JP3477248B2 - Electronic endoscope device - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a field sequential type electronic endoscope apparatus capable of observing vocal cords. 2. Description of the Related Art In a field sequential type electronic endoscope apparatus, in general, three colors of red (R), green (G), and blue (B) illumination light are staggered for each color in a subject. Irradiate sequentially,
Images of the subject are sequentially captured by a solid-state imaging device. In a video processor, video signals of respective colors sequentially sent from a solid-state imaging device are combined into one, and a color image is displayed on a monitor screen. [0004] In such a plane-sequential imaging, a full-color image can be displayed by using a small solid-state imaging device for monochrome, so that the size of the solid-state imaging device is extremely small. It is suitable for use in endoscopes subject to various restrictions. However, in the frame sequential method, in order to obtain an image of one frame, it is necessary to sequentially irradiate three colors of illumination light to a subject with a time lag for each color, and to take an image of each image. [0006] Therefore, if the subject moves quickly, such as a vocal cord, the subject moves at the same position without receiving the three colors of illumination light. A shift occurs and observation becomes impossible. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic endoscope apparatus capable of obtaining a clear color image of a vocal cord moving at a high speed in a frame sequential manner. In order to achieve the above object, an electronic endoscope apparatus according to the present invention sequentially irradiates a subject with illumination light of a plurality of colors at different times for each color. A microphone for detecting a sound wave and a sound wave detected by the microphone in a field sequential type electronic endoscope apparatus in which a solid image pickup device sequentially picks up images of the image and displays a color image on a monitor screen. A sound wave synchronous illuminating unit that illuminates and blocks a subject in each color with the above-described illumination light in synchronization with the waveform, and a video process that forms a color image by combining images captured by the illumination lights of each color into one. Means is provided. The sound wave synchronous lighting means always illuminates and shields the waveform of the sound wave detected by the microphone at the same timing, so that a still image signal is output from the video processing means. Alternatively, the sound wave synchronous lighting means may change the timing of lighting and shading for the waveform of the detected sound wave in one or a plurality of color image units, and as a result, a slow motion image signal is output from the video processing means. You may make it. An embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, wherein 10 is an electronic endoscope, 20 is a light source device / video processor, and 40 is a monitor television. At the distal end of the insertion portion of the electronic endoscope 10, a solid-state image pickup device 11 composed of, for example, a monochrome type charge-coupled device (CCD) for converting an observed image of a subject into an electric signal and transmitting the electric signal is built in. A light guide fiber bundle 12 for transmitting illumination light for illuminating a subject is arranged. The light source device and video processor 20 includes:
A light source lamp 21 for generating illumination light to be supplied to the light guide fiber bundle 12 is provided.
1 and an incident end of the light guide fiber bundle 12, an RGB rotary filter 22 driven to rotate at a constant speed to alternately insert and remove three color filters of R, G, and B; A disk-shaped chopper 23 that has a notch and is rotationally driven to intermittently block illumination light is arranged. The light source device and video processor 20 includes:
RGB from the video signal sent from the solid-state imaging device 11
An image processing unit 24 for displaying a color image in the frame sequential mode on the monitor television 40 is provided.
Video signals time-divided into three colors of green and blue are combined into one, and a color image is displayed on the monitor television 40. The video signal processing control in the video processing unit 24, the RGB rotation filter 22 and the chopper 23
Is controlled by a control signal from a central processing unit (CPU) 25. The control contents are changed by key input from the keyboard 26. A microphone 27 for detecting a sound wave is connected to the light source device / video processor 20, and a signal of the detected sound wave is transmitted to a synchronization circuit 28.
