JP3331142B2 - Electronic endoscope device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic endoscope apparatus, and more particularly, to an electronic endoscope provided with a solid-state imaging device, and a video signal processing device for processing and outputting a video signal output from the solid-state imaging device. And an electronic endoscope device having:

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a CCD (Carge
A video signal is generated by processing an output video signal of an electronic endoscope equipped with a coupled device, and the video signal is displayed on a display device such as a CRT or output to another external device (peripheral device). An electronic endoscope apparatus configured as described above is known. Conventionally, a video signal output from the video signal processing device of an electronic endoscope as described above is analog R
An analog video signal such as a GB signal, an analog composite signal, and an analog S video signal has been output.

[0003]

In recent years, peripheral devices (including display devices) that can be connected to the above-described video processing devices have been provided with digital video signal input terminals. .

A digital video signal has an advantage over an analog video signal in that there is less deterioration in image quality due to attenuation of signal strength during transmission and mixing of noise. The video signal output by the electronic endoscope device is not always viewed only by the operator of the endoscope, and when it is required to view the video of the endoscope in real time with an assistant or a monitor device in a separate room. There is. For this reason, there has been a demand to use a peripheral device that can use a digital signal with little deterioration as an output device of an electronic endoscope device.

In this case, a method of converting an analog video signal output from the electronic endoscope into a digital signal and inputting the digital signal to the above-described peripheral device is considered. Is converted into a digital video signal again, so that deterioration of the signal cannot be avoided. In addition, it is necessary to use a device for converting an analog video signal into a digital video signal in addition to a normal electronic endoscope device, and the number of cables for signal transmission increases, and the configuration and operation of the device become complicated, and It was not practical because the installation space for the device was required.

Further, digital video signals of various formats are known, but when a plurality of peripheral devices are used, when the formats of input signals employed by those peripheral devices are different. However, there is also a problem that it is necessary to prepare a different signal conversion device for each peripheral device.

In view of the above circumstances, the present invention provides an electronic endoscope device configured to transmit a signal to each of a plurality of peripheral devices such as a display device without deteriorating a signal. It is an object.

[0008]

To achieve the above object, an electronic endoscope apparatus according to the present invention comprises: an electronic endoscope having a solid-state image sensor; and a video signal output from the solid-state image sensor. A video signal processing device for processing, the video signal processing device, a signal output terminal, a signal processing means for generating a plurality of formats of digital video signals based on the video signal output from the solid-state imaging device, Selecting means for selecting one of the plurality of formats; and a switch connecting the signal processing means and the output terminal so that a digital video signal of the format selected by the selecting means is output from the signal output terminal. Means (claim 1).

[0009] The digital video signal is a serial digital signal and / or a parallel digital signal.

[0010] In addition, it is possible to output both a serial digital signal and a parallel digital signal for digital signals of the same format (claim 4). Alternatively, it is also possible to configure so as to output a serial digital signal and a parallel digital signal, respectively, as output signals of an arbitrary format.

Further, in addition to the digital video signals of a plurality of formats, it is possible to output analog video signals of a plurality of formats (claim 6).

The digital video signals of the plurality of formats include a digital video signal of a D1 format (claim 7), a digital video signal of a D2 format (claim 8), or an independent digital signal of a luminance signal and a color difference signal. It is possible to adopt a configuration for outputting the signal (claim 9).

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an electronic endoscope apparatus 1000 as an embodiment of the present invention.

The electronic endoscope apparatus 1000 includes the electronic endoscope 1
00, a light source device 200 and a television monitor 300. The electronic endoscope 100 has an insertion section 100A formed of a flexible conduit. A CCD image sensor 101 (hereinafter abbreviated as CCD) as a solid-state imaging device is provided at the tip of the insertion section 100A, and an object is provided in front of the CCD 101. A lens system 102 is provided. An optical image of the observation target portion is formed on the light receiving surface of the CCD 101 by the objective lens system 102. A light guide 103 formed of an optical fiber bundle is inserted through the endoscope 100. One end (light emitting end) of the light guide 103 is arranged at the end of the insertion section 100A, and irradiates the observation target with light.

