JP2644011B2 - Endoscope system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention automatically switches the method of illuminating light supplied to an endoscope according to the type of an external TV camera, and also switches the type of external TV camera. The present invention relates to an endoscope system in which the signal line is inserted through the endoscope.

[Problems to be solved by conventional technology and invention] In recent years, by inserting an elongated insertion portion into a body cavity,
2. Description of the Related Art An endoscope (also referred to as a scope or a fiber scope) capable of observing an organ in a body cavity or the like and performing various treatments using a treatment tool inserted into a treatment tool channel as needed is widely used.

By the way, conventionally, for example, as disclosed in JP-A-60-243625, an external television camera for an endoscope equipped with a solid-state imaging device is attached to an eyepiece of the fiberscope, and observation is performed. 2. Description of the Related Art An image is captured and displayed on a monitor via an image processing unit.

The solid-state imaging device captures a color image by a plane-sequential system in which illumination light is sequentially switched to R (red), G (green), B (blue), or the like, or R, G, B on the front surface of the solid-state imaging device. Color mosaic type (also referred to as simultaneous type) provided with a filter array in which color filters each transmitting color light such as light are arranged in a mosaic or the like.
There is. The frame sequential method has an advantage that the number of pixels can be reduced as compared with the color mosaic method, while the color mosaic method has an advantage that color shift does not occur.

By the way, the lighting method is different between the case where an image is captured using a field sequential type external TV camera and the case where an image is captured using a color mosaic type external TV camera. That is, when using a color mosaic type external TV camera, white light is required, and when using a field sequential type external TV camera, a field sequential light that switches sequentially to R, G, B, etc. is required. However, the conventional light source device can output only illumination light corresponding to either white light or plane-sequential light. Therefore, the user prepares different light source devices according to the type of external television camera. Different operations had to be performed, which was not economic and efficient.

A prior art example to solve this problem is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No.
No. 60209 is proposed by the present applicant. In this prior art example, an imaging method of an external TV camera is detected, and then illumination light suitable for the imaging method is supplied.

However, in this prior art example, since the signal line for transmitting the signal from the external TV camera passes outside the fiber scope, the signal line hinders the operation, and the operability is poor.

[Object of the Invention] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and uses the same light source device to emit white light when using a simultaneous television camera, and when using a frame sequential television camera. It is an object of the present invention to provide an endoscope system which can supply light in a sequential manner and does not impair operability due to a signal line from an external TV camera.

[Means for Solving the Problems] An endoscope system according to the present invention comprises: an optical endoscope; and a field sequential or simultaneous type external selectable detachably attachable to the optical endoscope. Endoscope comprising: an attached TV camera; signal processing means for processing signals from both types of TV cameras; and illumination light output means capable of outputting plane-sequential light and white light to the optical endoscope. In the mirror system, a discriminating means provided in each of the two types of TV cameras for discriminating the type of the TV camera, and discriminating information by the discriminating means through the optical endoscope, the illumination light output Transmitting means for transmitting to the means, detecting means for detecting the type of an external TV camera attached to the optical endoscope based on the determination information transmitted by the transmitting means,
A switching unit configured to switch the illumination light output by the illumination light output unit to one of a surface-sequential light and a white light based on a detection result by the detection unit.

[Operation] That is, according to the present invention, white light is emitted from the light source when the imaging method of the external TV camera is the simultaneous type, and plane-sequential light is emitted from the light source when the external TV camera is the plane-sequential type. At the same time, a signal from the external TV camera to the signal processing means is transmitted by a signal line inserted inside the optical endoscope.

Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

1 to 6 relate to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the entire endoscope system, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a simultaneous external TV camera, FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a discrimination signal generation circuit in an external TV camera;
FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a frame sequential signal processing circuit, FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a simultaneous signal processing circuit, and FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a filter moving device of a light source unit. is there.

As shown in FIG. 1, the endoscope system of this embodiment
Controller 10, fiberscope 20, and external TV camera
40 and a monitor 50.

The control device 10 includes an illumination lamp 11, a condensing lens 12 for condensing light emitted from the lens on a light guide 21 inserted through a fiberscope,
A rotary filter 13 interposed between the rotary filter 13 and the condenser lens 12, and a motor 14 for driving the rotary filter 13 to rotate.
And a filter moving device 15 for interposing the rotary filter 13 in the illumination optical path or removing the rotary filter 13 from the illumination optical path according to the driving system of the external TV camera.

