JP2011055988A - Electronic endoscope - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electric endoscope capable of increasing and diversifying functions of button operation while simplifying the operation. <P>SOLUTION: The electric endoscope includes: an insertion part with an objective optical system and an imaging element at the distal end to be inserted into a body cavity; an operating part with an angle knob for bending the inserting part and operation buttons for switching various operation functions of the electronic endoscope; and a connection part connected to the electric endoscope and a processor to transmit image signals of an image generated by the imaging element to the processor and to transmit/propagate control signals from a system controller mounted inside the processor and illumination light, etc. from a light source to the electronic endoscope. The operation buttons mounted in the operating part are mounted as connectors, or have a connector function. An attachment having a function as the operation button can be connected to each operation button as the connector or having the connector function. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic endoscope, and more particularly to an electronic endoscope in which an expansion button is incorporated in an operation unit.

  In an electronic endoscope with a curved tip, it is possible to take an image of a target site in a patient's body cavity by operating various push buttons provided on the operation unit while holding the operation unit of the electronic endoscope. Or perform air / water feeding to clean the target area and objective lens. Each push button is assigned various functions related to the operation of the endoscope, such as turning on / off the light source, turning on / off the laser light, copying the screen on the TV monitor, and stillness of the screen on the TV monitor (so-called freeze operation). Furthermore, the function assigned to the push button can be changed according to the treatment contents. In addition, in recent electronic endoscopes, not only normal endoscope observation using white light as illumination light but also fluorescence observation using fluorescence as illumination light is performed. A switching button or the like for switching between endoscopic observation and fluorescent observation is also required in the operation unit.

  As a push button provided in the operation unit of such an electronic endoscope, a structure as in Patent Document 1 is used. In Patent Document 1, the push button is a two-stage push-in type, and full push and half push are possible. Further, by combining not only full pressing and half pressing of a single button but also simultaneous pressing by a plurality of buttons, different processing can be executed depending on the pressed state of the button. In addition, many operation functions can be executed and controlled in the operation unit of the electronic endoscope.

JP 2006-167139 A

  However, in the conventional push button structure as described above, different functions are assigned to full press, half press, and simultaneous press of the buttons, and a plurality of functions are assigned to one button. For this reason, it is necessary for the practitioner to learn and use the combination of the pressed state of the button and the function to be executed. In addition, since the function to be executed changes depending on whether the button is fully pressed or half pressed, a malfunction may occur if the full pressing and the half pressing are not performed properly. Furthermore, the amount of pressing of the button varies depending on the operator, and the distinction between full pressing and half pressing must be grasped from the feeling when the button is actually pressed. There are different possibilities. Therefore, since the practitioner needs to pay attention to the pressing of the button when operating the button, the operator may not be able to concentrate on the observation and treatment of the site in the body cavity of the patient.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances. An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic endoscope that can provide a smooth operation by providing an additional button capable of executing various functions by a simple button pressing operation.

  The electronic endoscope of the present invention is inserted into a body cavity and includes an insertion portion provided with an objective optical system and an image sensor at the tip, and various angle knobs and electronic endoscopes for bending the insertion portion. An operation unit provided with an operation button for switching the operation function, and the electronic endoscope and the processor are connected, and an image signal of a captured image generated by the imaging device is transmitted to the processor, and the processor An operation button provided in the operation unit, which is an electronic endoscope comprising a connection unit that transmits and propagates a control signal from a system controller provided in the system, illumination light from the light source unit, and the like to the electronic endoscope. At least one of them is provided as a connector or has a connector function, and an operation button having a connector or a connector function has at least two functions among the functions of the operation buttons. It is possible to connect the attachment to.

  Preferably, the attachment is an expansion button unit provided with at least two operation buttons. Further, the resistance values of the resistors provided on the operation buttons of the extension button unit are different from each other. Further, the combined resistance value of the resistors is different between two or more different operation buttons among the plurality of operation buttons of the extension button unit. Therefore, not only when one of the buttons is pressed, but also a function when a plurality of buttons are pressed simultaneously can be set. Further, the attachment is connected to a connector or an operation button having a connector function via a telescopic cable, and the attachment is provided with a fixture such as an arm band capable of fixing the attachment to the arm of the practitioner. It has been.

