JP3967060B2 - Electronic endoscope device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention forms and outputs not only an electronic endoscope apparatus, particularly a television video signal, but also a progressive video signal (hereinafter referred to as a progressive signal) for displaying an image on another monitor such as a computer. The present invention relates to an output configuration of an electronic endoscope apparatus.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an image inside a body to be observed is picked up by a CCD (Charge Coupled Device), which is a solid-state image pickup device provided at the tip of an electronic endoscope (electronic scope), and this image is displayed on an NTSC television monitor. An electronic endoscope apparatus is used. According to this apparatus, it is possible to perform observation, treatment, surgery, or the like of an affected area while looking at an observation object displayed on a television monitor.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
By the way, in recent years, it has been proposed to display an image obtained by an electronic scope on, for example, a computer display (personal computer monitor) other than a TV monitor. Effective use is possible. That is, the video signal to be displayed on the television monitor is an interlace scanning signal, and the video signal of the odd field and the even field are overlapped to display one frame image. In non-interlaced scanning, there is a degree of freedom in setting the number of scanning lines, and it is possible to improve the vertical resolution and improve the quality of the image.
[0004]
On the other hand, peripheral devices such as a video printer, a VTR, a filing device (including a display device) are connected to the processor device of the electronic endoscope device. However, this peripheral device is only compatible with the NTSC system. Instead, the one corresponding to the progressive signal is used. However, the arrangement of the output unit or output terminal corresponding to these various peripheral devices complicates the configuration and wiring of the output unit and cannot easily output a signal suitable for the peripheral device. There is a problem.
[0005]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and its object is to simplify the configuration of an output unit for a television signal and a progressive signal, and easily or automatically generate a signal suitable for a peripheral device. It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic endoscopic apparatus that can output the signal.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
To achieve the above object, an electronic endoscope apparatus according to the invention of claim 1 forms an interlaced scanning television video signal adapted to the television system and a non-interlaced scanning progressive video signal. A video signal processing circuit, a switching circuit for inputting an output signal from the video signal processing circuit, and selectively outputting either the television video signal or the progressive video signal, and imaging of an electronic endoscope used detects the type of device, characterized by comprising a control circuit for operating the switching circuit to determine the type of progressive video signal formed by the image pickup device, the provided.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the control circuit, information on a peripheral device connected to the output side of the switching circuit is input, and either a television video signal or a progressive video signal suitable for the peripheral device is selected. The switching circuit is operated as described above .
[0007]
According to the above configuration, in the video signal processing circuit, for example, an NTSC interlaced scanning signal is formed from a CCD corresponding to NTSC, and a progressive signal for non-interlaced scanning is generated from the odd and even field data of NTSC. It is formed. In addition, a PAL signal can be formed from the progressive signal. The television video signal and the progressive signal are supplied to the switching circuit, and either the television video signal or the progressive signal is output to the peripheral device based on the switching control by the control circuit.
In addition, when an electronic endoscope whose image sensor is progressive is connected to a processor device, the control circuit determines the type of image sensor being used, and peripheral devices are required via the switching circuit. Either a progressive signal or a TV video signal is selected.
[0008]
Furthermore, the above-described control circuit, processor device or the like when connecting peripheral devices to obtain information on the type of video signals required for peripheral equipment, thereby outputting one of the TV video signal or the progressive signal Thus, the switching circuit can be operated.
[0010]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
1 and 2 show the configuration of an electronic endoscope apparatus according to an embodiment. First, the configuration for video signal formation will be described with reference to FIG. The apparatus of this example is configured by connecting an electronic endoscope (electronic scope) 10 to a light source device 11 and a processor device 12. The electronic scope 10 is provided with a CCD 13 corresponding to the number of scanning lines of the NTSC system via an objective optical system at the tip, and a CCD drive circuit 14 for driving the CCD 13 is provided, and light is emitted from the tip. For this purpose, a light guide 15 is provided, and this light guide 15 is connected to the light source device 11 in which a light source and a light amount stop are arranged.
[0011]
In the CCD 13, a correlated double sampling (CDS-Correlated Double Sampling) circuit 18, an A / D (analog / digital) converter 19, and a digital video processor (DVP-Digital Video Processor) 20 are arranged. In the DVP 20, a luminance signal (Y) and a color difference signal (C) are formed by digital processing on the output signal from the CCD 13, and image processing such as amplification, white balance, and gamma correction is performed. In addition, a microcomputer 21 is provided for overall control of each circuit described above.