Further, a detection circuit 17 which detects a signal supplied from an external camera and determines the imaging method and supplies the signal to the filter moving device 15, and a CCD 4 provided in the external TV camera
CCD driver that controls the timing of reading signals from 3
And a signal processing circuit 19 for processing the image signal supplied from the external TV camera and displaying the processed signal on the monitor 50.
Is also provided.

On the other hand, the fiber scope 20 has an elongated insertion portion 26.
And a large-diameter operating section 27 connected to the rear of the insertion section 26.
And a universal cable 28 extending from the side of the operation unit 27. A light guide 21 for transmitting illumination light is inserted into the insertion section 26 and the universal cable 28, and a connector (not shown) provided at a distal end of the universal cable 28 is connected to a light source section in the control device 10. By the connection, the light emitted from the light source lamp 11 is condensed by the condenser lens 12 on the incident end face of the light guide 21. Then, the illumination light is transmitted by the light guide 21 to the emission end face on the distal end side of the insertion portion 26, and emitted to the object side via the light distribution lens 22. The object illuminated by this illumination light,
An image is formed on the incident end face of the image guide 24 inserted through the insertion section 26 by the objective lens 23. This image guide
The emission end face of 24 is disposed to face an imaging lens 41 in an external TV camera 40 detachably mounted on an eyepiece provided on the rear end side of the operation section 27. When the camera employs a frame sequential imaging method, the imaging lens 41 is used.
The optical image transmitted by the CCD 43 is formed on the imaging surface of the CCD 43.

Then, the image formed on the CCD 43 is the CCD 43
, The photoelectric conversion is performed. The photoelectrically converted signal is transmitted to the connector 48 via the buffer 44, and is connected to the connector 31 of the fiberscope to be transmitted to the signal line 32. The signal line 32 is inserted through the universal cable, and the connector 33 of the fiberscope 20 is
Is connected to the connector 16 of the control device 10 so as to be connected to the signal processing circuit 19 in the control device 10.

The external TV camera 40 includes a CCD in the control device 10.
Upon receiving the drive signal from the drive circuit 18, the CCD 33
And a discriminating circuit 47 for discriminating the driving method of the external TV camera 40. And
These circuits include the connectors 48, 31 and the signal line 32.
And a CCD driver through the connectors 33 and 16, respectively.
18 and the detection circuit 17.

The discrimination circuit 47 has, for example, a configuration as shown in FIG. In the example shown here, in the case of a frame sequential external TV camera, the pins 471 and 472 are short-circuited as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3 (b), the configuration is such that the space between the pins 471 and 472 is opened so as to determine the imaging method.

By the way, when the external TV camera 40 has a simultaneous imaging means, as shown in FIG.
On the front surface of D43, a color filter array 42 in which color filters transmitting color lights of R, G, B, etc. are arranged in a mosaic or the like.
Is provided. And this color filter array
After being separated into three colors by 42, imaged on the CCD 43, and photoelectrically converted, the signals are passed through the connectors and the signal lines as electric signals in the same manner as in the case of the external TV camera of the frame sequential type. The data is supplied to the processing circuit 19.

If the detection circuit 17 detects that the imaging method of the external TV camera 40 is a frame sequential method, the first
In the case where the rotation filter 13 is inserted into the illumination light path as shown by a virtual line in the drawing and the detection circuit 17 detects that the imaging method of the external TV camera is a simultaneous imaging method, FIG. As shown by the solid line, the rotation filter 13
The filter moving device 15 is controlled so that the light is removed from the illumination optical path.

The filter moving device 15 has, for example, a configuration as shown in FIG.

That is, the rotary filter 13 and the motor 14 for rotating the rotary filter 13 are mounted on a plate-like mounting bracket 81, and a horizontally bent flange portion 82 is formed below the mounting bracket 81. Have been. Below the flange portion 82, two rails 92, 92 fixed to the housing side of the light source device 3 are provided in parallel. At the bottom of the flange portion 82, these rails 92, 92 A slide portion 83 is formed so as to be sandwiched therebetween. The slide portion 83 is slidably fitted to the rails 92, 92 so that the circuit filter 13 and the motor 14 can move.

