JP2000199857A - Microscope for work - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a microscope for work capable of lightening a burden imposed on an operator and rapidly completing operation by enabling an assistant to easily grasp what position within the field of the microscope the operator gazes without temporarily interrupting the operation. SOLUTION: Collimation luminous flux being parallel luminous flux is projected to an operator's eye, the image of the pupil of his(her) eye is acquired from reflected light therefrom, and further the position of a Purkinje image is detected to arithmetically calculate the line-of-sight direction of the operator's eye. Then, the observation magnification of an observation optical system is arithmetically calculated from output from a potentiometer. Furthermore, the line-of-sight position of the operator is arithmetically calculated based on the line-of-sight direction and the observation magnification which are arithmetically calculated. A liquid crystal display 44 is arranged behind a half mirror 42 in the case of viewing from the ocular 43 side of a branching observation optical system 40, and the position information showing the line-of-sight position of the operator's eye arithmetically calculated is displayed as a spot image.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a working microscope for performing a predetermined operation while observing an object under magnification, for example,
The present invention relates to a surgical microscope for stereoscopically observing an observation object such as a patient's eye in diagnosis, treatment, and surgery in ophthalmology and brain surgery, or an industrial stereo microscope for processing and inspecting electronic components and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in ophthalmic surgery and brain surgery, a binocular stereo microscope capable of stereoscopically observing a surgical site such as a patient's eye as an object to be observed has been widely used. In such binocular stereomicroscopes for surgery, the main observations used by the surgeon to observe the observation target are provided so that the assistant can support the surgeon and the trainee can observe the operation. A branch observation optical system branched from the optical system is provided.

[0003]

For example, in an ophthalmologic surgery, when the surgeon is treating a part of the patient's eye using tweezers or a scalpel, the surgeon is not required to treat only the treated part. Instead, he pays attention to other areas and constantly monitors the patient's eyes for defects during the procedure. That is, the apparent field of view of a surgical microscope can be as high as 50 degrees, and at some point during the procedure, the site to be treated is only a portion of that field of view, but the surgeon has only a portion of the field of view of the microscope. Instead of paying attention to it, he is paying attention to his entire field of view.

[0004] On the other hand, the surgeon sometimes gives instructions to assistants regarding surgical procedures and operations, and gives explanations to a visitor or the like regarding surgical techniques and procedures. Such instructions and explanations often cover not only the site to be treated but also sites other than the site to be treated.

[0005] However, it is extremely difficult for the operator to express in words what site the operator intends to indicate or explain. For this reason, in the conventional surgical microscope, the operator must temporarily suspend the operation and point to the corresponding site using tweezers or the like.
There was a problem that surgery could not be completed quickly.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to make it easy for an assistant or the like to determine which position in the visual field of a microscope the operator is watching without interrupting the operation. An object of the present invention is to provide a surgical microscope capable of reducing the burden on an operator by grasping the operation and quickly completing the operation.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a working microscope according to the first aspect of the present invention has a main observation optical system for observing an object to be observed and a main observation optical system branched from the main observation optical system. A branch observation optical system, a line-of-sight direction detection unit that detects a line-of-sight direction of an observer observing the observation target object with the main observation optical system, and the observation based on the line-of-sight direction detected by the line-of-sight direction detection unit A computing unit that computes a line-of-sight position of the observer with respect to an object; and a display unit that is arranged in the branch observation optical system and that displays position information indicating the line-of-sight position computed by the computing unit. And

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a working microscope according to the second aspect of the present invention comprises a main observation optical system for observing an object to be observed, a branch observation optical system branched from the main observation optical system, A projection unit that projects a target light beam toward an eye of an observer observing the observation target object by the main observation optical system, and a projection light beam projected from the observer's eye by the target light beam projected by the projection unit. Position detection means for detecting the position of the Purkinje image generated by the reflected light; gaze direction detection means for detecting the gaze direction of the observer based on the position of the Purkinje image detected by the position detection means; and the gaze direction detection means Calculating means for calculating the position of the observer's line of sight with respect to the observation object based on the line of sight detected by the computer; Characterized by comprising a display means for displaying the position information indicating the line-of-sight position.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a working microscope comprising: a main observation optical system for observing an object to be observed; a branch observation optical system branched from the main observation optical system; Projecting means for projecting a target light beam toward an eye of an observer observing the observation target object by the main observation optical system; and a pupil of the observer's eye by the target light beam projected by the projecting means. Acquisition means for acquiring the image of the image, position detection means for detecting the position of the Purkinje image generated by the reflected light from the observer's eyes due to the optotype light flux projected by the projection means, and the acquisition means acquired by the acquisition means A gaze direction detecting unit configured to detect a gaze direction of the observer based on an image of a pupil of the eye of the observer and a position of the Purkinje image detected by the position detection unit; Calculating means for calculating the gaze position of the observer with respect to the observation target based on the gaze direction detected by the operator; and position information indicating the gaze position calculated by the calculation means, which is arranged in the branch observation optical system. And display means for performing the operation.

