JP4814647B2 - Endoscope image signal recording apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an endoscope image signal recording apparatus for recording an image signal obtained by an endoscope, and more particularly, to an endoscope image signal recording apparatus for recording two independent endoscope image signals. The present invention relates to an endoscope image signal recording apparatus.

  A technique for inspecting the presence or absence of a lesion by visually observing the inside of a luminal organ in the body with an endoscope is widely performed. However, even if a lesion is found by such endoscopy, it is often difficult to make a definitive diagnosis such as whether the lesion is cancer or not.

  Therefore, tissues that are considered suspicious by endoscopy are collected using biopsy forceps, etc., but in most cases it is not cancer or anything. It damages the mucous membrane of the lumen wall and causes bleeding.

Therefore, in recent years, for example, an endoscopic image signal recording apparatus that can obtain a microscopic magnified image in a range of less than 1 mm, such as a confocal endoscope, has been developed, without collecting biopsy tissue, It has become possible to make a definitive diagnosis of whether or not the cancer is only by direct observation with an endoscope (for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2).
JP 2004-344201 A JP-A-2005-640

  In each of the inventions described in Patent Documents 1 and 2, a normal observation function for observing a wide range in the body is provided together with a microscopic magnification observation function, and an image signal and a normal observation image for microscopic magnification observation are provided. The signal is recorded separately.

  However, if the image signal of the microscopic magnification observation and the image signal of the normal observation are recorded separately in this way, when the microscopic magnification observation image is reproduced, it is determined which part of the body was the image, Since this relationship is not known at all, it may hinder post-examination studies.

  Accordingly, the present invention provides an image of an endoscope that can be easily confirmed by correlation with a normal observation image when the recorded microscopic magnified observation image is reproduced. An object is to provide a signal recording apparatus.

  To achieve the above object, an endoscope image signal recording apparatus according to the present invention includes an image signal input unit for simultaneously inputting two independent endoscope image signals in parallel, and an image signal input unit. An image signal recording unit for recording endoscope image signals of two systems input from the image signal, and an image signal recording control unit for controlling the recording method of endoscope image signals of two systems in the image signal recording unit Are provided, and control is performed so that two-system endoscope image signals are sequentially recorded in the same recording area of the image signal recording unit.

Note that the two endoscope image signals may both be still images, or both may be moving images, or one endoscope image signal may be a still image and the other may be a moving image.
When two types of endoscopic image signals are simultaneously input to the image signal input unit, one endoscopic image signal is overwritten on the other endoscopic image signal and is stored in the same recording area of the image signal recording unit. It may be recorded.

  In addition, two endoscope image signals are sequentially recorded in different individual recording areas between the image signal recording units, and the input time of one endoscopic image signal is recorded in each individual recording area of the image signal recording unit. It may be controlled so as to be recorded.

  Alternatively, when two types of endoscopic image signals are simultaneously input to the image signal input unit, one endoscopic image signal is overwritten on the other endoscopic image signal and recorded in the same recording area of the image signal recording unit. And two types of endoscope image signals are sequentially recorded in different individual recording areas in the image signal recording unit, and the input time of one endoscope image signal is recorded in each individual recording of the image signal recording unit. The mode recorded in the area may be selectable.

  In those cases, the two endoscope image signals may both be moving images, or one of the two endoscope image signals is a still image and the other is the other. It may be a video.

  Further, one endoscopic image signal may be an enlarged observation image signal, and the other endoscopic image signal may be a normal observation image signal.

  According to the present invention, since two types of endoscope image signals are recorded in the image signal recording unit in association with the input timing, for example, when reproducing a microscopic magnified observation image or the like recorded in the image signal recording unit. It is possible to easily confirm from the normal observation image which part of the body it was.

  An image signal input unit for simultaneously inputting two independent endoscope image signals in parallel and an image signal recording unit for recording two endoscope image signals input from the image signal input unit And an image signal recording control unit for controlling the recording method of the two systems of endoscope image signals in the image signal recording unit, and the two systems of endoscope image signals are the same as those of the image signal recording unit. When two endoscope image signals are simultaneously input to the image signal input unit, the endoscope image signal is converted into the other endoscope image signal. A mode of being overwritten and recorded in the same recording area of the image signal recording section, and two endoscope image signals are sequentially recorded in different individual recording areas in the image signal recording section, and one endoscope image signal The input time of each A manner which is recorded in the area can be selected.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 2 schematically shows the overall configuration of a system including the endoscope for magnification observation 1 and an image signal recording apparatus 10 for recording an image signal obtained thereby.

