JP3270089B2 - Electronic endoscope device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention is an electronic endoscope BACKGROUND OF THE particularly provided outside the processor device and separate, to a structure of a processing unit that performs image forming processing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An electronic endoscope for observing the inside of a body cavity such as a gastrointestinal tract or a narrow tube of a structure by using a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) which is a solid-state image pickup device provided at a distal end portion is well known. In the electronic endoscope device, an electronic endoscope (electronic scope) is connected to an external processor device,
A monitor is connected to this external processor device.

[0003]

By the way, in the conventional electronic endoscope device, different electronic endoscopes (electronic scopes) are used depending on the application site and the purpose of use.
It is complicated to manufacture an external processor device having a complicated circuit configuration corresponding to the type of the electronic endoscope. Therefore,
In recent years, in order to avoid this complication, a circuit for performing control and processing unique to the electronic endoscope has been provided.

On the other hand, IC components are used for the circuits in the external processor device. These IC components have been replaced with new ones with the passage of time, and the speed has been increasing in recent years. On the other hand, components other than the IC including the light source device can be used for a longer period of time than the above-mentioned IC components, and there is waste because components having different service lives are mixed in one device.

Accordingly, the present applicant has separated a circuit for performing control and processing unique to various electronic endoscopes and a circuit including IC components from an external processor device into a separate processing unit. Proposes to make this processing unit compact. However, in this processing unit, a driving circuit for driving the CCD, C
Since a plurality of types of circuits such as a processing circuit for processing a video signal obtained from a CD are to be incorporated, there is a problem that influences such as noise mixing occur between the circuits.

In forming the processing unit, it is desired to arrange various circuits efficiently.
Moreover, it is necessary to provide a structure convenient for adjustment and repair of the internal circuit.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to eliminate the influence of noise mixing between circuits in a processing unit separate from an external processor device. Efficiently arranges the circuits in the unit and is convenient for adjustment and repair of this internal circuit.
It is to provide an electronic endoscope having a structure .

[0008]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides an electronic electronic device having a solid-state imaging device disposed at a leading end thereof and a processing unit provided at a connector for connecting to an external processor device. In the endoscope, the connector processing unit is provided with a circuit storage case provided with an electric shield for removing noise, and an electric shield for removing noise is provided in the circuit storage case and an internal space is provided. A partition plate for dividing the solid-state imaging device is provided, a driving circuit of the solid-state imaging device is arranged in one side space partitioned by a partition plate in the connector processing unit, and a correlated double sampling circuit is provided in the other side space. And a processing circuit for processing a video signal output from the solid-state imaging device is arranged.
And a circuit board on which the drive circuit is assembled and the processing described above.
Attach the circuit board on which the circuit is assembled to the front and back of the partition plate
It is characterized by being fixed . In the above, it is preferable to form an opening / closing lid on the case surface of the processing unit parallel to the partition plate.

[0009]

According to the above arrangement, the connector processing unit is provided with a circuit storage case provided with an electric shield, and a single partition plate coated with an electric shield member is disposed in the case. The inside of the case is divided into two parts, and a CCD drive circuit and a video signal processing circuit are separately mounted and fixed on the front and back of the partition plate. According to this, the CCD drive circuit and the video signal processing circuit are arranged separately, and the influence of noise between them and noise inside and outside the processing unit is eliminated.

[0010]

FIG. 1 shows a structure of a processing unit for an electronic endoscope according to a first embodiment. In FIG. It is integrally formed and has a connector 13 for connecting to an external processor device. In the processing unit 10, a partition plate 14 is integrally formed on the inner surface of the case 11, and the partition plate 14 is provided with an electric shield 100 by coating with a conductive paint. The circuit boards 15 and 1 are placed on the front and back of the partition plate 14, respectively.
The circuit boards 15 and 16 are screwed and fixed at four corners. That is, mounting members 17 having female threads are provided at the four corners of the partition plate 14, while screw-through holes 18 are formed in the circuit boards 15, 16 as shown in FIG. The mounting member 1
Spacers 20 and 21 are provided between 7 and circuit boards 15 and 16. Therefore, the screw 22 is connected to the screw through hole 18,
The circuit boards 15 and 16 are attached to the partition plate 14 with a predetermined space (distance) by fastening the screws to the attachment member 17 via the spacers 20 and 21.