In the working microscope according to any one of claims 1 to 3, the invention according to claim 4 is characterized in that the position information displayed on the display means can be observed by the branch observation optical system. Features.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a working microscope for observing an observation object, an observation optical system for observing the observation object, and an observation image of the observation object which is branched from the observation optical system. A photographing optical system, a gaze direction detecting means for detecting a gaze direction of an observer observing the observation object by the observation optical system, and the observation based on the gaze direction detected by the gaze direction detection means. Computing means for computing the gaze position of the observer with respect to the object, and display means for displaying position information indicating the gaze position computed by the computing means on an observation image obtained by the photographing optical system. It is characterized by.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings, taking a surgical microscope as an example.

(Embodiment 1) FIGS. 1 and 2 are views showing a configuration of an optical system of a surgical microscope according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a control system of the surgical microscope according to the embodiment. In addition,
In FIG. 1, Er is the fundus of the eye E of a subject such as a patient, Ea is the pupil of the eye E, Eb is the iris of the eye E,
c indicates the cornea of the eye E, and Ed indicates the sclera of the eye E.

The operating microscope according to the first embodiment of the present invention shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 has an illumination optical system 1 for illuminating an eye E to be inspected, and an operator OP who is an observer, who has an eye E to be inspected. The observation optical system (main observation optical system) 2 for the operator for observing the object as an observation target, the line-of-sight detection optical system 100 for detecting the line of sight of the operator OP, and the line-of-sight position of the operator OP are displayed. And a liquid crystal display (LCD) 44 used as a line-of-sight position display unit. The objective lens 3 is shared by the illumination optical system 1 and the observation optical system 2.

The illumination optical system 1 includes an illumination light source 10, a condenser lens 11, an illumination field stop 12, and a collimator lens 13.
, A prism 14 and the objective lens 3.

The illumination light emitted from the illumination light source 70 is guided to a collimator lens 13 via a condenser lens 11 and an illumination field stop 12. Further, the illumination light is collimated by the collimator lens 13 and then reflected by the reflection surface 14 b of the prism 14. The exit pupil 14 a of the illumination optical system 1 located near the exit side of the prism 14, the objective lens 3, and the pupil Irradiation is made to the fundus Er through Ea. Thus, the subject's eye E is illuminated.

The observation optical system 2 includes a right-eye observation optical system 2a and a left-eye observation optical system 2b. The right-eye observation optical system 12a includes an objective lens 3, three lenses 20a,
A variable power optical system 20 having a variable power lens composed of 20b and 20c, a beam splitter 21, and an imaging lens 2
2, an image erecting prism 23, an eye width adjusting prism 24 which is a rhombic prism, a field stop 25, and an eyepiece 26
And is constituted by. In the figure, 2a1 indicates the entrance pupil of the observation optical system 2a for the right eye, and 26a indicates the image of the entrance pupil 2a1 (that is, the eye point position).

The left-eye observation optical system 2b is, similarly to the right-eye observation optical system 2a, a variable power lens having an objective lens 3 and a variable power lens composed of three lenses 30a, 30b, 30c. It comprises an optical system 30, a beam splitter 31, an imaging lens 32, an image erecting prism 33, an eye width adjusting prism 34, which is a rhombic prism, a field stop 35, and an eyepiece 36. In the figure, reference numeral 2b1 denotes an entrance pupil of the left-eye observation optical system 2b, and 36a denotes an entrance pupil 2
The image of b1 (that is, the eye point position) is shown.