[0012]
On the other hand, in the processor unit 12, the mirror circuit 24, the edge emphasis circuit (enhancer) 25, and the luminance signal (Y) and the color difference signal (C) that invert the left and right of the image are converted into R (red), G (green), and B (blue). The color conversion circuit 26 for converting the signal into the above-mentioned signal is provided. As will be described in detail later, a non-interlaced scanning signal (progressive signal) is formed in accordance with a computer monitor or the like, and a progressive resolution converting circuit for increasing the vertical resolution. 27. A character generator 28 for mixing characters such as patient information and radiographed data, a mixing circuit 29, and a D / A converter 30A are provided, and the analog video signal output from the D / A converter 30A is isolated. 32, and supplied to a computer display or the like via a buffer circuit 33A.
[0013]
Further, a progressive / TV conversion circuit 35 is provided for inputting the output of the mixing circuit 29 and selectively converting a progressive signal into an NTSC or PAL interlace scanning signal. The D / A converter 30B and the buffer circuit 33B for outputting as RGB signals are arranged, and the encoder 36, the D / A converter 30C and the buffer circuit 33C for outputting as Y and C signals on the other line are provided. Provided. The encoder 36 converts the RGB signal into a Y signal and a C signal.
Further, there is provided a microcomputer 38 that performs overall control of each circuit in the processor device 12 and controls to selectively output a progressive signal and a television video signal.
[0014]
FIG. 3 shows an example of the configuration of the progressive resolution conversion circuit 27. As shown in FIG. 3, the resolution conversion circuit 27 includes two field memories M ₁ and M ₂ , a frame memory M _3, and the like. A write control circuit 42 and a read control circuit 43 are included. The write control circuit 42 has a clock frequency of 14.318 MHz corresponding to one pixel for the field memories M ₁ and M ₂ (the horizontal scanning signal has a frequency of 15.734 kHz, which drives the NTSC CCD 13. The data is written at the same speed as the above, and the data is written to the frame memory M ₃ at a double clock speed of 28.636 MHz (the horizontal scanning signal is 31.468 kHz). To do.
[0015]
The read control circuit 43 reads data from the field memories M ₁ and M _{2 at} a speed of 28.636 MHz of the double clock, and the quadruple clock to the frame memory M ₃ . The data is read out at a speed of 57.272 MHz (the horizontal scanning signal is 62.936 kHz).
[0016]
FIG. 5 shows signal conversion in the progressive resolution conversion circuit 27. As shown in FIG. 5A, the field memory M ₁ is composed of 768 pixels in the horizontal direction output from the CCD 13. 242.5 horizontal lines data _{O 11, O 12, O 13} ... ( odd field), as well as horizontal line data E ₁₁ in the memory _{M 2, E 12, E 13} ... ( even field, for they interlace scanning Signal) is written at the rate of 15.734 kHz.
[0017]
Thereafter, the odd and even field data in the memories M ₁ and M ₂ are read out at a double speed of 31.468 kHz, and as shown in FIG. 5B, the data is stored in the frame memory M ₃ at the same speed. Written alternately. Here, the data is one frame of data (non-interlaced scanning signal) having 485 horizontal lines. However, since writing is performed at a double clock speed, the vertical scanning period is the same as that in the case of FIG. 59.94 Hz≈16.7 ms.
[0018]
Next, as shown in FIG. 5C, the data in the frame memory M ₃ is further read twice at a double speed, that is, 62.936 kHz (four times the clock speed). Then, in the vertical scanning period of about 16.7 ms (1 / 59.94 Hz), two identical horizontal lines are arranged in the vertical direction, and a total of 970 horizontal lines are formed. In an image such as a computer display, Data twice as many as the odd and even fields are displayed in a form compressed in half in the horizontal direction, and the vertical resolution is increased.
[0019]
FIG. 4 shows an example of the configuration of the progressive / TV conversion circuit 35, which is shown as converting to a PAL signal. As shown in the figure, the progressive / TV conversion circuit 35 stores the progressive signal and reads the PAL odd field signal from the first memory M ₄ for reading out the PAL odd field signal. Similarly, the progressive / TV conversion circuit 35 reads the PAL even field signal from the progressive signal. A second memory M ₅ , a write control circuit 44 and a read control circuit 45. The write control circuit 44 writes progressive signal data to the memories M ₄ and M _{5 at} a clock speed of 57.272 MHz. For alternate reading from the memories M ₄ and M ₅ , 14.188 MHz. Execute at the PAL clock speed (horizontal line readout speed: 15.625 kHz).
[0020]
FIG. 6 shows signal conversion in the progressive / TV conversion circuit 35. As shown in FIG. 6A, 970 progressive signals (for example, O ₁ ′) written in the memory M ₄ are shown. ) Is an odd number for PAL consisting of 287.5 O _{11 (p)} , O _{12 (p)} , O _{13 (p)} ..., While thinning out the number of horizontal lines, as shown in FIG. It is converted into a field signal (O _{1 (p)} ). Further, the progressive signal written in the memory M ₅ is also converted into an even field signal (E _{1 (p)} ) for PAL by thinning-out processing or the like.
