JP2017116772A - Camera and wearable system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a user-friendly camera.MEANS: A base unit 4 and tip unit 6 are coupled together by a flexible arm 8. The tip unit 6 has a camera and light sources accommodated therein. The tip unit 6 is provided with a photographing hole 16 to allow the camera to capture images. The tip unit 6 is also provided with illuminating holes 18 to allow the light sources to provide illumination. The camera is disposed to correspond to the photographing hole 16, and a plurality (six in this embodiment) of light sources (LEDs) are disposed to correspond to the illuminating holes 18. The flexible arm 8 allows for adjusting the position and angle of the tip unit 8 at will.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a camera and a wearable system used for medical treatment and the like.

  In medical treatment or the like, a camera that images a surgical site or the like is required to be small and have good operability. An endoscope (Patent Document 1) is used as a camera in the medical field, but its purpose of use is limited and cannot be used in normal surgery.

  In addition, a dental intraoral camera has been proposed (Patent Document 2). Instead of a conventional dental mirror, the inside of the oral cavity is imaged and displayed as an image.

JP-A-6-167658 JP2008-86554

  However, the above-described medical camera and intraoral camera are not sufficient in that they can be easily set at a place where a user such as a doctor or dentist wants to take an image during treatment or surgery, and the captured image is easily confirmed. there were. In particular, no consideration has been given to the operability when used as a wearable system.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a camera and a wearable system with good operability by solving the above problems.

  Several independently applicable features of this invention are listed.

(1) A flexible camera according to the present invention includes a base, a flexible arm having one end attached to the base, and a distal end attached to the other end of the flexible arm and provided with a camera and a light source.

  Therefore, the direction of the camera and the light source can be easily changed.

(2) A wearable system according to the present invention is a wearable system comprising a flexible camera attached to spectacles and a head mounted display attached to the spectacles and connected to the flexible camera, the flexible camera comprising: It is characterized by comprising a base, a flexible arm having one end attached to the base, and a distal end attached to the other end of the flexible arm and provided with a camera and a light source.

  Therefore, it is possible to provide a wearable system including a camera that can easily change the orientation of the camera and the light source.

(3) In the wearable system according to the present invention, the head mounted display includes a base, a flexible arm having one end attached to the base, and a distal end attached to the other end of the flexible arm and provided with the display. It is characterized by that.

  Therefore, it is possible to provide a wearable system in which the display position can be easily adjusted.

(4) In the wearable system according to the present invention, the flexible arm is stretched so as to generate a contraction force in a direction in which the flexible wire is in contact with the outer periphery of the coil wound in a hollow and the adjacent wire. Or it is characterized by having a coated tube that is formed so that its inner diameter in the natural state is smaller than the outer diameter of the coil and is stretched so as to generate a contracting force in the radial direction.

  Therefore, it is possible to obtain a wearable system having a camera and a display that can be easily bent but can easily hold the bending position.

(5) An intraoral camera according to the present invention is an intraoral camera comprising a handle part and an imaging part formed at a predetermined angle at a tip of the handle part, wherein the imaging part includes a camera and a light source. The imaging unit is formed such that the central part is high and the peripheral part is low, the imaging hole by the camera is provided in the central part, and illumination light is transmitted through the light from the light source in the peripheral part. It is characterized by providing an illumination hole to take out the.

  Therefore, it is possible to obtain a camera that can appropriately image the inside of the oral cavity.

(6) A wearable system according to the present invention is a wearable system comprising an intraoral camera attached to eyeglasses, and a head-mounted display attached to the eyeglasses and connected to the intraoral camera. The camera includes a handle portion and an imaging unit formed at a predetermined angle at a tip of the handle unit, the imaging unit houses a camera and a light source, and the imaging unit has a central portion. It is characterized in that it is formed so as to have a high peripheral edge, an imaging hole for the camera is provided in the central part, and an illumination hole for extracting illumination light through the light from the light source is provided in the peripheral part.