  Alternatively, the attachment is a button panel that employs a membrane switch as an operation button, or a liquid crystal touch panel that employs a touch sensor as an operation button. For this reason, the flexibility of button operation in an operation part can be improved. Furthermore, the electronic endoscope includes a signal processing unit that changes an image size based on an image signal generated by an image processing unit in the processor, and the liquid crystal touch panel is an image pickup in which the image size is changed by the signal processing unit. Display an image. As a result, various processes can be executed by operating the buttons displayed on the liquid crystal touch panel without checking the monitor, so that the working efficiency during the treatment can be improved as compared with the case of using the conventional buttons. . In addition, it is possible to change the setting of the processor during the operation, which was difficult without the assistance of an assistant, by operating the liquid crystal touch panel.

  According to the electronic endoscope of the present invention, the operation button provided in the operation unit is used as a connector, and the operation button function is added, thereby simplifying the function assigned to the operation button and executing the operation button. The number of processes that can be performed can be increased. Therefore, the button operation of the electronic endoscope can be diversified, and even a practitioner unfamiliar with the button operation can easily perform the button operation, so that the convenience of the button operation can be enhanced. Further, by using a button panel or a liquid crystal touch panel, the visibility of the button function is improved, and smoother treatment can be promoted. Furthermore, the liquid crystal touch panel can be used as a sub monitor as required.

It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the whole electronic endoscope system by which the attachment which has a button function was attached to the operation part of the electronic endoscope in embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the circuit of the attachment which has a button function in embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the use condition of the attachment which has an operation part and button function of the electronic endoscope in embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, with reference to the drawings, an extension button of the operation unit of the electronic endoscope according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described. In addition, the same number is attached | subjected, when showing the same member over several figures.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an entire electronic endoscope system in which an attachment having a button function is attached to an operation unit of an electronic endoscope according to an embodiment of the present invention. An electronic endoscope system 1 includes an electronic endoscope 2 for imaging an observation target site in a body cavity of a patient, a processor 3 connected to the electronic endoscope 2, and an image captured by the electronic endoscope 2. It is comprised from the monitor 4 which displays.

  At the distal end of the insertion portion of the electronic endoscope 2, an objective optical system 5 including a condensing lens and the observation target site in the body cavity imaged on the light receiving surface by the objective optical system are converted into image signals. For this purpose, an image sensor 6 such as a charge coupled device (CCD) or a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) is provided. The operation unit operated by the practitioner is provided with a button group 7 for inputting various operations by the practitioner, an angle knob (not shown), a treatment instrument insertion port (not shown), and the like. The treatment instrument insertion port communicates with a treatment instrument opening (not shown) provided at the distal end of the insertion portion of the endoscope. The practitioner inserts a treatment tool such as forceps from the treatment tool insertion port, and makes the treatment tool appear and disappear from the treatment tool opening through a treatment tool insertion channel (not shown) provided in the insertion portion of the endoscope. Measures such as collecting tissue inside. The angle knob bends the distal end region of the insertion portion in accordance with the turning operation. In addition, by operating buttons 7, air supply and water supply to the site to be observed, suction of body fluids, screen freeze on the TV monitor (freeze), switching between white light observation / special light observation, photometric pattern (average photometry) And peak photometry), and various processes such as recording of still images and moving images of the observation target region on the image recording medium can be performed. The angle knob and the button group 7 are each provided at a position where it can be operated with a finger of a hand holding the operation unit.

  A signal processing unit 8 that performs drive control of the image sensor 6 and signal processing on an image signal of an image captured by the image sensor 6 is provided at a base end portion of the electronic endoscope 2, that is, a connection portion with the processor 3. Is provided. Further, a light guide 9 that propagates illumination light for illuminating the inside of the body cavity is inserted into the insertion portion from the connection portion of the electronic endoscope 2, and the illumination light emission end extends to the insertion portion distal end.

  The processor 3 includes a light source unit 10 that supplies illumination light to the electronic endoscope 2, an image processing unit 11 that performs predetermined signal processing on an image signal generated by the electronic endoscope 2, and a system controller 12 that controls each unit. Prepare. The light source unit 10 is a light source such as a halogen lamp, a xenon lamp, or a white LED, a condensing lens that collects light from the light source at the incident end of the light guide 9, and a white light from the light source provided between the light source and the light guide 9 A color filter for sequentially separating light into red (R), green (G), and blue (B) light, and a color filter in synchronization with a timing pulse and a vertical synchronization signal when writing an image signal to the frame memory A color filter rotation control circuit for controlling the speed and phase of the color filter to rotate, a light amount diaphragm for adjusting the amount of illumination light, a circuit for controlling the light amount diaphragm, etc. Light is generated (note that the configuration other than the objective optical system 5 is not shown in FIG. 1). Note that a simultaneous imaging method may be employed instead of the frame sequential method. That is, the white light of the light source is directly condensed on the light guide and transmitted to irradiate the site to be observed, and the complementary color signal is separated by an on-chip complementary color filter on the image sensor 6, and this complementary color signal is converted to RGB. It is possible to obtain the color difference signals RY and BY by converting the primary color signal into a primary color signal and using the color difference matrix.