[0021]
In the progressive / TV conversion circuit 35, the NTSC interlace signal can be formed from the progressive signal by changing the read control by the read control circuit 45 of FIG. 4 to NTSC. In other words, NTSC or PAL signals can be selectively obtained under the control of the microcomputer 38. The NTSC signal may use the output of the color conversion circuit 26.
[0022]
Further, the CCD 13 of FIG. 1 described above is for NTSC having 410,000 pixels, for example, but an electronic endoscope 10 having, for example, a CCD having 850,000 pixels corresponding to the number of scanning lines for progressive signals is also manufactured. Yes. When such an electronic endoscope 10 is connected to the processor device 12, the microcomputer 38 determines the CCD type of the electronic endoscope 10 through communication between the microcomputer 21 and the microcomputer 38, and the progressive signal is transmitted. The operation of the resolution conversion circuit 27 is switched for progressive use. The progressive processing may be performed by directly writing a progressive signal in the frame memory M ₃ in FIG. 3, or by temporarily writing in the field memories M ₁ and M ₂ and then converting and outputting the resolution. Is possible.
[0023]
FIG. 1 shows the configuration of the output unit of the processor device 12 and the connection state of peripheral devices. A multiplexer 47 as a switcher is provided at the subsequent stage of the buffer 33A and the buffers 33B and 33C described in FIG. The multiplexer 47 switches between the progressive signal S ₁ and the television video signal S ₂ . Further, the processor device 12 is provided with a changeover switch 48 for manually operating the changeover of the multiplexer 47 connected to the microcomputer 38, and a keyboard 49 is also disposed. That is, in the changeover switch 48, for example, a progressive signal S ₁ is selected by switching to a terminal, a television video signal S ₂ is selected by the switching to the terminal b. It can also be set to select the signal S ₁ or S ₂ to be output by the keyboard 49.
[0024]
A recording device such as a video printer (or VTR) 51 or a filing device 52 is connected to the multiplexer 47 as a peripheral device via signal lines (R, G, B, HD / C SYNC, VD). The microcomputer 38 on the processor unit 12 side corresponds to the type of the video printer 51, the filing device 52, or the like, that is, either a progressive signal or a television video signal by communication with the peripheral device microcomputer. And the multiplexer 47 is controlled so as to output the corresponding signal S ₁ or S ₂ .
[0025]
The embodiment is configured as described above, and its operation will be described below. First, in the CCD 13 of FIG. 2, the imaging signals in the observed body are alternately formed as odd or even field signals, and this video signal is read out by a 14.318 MHz clock signal (horizontal scanning speed of 15.734 kHz), It is output from the CDS circuit 18 to the DVP 20. The DVP 20 outputs a Y signal and a C signal, and these signals are supplied from the mirror circuit 24 in the processor device 12 to the contour emphasizing circuit 25, and subjected to left / right reversal and contour emphasis processing. The Y and C signals are converted into RGB signals by the color conversion circuit 26 and then supplied to the progressive resolution conversion circuit 27.
[0026]
In the progressive resolution conversion circuit 27, FIG. 5 odd field O ₁ in the memory M ₁ as _{(A), O 2, O} 3 ... data, even field E ₁ in the memory _{M 2, E 2, E 3} ... of Data is written alternately. Then, the data in the memories M ₁ and M ₂ are alternately read out at the double clock speed in the next vertical scanning period, and the data of O ₁₁ , E ₁₁ , O ₁₂ , E ₁₂ . Thus, the frame signal for non-interlace scanning is written in the memory M ₃ . Next, the data stored in the memory M ₃ is read out twice at a quadruple clock speed (frequency 62.936 kHz) as shown in FIG. 5C, and O ₁₁ , O ₁₁ , E ₁₁ , E ₁₁ , As in O ₁₂ , O ₁₂ ,..., A progressive signal in which 970 horizontal lines are sequentially arranged in one vertical scanning period is formed.
[0027]
In FIG. 2, the output of the progressive resolution conversion circuit 27 is output as an analog signal from the buffer 33A to the multiplexer 47 in FIG. 1 after the character signal is mixed by the mixing circuit 29. The progressive signal output from the buffer 33A may be supplied directly to a computer display or the like without going through the multiplexer 47. In this display, the input video signal is displayed by the horizontal blanking signal and the vertical blanking signal. Therefore, 970 horizontal line data are compressed and displayed at a high density in one screen, and a high-resolution image is obtained.