  Therefore, it is possible to provide a wearable system including a camera that can appropriately image the oral cavity.

(7) In the wearable system according to the present invention, the head mounted display includes a base, a flexible arm having one end attached to the base, and a distal end attached to the other end of the flexible arm and provided with the display. It is characterized by that.

  Therefore, it is possible to provide a wearable system in which the display position can be easily adjusted.

It is the external appearance of the medical camera 2 by one Embodiment of this invention. 2 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a housing of a medical camera 2. FIG. The figure which shows the structure of the flexible tube 8 can be obtained. FIG. 4 a is a view showing details of the tube 90, and FIG. 4 b is a cross-sectional view of the tube 90. 5a, 5b, and 5c are diagrams showing a method for attaching the flexible tube 8. FIG. It is a figure which shows the state which attached the medical camera 2 and the head mounted display 202 to the spectacles 40. FIG. It is a figure which shows the mounting tool. It is a figure which shows the detail of the guide member 14 and the holding member 24. FIG. It is a figure which shows the head mounted display. This is a circuit configuration of the medical camera 2. It is a figure which shows the intraoral camera. It is sectional drawing of the intraoral camera 302. FIG.

1. First Embodiment FIG. 1 shows an appearance of a medical camera 2 according to an embodiment of the present invention. A base 4 and a tip 6 are provided. The base 4 and the tip 6 are connected by a flexible arm 8. A camera and a light source are accommodated in the distal end portion 6. In order to perform imaging with this camera, the distal end portion 6 is provided with a shooting hole 16. Further, an illumination hole 18 is provided in the distal end portion 6 in order to perform illumination with a light source.

  The camera is provided corresponding to the shooting holes 16, and a plurality of light sources (LEDs) are provided corresponding to the respective illumination holes 18 (six in this embodiment). In this embodiment, the position of the tip of the illumination hole 18 is lower (closer to the base 4) than the position of the tip of the photographing hole 16. Thereby, appropriate photography can be performed without the light from the light source directly entering the camera.

  The base 4 is provided with an illuminance changeover switch 12. Each time this switch 12 is pressed, the output of the light source is switched in a plurality of stages from the lower one to the higher one. After reaching the highest output, it returns to the lowest output.

  An HDMI (trademark) cable 10 is connected to the rear end of the base 4. By connecting a head mounted display or the like to this, it is possible to display an image captured by the camera.

  FIG. 10 shows a circuit configuration of the medical camera 2. In this embodiment, the light source (LED) 5 and the camera 7 are housed in the distal end portion 6. The control circuit 9 and the video processing circuit 11 are accommodated in the base 4.

  When the switch 12 is pressed, the control circuit 9 controls the power applied to the light source 5 as described above to change the amount of light. The video processing circuit 11 processes an image captured by the camera 7 and outputs it as an HDMI (trademark) signal.

  FIG. 2 shows the housing structure of the medical camera 2. The base 4 is constituted by upper and lower bodies 4a and 4b. The tip portion 6 is composed of left and right bodies 6a and 6b and a cap 6c.

  Returning to FIG. 1, since the flexible arm 8 is provided, it is easy to change the direction of the camera of the front end portion 6 to a desired direction and position, and it is easy to hold it at that position.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the flexible arm 8 includes a coil 80 and a tube 90 provided on the outer periphery thereof. In the tube 90, wiring for connecting the light source 5 and the control circuit 9, wiring for connecting the camera 7 and the video processing circuit 11, and the like are housed.

  The coil 80 is formed as a double coil of a wire rod (SUS304WPB) 82 having a round cross section and a SUS wire rod (SUS304) 84 having a triangular cross section. In this embodiment, the diameter of the wire 82 is 0.8 mm, and one side of the wire 84 is 1.0 mm. Adjacent SUS wire (spring material) 82 and SUS wire (spring material) 84 are in contact with each other. The SUS wire 84 having a triangular cross section is arranged so that one side of the triangle is along the outer periphery, and the width becomes narrower toward the inside (may be reversed). A cable 43 (for example, a thin coaxial cable) can be inserted into the hollow portion 86 of the coil 80.