In the embodiment, a first signal processing circuit 24 for processing a video signal obtained from a CCD 33 disposed at the tip of the electronic endoscope 12 described later is assembled to the circuit board 15, and the circuit board 16 is mounted on the circuit board 16. Is C driving the CCD 33
A CD drive circuit 25 is assembled. The circuit boards 15 and 16 are connected to the CCD 33 by connectors 26 and 27, and are also wired to the connector 13 connected to an external processor device.

Opening / closing lids 28 and 29 are attached to the upper and lower surfaces of the processing unit 10 by screws or the like on the case 11, and are attached to the circuit boards 15 and 16 by removing the opening / closing lids 28 and 29. It is possible to carry out repair of the existing circuit or volume adjustment. The inner surface of the case 11 including the opening / closing lids 28 and 29 is coated with a conductive paint on the electric shield 10.
0 and removes external noise,
It absorbs noise generated from inside.

According to the above configuration, the electric shield 100
The first signal processing circuit 2 is
4 and the CCD drive circuit 25 are separated and arranged with a predetermined space, so that it is possible to prevent the influence of noise or the like between the two circuits. Further, since the case 11 itself is also provided with the electric shield 100, the influence of external noise or the like can be prevented. In the embodiment, the opening / closing lids 28 and 29 provided on the upper and lower surfaces of the processing unit 10, respectively.
By removing the first signal processing circuit 24, C
There is an advantage that adjustment and repair of the circuit can be easily performed for each CD drive circuit 25. In addition, since the circuit is separated for each circuit having a predetermined function, the configuration is easy to handle.

Next, the overall configuration of an actual electronic endoscope device incorporating the above-described processing unit 10 will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 2, the electronic endoscope 12 provided with the processing unit 10 is connected to the external processor device 31 via the connector 13. The electronic endoscope 12 has an operation unit 32 at an intermediate part, a CCD 33 is provided at a distal end thereof, and a light guide 34 for emitting observation light from the distal end is provided. As described above, the first signal processing circuit 24 and the CCD drive circuit 25 are provided in the processing unit 10 (or in the operation unit of the electronic endoscope).

FIG. 3 shows a detailed circuit of the CCD driving circuit 25 and the first signal processing circuit 24. In the first signal processing circuit 24, correlated double sampling (CDS- Automatic gain control section (AGC) 35 using Correlated Double Sampling), a process processing section 36 for performing clamp processing, matrix processing, gamma correction, blanking, etc., and a timing generator for supplying timing pulses to each section including the CCD drive circuit 25 The output of the CCD 33 is input to the automatic gain control unit 35. Further, a microcomputer 38 and an interface 39 are provided to efficiently perform each processing in the process processing unit 36. Therefore, according to the first signal processing circuit 24 and the CCD driving circuit 25 provided in the processing unit 10, the CCD 33 is
Is performed, and the first signal processing circuit 24 performs image processing up to the previous stage of the memory, which will be described later, on the video signal in the body to be observed obtained by the CCD 33.

Then, in the external processor device 31,
A first group of isolation devices 41, a second group of isolation devices 42, and a third group of isolation devices 43 are provided. These isolation devices 41, 42, and 43 are composed of photocouplers and pulse transformers. These serve to electrically cut off the patient circuit and the output circuit on the electronic endoscope 12 side. Then, for example, each video signal of RGB is transmitted from the first signal processing circuit 24 from the first group of isolation devices 41. A converter 44, a frame memory 45, a D / A converter 46, and a second signal processing circuit 47 for performing output processing to a monitor are connected.

A timing pulse generator 48 is connected to the second group of isolation devices 42, and an operation unit (control panel) 49 is connected to the third group of isolation devices 43. The timing pulse generating circuit 48 outputs a timing pulse to each of the components, and outputs a synchronization signal (C-SYNC) and a blanking signal to the electronic endoscope 12 via the second group of isolation devices 42. (C-BLK),
A pulse such as an operation control signal (4f _SC ) is supplied. On the other hand, a control signal for performing operations such as freeze, partial enlargement, electronic shutter, and setting of γ value is supplied from the operation unit 49 to the electronic endoscope 12 via the third group of isolation devices 43. You. A transformer 50, a first power supply circuit 51, and a second power supply circuit 52 are provided. The first power supply circuit 51 includes a first signal processing circuit 24 and a CCD drive circuit 25 arranged in the electronic endoscope 12. The second power supply circuit 52 supplies power to each processing circuit in the external processor device 31.

