JP5538983B2 - Skin observation device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a skin observation apparatus for enlarging and imaging a skin through an observation hole brought into contact with the skin to be observed.

The skin observation device is used as a sales promotion tool for selling an optimal skin care product according to a customer's skin at a cosmetic salon (cosmetics store) or the like.
Conventional skin observation apparatuses generally include a dome-shaped observation head having an observation hole formed at the tip, and this observation head is applied to any part of the skin to be observed, such as the cheek, temple, or under the eyes. Thus, the state of the customer's skin is enlarged and observed.

  In this case, the surface reflected light reflected from the skin surface includes information on the skin surface condition such as rough skin and texture, and the inner surface reflected light scattered inside the skin includes spots and stains. Contains information on the internal state of the skin.

For this reason, the conventional skin observation apparatus has an imaging system including an illumination system including a light source that irradiates illumination light to an observation hole formed in an observation head, and an imaging element that captures a reflected light image from an object to be observed. An optical system is provided (see Patent Document 1).
The illumination system has two skin surface illumination systems that irradiate the light emitted from the light source in a non-polarized state and the subcutaneous observation illumination system that irradiates the light emitted from the light source in a linearly polarized state by a polarizer. An illumination system is provided, and an analyzer arranged in crossed Nicols with respect to the polarizer of the subcutaneous observation illumination system is arranged in the imaging optical system.

According to this, the light emitted from any light source is reflected on the skin surface and under the skin, and when reflected on the skin surface, the polarization state is maintained, and the light reflected under the skin is scattered to change the polarization state. To do.
The light emitted from the light source of the skin surface illumination system is reflected on the skin surface and under the skin, and passes through the analyzer in the non-polarized state and reaches the imaging, but the reflected light on the skin surface as compared with the reflected light under the skin. Therefore, the image pickup device captures an image of reflected light from the skin surface, and mainly displays skin surface conditions such as rough skin and texture.
On the other hand, the light emitted from the light source of the subcutaneous illumination system is linearly polarized and applied to the skin, so the reflected light from the skin surface where the polarization state is maintained is blocked by an analyzer that has a relationship of orthogonal Nicols. Since only the reflected light from the subcutaneous state whose polarization state has changed passes through the analyzer and is imaged, the internal state of the skin, such as spots and kusumumi, is mainly reflected in the image.

  By the way, when taking a still image of the skin surface and a still image of the skin in this way, conventionally, first, when the composition is determined while viewing the monitor image with the lighting switch of the skin surface illumination system turned on, the shutter is used. By capturing a still image of the skin surface by pressing the button, then turning off the skin surface illumination system, and pressing the shutter button again when the composition is determined while viewing the monitor image with the ON switch of the subcutaneous illumination system turned on A subcutaneous still image must be captured, and the operation becomes complicated.

In other words, conventionally, each time an image is captured, it is necessary to perform at least two actions of pressing the shutter button after determining the composition while turning on the light source switch and viewing the image output from the image sensor. It was common.
For this reason, there is a possibility that the skin observation device applied to the skin may move while the button operation is repeated. For example, even if it is necessary to compare the skin surface still image and the subcutaneous still image, the imaging position is different. Therefore, there is a problem that the images cannot be compared with each other.

Japanese Patent No. 3980722

  In view of this, the present invention has a technical problem of enabling the skin surface illumination system and the subcutaneous illumination system to be individually turned on by one action without performing troublesome button operations so that each image can be continuously captured.

In order to solve this problem, the present invention includes an observation hole formed in an observation head that comes into contact with the skin to be observed, and a light source that irradiates illumination light to the observation hole inside the observation head. An imaging optical system including an illumination system and an imaging device that captures a reflected light image from an object to be observed, and a control device that controls the lighting timing of the light source of the illumination system and the image capture timing of the imaging device In the skin observation apparatus, the illumination system includes a skin surface illumination system that irradiates light emitted from a light source in an unpolarized state, and a subcutaneous body that irradiates light emitted from the light source in a linearly polarized state using a polarizer. An observation illumination system, and the imaging optical system is provided with an analyzer arranged in crossed Nicols with respect to the polarizer of the subcutaneous observation illumination system, and the control device includes at least a light source of the skin surface illumination system. Light up An illumination mode switching means for switching in the order set the two illumination modes previously subcutaneous illumination mode for lighting only the light source of the skin surface illumination mode and subcutaneous illumination system causes, when the trigger signal is issued by the start switch is pressed In addition , after capturing still images, still image continuous capturing means for sequentially capturing still images of each illumination mode by sequentially irradiating light having different polarization states while switching the illumination mode by the illumination mode switching means . It is characterized by having a.