  In the magnifying endoscope 1, for example, a normal observing optical system having a wide viewing angle of about 100 to 140 ° and a magnifying image capable of obtaining a microscopic magnified observing image of a subject such as a confocal optical system are obtained. An observation optical system is also provided.

  Then, the imaging signal of the normal observation image and the imaging signal of the enlarged observation image obtained through those optical systems are processed by the normal observation image signal processing circuit 2 and the enlarged observation image signal processing circuit 3 arranged in a video processor or the like. Then, two types of endoscopic image signals, a normal observation image signal and an enlarged observation image signal, are simultaneously input in parallel to the image signal recording apparatus 10. Reference numerals 20 and 30 denote a keyboard and a television monitor connected to the image signal recording apparatus 10.

  FIG. 3 schematically shows the internal configuration of the image signal recording apparatus 10, and the normal observation image signal processing circuit 2 and the enlarged observation image signal processing circuit are added to the central processing unit 11 (image signal recording control unit) that performs various controls. 3 is connected to a capture circuit 12 (image signal input unit) to which two types of endoscopic image signals are input, a monitor output circuit 13 for outputting image signals to the television monitor 30, and the like, and a normal observation image signal A hard disk 14 (image signal recording unit) and the like for storing and recording two types of endoscope image signals input from the processing circuit 2 and the enlarged observation image signal processing circuit 3 are provided. An instruction signal or the like is input from the keyboard 20 by an operator's operation.

  FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing the contents of software executed in the image signal recording apparatus 10 in order to control the way of recording of two-system endoscope image signals in the hard disk 14, and S denotes a control step.

  Here, it is first determined whether or not there is a temporal overlap in the two endoscope image signal inputs from the normal observation image signal processing circuit 2 and the enlarged observation image signal processing circuit 3 (S1). When there is no temporal overlap in the mirror image signal input, the normal observation image signal and the enlarged observation image signal are sequentially recorded in the same recording area of the hard disk 14 (S2), and the process returns to S1.

  Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, when the normal observation image signal and the magnified observation image signal are both still images, when they are both moving images as shown in FIG. 5, or as shown in FIG. When the normal observation image signal is a moving image and the enlarged observation image signal is a still image (or vice versa), the normal observation image signal and the enlarged observation image signal processing from the normal observation image signal processing circuit 2 are used in any case. The enlarged observation image signals from the circuit 3 are sequentially recorded in the same recording area of the hard disk 14. A, B, C,... Indicate image signals.

  Therefore, when the recorded content is read from the hard disk 14 and displayed on the television monitor 30, the normal observation image and the magnified observation image are reproduced in the order in which they were observed, so that a magnified observation image was obtained. The observation position can be determined from the normal observation images before and after the observation position.

  Returning to FIG. 1, when there is a temporal overlap in the two-system endoscope image signal input in S1, it is determined whether there is an interrupt setting by input from the keyboard 20 (S3), and there is an interrupt setting. In this case, the normal observation image signal from the normal observation image signal processing circuit 2 and the magnified observation image signal from the magnified observation image signal processing circuit 3 are recorded in the same recording area of the hard disk 14, and the portions that overlap in time are recorded. The enlarged observation image signal is overwritten and recorded on the normal observation image signal (S4), and the process returns to S1.

  Specifically, when the normal observation image signal is a moving image and the enlarged observation image signal is a still image as shown in FIG. 7, or both the normal observation image signal and the enlarged observation image signal are moving images as shown in FIG. In any case, the two types of image signals are stored in the hard disk 14 in such a manner that the normal observation image signal from the normal observation image signal processing circuit 2 is overwritten with the enlarged observation image signal from the magnified observation image signal processing circuit 3. The data is sequentially recorded in the same recording area.