A potentiometer 70 for detecting the position of a variable power lens constituting the variable power optical systems 20 and 30 is provided in order to obtain the observation magnification of the operating microscope.

The illumination light emitted from the illumination optical system 1 to the eye E and reflected from the eye E is reflected by the objective lens 3,
Variable power optical systems 20, 30, beam splitters 21, 31,
Imaging lenses 22, 32, prisms 23, 24, 33, 3
4. Field stop 25, 35, and eyepieces 26, 36
And is observed by the left and right eyes D of the operator OP.

The reflected light from the eye E is split from the observation optical system 2 by the beam splitters 21 and 31. The light split by the beam splitter 21 is divided into an imaging lens 41, a half mirror 42, and an eyepiece 43.
Is guided to the branch observation optical system 40 for assistants constituted by Therefore, the eye E to be examined can be observed by the branch observation optical system 40 by an assistant other than the operator OP, a trainee, or the like.

The light split from the observation optical system 2 by the beam splitter 31 is guided to a television photographing optical system 50 including an imaging lens 51, a reflection mirror 52, and a television camera 53. Therefore, the television photographing optical system 50 enables television photographing of the eye E to be inspected.

The visual axis detection optical system 100 includes an infrared light emitting diode (infrared LED) 101, a pinhole 102, a condenser lens 103, half mirrors 104 and 107, an imaging lens 105, and a charge-coupled device ( CCD) 106,
And a semiconductor position detecting element (PSD) 108.

In order to detect the respective lines of sight of the left and right eyes D of the operator OP, it is possible to provide a pair of line-of-sight detection optical systems 100 for the left and right eyes in association with the observation optical system 2. Normally, it is sufficient to provide a line-of-sight detection optical system for one of the left and right eyes. Here, a case where only the line of sight of the right eye of the operator OP is detected will be described.

The pinhole 102 is located at the eyepoint position 26.
a, and the CCD 106 is also optically conjugate with the eye point position 26a.

The light emitted from the LED 101 is turned into a point light source by the pinhole 102, passes through the condenser lens 103 and the half mirror 104, and joins the optical path of the observation optical system 2. Further, this light is converted into a parallel light beam by the eyepiece 26 via the field stop 25, and is projected as a target light beam on the right eye D of the operator OP.

The optotype luminous flux applied to the eye D of the operator OP is reflected by the cornea so as to form a virtual image at the midpoint of a line connecting the vertex of the cornea and the center of curvature of the cornea. This reflected light is reflected by the half mirror 104 via the eyepiece 26 and the prism 24. Further, part of the reflected light is transmitted to the imaging lens 105 and the half mirror 1.
07, an image is formed on the CCD 106 as an image of the pupil of the eye D. Another part of the reflected light is transmitted to the imaging lens 10.
5 and reflected by the half mirror 107 to the PSD1
08.

Thus, an image signal corresponding to the image of the pupil of the eye D obtained by the CCD 106 is output to the image processing circuit 10.
The binarization processing is performed at 6 ′, and this binarization information is output to the control circuit 200.

Further, based on the output of the PSD 108, the position of the bright spot image (Purkinje image) in the eye D is detected by the detection circuit 108 '. Information on the position of the detected Purkinje image is output to the control circuit 200.

The control circuit 200 includes an image processing circuit 106 '.
Of the visual axis of the operator OP's eye D with respect to the optical axis O of the observation optical system 2 from the positional relationship between the Purkinje image and the pupil based on the output information from the detection circuit 108 'and the output information from the detection circuit 108'. I do. The control circuit 200 also controls the variable power optical system 20 detected by the potentiometer 70.
The observation magnification of the observation optical system 2 is calculated based on the position of the variable power lens that constitutes the above.

The control circuit 200 calculates, as the line-of-sight position, the position of the point (point of gaze) on the observation image of the eye E to be examined by the operator OP based on the calculated line-of-sight direction and observation magnification.

A liquid crystal display 44 used as a line-of-sight position display unit is disposed behind the half mirror 42 when viewed from the eyepiece 43 side of the branch observation optical system 40. Accordingly, the control circuit 200 causes the liquid crystal display 44 to display the calculated position information on the position of the gazing point (line of sight) of the eye D of the operator OP as a spot image.