Also, on the surface of the mounting placket 81 on the lamp 11 side,
A rack gear 85 is attached along the moving direction of the rotary filter 13. A worm gear 87 that is driven to rotate by a motor 86 meshes with the rack gear 85. The motor 86 is fixed to the housing side of the light source unit by a placket 88. Then, by rotating the motor 86 forward and backward, the worm gear 87 is rotated.
The rotary filter 13 can be moved via the rack gear 85 and the rack filter 85. The motor 86 is controlled by a control circuit (not shown).

Further, a flat prismatic switch pressing portion is provided on the upper surface of both ends of the mounting bracket 82 in the moving direction of the flange portion 83.
90a and 90b are protruded. Also, at both ends of the moving range of the rotary filter 13, the switch pressing portions 90a, 90b
Position switch detection micro switch 91 at the position pressed by
a and 91b are provided. When the micro switches 91a and 91b are pressed by the switch pressing portions 90a and 90b, it is detected that the rotary filter 13 has reached the end of the moving range, and the rotation of the motor 86 is stopped and the rotation is stopped. The movement range of the filter 13 is regulated. In the example shown in FIG. 6, when the switch pressing portion 90a presses the microswitch 91a, white light from the lamp 11 passes through the rotating filter 13 and is incident on the incident end of the light guide 21 as surface-sequential illumination light. On the other hand, when the switch pressing portion 90b presses the microswitch 91b, the white light from the lamp 11
The light guide 241 is incident without passing through the light guide 13.

Incidentally, the signal processing circuit 19 includes a frame sequential signal processing circuit 19A and a simultaneous signal processing circuit 19B, and switching is performed according to an identification signal of an imaging method output from the detection circuit 17. It has become.

The frame sequential signal processing circuit 19A has a configuration as shown in FIG. 4, for example.

That is, the output signal from the CCD 43 input via the buffer 44 is sampled / held by the sample / hold circuit 61.
After being held, r correction is performed by the r correction circuit 62,
Further, the signal is converted into a digital signal by the A / D converter 63. Then, a signal imaged under the RGB frame sequential light via a multiplexer 64 switched under the control of a timing generator (not shown) is transferred to an R frame memory 66.
The data is written to the R and G frame memories 66G and 66B, respectively. The signals stored in the frame memories 66R, 66G, and 66B are read out in synchronization with each other, converted into analog type color signals RGB by the D / A converter 67, and output. The image is displayed on the monitor 50 after being processed by an NTSC encoder or the like (not shown).

The simultaneous signal processing circuit 19B has, for example, a configuration as shown in FIG.

That is, the output signal from the CCD 43 supplied through the buffer 44 is input to the luminance signal processing circuit 70, and the luminance signal Y is generated by the luminance signal processing circuit 70. Also,
The output signal of the CCD 43 is input to the color signal reproducing circuit 71, and the color difference signals RY and BY are generated in time series for each horizontal line. The color difference signals RY and BY are white-balance compensated by a white balance circuit 72, and one of them is directly supplied to an analog switch 73, and the other is supplied to a 1H delay line 74.
Analog switch 75
Is input to Then, color difference signals RY and BY are obtained from the analog switches 73 and 75 which are switched by a switching signal from the timing generator. These color difference signals are further processed by an NTSC encoder (not shown) or the like, so that an image is displayed on the monitor 50.

Next, the actual operation of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described.

When an external TV camera 40 of a frame sequential type is connected to the fiber scope 20, the connector 48, the connector 31, the signal line 32, the connector 33, the connector 16
Through the detection circuit 17, it is identified that the imaging method is a frame sequential method,
Is supplied with an identification signal.

Then, the filter moving device 15 inserts the rotary filter 13 into the illumination light path as shown by the phantom line in FIG.

Therefore, the white light emitted from the lamp 11 of the light source unit is
The light passes through the rotating filter 13 and becomes surface-sequential light that is sequentially switched to RGB or the like, is condensed by the condenser lens 12, and is incident on the incident end of the light guide 21 of the fiber scope 20. This illumination light is transmitted by the light guide 24
The light is guided to 26 and radiated on the subject through the light distribution lens 22.