  The system controller 12 includes a timing control function and the like, and is a circuit unit for driving and synchronizing not only the processor 3 but also the electronic endoscope system 1. Further, the system controller 12 has a non-volatile memory that stores various settings in the electronic endoscope system 1. Further, the processor 3 includes a power supply circuit 13 that supplies a power supply voltage to each of the above-described units. The power supply voltage supplied from the power supply circuit 13 is also supplied to the signal processing unit 8 of the electronic endoscope 2 via the system controller 12, as indicated by a double-line arrow in FIG.

  In the electronic endoscope system 1, first, under the control of the system controller 12, illumination light generated by the light source unit 10 of the processor 3 propagates through the light guide 9 from the distal end of the insertion unit of the electronic endoscope 2. It is injected into the body cavity. Illumination light reflected from the observation target site in the body cavity enters the image sensor 6 through the objective optical system 5. In the image sensor 6, an image signal is generated from the electric charge accumulated according to the amount of incident light and sent to the signal processing unit 8. In the signal processing unit 8, predetermined image processing is performed on the image signal from the image sensor 6, and an RGB format image signal is generated by the processor 3. The image signal generated by the signal processing unit 8 is transmitted to the image processing unit 11 of the processor 3. Then, the image processing unit 11 performs predetermined processing on the image signal to generate a video signal suitable for display on the monitor 4. Then, a video signal is transmitted from the image processing unit 11 to the monitor 4, and the monitor 4 displays an image based on the received video signal. The practitioner observes the site in the body cavity while checking the image displayed on the monitor 4.

  Information indicating the current operation status of the electronic endoscope 2 and the processing status of the observation image is displayed on the operation panel 14 of the processor 3. Further, by operating a panel switch provided on the operation panel 14, it is possible to designate a function assigned to the button group 7 of the operation unit of the electronic endoscope 2 for the system controller. One button of the button group 7 serves as both a button function and a connector function, or is replaced with a connector 7a, and a button unit 15 in which three buttons are arranged is connected to the connector 7a as an extension button via a cable. . As such a connector 7a, for example, a Hirose round connector HR25A can be used.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a circuit of the button unit 15. Three buttons of the button unit 15 are provided with switches SW1 to SW3, respectively. Also, resistors R1 to R3 having different resistance values are connected to the switches SW1 to SW3. The resistors R1 to R3 are connected in series. The button unit 15 is supplied with the power supply voltage of the power supply circuit 13 of the processor 3 via the system controller 12 and the signal processing unit 8. FIG. 2 shows a state in which no button is pressed and none of the switches SW1 to SW3 are closed. Here, when the button corresponding to the switch SW1 is pressed, the switch SW1 is closed, and the current does not flow to the resistor R1, but flows to the resistors R2 and R3 via the switch SW1. At this time, the combined resistance value of the button unit 15 is R2 + R3, and the output voltage at the button unit 15 is obtained from Ohm's law. Since the resistance values of the resistors R1 to R3 are different, the output voltages when any of the switches SW1 to SW3 are closed are different. Therefore, the system controller 12 can grasp which switch is closed and thus which button is pressed based on the output voltage.

  In addition, by setting the sum of the resistance values of any two resistors not to be equal to the resistance value of the remaining one resistor, it is possible to know which button was pressed at the same time when two buttons were pressed at the same time. You can also Therefore, not only the function when pressing any one button but also the function when pressing the buttons simultaneously can be set, so that the button function can be expanded and the flexibility can be improved. The combination of the push button and the function can be stored in the system controller 12 using the operation panel 14 or the like. Alternatively, the function of the button can be changed by rewriting a program related to button operation in the system controller 12.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the liquid crystal touch panel 16 can be connected to the connector 7b via a cable as an extension button. The liquid crystal touch panel 16 includes a touch panel that employs position detection such as a resistive film method, an acoustic pulse recognition method, an infrared light shielding method, and an image recognition method. Further, the image signal generated by the image processing unit 11 of the processor 3 can be displayed on the liquid crystal touch panel 16 by appropriately changing the image size by the signal processing unit 8 of the electronic endoscope 2. As a result, the processing in the electronic endoscope system 1 that cannot be executed from the operation unit because the number of buttons on the operation unit of the electronic endoscope 2 is small in the past can be executed while ensuring good operability. it can. Furthermore, since the image can be displayed not only on the monitor 4 but also on the liquid crystal touch panel 16 at hand, smoother treatment can be promoted. The signal processing unit that changes the image size may be provided on the operation unit side.