Further, a light source 53 optically connected to the light guide 34 in the electronic endoscope 12 is provided, and a light source power supply 54 is connected to the light source 53. The light source 53 is controlled by a light source control unit 55. For example, in the case of a frame sequential method, an RGB filter is driven to output RGB light sequentially.

According to the above configuration, the light output from the light source 53 under the control of the light amount control unit 55 is transmitted to the electronic endoscope 1.
The inside is transmitted by the light guide 34, whereby the observation light is emitted from the distal end portion into the body to be observed. Then, the subject image illuminated by the observation light is captured by the CCD 33 driven and controlled by the CCD drive circuit 25, and a video signal is supplied from the CCD 33 to the first signal processing circuit 24. In the first signal processing circuit 24,
Processing such as predetermined amplification, clamping, γ correction, and blanking is performed on the video signal, and for example, each of the RGB video signals is supplied to the external processor device 31.

The video signal thus input is
The signal is transmitted to the output circuit side via the first group of isolation devices 41, is temporarily stored in the frame memory 45 via the A / D converter 44, and is read out thereafter. The signal is input to the second signal processing circuit 47 via the signal processing circuit 46. The second signal processing circuit 47 outputs RGB signals, Y / C signals, and the like to the monitor, and the timing pulse generation circuit 48 outputs a synchronization signal to the monitor. An image of the inside of the observed body is displayed in color.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In the case of FIG. 4, the partition plate 58 provided with the electric shield 100 is not formed integrally with the case 59 but is held so as to be inserted into a holding member 60 formed on the inner surface of the case 59. Although not shown, an open / close lid is provided on one side of the case 59, and the open / close lid is opened to insert and fix the partition plate 58 to which the circuit boards 15 and 16 are attached from the side. . Other configurations are the same as those in the first embodiment. Therefore, also in the case of the second embodiment, the first signal processing circuit 24,
The influence of noise and the like between the CCD drive circuit 25 can be prevented, and the adjustment and repair of the circuit can be performed from the side surface or by pulling out the circuit boards 15, 16 and the partition plate 58.

In the above embodiment, the external processor device 31
Although the example in which the light source 53 is provided is shown, the light source can be provided as a light emitting diode (LED) or the like in the processing unit 10 together with the CCD drive circuit 25, and the processing unit 10 is provided in the operation unit 32. Is also possible.

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention,
A circuit storage case provided with an electric shield is provided in the connector processing unit of the electronic endoscope, and an internal space is divided by an electric shielded partition in the circuit storage case. solid-state image pickup element driving circuit is arranged on the side space, as processing circuit for processing an output video signal from the solid-state imaging device includes a correlated double sampling circuit on the other side space is arranged, the
Assembling the circuit board with the drive circuit and the above processing circuit
Since the circuit board is mounted on the front and back of the partition plate, the effects of noise mixing between circuits in the connector processing unit, which is separate from the external processor device, and the effects of noise inside and outside this processing unit Can be eliminated, the circuits in the connector processing unit can be arranged efficiently , and it is convenient for adjustment and repair of this internal circuit.
It becomes possible to make an advantageous structure .

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of a processing Yu <br/> Knitting preparative electronic endoscope according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a circuit block diagram illustrating an overall configuration of the electronic endoscope device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a circuit block diagram showing a configuration in a first signal processing circuit in the circuit of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a configuration of a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Processing unit, 12 ... Electronic endoscope, 14, 58 ... Partition board, 15, 16 ... Circuit board, 24 ... 1st signal processing circuit, 25 ... CCD drive circuit, 28, 29 ... Opening / closing lid, 31 ... External processor device, 60 ... holding member.

Continuation of the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) A61B 1/00-1/32 G02B 23/24-23/26 H05K 3/40-3/46

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An electronic endoscope having a solid-state imaging device disposed at a distal end thereof and a processing unit provided in a connector unit for connection to an external processor device, wherein the connector unit processing unit includes a noise elimination unit. A circuit storage case provided with an electric shield for providing an electric shield for removing noise and a partition plate for dividing an internal space is provided in the circuit storage case. The drive circuit of the solid-state imaging device is arranged in one side space partitioned by the partition plate,
The driving circuit was assembled such that a processing circuit including a correlated double sampling circuit and processing a video signal output from the solid-state imaging device was disposed in the other side space .
The circuit board with the circuit board and the processing circuit
An electronic endoscope, wherein the electronic endoscope is fixed to the front and back of a cutting plate .