JPS6273223A - Endoscope device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the efficiency and precision of diagnosis and medical treatment greatly by providing a measuring light beam projecting means which projects a measuring light beam within an image pickup image plane at an optional angle from a position distance from the optical axis of an image pickup optical system at the tip part of an endoscope insertion part. CONSTITUTION:An electronic endoscope device consists roughly of an endoscope probe 16, an illumination light source 17, a video signal processing and display system 18, and a recording system 19 such as a VTR31 and a still camera 32. A measuring objective 7, a stop 6, and a light guide 5 are provided at the tip part 1 of the endoscope insertion part 20 as the measuring optical system for projecting the measuring light beam 10 above the image pickup optical systems 3 and 4 and a solid-state image pickup element 2, and further a well known light guide 8 which guides illumination light for observation is arranged. The measuring optical systems 7 and 6 are so constituted previously as to project the measuring light beam 10 at some angle (e.g. beta deg.) to the optical axis L of the image pickup optical system.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to an endoscope device that can measure the distance to a target site such as an affected area and the size of the target site.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

In recent years, endoscope devices have been widely used in diagnosis, treatment, etc. inside living body cavities. In this case, knowing the distance to the target site, the size of the target object, etc. has become essential for diagnosis and treatment.

Conventional endoscope devices that meet this demand use a complex optical system to determine the optical position of the lens system and the imaging magnification at a predetermined object relationship. They either determined the distance and the size of the target area, or incorporated special detectors or means for distance measurement. Therefore, the former type of endoscope device can be expected to have high measurement accuracy, but the latter type has the problem of being structurally complex and increasing cost. The biggest drawback is that complicated means such as an optical system or a detector to determine distance and size must be incorporated into the endoscope insertion section, which makes the insertion section too large and reduces operability. However, the diagnostic area is also limited. As a result, there has been a strong demand for an endoscope device with a new method.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention was made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and it is possible to improve the distance to the target site and the size of the target site by modifying only a part of the endoscope without enlarging the endoscope insertion section. The purpose of the present invention is to provide an endoscope device that can measure the following.

[Summary of the invention]

The outline of the present invention for achieving the above object is to project a surveying beam that can enter the imaging screen at any angle from a position away from the optical axis of the most imaging optical system onto the tip of the endoscope insertion section. The present invention is based on the provision of a surveying light beam projection means.

[Principle of the invention]

Before entering into the description of the embodiments, the principle of the present invention will be explained with reference to FIG. The position of the surveying light image (hereinafter simply referred to as light image) on the imaging scheduled screen when the surveying light beam is projected at an angle to the part, the screen size of the imaging or observation field of view, and the distance to the target part. This describes the relationship between

In FIG. 1, the field of view of the imaging optical system when viewing the target region from the distal end portion 1 of the endoscope insertion section is determined by the angle of view α.

Therefore, when a rectangular field stop is inserted into the imaging optical system, the number of screens that can be imaged within the depth of field of the imaging optical system is 21 planes and the X plane.

It will look like 22 pages, etc. Now, a from the optical axis of the imaging optical system at the tip of the insertion tube. Suppose that the surveying ray 10 is projected toward the target area at an angle β from a position separated by a distance of ! . It intersects the optical axis at .

At this time, each distance is 7!3. Each optical image formed by the intersection of the surveying light rays 10 on the imageable screens p, , x, p2 located at IX, I10 occupies positions S, , S, , A2. Therefore, each screen P1. Each optical image S, , S from the upper edge of X, P2
,,The relative relationship between the distance to At and the distance from the optical axis to each optical image is from the insertion tube tip 1 to each screen P+,X,
It changes depending on the distance to Pg.

Now, the upper edge of each screen E2. Envelope ray 1 connecting E, ,E,
The point where 1 intersects with the optical axis (hereinafter referred to as the base point) is set to 0, lX...Distance from the insertion tube tip 1 to any intermediate position screen (hereinafter referred to as intermediate screen) X...Intermediate image X
The distance from the optical image S, x to the optical axis ■5.

bX...Light image S from the upper edge of the screen EX in the intermediate screen X
Distance to X.

tX: Distance from the upper edge of the screen EX to the light image on the intermediate screen X (half the size of the screen).

bo: Distance from the upper edge E2 of the screen P2 located at a long distance to the optical image A2.