  In addition to the button unit 15 and the liquid crystal touch panel 16, a button panel that employs a membrane switch that is excellent in dust resistance, drip resistance, and waterproofness can be used as an additional button, although not shown. Also in this case, since a plurality of functions can be easily executed with one panel, it is easier to use visually than the conventional button structure, and operability and convenience are improved.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically illustrating a case where the button unit 15 or the liquid crystal touch panel 16 is connected to the operation unit of the electronic endoscope 2. The practitioner fixes the button unit 15 to the upper arm or forearm of the hand that holds the operation unit of the electronic endoscope 2, or the left arm in the case of FIG. 3 with a fixing tool such as an arm band. The button unit 15 is connected to the connector 7a of the button group 7 by an elastic bellows cable 17. The practitioner grasps the insertion portion of the electronic endoscope 2 or operates the buttons of the button unit 15 (or the liquid crystal touch panel 16) with his free hand, here the right hand. Note that the button unit 15 may be fixed to the arm opposite to the hand that holds the operation unit of the electronic endoscope 2, and the operator may arbitrarily decide which arm the button unit 15 is fixed to. Can be determined.

  This completes the description of the embodiment of the present invention. Although the case where the number of buttons of the button unit is 3 has been described above, an arbitrary number of buttons can be employed. By setting the resistance value corresponding to each button so that the combined resistance value in each case does not overlap between the case where only one button is pressed and the case where a plurality of buttons are pressed simultaneously, the same as above In addition to pressing one button, a function for simultaneous pressing can also be assigned to the button unit. Further, the system controller may be configured to grasp the change in the resistance value of the button unit not from the change in voltage but from the change in current.

  When a button unit, a liquid crystal touch panel, or a button panel is not used, it is possible to ensure insulation of the connector by attaching a waterproof / dust-proof protective cap to the connector. Further, by attaching a button such as a tact switch to the connector, it can also function as a single button similar to the conventional one. In the above embodiment, FIG. 1 shows the case where a button unit and a liquid crystal touch panel are used together, but the button unit, liquid crystal touch panel and button panel are used in combination, or the button unit, liquid crystal touch panel and button panel are used. It can be arbitrarily determined whether only one of the two is used. Further, a sub-display can be connected to the connector to perform the treatment while making it easy to observe the site in the body cavity.

2 Electronic endoscope 7 Button group 7a, 7b Connector 8 Signal processing unit 15 Button unit 16 Liquid crystal touch panel R1, R2, R3 Resistance

Claims (8)

Operation part for switching various operation functions of an insertion part inserted into a body cavity and provided with an objective optical system and an image sensor at the distal end, an angle knob for bending the insertion part, and an electronic endoscope Is connected to the electronic endoscope and the processor, transmits an image signal of a captured image generated by the imaging device to the processor, and from a system controller provided in the processor. An electronic endoscope comprising a connection part that transmits and propagates control signals and illumination light from a light source part to the electronic endoscope,
At least one of the operation buttons provided in the operation unit is provided as a connector or has a connector function,
An electronic endoscope characterized in that an attachment having at least two functions among the functions of the operation buttons can be connected to the connector or the operation buttons having the connector function.   The electronic endoscope according to claim 1, wherein the attachment is an extension button unit provided with at least two operation buttons.   The electronic endoscope according to claim 2, wherein resistance values of resistors provided in the operation buttons of the extension button unit are different from each other.   4. The electronic endoscope according to claim 2, wherein the combined resistance value of the resistance is different between two or more different operation buttons among the plurality of operation buttons of the extension button unit. 5.   The attachment is connected to the connector or an operation button having the connector function via a telescopic cable, and the attachment has a fixture such as an arm band that can fix the attachment to the arm of the practitioner. The electronic endoscope according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the electronic endoscope is provided.   The electronic endoscope according to claim 1, wherein the attachment is a button panel employing a membrane switch as the operation button.   The electronic endoscope according to claim 1, wherein the attachment is a liquid crystal touch panel that employs a touch sensor as the operation button.   The electronic endoscope includes a signal processing unit that changes an image size based on an image signal generated by an image processing unit in the processor, and the liquid crystal touch panel has the image size changed by the signal processing unit. The electronic endoscope according to claim 7, wherein a captured image is displayed.

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