JP4694226B2 - Electronic endoscope device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic endoscope apparatus including a video scope having an image sensor, and more particularly, to a superimpose process for displaying character information such as a patient name and character information superimposed on a subject image.

In the electronic endoscope apparatus, a superimpose process is performed in order to display and record character information such as a patient name and date on an observation image by a video scope. That is, a character signal corresponding to character information or the like is superimposed on a video signal generated based on an image signal read from the image sensor, and is output to an external device such as a monitor, a printer, or a computer. When presenting an observation image in a public place such as presentation to an academic society related to an endoscope or on a network, it is necessary to delete personal information such as the patient name from the viewpoint of protecting the privacy of the patient. As a method for dealing with such a problem, for example, a circuit for selecting character information to be superimposed for each image is provided (see Patent Document 1). In this case, video signals are generated and output according to the number of external devices, and the superimposed character information is changed according to the type of external device.
JP-A-11-341484

  A service that uses a network is available for maintenance of the electronic endoscope device, and the endoscope image is transferred from the electronic endoscope device installed in the hospital to the service center via the network, and the image quality is judged. The status of the device can be checked. However, if an operator makes a mistake and superimposes personal information (patient name, etc.) that should not be displayed on the video signal, the personal information will leak on the network, and the third party will There is a risk of unauthorized use of personal information.

  An electronic endoscope apparatus of the present invention is an electronic endoscope apparatus provided with a video scope having an image sensor, and generates a video signal based on an image signal read from the image sensor in accordance with a subject image, A signal processing circuit that outputs a video signal for a network and a video signal for an external device, a superimpose circuit that superimposes a character signal related to personal information into the video signal for the external device, and the network video signal directly And a network signal processing circuit that processes the network video signal and outputs the signal to the network. Here, the personal information means information that should not be disclosed to a third party such as a patient name.

  A circuit dedicated to the network is directly connected to the signal processing circuit and is independent of the superimposing circuit. For this reason, there is no fear that the operator will make an erroneous operation and personal information will flow to the network by mistake.

  When checking whether the image quality, such as brightness and color, is appropriate during maintenance, color data such as the characteristics of the video scope that generates the sent endoscopic image or the preset gain value Such information is necessary. Therefore, image-related data adding means for selectively adding at least one of the data related to the image quality of the endoscopic image and the characteristics of the video scope that generated the endoscopic image to the network video signal It is good to provide.

  According to the present invention, when an endoscopic image is transferred to a network, personal information is not accidentally leaked.

  Hereinafter, an electronic endoscope apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an electronic endoscope apparatus according to this embodiment.

  The electronic endoscope apparatus includes a video scope 50 having a CCD 54, and a processor 10 for processing an image signal read from the CCD 54. A monitor 32 and a keyboard 34A for displaying a subject image, and a network transmission computer 80 are processors. 10 is connected. The video scope 50 is detachably connected to the processor 10.

  When a lamp lighting switch (not shown) of the processor 10 is turned on, power is supplied to the lamp 12 from the lamp power source 11 including the lamp control unit 11A. Light emitted from the lamp 12 is incident on an incident end 51A of a light guide 51 provided in the video scope 50 via a condenser lens (not shown) or the like. The light guide 51 is an optical fiber bundle that transmits light emitted from the lamp 12 to the distal end side of the video scope 50. Light that has passed through the light guide 51 is emitted from the emission end 51B, and is a light distribution lens ( The observation site S is irradiated with light through (not shown).

  The light reflected at the observation site S reaches the CCD 54 through an objective lens (not shown), whereby a subject image of the observation site S is formed on the light receiving surface of the CCD 54. In this embodiment, a single plate simultaneous type is applied as a color imaging method, and yellow (Ye), cyan (Cy), magenta (Mg), and green (G) color elements are checked on the light receiving surface of the CCD. Complementary color filters (not shown) arranged in a line are arranged so as to correspond to the respective pixels on the light receiving surface. In the CCD 54, the image signal of the subject image corresponding to the color passing through the complementary color filter is generated by photoelectric conversion, and the image signal for one frame or one field is sequentially read according to the color difference line sequential method at every predetermined time interval. For example, the NTSC system is applied as a color television system, and image signals for one frame (one field every 1/60 second interval) are sequentially read out every 1/30 second interval, and are sent to the initial signal processing circuit 55. Sent. The initial signal processing circuit 55 executes amplification processing and the like, and the image signal is sent to the processor signal processing circuit 28 of the processor 10.

  The processor signal processing circuit 28 executes various processes such as a separation process for separating a luminance signal and a color signal, a matrix operation for generating R, G, and B signals, white balance adjustment, gamma correction, luminance, and a color difference signal generation process. A video signal is generated. Here, three output systems are prepared in accordance with the color TV standard, and video signals for external devices such as the monitor 32 are divided into three systems and output from the processor signal processing circuit 28. The output video signal is transmitted to the encoders 32, 34, and 36 via the switch circuits 42, 44, and 46. The encoders 32, 34, and 36 perform predetermined processing on the video signal, and an NTSC composite signal, a Y / C separation signal (S video signal), and an RGB separation signal are generated and can be output to the monitor 32. As a result, the subject image is displayed on the monitor 32. On the other hand, the processor signal processing circuit 28 calculates a luminance value indicating the brightness of the subject image based on the input image signal, and sends the luminance data to the system control circuit 22.