For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the surgeon treats the treatment point A of the eye E by using the tweezers 7 and the scalpel 8. In such a case, the spot image indicating the gazing point B is displayed on the liquid crystal display 44 by the above-described processing.
After that, the assistant assists the eyepiece 43 of the branch observation optical system 40.
, It is possible to observe the observation image 9 in which the spot image is shown at the position of the gazing point B.

Thus, the assistant can easily grasp which position of the eye to be examined by the operator, and the operator temporarily stops the treatment as in the case of the conventional surgical microscope. It is not necessary to point the point of gaze by tweezers or the like. Therefore, the burden on the operator during the operation can be reduced, and the operation can be speeded up.

The observation optical system 2 for the operator and the branch observation optical system 40 for the assistant are arranged at a predetermined angle δ in the surgical microscope 5 as shown in FIG. For this reason, the operator OP observes the observation image of the eye E observed by the branch observation optical system 40, and the operator OP observes the observation optical system 2.
Corresponds to a state in which the observation image of the eye E to be observed is rotated by the angle δ. Therefore, the eye D of the operator OP
When the spot image indicating the point of interest is displayed on the liquid crystal display 44, it is necessary to determine the display position of the spot image in consideration of the angle δ.

Specifically, the gazing point B of the eye D of the operator OP
If the display coordinates of the spot image indicating (Xi, Yi) are (Xi, Yi), the coordinates at which the gazing point B can be seen at the same position in the observation image observed by the assistant with the branch observation optical system 40 are (Xi, Yi).
icosδ-Yisinδ, cosδ (Xisinδ +
Yicosδ)), the spot image is displayed on the liquid crystal display 44 at the display position obtained by such coordinate conversion.

The liquid crystal display 44 can be used even when the operator does not give instructions or explanations about the treatment to the assistant or the like.
If a spot image is displayed on the screen, it becomes an obstacle when the assistant observes the observation image of the eye E. In such a case, the spot image displayed on the liquid crystal display 44 is erased by a foot switch (not shown) or the like. Further, it is also possible to automatically make the spot image disappear after a preset time has elapsed.

In the first embodiment of the present invention, the line-of-sight position of the operator's eyes is shown using the liquid crystal display 44 as the line-of-sight position display unit. However, instead of this, for example, LEDs are arranged in a grid of 10 × 10,
It is also possible to indicate the gaze position of the eye of the surgeon by emitting an LED arranged at a corresponding position.

In the first embodiment of the present invention, the Purkinje image is detected by the PSD 108. However, the CCD 106 detects both the pupil position and the Purkinje image position, and the half mirror 107 is detected. , PS
D108 may be omitted.

(Embodiment 2) FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration of an optical system of a surgical microscope according to a second embodiment of the present invention. The operating microscope according to the second embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 6 has basically the same configuration as that of the operating microscope according to the first embodiment of the present invention. System 40
Instead of providing the liquid crystal display 44, a liquid crystal display 44 'having the same function is provided in the television photographing optical system 50.

Therefore, the liquid crystal display 4 is processed in the same manner as in the surgical microscope according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
At 4 ', a spot image indicating the point of gaze B of the operator is displayed as position information relating to the line of sight of the operator. Then, by joining the spot image displayed on the liquid crystal display 44 ′ to the optical path in the direction toward the television camera 53, an observation image showing the spot image can be displayed on the television camera 53. Thereby, for example, the person watching the operation can easily grasp the point of gaze of the operator.

In the surgical microscope according to the second embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 7, a liquid crystal display 44 as in the surgical microscope according to the first embodiment of the present invention is used. Further, it is also possible to adopt a configuration in which the components are provided together.

(Embodiment 3) FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a configuration of an optical system of an operating microscope according to a third embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a control system of an operating microscope according to a third embodiment of the present invention. The third embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG.
The operation microscope according to the second embodiment has basically the same configuration as the operation microscope according to the first embodiment of the present invention, but instead of providing the liquid crystal display 44 in the branch observation optical system 40. In addition, a superimposing device 53 ′ for superimposing an arbitrary image on an observation image displayed on the television camera 53 is provided and connected to the television camera 53.