β,...Distance from the tip of the insertion tube to base point 0.

I12... Distance from the intersection of the surveying ray 10 and the envelope ray 11 to the tip of the insertion section.

Then, aX+bX=tX aX-(I!,.Nx)tan βbX-(J,-
1z) (tan α/2 +tan β)jx
'= (Nx + 4!+) jan α/2 is obtained, and if the ratio of the distance tX from the optical axis I5 to the upper edge of the screen EX and the distance aX to the optical image S8 is t,l, then The distance lX from the tip of the insertion tube to the intermediate screen X and the half screen size tX at that time are α aom-7! +jan-7! , = -□ ... (1) α m tan β + jan - It can be obtained using the above formula (1, 1, +21. As a result, all imageable screens are located at the position of the intermediate screen X on this optical axis. It becomes possible to express it as a change in size.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on specific examples according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, the distal end portion 1 of the endoscope insertion section 20 includes:
As a surveying optical system for projecting the surveying light beam 10, a surveying objective lens 7, an aperture 6, and a light guide 5 are provided above the imaging optical systems 3, 4 and the surface image sensor 2, and furthermore, observation illumination is provided. A light guide 8 or the like, which is known per se, is provided for guiding light. The surveying optical systems 7 and 6 are configured to project the surveying light beam 10 at an arbitrary angle (for example, β degrees) with respect to the optical axis (1) of the imaging optical system.
Preconfigured.

In FIG. 2, 12 is a forceps opening, 13 is a window (or optical system) for the illumination light from the light guide 8, and 14 is a
15 indicates an air supply port and 15 indicates a water supply port, respectively. And, as shown in FIG. 3, the electronic endoscope device according to the present invention has the following features:
Endoscope probe 16, illumination light source 17, video signal processing
It is roughly divided into a display system 18 and a recording system 19 such as a VTR 3 and a still camera 32.

Here, the endoscope probe 16 has an endoscope insertion section 20 having the structure shown in FIG. 1 at its distal end portion 1. It has an operation section 21 and a light guide 22 from the light source 17, and a video signal processing/display system 18 is obtained by a face-shaped image sensor 2 such as a CCD provided in the insertion section distal end 1. A video signal processing circuit 232 for converting a captured image signal into a predetermined video signal A/D converter 2 for obtaining a digimole image data for the measurement method of the present invention or for freezing
42 Memory unit 25 for storing image data; D/A converter 2 for returning the image data to video output; system controller 29 for performing arithmetic processing and controlling each unit of the system; It is composed of input devices 30 such as characters.

The system controller 29 is configured to perform the following calculations or functions in order to realize the measurement method of the present invention. That is, for the optical image SX on the intermediate image X and that image, ■ binarize the image data at a predetermined signal level ■ z-value conversion l! ! ! For the I image data, the area of the signal of the light source mentioned above is determined.

(2) Find the central pixel position (center position of the optical image) of the signal area (2).

■ Find the distance aX between the position of the optical axis and the position of the optical image.

■ The distance tX between the position of the optical axis and the top edge of the screen is expressed as aX.
Divide by.

(2) With this division value, the distance a0 between the emission position of the surveying light beam 10 and the optical axis and the projection angle β.

Using the preset values for the distance β12 angle of view α between the tip of the insertion tube and the base point O, calculate the above equations (11, (21), and calculate the distance IX from the tip of the insertion tube to the target site and the screen size of the target site. Find 2tX.

(2) Display the distance lX and screen size 2t on the TV monitor in a predetermined format using the graphic memory stored in the memory section 28 in advance.

This means that this process is performed.

These functions are performed using a CPU built into the system controller 29 or using dedicated hardware. Furthermore, the system
The controller 29 is configured according to the above-mentioned system ■ to ■. In addition to II (functions), there are controls specific to the electronic endoscope device, such as switching control between observation lighting and surveying lighting (switching means is included but not shown), and control for capturing images for measurement. In addition, other light source 17 and recording system 19
It is also configured so that it can be controlled.

With this configuration, the distance from the tip of the insertion tube to the target site and the actual size of the image, etc., can be automatically determined from the above-mentioned principle within the range of the number of pixels and the accuracy of the software or hardware. be.