[0028]
The output of the mixing circuit 29 is supplied to the progressive / TV conversion circuit 35. When the PAL conversion is selected by the microcomputer 38, the progressive signal is converted into a PAL signal as shown in FIG. That is, as shown in FIG. 6 (A), O ₁₁ , O ₁₁ , E ₁₁ , E ₁₁ , O ₁₂ , O ₁₂ , E ₁₂ , E ₁₂ output from the mixing circuit 29 and stored in the memory M _4. PAL odd field signal (O _{1 (p)} ) consisting of O _{11 (p)} , O _{12 (p)} , O _{13 (p)} ... Is read out from the progressive signal (O ₁ ) consisting of. It is. Further, the PAL even field signal (E _{1 (p)} ) is formed from the other memory M _5, and as a result, each PAL field signal (O ₁₎ having 287.5 horizontal lines in a vertical scanning period of 20 ms. _{1 (p)} , E _{1 (p)} , O _{2 (p)} , E _{2 (p)} .
[0029]
When the NTSC conversion is selected by the microcomputer 38, the progressive / TV conversion circuit 35 forms odd and even field signals for NTSC. The video signal for PAL or NTSC obtained in this way is output to the multiplexer 47 via the D / A converter 30B, the isolation 32, and the buffer 33B. Further, the television video signal is converted again into the Y signal and the C signal by the encoder 36, and these may be output to the multiplexer 47 via the D / A converter 30C, the isolation 32, and the buffer 33C. . The television video signals output from the buffers 33B and 33C can be directly supplied to the respective TV monitors without going through the multiplexer 47, and the object image can be displayed on each TV monitor.
[0030]
Then, as described in FIG. 1, when the output signal is selected and set in advance by the changeover switch 48 or the keyboard 49, the multiplexer 47 is switched based on the control of the microcomputer 38, and according to the above setting. Either the progressive signal S ₁ or the television video signal S ₂ (R, G, B, HDorC SYNC, VD) is supplied to the video printer 51 and the filing device 52 according to the selection of the multiplexer 47.
[0031]
The microcomputer 38 can automatically determine the types of input signals of the video printer 51 and the filing device 52 through communication when peripheral devices are connected. The filing device 52 can be supplied with a necessary signal such as a progressive signal. At this time, it is also determined whether the video printer 51 employs an NTSC or PAL television video signal. The progressive / TV conversion circuit 35 uses the NTSC signal if the NTSC method is employed. When the PAL method is adopted, control is performed so as to form a PAL signal.
[0032]
Further, the microcomputer 38 also detects the type of the CCD 13 mounted on the electronic endoscope 10, and when a progressive CCD is mounted, the progressive signal is transmitted to peripheral devices such as the video printer 51 and the filing device 52. It can be determined whether or not it conforms to and can be output to the corresponding peripheral device.
[0033]
In the above embodiment, a case where a recording device is connected to the multiplexer 47 as a peripheral device has been described. However, a dedicated monitor multiplexer is provided, and a progressive signal or a television video signal suitable for the method and format of the monitor to be used is provided. You may make it output selectively.
[0034]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, an electronic endoscope apparatus that forms an interlaced scanning video signal and a non-interlaced scanning progressive signal can selectively select either a television video signal or a progressive signal. a switching circuit for outputting to detect the type of the image sensor of the electronic endoscope used, provided a control circuit for operating the switching circuit to determine the type of progressive video signal formed by the image pickup device Therefore, while simplifying the configuration of the TV video signal and the progressive signal output unit, and corresponding to the progressive image sensor, from the TV video signal such as NTSC, PAL or progressive signals having different resolutions, It becomes possible to easily or automatically output a signal suitable for the peripheral device.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an output unit and a connection state of peripheral devices of an electronic endoscope apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a circuit block diagram showing an overall configuration of the electronic endoscope apparatus according to the embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the progressive resolution conversion circuit of FIG. 1;
4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the progressive / TV conversion circuit of FIG. 1. FIG.
FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing signal conversion in the progressive resolution conversion circuit of the embodiment.
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing signal conversion in the progressive / TV conversion circuit of the embodiment.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Electronic scope, 12 ... Processor apparatus, 13 ... CCD, 27 ... Progressive resolution conversion circuit, 21, 38 ... Microcomputer, 35 ... Progressive / TV conversion circuit, 42, 44 ... Write control circuit, 43, 45 ... Read control circuit , M _{1 to} M ₅ ... memory.

Claims (2)

A video signal processing circuit that forms an interlaced scanning television video signal compatible with a television system and a non-interlaced scanning progressive video signal;
A switching circuit that inputs an output signal from the video signal processing circuit and selectively outputs either the television video signal or the progressive video signal;
Detects the type of image sensor of the electronic endoscope used, an electronic endoscope comprising a control circuit for operating the switching circuit to determine the type of progressive video signal formed by the image pickup device, the provided apparatus. The control circuit inputs information on a peripheral device connected to the output side of the switching circuit, and operates the switching circuit so as to select either a television video signal or a progressive video signal suitable for the peripheral device. electronic endoscope apparatus 請 Motomeko 1 wherein said.

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