According to the present invention, when the trigger signal is output by pressing the start switch while the observation head is in contact with the skin, the lighting order set by the lighting order setting means, for example, the skin surface illumination system and Illumination is sequentially performed in a preview illumination mode in which the light source of the subcutaneous illumination system is simultaneously turned on, a skin surface illumination mode in which only the light source of the skin surface illumination system is lit, and a subcutaneous illumination mode in which only the light source of the subcutaneous illumination system is lit.
At this time, when the still image continuous capturing unit finishes capturing the still image in each illumination mode, the still image is captured again by switching to the next illumination mode.
That is, still images in the respective illumination modes are continuously captured with one action of pressing the start switch for outputting the trigger signal, so there is no possibility that the illumination head moves by performing a button operation during imaging.

Explanatory drawing which shows an example of the skin observation apparatus which concerns on this invention. Explanatory drawing which shows the arrangement | sequence state of a light source. Explanatory drawing which shows each illumination mode. The flowchart which shows an image processing procedure. The flowchart which shows other embodiment. The flowchart which shows other embodiment.

The skin observation apparatus of the present example achieves the object of enabling continuous imaging of each image by sequentially lighting the skin surface illumination system and the subcutaneous illumination system individually in one action without performing troublesome button operations. For this purpose, an observation hole is formed in an observation head that comes into contact with the skin to be observed, an illumination system including a light source that irradiates illumination light to the observation hole inside the observation head, and an object to be observed An imaging optical system including an imaging device that captures a reflected light image of the illumination system is provided, and the illumination system includes a control device that controls a lighting timing of a light source of the illumination system and an image capturing timing of the imaging device. Has a skin surface illumination system that irradiates light emitted from a light source in a non-polarized state and a subcutaneous observation illumination system that irradiates light emitted from the light source in a linearly polarized state by a polarizer. The imaging optical system is provided with an analyzer arranged in a crossed Nicol direction with respect to the polarizer of the subcutaneous observation illumination system, and the control device includes at least a skin surface illumination mode and a subcutaneous condition for lighting only the light source of the skin surface illumination system. A still image is captured when a trigger signal is generated by pressing the start switch and the illumination mode switching means for switching between the two illumination modes of the subcutaneous illumination mode for turning on only the light source of the illumination system in a preset order . After that, there is provided still image continuous capturing means that sequentially irradiates light having different polarization states while continuously switching the illumination mode by the illumination mode switching means and continuously captures still images of each illumination mode.

The skin observation apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 has an observation hole 3 formed in an observation head 2 that is brought into contact with the skin to be observed, and a light source that irradiates the observation hole 3 with illumination light inside the observation head 2. An illumination optical system 5 including 4P and 4S and an imaging optical system 8 including an imaging element 7 that captures a reflected light image from the object to be observed are arranged.
The illumination system 5 includes a skin surface illumination system 5P that irradiates the light emitted from the light source 4P in an unpolarized state, and a subcutaneous observation illumination system that irradiates the light emitted from the light source 4S in a linearly polarized state by the polarizer 6S. Two polarizers 5S are provided, and the polarizer 6S is arranged on the illumination light path L from the light source 4S to the observation hole 3.

The imaging optical system 8 includes an analyzer 6A and an imaging lens 9 arranged in a crossed Nicol direction with respect to the polarizer 6S of the subcutaneous observation illumination system 5S on the imaging optical axis X extending from the observation hole 3 to the imaging device 7. In addition, a solid-state image sensor such as a CCD or C-MOS is disposed as the image sensor 7.
And as shown in FIG. 2, it has the structure by which light emitting elements, such as LED used as said each light source 4P and 4S, were cyclically arranged centering on the imaging optical axis X.