The electronic endoscope 100 is connected to the light source device 200 via a connecting portion 100B. In the connecting portion 100B,
A CCD drive 105 for driving the CCD 101 is provided, and is connected to the CCD 101 by a cable 104. The CCD 101 is driven by the CCD drive 105, accumulates electric charges corresponding to the optical image formed by the objective lens system 102, and outputs the electric charge to the CCD drive 105 as a video signal. The electronic endoscope apparatus 1000 acquires color video signals for the three primary colors (R, G, B) by a frame sequential method, and outputs various video signals based on the color video signals. As will be described in detail later, the observation target is illuminated with each of red (R), green (G), and blue (B) light, and a video signal of each color component is obtained for each frame and stored in a memory. I have.

One end (light emitting end) of the light guide 103 is fixed to the distal end surface of the insertion portion 100A as described above. The other end (light incident end) of the light guide 103 is connected to the lamp 20 of the light source device 200 via the insertion portion 100A and the coupling portion 100B.
It is fixed at a position opposite to 1. Since the video signal for each color component of the observation target is extracted in frame units by the frame sequential method, the observation target is sequentially irradiated with R (red), G (green), and B (blue) light, and the reflected light is simultaneously emitted. Objective lens system 1
02 forms an image on the CCD 101.

To irradiate the object to be observed with the R, G, and B light, an RGB rotary filter 202 is disposed between the incident end 103 of the light guide 103 and the lamp 201.
The lamp 201 is a lamp that emits a so-called white light including all of the R, G, and B light components. Light emitted from the lamp 201 passes through an optical system (not shown) and a light guide 103 via an RGB rotation filter 202. The light is focused on the end face (light incident end face).

The RGB rotary filter 202 is a disk-shaped filter in which filters of each color of RGB and a light shielding portion are alternately arranged. When the RGB rotary filter 202 is rotated at a predetermined rotation speed by a motor (not shown), each of the RGB rotary filters 202 is rotated. Of the light guide 103 from the lamp 201 at a predetermined cycle.
The light of each color of RGB is intermittently applied to the observation target via the light guide 103 at a predetermined cycle.

The connecting portion 100B of the electronic endoscope 100 includes
Further, the type of the electronic endoscope 100 and the CCD 101
An EEPROM 106 is provided which stores information relating to the information. The information stored in the EEPROM 106 is
The information is read by the peripheral drive 203 and input to the system control unit 210 that controls the operation of the entire electronic endoscope apparatus 1000.

A system control unit 210 controls the operation of the CCD drive 105 and receives a video signal output from the CCD 102 via the CCD drive 105.
04 is connected. As described above, since the electronic endoscope apparatus 1000 adopts the frame sequential method,
From 102, a video signal for each color of RGB is sent in frame units. The CCD process unit 204 performs A / D conversion of RGB video signals (analog signals) transmitted in frame units, and converts the image signals into RGB frame memories (221 in FIG. 1) of the video process unit 220 as image data for each color component. , 222, 223).

Driving CCD 101, RGB rotation filter 2
02, A / D conversion of the video signal in the CCD process unit 204, storage in the frame memory, and the like are executed in synchronization with the clock signal generated and output by the timing circuit 205.

In the video processing signal device 200, a panel switch 206 for executing various operations of the device is provided in a device housing. Panel switch 206
Is input to the system control unit 210. Further, a keyboard 290 is connected to the system control unit 210 so that various operation commands and data can be input to the system control unit 210. Switching of the format of the output digital signal, which will be described later, is also performed by the keyboard 290.
This is performed using

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing in detail the configuration of a video processing unit 220, which is a signal processing means in the present invention. The video processing unit 220 generates and outputs a video signal based on image data of each color of RGB.

As described above, the video processing unit 2
20 has RGB frame memories 221, 222, 223. The data stored in the RGB frame memories 221, 222, 223 are stored in D / A converters 224, 22, respectively.
5 and 226 and output from the output terminal T1 as an analog RGB signal.