  A silicon tube 90 is provided in contact with the outer periphery of the coil 80. In this embodiment, a tube 90 having an inner diameter of 50 mm in a natural state is used for the outer diameter of the coil 80 of 54 mm. Thus, the tube 90 is brought into close contact with the outer periphery of the coil 80 by making the outer diameter of the coil 80 slightly larger than the inner diameter of the tube 90 (about 5% to 15% of the tube diameter).

  Furthermore, in this embodiment, the tube 90 is brought into close contact with the coil 80 in a state where the tube 90 is extended from the natural state in the direction A in FIG. Thereby, since the flexible tube 90 tends to contract, a force can be applied to the coil 80 in the compressing direction.

  FIG. 4 a shows details of the tube 90. In this embodiment, the tube 90 is formed by molding flexible silicon. At one end, a flange 92 is provided. A flange 94 is also provided on the other end side.

  FIG. 4b shows a cross-sectional view thereof. At the end on the side where the flange 94 is provided, a stopper portion 96 having a hollow portion with a small diameter is provided to prevent the coil 80 from falling off.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the lower body 4 b of the base 4 is provided with a recess 100 for inserting the flange 92 of the tube 90. Although not shown, a similar concave portion is also provided on the upper body 4a side. A stopper 110 is provided adjacent to the recess 100. The stopper 110 is for holding the coil 80 in the predetermined position when the flexible arm 8 is attached.

  The left and right bodies 6a and 6b of the movable portion 6 are also provided with a recess 102 for inserting the flange 94 of the tube 90. Note that the movable portion 6 may not be provided with the stopper 110.

  Next, a procedure for attaching the flexible arm 8 to the fixed portion 4 and the base portion 6 will be described. First, as shown in FIG. 5 a, the coil 80 is accommodated in the tube 90. At this time, the coil 80 is inserted until one end of the coil 80 contacts the stopper portion 96 of the tube 90.

  In this embodiment, the length LC (for example, 60 mm) of the coil 80 is made longer than the length LT (for example, 50 mm) of the tube 90 (about 10% to 50% of the total length of the tube 90). As shown to 5a, the coil 80 will protrude. As shown in FIG. 5 b, in this state, when the flange 94 of the tube 90 is fitted and fixed in the recess 102 of the movable portion 6, the other end side of the coil 80 is brought into contact with the stopper 110 of the fixed portion 4. The flange 92 of the tube 90 does not fit into the concave portion 100 of the fixed portion 4.

  Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5 c, after pulling the tube 90 in the direction of arrow B, the flange 92 of the tube 90 is fitted into the recess 100 of the fixed portion 4. Then, a lid provided with a concave portion is covered.

  FIG. 6 shows a state in which the medical camera 2 is attached to the eyeglasses 40 via the wearing tool 20.

  Details of the mounting tool 20 are shown in FIG. The mounting tool 20 includes a metal U-shaped band 22 and a synthetic resin holding member 24 attached to the tip of the U-shaped band 22. A coupling portion 28 is provided at the rear end of the holding member 24, and the tip of the U-shaped band 22 is slidably inserted. The U-shaped band 22 is slid, and the U-shaped band 22 is in contact with the back side of the wearer's neck so that a firm wearing state can be realized. At the front end of the holding member 24, a holding portion 26 formed in a U shape with the lower side opened is formed. An attachment guide 30 is formed on the side surface of the holding member 24.