  In addition, the light sources 4P and 4S of the illumination system 5 and the image sensor 7 of the imaging optical system 8 are connected to the control device 10 disposed in the casing 1C of the skin observation device 1, and each light source 4P is connected by the control device 10. The lighting timing of 4S and the image capture timing by the image sensor 7 are controlled, and the output of the control device is connected to the display 11 so that the image captured by the image sensor 7 is displayed on the display 11 in real time. It is supposed to be.

The control device 10 includes an illumination mode switching means 12 for switching the three illumination modes of the preview illumination mode M ₁ , the skin surface illumination mode M ₂ and the subcutaneous illumination mode M _{3 in} a preset order, and a trigger signal when the start switch is pressed. Still image continuous capturing means 13 is provided for continuously capturing still images in each illumination mode while the illumination mode is switched by the illumination mode switching means 12 when a light is emitted.

In Preview illumination mode M _1, as shown in FIG. 3 (a), since the light source 4P and 4S of the respective illumination systems 5P and 5S are lit simultaneously, the skin surface is mainly emphasized undulations and fine wrinkles of the skin surface An image obtained by superimposing an image and a subcutaneous still image mainly serving as a skin color base is observed.
In this case, since light is emitted from both light sources 4P and 4S, the brightest image is obtained, and an image close to the state observed with sunlight (natural light) is obtained. In addition, since the light finally passes through the analyzer 6A and reaches the image sensor 8, glare and halation that occur on the skin surface are not observed.

In skin surface illumination mode M _2, only the light source 4P skin surface illumination system 5P as shown in FIG. 3 (b) is illuminated, the light is irradiated to the skin remains unpolarized state without passing through the polarizer Therefore, the reflected light from the skin surface passes through the analyzer 6A in the non-polarized state and reaches the image sensor.
As a result, the undulation and fine wrinkles on the skin surface are mainly emphasized, and a skin surface image in which the subcutaneous pigment information is lost is observed.

Furthermore, the subcutaneous illumination mode M _3, only the light source 4S subcutaneous illumination system 5S As shown in FIG. 3 (c) is illuminated, is irradiated to the skin through the polarizer 6S crossed Nicols with respect to the analyzer 6A Therefore, the reflected light from the skin surface in which the polarization state is maintained is blocked by the analyzer 6A, and only the reflected light from the subcutaneous state whose polarization state has changed passes through the analyzer 6A.
As a result, only the subcutaneous pigment information is emphasized, and a subcutaneous image in which surface information such as undulations and fine wrinkles on the skin surface is lost is observed. Even pigmentation that does not appear is projected.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a control procedure by the control device 10.
Processing a main switch (not shown) is turned on is started running, firstly when set to preview the lighting mode M ₁ at step STP1, source 4P and 4S of the respective illumination systems 5P and 5S are simultaneously turned, step In STP 2, the imaging optical system 8 is turned on and the moving image output from the imaging device 7 is displayed on the display 11.
In this state, if the observation head 2 of the skin observation device 1 is applied to the skin of the customer, light is emitted from both the light sources 4P and 4S, so that the brightest image is projected and observed with sunlight (natural light) An image close to is obtained.

Then, in step STP3, the composition is determined while moving the observation head 2 until a start switch (not shown) that starts taking in a still image is pressed.
When the start switch is pushed the trigger device signals is output step STP4 and F proceeds, first, the preview still image is captured by the preview illumination mode M _1, is recorded in the preview image recording area R ₁ of the memory 14.

Then, switched to the skin surface illumination mode M ₂ at step STP5, sources 4S subcutaneous illumination system 5S remains source 4P skin surface illumination system 5P is turned is turned off, the skin surface still image is captured at step STP6, It is recorded in the skin surface still image recording area R ₂ of the memory 14.

Furthermore, is switched to subcutaneous illumination mode M ₃ at step STP7, the light source 4P skin surface illumination system 5P is turned off is re-lit light source 4S subcutaneous illumination system 5S, subcutaneous still image is captured in step STP8, memory It is recorded subcutaneously still image recording area R ₃ of 14.
If the main switch is turned off in step STP9, the process is terminated. If not turned off, the process returns to step STP1.

  Here, the processing of step STP1, step STP5, and step STP7 is the illumination mode switching means 12, the processing of step STP4, step STP6, and step STP8 is the stationary continuous imaging means 13, and the processing of step STP2 is the moving image output means.