Further, the analog RGB encoder 227
A luminance signal and a color difference signal are generated based on outputs from the D / A converters 224, 225, and 226, and further modulated to generate a composite video signal and an S video signal. Output.

The video processing unit 220 has a synchronizing signal generation circuit 228, and outputs a horizontal synchronizing signal H-SY.
A composite synchronizing signal C-SYNC obtained by synthesizing the NC and the vertical synchronizing signal V-SYNC is generated and output from an output terminal T4. In addition,
The horizontal synchronizing signal H-SYNC and the vertical synchronizing signal V-SYNC are also output from terminals T7 and T8, respectively. Further, the synchronizing signal generation circuit 228 includes the RGB frame memories 221, 222, 22
A frame signal ODD / EVEN indicating whether the image data output from 3 corresponds to an odd-numbered frame or an even-numbered frame is output to a terminal T9.

The above-described analog RGB signal, composite video signal, and S-video signal are analog video signals, and are signals that have also been output in conventional electronic endoscope devices. Next, the electronic endoscope apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment
The output of digital video signals in a plurality of formats, which is a feature of the first embodiment, will be described.

The video processing unit 220 has a matrix circuit 230. The matrix circuit 230 is RG
The signals transferred from the B frame memories 221, 222, and 223, that is, the RGB digital signals are converted into a luminance signal Y and a chrominance signal Cr (RY in accordance with the D1 format so that the sampling frequency ratio is 4: 2: 2. ), Color difference signal C
Convert to a component signal consisting of b (BY). The sampling frequency is specifically 13.
5MHz, the color difference signals Cr and Cb are 6.75MHz, and the clock frequency at this time is 27M which is twice the frequency of the luminance signal Y.
Hz. When sampling under the above conditions, the number of samples in the effective video period of one line is 7 for the luminance signal Y.
In the case of 20, the color difference signals Cr and Cb each have 360 samples, for a total of 1440 samples. The luminance signal Y and the chrominance signals Cr and Cb thus converted are output to the multiplexer A 231 by Cb, Y, Cr, Y, Cb, Y,.
, And the synchronization word generated by the synchronization word generation circuit 238 is added before and after the signal for one line, and is converted into a parallel digital video signal of D1 format as shown in FIG.
It is output to terminal S2 of W1. Although only one terminal of the switch SW1 is shown in FIG. 1, a signal input / output via the switch SW1 is a parallel digital signal. Are switched at the same time.

The luminance signal Y, the chrominance signal Cr, and the chrominance signal Cb output from the matrix circuit 230 are also output to the terminals S3, S4, and S5 of the switch SW1 as independent parallel digital signals together with a clock signal.

The multiplexer B 232 converts the color difference signal Cr and the color difference signal Cb output from the matrix circuit 230 into one.
The signal is multiplexed into a system, and as a parallel digital signal of the color difference signals Cr and Cb along with the clock signal, the terminal S6
Output to

RGB frame memories 221, 222, 22
The digital signal from 3 is a digital RGB encoder 240
Is also entered. The digital RGB encoder 240 generates a digital composite signal based on the digital RGB video signal. The sampling frequency of the composite video signal in the digital RGB encoder 240 is four times the subcarrier frequency, and in the case of NTSC,
It is 14.3 MHz and 17.7 MHz for PAL.

The digital composite signal output from the digital RGB encoder 240 is added to the output signal of the synchronization word generation circuit 238 by the adder 241 and output as a D2 format composite parallel digital video signal to the terminal S1 of the switch SW1. .

The video processing apparatus 20 configured as described above
0, a peripheral device such as a television monitor 300 or a printer is connected to the switch SW1 according to the input specification of the peripheral device.
, The required digital signal can be selected.