  A section of the mounting guide 30 is shown in FIG. 8B. Concave portions 25 and 27 are provided on both sides. On the other hand, the base member 4 of the medical camera 2 is provided with a guide member 14 as shown in FIG. 8A (provided on the back side of the lower body 4a in FIG. 2). The medical camera 2 is fixed to the mounting tool 20 by fitting the convex portions 21 and 23 of the guide member 14 of the medical camera 2 into the concave portions 25 and 27 of the mounting guide 30 of the holding member 24 of FIG. be able to.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the holding part 26 of the wearing tool 20 is sandwiched from above into the temple 44 of the eyeglass 40, and the wearing tool 20 is fixed to the eyeglass 40. Further, the guide member 14 of the medical camera 2 is slid into the mounting guide 30 of the mounting tool 20 and fixed. In this way, the mounting tool 20 can be attached to the temple 44 of the eyeglass 40, and the medical camera 2 can be fixed thereto.

  As shown in FIG. 6, a head mounted display 202 is attached to the opposite side of the wearing tool 20. A head mounted display 202 is shown in FIG.

  The head mounted display 202 includes a fixed part 204, a movable part 206, and a flexible arm 208. The fixing unit 204 is provided with an HDMI (trademark) connector 219. The movable portion 206 is provided with a display prism 212. The movable portion 206 covers the prism 212 in a light-shielding manner and has an opening only on the side facing the eyes of the wearer. Thereby, a clear image can be obtained while avoiding the influence of external light.

  An arm fixing portion 217 is provided at the central portion (not the end portion) of the movable portion 206, and an arm fixing portion 215 is provided at the distal end portion of the fixing portion 204. A flexible arm 208 is provided between the arm fixing portion 215 and the arm fixing portion 217. By bending the flexible arm 208, the position and angle of the prism 212 of the movable portion 206 can be changed. The structure of the flexible arm 208 is the same as that of the flexible arm 8 of the medical camera 2.

  By connecting the connector of the HDMI ™ code 10 of the medical camera 2 to the HDMI ™ connector 219 of the head mounted display 202, an image captured by the medical camera 2 is displayed on the head mounted display 202. can do.

  In this embodiment, since the two-strand coil is formed such that the wire having a round cross section and the wire having a cross section are adjacent to each other, when the flexible arm 8 is bent, the degree to which the bent state can be maintained is increased. This is because the return resistance when bent is larger and the bent state can be maintained in the coil where the round and triangular wires are adjacent than the coil where the round and round wires are adjacent. Furthermore, since the inner diameter of the tube 90 is made smaller than the outer diameter of the coil 80 and the tube 90 is in close contact with the coil 80 in an extended state, the bent state can be maintained.

  Therefore, the angle and the position can be easily adjusted, and the adjusted position can be held. The inner diameter of the tube 90 is made smaller than the outer diameter of the coil 80 (force is applied in the radial direction), or the tube 90 is brought into close contact with the coil 80 (the direction in which the adjacent wire is compressed). In each case, only one of them may be implemented.

  In the above embodiment, a double coil is used as the coil 80, but a single coil may be used. Even in this case, it is possible to obtain a bending maintenance effect due to the close contact / extension of the tube 90.

  Moreover, you may make it use not only a two-strip coil but a multi-strip | triple coil of three or more. However, even in this case, it is preferable to wind the coil so that the adjacent wires are round and triangular.

  In the above embodiment, the coil 80 is configured by using round and triangular wire rods. However, you may make it use a round wire and the polygonal wire rod more than a rectangle. Or you may make it use the square (a trapezoid, a parallelogram, etc.) which is not a polygon.

  In the embodiment described above, a force in a direction in which the coil 80 is compressed by the tube 90 is applied. However, urging means (flexible member, spring material, etc.) urged in the contracting direction fixed to both ends of the coil 80 may be provided.

  In the above embodiment, the light amount of the light source is changed every time the switch 12 is pressed. However, the amount of light may be changed according to the time during which the switch 12 is pressed.

  In the above embodiment, the medical camera 2 is used while being attached to the glasses 40. However, a clip or the like may be provided on the base portion 4 so as to be used by being sandwiched between the body and the object.

Moreover, in the said embodiment, although it uses as a medical camera, you may apply to the camera of other uses.