  The network output processing circuit 48 is a dedicated circuit for transmitting a video signal over the network, and is directly connected to the processor signal processing circuit 28. When the video signal generated from the processor signal processing circuit 28 is sent to the network output processing circuit 48, processing for network output is performed on the video signal. The processed video signal is transmitted to the computer 80, and the video data is transmitted to a service center or the like via a network such as the Internet.

  A system control circuit 22 including a CPU 24 controls the entire processor 10 and outputs control signals to circuits such as the lamp control unit 11A and the processor signal processing circuit 28 of the lamp power supply 11. In the timing control circuit 30, a clock pulse for adjusting a signal processing timing is output to each circuit in the processor 10. The RAM 26 stores scope-specific scope data sent from the video scope 50, color data set for image quality adjustment, light control data, and the like. The color data is data such as a gain value set in white balance adjustment or the like, and the light control data is data related to light control such as a photometry method (average photometry, peak photometry).

  In the video scope 50, a scope control unit 56 for controlling the entire video scope 50 and an EEPROM 57 capable of rewriting data are provided. The scope control unit 56 reads data from the EEPROM 57 and controls the initial signal processing circuit 55. When the video scope 50 is connected to the processor 10, timely data is transmitted and received between the scope control unit 56 and the system control circuit 22, and from the scope control unit 56 to the system control circuit 22 as necessary or system control. Data is transmitted from the circuit 22 to the scope controller 56. As data. Data relating to the characteristics of the video scope 50 such as the number of pixels of the CCD 54 is transmitted.

  Between the lamp 12 and the incident end 51 </ b> A of the light guide 51, a diaphragm 16 that adjusts the amount of illumination light is provided in addition to the condenser lens. When a control signal is transmitted from the system control circuit 22 to the peripheral control circuit 23 based on the luminance data, the diaphragm 16 opens and closes so that the brightness of the subject image is appropriate, and the light is adjusted.

  The OSD circuit 31 superimposes and displays character information such as a patient name on the observation image displayed on the monitor 32, so that the character is sent to the switch circuits 42, 44 and 46 based on the character code sent from the system control circuit 22. Send a signal. The switch circuits 42, 44, and 46 are controlled at the switching timing by the system control circuit 22, so that the switch switching control signal is at an appropriate timing so that predetermined character information is displayed at a predetermined position on the monitor 32. , 44, 46. Thereby, a character signal is inserted between video signals at an appropriate timing, and character information is superimposed on the observation image.

  The processor 10 can add information such as scope data and color data to an observation image to be sent to the network, and a transfer button 49 for transferring the data is provided on the front panel of the processor 10. . When the transfer button 49 is operated, observation image-related data relating to image quality such as light control data, color data, and scope data stored in the RAM 26 is sent to the network output processing circuit 48. When the video signal is transmitted to the service center together with the observation image related data, the image quality is diagnosed based on the observation image related data, and the endoscope apparatus is inspected.

  Thus, according to the present embodiment, the network output processing circuit 48 is provided in the processor 10. The video signal output from the processor signal processing circuit 28 is directly input to the network output processing circuit 48, and observation image data not including personal information is transmitted over the network via the computer 80.

It is a block diagram of the electronic endoscope apparatus which is this embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Processor 22 System control circuit 28 Processor signal processing circuit 31 OSD circuit 42, 44, 46 Switch circuit 48 Network output processing circuit 50 Video scope 54 CCD (imaging device)
55 Initial signal processing circuit

Claims (2)

An electronic endoscope apparatus including a video scope having an image sensor,
It generates a video signal corresponding to the subject image based on the image signal read from the previous SL imaging device, the generated video signal, the video signal for network, a signal processing circuit for outputting a video signal for an external device ,
A superimpose circuit that superimposes a character signal related to personal information with respect to the video signal for the external device sent from the signal processing circuit;
The signal processing circuit is directly connected , and is a network-dedicated circuit independent of the superimpose circuit, and the network video signal that does not include a character signal related to personal information is directly input from the signal processing circuit. And a network signal processing circuit for outputting the network video signal to the network as video data . An electronic endoscope apparatus including a video scope having an image sensor,
It generates a video signal corresponding to the subject image based on the image signal read from the previous SL imaging device, the generated video signal, the video signal for network, a signal processing circuit for outputting a video signal for an external device ,
A superimpose circuit for superimposing a character signal related to personal information on the video signal for the external device;
The signal processing circuit is directly connected, and is a network-dedicated circuit independent of the superimpose circuit, and the network video signal that does not include a character signal related to personal information is directly input from the signal processing circuit. When a network signal processing circuit for outputting to the network a video signal for the network to the video data,
At least one of the data related to the image quality of the endoscopic image and the characteristics of the video scope that generated the endoscopic image is sent to the network signal processing circuit and output together with the network video signal to the network electronic endoscope apparatus characterized by comprising an image-related data adding means causes.

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