The switching of the switch SW1 is performed as described above.
This is performed by inputting a command using the keyboard 290. When a command related to a format to be selected is input from the keyboard 290, the system control unit 210 transmits a selection signal to the switch SW1, and selects a terminal from which a signal of a required format is output from the terminals S1 to S6. In the present embodiment, the switch SW1 is switched by inputting a command from the keyboard 290.
It is also possible to provide an operation member for selecting a format at 0, and to switch by operating the operation member. The switch SW1 is configured to select any one of a plurality of signals. Although only one switch is shown in the figure for simplicity, the switch SW
1, that is, a plurality of switches having a terminal capable of outputting the same signal as described above and selecting one of the terminals is provided. For example, a Y signal is provided via a switch SW1. A Cr signal, a Cb signal, and the like can be obtained via other switches having the same configuration, and can be used in combination.

The data for indicating which format has been selected together with the selection signal for switching the switch SW1 are transmitted to the system control unit 210.
To the on-screen display unit 510. The on-screen display unit 510 includes:
Image data corresponding to the data sent from the system control unit 210 is generated for each RGB component, and D
/ A converters 224, 225, and 226 are respectively added to the output signals. As a result, information indicating which format of the digital video signal is output is superimposed on the analog RGB signal. As is clear from FIG. 1, the format information is also included in the analog composite signal and the S-video signal.

The video signal output from the terminal selected by the switch SW1 is sent to the peripheral device 300 via the output terminal T5 connected to the switch SW1. Here, the signal output from the output terminal T5 includes a parallel digital signal and a clock signal.

The output terminal T6 is connected to the switch SW1 via the parallel / serial converter 400. That is, the parallel digital signal output from the switch SW1 is converted into a serial digital signal in the parallel / serial converter 400 and output from the output terminal T6. Parallel / serial converter 400
Converts a parallel digital video signal inputted as shown in FIG. 4 into a serial digital signal in the order of LSB to MSB at a transmission rate of 10 times the clock frequency, and outputs it.

With the above configuration, when transmitting a video signal to the peripheral device 300 such as a television monitor or a printer,
If the peripheral device has a digital input terminal, a corresponding output format is selected by the switch SW1 and directly connected to the output terminal T5 or T6 by a cable, so that deterioration due to signal attenuation and noise contamination can be prevented. Suppressed endoscope observation image signal to peripheral device 300
Can be transmitted.

When the peripheral device 300 does not have a digital input terminal, an image signal can be transmitted as in the related art by using analog signals at the terminals T1 to T4. Further, when a peripheral device having no digital input terminal is located relatively far from the electronic endoscope apparatus, a signal is transmitted in a state of a digital video signal to a position where the peripheral device 300 is installed, and a digital video signal is transmitted. If the peripheral device 300 and the cable are connected via a device that converts a video signal into a normal analog video signal, signal degradation can be minimized.

In the above embodiment, the output digital video signal is any one of a D1 format signal, a D2 format signal, a Y signal, a Cr signal, a Cb signal, and a CrCb multiplexed signal. The configuration for outputting a parallel signal and a serial signal corresponding to one type of format has been described. However, the form of the digital signal to be output is not limited to the above example, and various combinations including those other than the above may be used. It is possible to configure to select from among them.

Also, the configuration has been described in which a parallel signal and a serial signal are output for the same digital video signal, but the parallel signal and the serial signal can be digital video signals of different formats. For example, a D1 format signal can be used as the parallel output, and a D2 format signal can be used as the serial output. Such a configuration will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a video processing unit 220M according to the second embodiment. In the configuration shown in FIG. 1, each digital video signal is applied to the terminals S1 to S6 of the switch SW1,
1 is output to the output terminal T5 as it is, and is also subjected to parallel / serial conversion and output to the output terminal T6. On the other hand, in the configuration shown in FIG. 5, the digital signal input to the switch SW2 is the same as that in FIG. 1, but the switch SW3 is connected in parallel with the switch SW2.
The same digital signal as SW2 is also applied to switch SW3 at S7.
To S12.

The user uses the keyboard 290 to specify the format of the digital video signal output from the terminal T5, and changes the format of the digital video signal output from the terminal T6M to the signal output from the terminal T5. Can be specified independently.

