA * tan (a2 + θ) = ZB * tanb1−ZB * tan (b2 + θ) (1) where ZA * ZB is the Z coordinate of the points Ax and Bx, This is also the Z coordinate of points A and B from FIG .

[Procedure Amendment 13]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0040

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

The above equation can be expressed as ZB = kA.ZA (2). Where kA = {tan (a1) -tan ( a2 + θ)} / {tan (b1) -tan ( b2 + θ)} (3) In FIG. 8 extracted from FIG. 7, the length of the line segment Ax Bx Is a known value l. Taking the angle β as shown in FIG. 8,

[Equation 1] If the equation (2) ZB = kA.ZA is used here,

[Equation 2] On the other hand, from FIG. 8 again, l · cos β = ZB · tan b1 −ZA · tan a1 = (kA · tan b1 −tan a1) · ZA (5) From (4) and (5)

[Equation 3] Solving this equation for ZA,

[Equation 4] Using these relations, ZA and ZB with θ and S unknown
Can be obtained, and the procedure will be described below.

[Procedure Amendment 14]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0042

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

In FIG. 3, the projection point Cx on the XZ plane can be determined for the point C, which is one end of the flaw 8, in the same manner as the points A and B. As in FIG. 7 , if the incident angles on the XZ plane obtained from the first and second images are C1 and C2 as shown in FIG. 9, S = ZC.tan (c1) -ZC.tan (C2 + θ) ∴ZC = S / {tan (c1) -tan (c2 + θ)} Since S and θ, which are quantities relating to the movement of the endoscope distal end portion, have already been obtained as described above, The Z coordinate Zc can be easily obtained by the above equation. Similarly, the Z coordinate Zd is also obtained for the point D at the other end of the flaw.

[Procedure Amendment 15]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0044

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

These angles and ZC and ZD which have already been obtained
By using the X and Y coordinates XC, XD of the points C, D
, YC, YD can be obtained as follows.

[Procedure Amendment 16]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Name of item to be corrected] 0045

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

The XC = ZC · tan c1 XD = ZD · tan d1 YC = ZC · tan cy YD = ZD · tan dy Figure 10 for point C, illustrates the relationship between the coordinates and angle.

[Procedure Amendment 17]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0052

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

Therefore, by using the electronic endoscope 2 having a simple structure and a small diameter, it is possible to easily measure flaws or the like on the object at the site of use.

[Procedure 18]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Name of item to be corrected] 0058

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

In the first embodiment, the electronic endoscope 2 as shown in FIG. 4 is used as the endoscope, but as shown in FIG. 12, the endoscope device 52 of the second embodiment has a fiberscope 60.
The television camera 54 is connected to the.

[Procedure Amendment 19]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0079

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

In the first embodiment, three devices, that is, the measuring device 9, the light source device 3, and the video signal processing device 4, are required in addition to the electronic endoscope 2 as in the configuration of the endoscope device 1 shown in FIG. Therefore, if it is left as it is, it may be inconvenient to carry it to the inspection site. Further, each of them requires power supply, and the connection of the power supply line is troublesome.

[Procedure amendment 20]

[Document name to be corrected] Drawing

[Name of item to be corrected] Fig. 4

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[Figure 4]

[Procedure correction 21]

[Document name to be corrected] Drawing

[Name of item to be corrected] Figure 11

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

FIG. 11

[Procedure correction 22]

[Document name to be corrected] Drawing

[Name of item to be corrected] Fig. 12

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[Fig. 12]

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A first process of capturing a first image of an inspection object with an endoscope, and a second process of displacing the at least tip portion of the endoscope by an unspecified amount. And a position of two or more specific points whose relative positions are known in advance on the inspection object in the first image and the second image, A third process of detecting a displacement amount of at least the distal end portion of the endoscope; and a plurality of inspection target points included in at least one of the first image and the second image based on the displacement amount. Using the relative position of the plurality of inspection points calculated in the fourth process by the fourth process of calculating the relative position,
A method of measuring an object by an endoscope, which measures an amount to be measured defined by the plurality of inspection object points.