Therefore, processing is performed in the same manner as in the case of the surgical microscope according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and the observation image displayed on the television camera 53 is displayed on the television camera 53 by the superimposing device 53 ′. A spot image indicating the gazing point B is superimposed as information on the gaze position of the operator. As a result, similarly to the case of the surgical microscope according to the second embodiment of the present invention, a person observing the state of the operation can easily grasp the point of gaze of the operator.

The operation microscope according to the third embodiment of the present invention also has a configuration in which a liquid crystal display 44 is further provided as in the case of the operation microscope according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Is also possible.

[0046]

As described above, according to the present invention, the direction of the line of sight of the operator observing the object to be observed is detected, and the position of the line of sight is shown as a spot image on the observation image observed by the assistant. The assistant or the trainee can easily grasp which part of the microscope field of view is being watched by the operator without interrupting the operation. As a result, the burden on the operator can be reduced, and the operation can be completed quickly.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an optical system of a surgical microscope according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an optical system of the operating microscope according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a control system of the surgical microscope according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a gazing point shown on an observation image of the subject's eye observed by the operating microscope according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a positional relationship between an observation optical system for surgery and a branch observation optical system for an assistant in the surgical microscope according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an optical system of a surgical microscope according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a control system of a surgical microscope according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a configuration of an optical system of a surgical microscope according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control system of a surgical microscope according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 E Eye to be inspected 1 Illumination optical system 2 Observation optical system 3 Objective lens 7 Tweezers 8 Female 20 and 30 Variable magnification optical system 40 Branch observation optical system 44 and 44 'LCD 50 Television photographing optical system 53 Television camera 53' Superimpose device 70 Potentiometer 100 Line-of-sight detection optical system 101 LED 106 CCD 106 'Image processing circuit 108 PSD 108' Detection circuit 200 Control circuit

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A main observation optical system for observing an observation object, a branch observation optical system branched from the main observation optical system, and a line of sight of an observer observing the observation object by the main observation optical system. Gaze direction detection means for detecting a direction, calculation means for calculating the gaze position of the observer with respect to the observation target based on the gaze direction detected by the gaze direction detection means, disposed in the branch observation optical system, Display means for displaying position information indicating the line-of-sight position calculated by the calculation means. 2. A main observation optical system for observing an observation object, a branch observation optical system branched from the main observation optical system, and an eye of an observer observing the observation object by the main observation optical system. Projecting means for projecting a target light beam toward the target; position detecting means for detecting a position of a Purkinje image generated by reflected light from the observer's eye due to the target light beam projected by the projecting means; Gaze direction detection means for detecting the gaze direction of the observer based on the position of the Purkinje image detected by the means; and gaze position of the observer with respect to the observation target based on the gaze direction detected by the gaze direction detection means And display means for displaying position information indicating the line-of-sight position calculated by the calculation means, the display means being arranged in the branch observation optical system. A working microscope. A main observation optical system for observing the observation object; a branch observation optical system branched from the main observation optical system; and an eye of an observer observing the observation object with the main observation optical system. Projecting means for projecting a target light beam toward the target; obtaining means for obtaining an image of the pupil of the observer's eye with the target light beam projected by the projecting means; and a target light beam projected by the projecting means Position detecting means for detecting a position of a Purkinje image generated by reflected light from the observer's eye, and a Purkinje image detected by the observer's eye pupil image obtained by the obtaining means and the position detecting means. A line-of-sight direction detecting means for detecting a line-of-sight direction of the observer based on a position of an image; and the observation on the observation object based on a line-of-sight direction detected by the line-of-sight direction detecting means. A working microscope comprising: a calculating means for calculating a gaze position of a user; and a display means arranged in the branch observation optical system and displaying position information indicating the gaze position calculated by the calculating means. . 4. The working microscope according to claim 1, wherein the position information displayed on the display means can be observed by the branch observation optical system. 5. An observation optical system for observing an observation object, an imaging optical system branched from the observation optical system to obtain an observation image of the observation object, and an observation optical system for observing the observation object by the observation optical system. Gaze direction detection means for detecting the gaze direction of the observer, computing means for computing the gaze position of the observer with respect to the observation target based on the gaze direction detected by the gaze direction detection means, and the computation means A display unit for displaying position information indicating the line-of-sight position calculated on the observation image obtained by the photographing optical system.