The light reflected from the subject out of this plane-sequential illumination light,
An image is formed on the distal end surface of an image guide 24 by an objective lens system 23, guided to an eyepiece 25 by the image guide 24, and further formed on a CCD 43 by an image forming lens 41 of a field sequential type external TV camera 40. Is done. The CCD43 is a CCD
Under the control of the driver 18, the signal is read out via the drive circuit 45, and the read out signal is subjected to a frame sequential signal processing by a frame sequential signal processing circuit 19 A or the like, and is output as a video signal to the television monitor 50. The subject image is observed by the television monitor 50.

On the other hand, when the external TV camera 40 uses the simultaneous imaging means, the detection circuit 17 detects that the simultaneous imaging method is the same as in the case of the above-described frame sequential method, and this is detected. An identifying signal is applied to the filter moving device 15, which removes the rotary filter 13 from the illumination light path, as shown by the solid line in FIG.

Therefore, white light is output from the light source unit, and the white light is irradiated on the subject. Of the white illumination light, the light reflected from the subject is imaged on the distal end surface of the image guide 24 by the objective lens 23, guided to the eyepiece 25 by the image guide 24, and further provided by the simultaneous TV camera 40. An image is formed on the CCD 43 by the imaging lens 341. CCD43, CCD
The signal is read out via the drive circuit 45 under the control of the driver 18, and the read out signal is subjected to simultaneous signal processing by the simultaneous signal processing circuit 19B and the like, and is sent to the television monitor 50 as a video signal. Then, the subject image is observed by the television monitor 50.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, by inserting and removing the rotary filter 13 from the illumination optical path of the lamp 11, both the surface-sequential light and the white light can be output. Moreover,
Since the operation is automatically performed after detecting the imaging method of the external TV camera 40 by the detection circuit 17,
There is no need to switch light sources according to the camera. or,
Since the signal line for supplying a signal from the external TV camera 40 to the signal processing means is inserted through the fiberscope 20, the operability of the endoscope system is not impaired by the signal line.

The light source unit, the detection circuit 17, the CCD driver
The signal processing circuit 19 is not limited to an integrated type as in the present embodiment, but may be a separate type.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present embodiment, means for determining the type of an external TV camera connected to an endoscope and automatic switching of a light source based on a determination signal from the determination means are automatically performed. External TV connected to the endoscope
Since the type of camera is determined and illumination light suitable for the external TV camera is supplied, economy and efficiency are improved. Further, since the signal line from the external TV camera passes through the inside of the fiberscope, the operability of the endoscope system is not impaired by the signal line.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIGS. 1 to 6 relate to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the entire endoscope system, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a simultaneous external TV camera, FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a discrimination signal generation circuit in the external TV camera, FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a frame sequential signal processing circuit, FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a simultaneous signal processing circuit, and FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a filter moving device of a light source unit. is there. 10 Control device 15 Filter moving device 17 Detection circuit 20 Fiberscope 32 Signal line 40 External TV camera 47 Identification circuit

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Masato Toda 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Within O-limpus Optical Industry Co., Ltd. (72) Atsushi Kibaru 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Inside the Olympus Optical Industry Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Hiroki Hibino 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Inside the Olympus Optical Industry Co., Ltd. (72) Akira Murata 2-43-2, Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Inside the Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Akira Suzuki 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Inside the Olympus Optical Kogyo Co., Ltd. (72) Yoshinao Daimei 2-43-2, Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo (72) Inventor Shigeru Nakajima 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo O-limpus Hikari Within Kogyo Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Nobuaki Yasukui 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Within Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-63-200114 (JP, A) JP-A-63 -265212 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An optical endoscope, a field sequential or simultaneous external TV camera which can be selectively detachably attached to the optical endoscope, and signals from the both types of TV cameras An endoscope system comprising signal processing means for performing the processing of (1) and illumination light output means capable of outputting plane-sequential light and white light to the optical endoscope, wherein each of the both types of TV cameras is provided. Discriminating means for discriminating the type of the TV camera system; transmitting means for transmitting discrimination information by the discriminating means to the illumination light output means via the optical endoscope; and transmitting by the transmitting means. Based on the discriminated information,
Detecting means for detecting the type of an external TV camera attached to the optical endoscope; and, based on a detection result by the detecting means, illuminating light output by the illuminating light output means is subjected to surface-sequential light or white light. Switching means for switching to any one of light, and an endoscope system.