The system control unit 210 includes:
In response to the specification of the format from the keyboard 290, a selection signal 1 indicating a terminal to be selected by the switch SW2 and a selection signal 2 to indicate a terminal to be selected by the switch SW3 are sent to the switches SW2 and SW3, respectively. And one of the terminals S7 to S12 are selected.

The switches SW2 and SW3 are configured to select any one of a plurality of signals. However, as described in the description of the switch SW1, there are actually a plurality of switches having the same configuration. For example, a combination of a Y signal, a Cr signal, and a Cb signal can be used.

The method of generating an output signal employed in the above-described embodiment is not limited to this, and a signal generated by another method may be used. For example, in the above embodiment, the signal of the D2 format is generated using the digital RGB encoder 240, but the output signal (analog composite signal) of the analog RGB encoder is converted into a digital signal by the A / D converter. Can also be generated. Alternatively, a digital composite signal may be generated from the luminance signal Y and the color difference signals Cr and Cb of the digital signal using the luminance signal Y and the color difference signals Cr and Cb output from the matrix circuit 230.

As described above, according to the electronic endoscope apparatus of the present invention, digital signals in a plurality of formats can be selected and output. It can widely support various devices with digital signal input terminals, such as monitor devices, video tape recorders, and printers used as
It is possible to supply a high-quality endoscope image by eliminating degradation of image quality due to analog signal attenuation or noise contamination, which has conventionally been a problem.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a video processing unit in an electronic endoscope apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an electronic endoscope apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a digital video signal.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating parallel-serial conversion.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a video processing unit according to a second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1000 Electronic endoscope device 100 Electronic endoscope 100A Insertion unit 100B Coupling unit 101 CCD 102 Objective lens system 103 Light guide 104 Cable 105 CCD drive 200 Light source device 201 Lamp 202 RGB rotation filter 203 Peripheral drive 204 CCD process unit 205 Timing circuit 206 Operation panel 210 System control unit 220 Video processing unit 221 Frame memory 222 Frame memory 223 Frame memory 231 Multiplexer A 232 Multiplexer B 290 Keyboard 300 TV monitor (peripheral device) SW1 switch SW2 switch SW3 switch

Continuation of the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) A61B 1/00-1/32 H04N 5/91-9/95

Claims (9)

(57) [Claims] An electronic endoscope having a solid-state imaging device, a video signal processing device for processing a video signal output from the solid-state imaging device, wherein the video signal processing device has a signal output terminal; Signal processing means for generating a digital video signal of a plurality of formats based on a video signal output from the solid-state imaging device,
Selecting means for selecting one of the plurality of formats; and a switch connecting the signal processing means and the output terminal so that a digital video signal of the format selected by the selecting means is output from the signal output terminal. And an electronic endoscope device. 2. The electronic endoscope apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the digital video signal is a serial digital signal. 3. The electronic endoscope apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the digital video signal is a parallel digital signal. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the signal processing unit is configured to generate two types of signals, a serial digital signal and a parallel digital signal, for at least one of the plurality of formats. The electronic endoscope device according to claim 1. 5. The signal output terminal comprises a terminal for outputting a serial digital signal and a terminal for outputting a parallel digital signal, and the switch means comprises a terminal for outputting the serial digital signal and a terminal for outputting the parallel digital signal. The signal processing means is connected to the serial digital signal output terminal and the parallel digital signal output terminal so that a digital signal of an arbitrary format among the plurality of formats is output. Item 5. The electronic endoscope device according to any one of Items 1 to 4. 6. The electronic endoscope device according to claim 1, wherein an analog video signal in a plurality of formats is output in addition to the digital video signals in a plurality of formats. 7. The electronic endoscope apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the digital video signals of the plurality of formats include digital video signals of a D1 format. 8. The electronic endoscope apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the digital video signals of the plurality of formats include digital video signals of a D2 format. 9. The electronic endoscope apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the digital video signals of the plurality of formats include a luminance signal as an independent digital signal.