The above is one configuration example of the present invention, and the operation thereof will be described next.
Press the main switch of the skin observation device 1, place the observation hole 3 of the observation head 2 on the skin of the customer, display an enlarged image of the skin on the display, find the part to be imaged while looking at this, determine the composition, start switch pressing a preview still image according to preview the lighting mode M _1, and the skin surface still image by the skin surface illumination mode M _2, subcutaneously still images by subcutaneous illumination mode M ₃ is continuously imaged.

  During this time, there is no need for any operation, and it is possible to capture continuous images in a short time by automatically switching the illumination, so a plurality of illumination modes with different skin modes are applied to the same imaging location. It is very convenient to compare still images.

In the above description, the case has been described where a still image is captured with one illumination course in which the three illumination modes of the preview illumination mode M ₁ , the skin surface illumination mode M ₂ and the subcutaneous illumination mode M ₃ are lit in this order. In addition to this lighting course, a lighting course in which the lighting order of any two types of lighting modes is set may be registered so that the lighting course can be selected at any time.

In this case, for example, the illumination course C ₁ for causing the illumination mode switching means 12 to turn on the three illumination modes in this order of the preview illumination mode M ₁ , the skin surface illumination mode M _2, and the subcutaneous illumination mode M ₃ , and the preview illumination mode M ₁ and skin surface illumination mode M ₂ and the illuminating courses C ₂ to light in this order, an illumination courses C ₃ are registered to light the preview illumination mode M ₁ and subcutaneous illumination mode M ₃ in this order.
In advance, the lighting courses C _{1 to} C _{3 to} which the image is captured are selected and set by a predetermined switch (not shown).

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure. Note that the same steps as those in the flowchart of FIG.
When the start button is pressed in step STP3, the illumination course is read in step STP3A.
In this case, if the illumination Course _{C 1} is selected, similarly to Example 1, steps STP4~ step STP9 is performed, the preview illumination mode _{M 1,} the skin surface illumination mode _{M 2} and subcutaneous illumination mode _{M 3} Still images are captured in three different lighting modes.

If illumination Course _{C 2} is selected, at step STP10~ step STP12, the still image in the two kinds of illumination modes of the preview illumination mode _{M 1} and skin surface illumination mode _{M 2} it is captured.

Specifically, the step STP10 and F proceeds, first, the preview still image is captured by the preview illumination mode M _1, is recorded in the preview image recording area R ₁ of the memory 14.
Then, switched to the skin surface illumination mode M ₂ at step STP11, while the light source 4P skin surface illumination system 5P is turned on, the light source 4S subcutaneous illumination system 5S is turned off, the skin surface still image is captured at step STP12 And recorded in the skin surface still image recording area R ₂ of the memory 14.

If the selected lighting course _{C 3,} at step STP13~ step STP15, the still image in the two kinds of illumination modes of the preview illumination mode _{M 1} and subcutaneous illumination mode _{M 3} is taken.
Specifically, the step STP13 and F proceeds, first, the preview still image is captured by the preview illumination mode M _1, is recorded in the preview image recording area R ₁ of the memory 14.
Then, while the light source 4S subcutaneous illumination system 5S is turned on in step STP 14, is turned off the light source 4P skin surface illumination system 5P, is switched to subcutaneous illumination mode _{M 3,} subcutaneously still image is captured at step STP15, It is recorded in the subcutaneous still image recording area R ₃ of the memory 14.

In this example, the processing of steps STP1, 5, 7, 11, 14 is the illumination mode switching means 12, and the processing of steps STP4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 13, 15 is the stationary continuous imaging means 13, step. The processing of STP2 is a moving image output means.
Further, in this embodiment, it is selected which of the illumination Course C ₁ -C _3, by simply pressing the start switch, the still image under illumination modes respectively can be continuously imaged.

Each of Examples 1 and 2 is a case where three types of illumination modes of preview illumination mode M ₁ , skin surface illumination mode M ₂ and subcutaneous illumination mode M ₃ are used. In this example, skin surface illumination system 5P and without simultaneous lighting subcutaneous illumination system 5S, and is also used the skin surface illumination mode M ₂ and preview illumination mode M ₁ by lighting the skin surface illumination system 5P.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure.
In this example, a main switch (not shown) is started processing is turned on execution, first, when set to the skin surface illumination mode M ₂ at step STP21, only the light source 4P skin surface illumination system 5P is turned In step STP22, the imaging optical system 8 is turned on, and the moving image output from the imaging device 7 is displayed on the display 11.