Is sent to the CPU 25 via the. Then, in synchronization with the waveform of the sound wave detected by the microphone 27, the R, G, and B illumination lights are used to illuminate the subject for each color, and the RG
The rotation of the B rotation filter 22 and the chopper 23 is controlled,
The signal processing of the video processing unit 24 is controlled accordingly. FIG. 2 shows the operation of the above embodiment. The sine curve shows the waveform of the sound wave detected by the microphone 27, which corresponds to the state of the vocal cords shown at the left end. In this embodiment, a synchronization reference point is set for each cycle of the sound wave as indicated by a circle, and an image is always taken at a timing indicated by a circle after a predetermined time from the synchronization reference point. First, the red (R) filter of the RGB rotary filter 22 and the cutout portion of the chopper 23 are located between the light source lamp 21 and the incident end of the light guide fiber bundle 12, and the subject is red. This is performed at the moment of being illuminated with the illumination light of (R). When the chopper 23 rotates and the light-shielding portion of the chopper 23 is positioned between the light source lamp 21 and the incident end of the light guide fiber bundle 12, the illumination light is not supplied to the light guide fiber bundle 12. As a result, the subject becomes completely dark, during which charge transfer from the solid-state imaging device 11 is performed. As shown in FIG. 2, the rotation of the chopper 23 is synchronized with the waveform of the sound wave detected by the microphone 27.
Rotate. The rotation of the RGB rotation filter 22 is also synchronized with the rotation, and the RGB rotation filter 22 is connected to the chopper 2.
One third turns while three makes one turn. Therefore, just three cycles after the sound wave waveform from the imaging of the red (R) component, the imaging of the green (G) component is performed at exactly the same timing of the black mark as that of the imaging of the R component.
Subsequently, charge transfer is performed, and after three cycles, imaging of the blue (B) component and charge transfer are performed. In this manner, the three color components of R, G, and B are imaged, and the three images are obtained by imaging the vibrating vocal cords every three periods, but are synchronized with the input sound wave from the microphone 27. Therefore, the vocal cord images are in the same state.
Therefore, by superimposing the three images into one in the video processing unit 24, a color image of the first frame is obtained. Subsequently, the second frame is formed in exactly the same manner as the first frame.
A color image of the frame is obtained, and further, although not shown, color images of the third and subsequent frames are obtained in the same manner. As a result, the image of each frame becomes a still image that captures the same state of the vocal cords, and is displayed on the monitor television 40. FIG. 3 shows an operation in a case where the image pickup timing indicated by the black circle is shifted in order of the color image of each frame and the unit. The control is keyboard 2
This is performed by the CPU 25 in accordance with the key input from No. 6. As shown in FIG. 3, R, R in the same frame
The G and B three-color components are imaged at the same timing, the second frame is imaged at a timing slightly delayed from the first frame, and thereafter, each frame is sequentially imaged with the same time delay. You. As a result, a color image of the vocal cords in slow motion is obtained, which is displayed on the monitor television 40. It should be noted that a slow-motion color image can be obtained even if the imaging timing is sequentially shifted in units of a plurality of color images. According to the present invention, an object is illuminated for each color with illumination light of a plurality of colors in synchronization with a sound wave waveform detected by a microphone, and light is shielded, and imaging is performed using illumination light of each color. By combining the obtained images into one, a clear color image of the vocal cords moving at high speed can be obtained in a frame sequential manner, and by controlling the timing of synchronization, both a still image and a slow motion image can be obtained. .

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an operation at the time of capturing a still image according to the embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an operation at the time of capturing a slow motion image according to the embodiment. [Description of Signs] 11 Solid-state image sensor 22 RGB rotation filter 23 Chopper 24 Image processor 27 Microphone 28 Synchronous circuit

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] (1) Irradiation light of three colors of red, green, and blue is sequentially illuminated to a subject through a light guide fiber bundle inserted through an insertion portion while shifting the time for each color. Then, in a field sequential type electronic endoscope apparatus in which an image of the subject is sequentially captured by a monochrome type solid-state imaging device built in the distal end of the insertion section and a color image is displayed on a monitor screen, A microphone for detecting sound waves, and a sound wave synchronous lighting means for supplying the light of the three colors to the light guide fiber bundle for each color in synchronization with the sound wave waveform detected by the microphone, and for shielding light. , film forming the one frame color image combined three images with illumination light of the three colors imaged synchronously and the sensed acoustic waveform by said microphone into one one And processing means arranged, in the acoustic wave synchronous illumination means, a color image of one frame
Three colors that are staggered for each color to form
Do not change the timing of subject irradiation with illumination light.
Of the subject in each frame of the color image of multiple frames
By sequentially delaying the timing,
An electronic endoscope apparatus wherein a slow motion image signal is output from a stage .