2. Second Embodiment FIG. 11 shows an intraoral camera 302 according to a second embodiment. A distal end portion 306 is provided at the distal end of the handle portion 304. A camera and a light source are accommodated in the distal end portion 306. The circuit configuration is the same as in the first embodiment.

  In order to perform imaging with this camera, a shooting hole 316 is provided in the distal end portion 306. Further, an illumination hole 318 is provided in the distal end portion 306 in order to perform illumination with a light source.

  The camera corresponds to the shooting hole 316, and a plurality of light sources (LEDs) (six in this embodiment) correspond to each illumination hole 318. In this embodiment, the position of the tip of the illumination hole 318 is formed to be lower (closer to the handle 304) than the position of the tip of the photographing hole 316. Thereby, appropriate photography can be performed without the light from the light source directly entering the camera.

  The handle 304 is provided with an illuminance changeover switch 312. Each time the switch 312 is pressed, the output of the light source is switched from a low level to a high level in a plurality of stages. After reaching the highest output, it returns to the lowest output.

  In the intraoral camera 302 in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 12, the distal end portion 306 is formed with a predetermined angle (20 degrees in this example) with respect to the handle 304.

  An HDMI (trademark) cable (not shown) is connected to the rear end of the handle 4. By connecting the head mounted display 206 of FIG. 6 to this, it is possible to display images such as teeth taken by the camera. In this way, it is not necessary to move the line of sight in order to confirm the intraoral image, and the burden on the dentist is reduced.

  In the above embodiment, the light amount of the light source is changed every time the switch 12 is pressed. However, the amount of light may be changed according to the time during which the switch 12 is pressed.

In the above embodiment, the HMD 202 and the medical camera 2 are attached to the mounting tool 20 by the guide member 14 and the attachment guide 30. However, you may make it attach using a magnet.

Claims (7)

The base,
A flexible arm with one end attached to the base, and
A tip attached to the other end of the flexible arm and provided with a camera and a light source;
Flexible camera equipped with. A wearable system comprising a flexible camera attached to spectacles and a head-mounted display attached to the spectacles and connected to the flexible camera,
The flexible camera is
The base,
A flexible arm with one end attached to the base, and
A wearable system comprising: a distal end portion provided with a camera and a light source, attached to the other end of the flexible arm. The wearable system of claim 2,
The head mounted display is
The base,
A flexible arm with one end attached to the base, and
A wearable system comprising: a distal end portion attached to the other end of the flexible arm and provided with a display. In the apparatus or system in any one of Claims 1-3,
The flexible arm is
A coil in which a wire is wound hollow;
It is in contact with the outer periphery of the coil and is stretched so as to generate a contracting force in the direction in which the adjacent wire is pressed, or the inner diameter in the natural state is formed smaller than the outer diameter of the coil so that the contracting force is generated in the radial direction. An apparatus or system comprising: a coated tube extended to the surface. A handle,
An intraoral camera provided with an imaging unit formed at a predetermined angle at the tip of the handle part,
The imaging unit houses a camera and a light source,
The imaging unit is formed such that the central part is high and the peripheral part is low,
An intraoral camera characterized in that an imaging hole for the camera is provided in the central portion, and an illumination hole for extracting illumination light through the light from the light source is provided in the peripheral portion. A wearable system comprising an intraoral camera attached to spectacles and a head-mounted display attached to the spectacles and connected to the intraoral camera,
The intraoral camera is
A handle,
An imaging part formed at a predetermined angle at the tip of the handle part,
The imaging unit houses a camera and a light source,
The imaging unit is formed such that the central part is high and the peripheral part is low,
A wearable system characterized in that an imaging hole for the camera is provided in the central portion, and an illumination hole for extracting illumination light through the light from the light source is provided in the peripheral portion. The wearable system of claim 6,
The head mounted display is
The base,
A flexible arm with one end attached to the base, and
A wearable system comprising: a distal end portion attached to the other end of the flexible arm and provided with a display.