Then, in step STP23, the composition is determined while moving the observation head 2 until a start switch (not shown) for starting taking in a still image is pressed.
When the start switch is pressed step STP24 and F proceeds, first, the skin surface still image by the skin surface illumination mode M ₂ is captured and recorded in the image recording region R ₂ of the memory 14.

Then switched to subcutaneous illumination mode _{M 3} at step STP25, the light source 4P skin surface illumination system 5P is turned off is lit light source 4S subcutaneous illumination system 5S, subcutaneous still image is captured at step STP26, the memory 14 It is recorded in the subcutaneous still image recording area R _3.
If the main switch is turned off in step STP27, the process is terminated. If not turned off, the process returns to step STP21.

According to this, the main switch of the skin observation apparatus 1 is pressed, the observation hole 3 of the observation head 2 is applied to the skin of the customer, an enlarged image of the skin is shown on the display, and the part to be imaged is searched while looking at this. the determined, pressing the start switch, and the skin surface still image by the skin surface illumination mode M _2, subcutaneously still images by subcutaneous illumination mode M ₃ is continuously imaged.

  During this time, there is no need for any operation, and it is possible to capture continuous images in a short time by automatically switching the illumination, so a plurality of illumination modes with different skin modes are applied to the same imaging location. It is very convenient to compare still images.

  As described above, the present invention can be applied to the use of continuously capturing still images in a plurality of illumination modes when observing a magnified skin.

1 Skin observation device
2 Observation head
3 Observation hole
4P light source
4S light source 5P skin surface illumination system
5S Subcutaneous illumination system 5 Illumination system 6A Analyzer 6P Polarizer 6S Polarizer 7 Imaging element 8 Imaging optical system L Illumination optical path X Imaging optical axis 10 Controller M ₁ Preview illumination mode M ₂ Skin surface illumination mode M ₃ Subcutaneous illumination mode 12 Illumination mode switching means 13 Still image continuous capturing means

Claims (4)

An observation hole is formed in the observation head that comes into contact with the skin to be observed, an illumination system including a light source that irradiates illumination light to the observation hole inside the observation head, and reflected light from the object to be observed In a skin observation apparatus provided with an imaging optical system including an imaging element that captures an image, and having a control device that controls lighting timing of the light source of the illumination system and image capturing timing by the imaging element,
The illumination system includes a skin surface illumination system that irradiates light emitted from a light source in an unpolarized state, and a subcutaneous observation illumination system that irradiates light emitted from the light source in a linearly polarized state using a polarizer. The imaging optical system is provided with an analyzer arranged in orthogonal Nicols with respect to the polarizer of the subcutaneous observation illumination system,
The control device includes:
Illumination mode switching means for switching at least two illumination modes of a skin surface illumination mode for lighting only the light source of the skin surface illumination system and a subcutaneous illumination mode for lighting only the light source of the subcutaneous illumination system in a preset order;
When a trigger signal is generated by pressing the start switch , after capturing a still image, light with different polarization states is sequentially irradiated while switching the illumination mode by the illumination mode switching means. Still image continuous capturing means for continuously capturing still images ;
A skin observation device characterized by comprising:   The said control apparatus is provided with the illumination mode switching means which switches three illumination modes of the said illumination modes and the preview illumination mode which lights simultaneously the light source of a skin surface illumination system and a subcutaneous illumination system in the order preset. The skin observation apparatus described.   The control device includes moving image output means for outputting a moving image captured by the image sensor under illumination in a preview illumination mode before a trigger signal for activating the still image continuous capturing means is issued. 2. The skin observation apparatus according to 2. In the illumination mode switching means, in addition to the illumination course in which the lighting order of the three types of lighting modes, the preview lighting mode, the skin surface lighting mode, and the subcutaneous lighting mode, is set, the lighting order of any two types of lighting modes is set. The lighting course is registered,
The skin observation apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the control device includes an illumination course selection unit that selects a desired illumination course from a plurality of types of illumination courses registered in the illumination order setting unit.

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