In the embodiment described above, the exit angle of the surveying light beam 10 was described as β, but any angle can be selected as long as the light beam 10 falls within the field of view of the imaging optical system. In this case, especially when β=06 is set, the above-mentioned 2(11, (21 is t, = ao m), so in this case, the above-mentioned arithmetic processing function It becomes possible to create a configuration that is

Additionally, if the direction of the optical axis of the surveying optical image and the imaging optical system is arranged along the horizontal signal direction of the video signal, the arithmetic processing of the functions It is possible to make a configuration.

Other embodiments of the invention include embodiments that can be implemented using conventional endoscopic equipment.

This is an example in which the insertion portion distal end portion 1 is configured in the same manner as in the first embodiment, and a TV camera for capturing an endoscope optical image is arranged in the endoscope eyepiece. In this case, the configuration is such that the same processing and calculations as in the first embodiment are performed on the video output.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is realized by using a laser beam for laser treatment as the measuring beam 10. In the case of this third embodiment, the light guide for guiding the laser beam can also be guided using a forceps channel, but in this case, it is only necessary to know in advance the exit angle of the forceps port 12 shown in FIG. It turns out. In order to improve accuracy, the light guide and the forceps opening may be shaped to be accurately fixed. In this case, there is an advantage that measurement can be performed without adding any device or means to the distal end of the insertion section of a conventional endoscope. Also, as a method of displaying the imaging (screen) size, Fig. 4 (a) and (b)
) is displayed as a reference pattern for comparison, the distance from the tip of the endoscope insertion tube to the target site, the size of the target site, etc. can be immediately useful for diagnosis and treatment. It is also possible to produce effects.

However, the present invention is not limited to these few embodiments, and various modifications can be made without changing the gist thereof. For example, in order to further improve measurement accuracy, a plurality of sets of surveying light beam projection means according to the present invention may be provided.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, when using the present invention, the size of a target area such as an affected area, the distance to the target area, etc. can be immediately displayed on the display device with high precision only by emitting a surveying beam at a projection angle of Alternatively, since it becomes possible to automatically know their amounts, it is possible to obtain the effect that the efficiency and accuracy of diagnosis and treatment can be greatly improved.

Furthermore, when the present invention is implemented in a mode that utilizes a forceps port, the structure of the distal end portion of the endoscope insertion portion does not have to be complicated, that is, the structure of the conventional endoscope insertion portion can be changed. It is also possible to obtain the effects described above without making any changes.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the present invention in detail and showing the configuration of the distal end portion of an endoscope insertion section which is an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a front view of the distal end portion, and FIG. Figure 3 is a schematic diagram showing one embodiment of an electronic endoscope device, and Figure 4 (a)
) and (b) respectively show examples of display methods. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Tip part of endoscope insertion part, 2... Face-shaped image sensor, 3... Imaging optical system, 7...
Surveying objective lens, 10... Surveying light beam, 16... Endoscope probe, 17... Light source unit, 18... Video signal processing/display system, 19... Recording system, 20...
Endoscope insertion section.

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) A surveying beam projection means is provided at the tip of the endoscope insertion portion for projecting a surveying beam that can enter the imaging screen at any angle from a position away from the optical axis of the imaging optical system. Endoscope equipment. (2) The endoscope apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the surveying light beam projection means is an irradiation means for laser beam therapy. (3) a TV camera capable of capturing an optical image by the endoscope optical system provided in the endoscope eyepiece; a light image position detection means capable of detecting the position of the surveying light image within the image capture screen; distance/size calculation means for calculating the distance from the tip of the endoscope insertion section to the target site and the imaging size based on the signal of the position of the optical image; The endoscope apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising display means capable of displaying the information. (4) A face-shaped image sensor provided at the tip of the endoscope insertion section, a light image position detection means for detecting the position of the surveying light image within the imaging screen, and a light image position detection means for detecting the position of the surveying light image within the imaging screen; A patent that includes a distance/size calculation means for calculating the distance from the tip of an endoscope insertion part to a target site and an imaging size, and a display means that can display the distance/size signal overlapping the imaging or separately An electronic endoscope according to claim 1 or 2.