  Therefore, also in this case, when the recorded content is read from the hard disk 14 and displayed on the television monitor 30, the normal observation image and the enlarged observation image are reproduced in the order in which they were observed, and an enlarged observation image was obtained. The observation position can be determined from the normal observation images before and after the observation position.

  Returning to FIG. 1 again, when there is no interrupt setting by the input from the keyboard 20 in S3, the normal observation image signal from the normal observation image signal processing circuit 2 and the enlarged observation image signal from the enlarged observation image signal processing circuit 3 Are recorded in separate recording areas of the hard disk 14, and at the same time, the input time of the enlarged observation image signal from the enlarged observation image signal processing circuit 3 is recorded in both recording areas (S5), and in S1 Return.

  Specifically, when the normal observation image signal is a moving image and the enlarged observation image signal is a still image as shown in FIG. 9, or both the normal observation image signal and the enlarged observation image signal are moving images as shown in FIG. In either case, the capture time of the enlarged observation image signal in the capture circuit 12 is recorded in both the normal observation image signal recording area and the enlarged observation image signal recording area in the hard disk 14.

  Therefore, when the recorded content is read from the hard disk 14 and displayed on the television monitor 30, the normal observation image at the same time as the enlarged observation image can be displayed, so that the observation with the enlarged observation image is obtained. The position can be determined from a normal observation image at the same time.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, in the control of the recording method of two-system endoscope image signals, the order of S1 and S3 shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, the interrupt setting may be determined first. The contents of each step shown in FIG. 11 are the same as those in FIG.

  Further, the present invention can be applied even when the two-system endoscope image signals are other than the combination of the normal observation image signal and the enlarged observation image signal.

It is a flowchart which shows the content of the software performed with the image signal recording device of the endoscope of 1st Example of this invention. 1 is a schematic diagram of an overall configuration of a system including an endoscope for magnification observation and an image signal recording device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing an internal configuration of an image signal recording apparatus for an endoscope according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a schematic diagram showing an input state and a recording state of an image signal performed by the endoscope image signal recording apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. It is a schematic diagram showing an input state and a recording state of an image signal performed by the image signal recording apparatus for an endoscope according to the first embodiment of the present invention. It is a schematic diagram showing an input state and a recording state of an image signal performed by the endoscope image signal recording apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. It is a schematic diagram showing an input state and a recording state of an image signal performed by the endoscope image signal recording apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. It is a schematic diagram showing an input state and a recording state of an image signal performed by the endoscope image signal recording apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. It is a schematic diagram showing an input state and a recording state of an image signal performed by the endoscope image signal recording apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. It is a schematic diagram showing an input state and a recording state of an image signal performed by the endoscope image signal recording apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart which shows the content of the software performed with the image signal recording device of the endoscope of 2nd Example of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Endoscopic endoscope 2 Normal observation image signal processing circuit 3 Magnification observation image signal processing circuit 10 Image signal recording apparatus 11 Central processing unit (image signal recording control part)
12 Capture circuit (image signal input unit)
14 Hard disk (image signal recording part)
20 keyboard

Claims (6)

An image signal input unit for simultaneously inputting two independent endoscope image signals in parallel, and an image signal for recording the two endoscope image signals input from the image signal input unit A recording unit, and an image signal recording control unit for controlling a method of recording the two-system endoscope image signals in the image signal recording unit,
Both of the two systems of endoscope image signals are moving images,
When the two types of endoscope image signals are simultaneously input to the image signal input unit , one endoscope image signal is overwritten on the other endoscope image signal, and the same recording area of the image signal recording unit An image signal recording apparatus for an endoscope, which is controlled so as to be recorded sequentially. An image signal input unit for simultaneously inputting two independent endoscope image signals in parallel, and an image signal for recording the two endoscope image signals input from the image signal input unit A recording unit, and an image signal recording control unit for controlling a method of recording the two-system endoscope image signals in the image signal recording unit,
One of the endoscope image signals of the two systems is a still image and the other is a moving image.
When the two types of endoscope image signals are simultaneously input to the image signal input unit , one endoscope image signal is overwritten on the other endoscope image signal, and the same recording area of the image signal recording unit An image signal recording apparatus for an endoscope, which is controlled so as to be recorded sequentially. An image signal input unit for simultaneously inputting two independent endoscope image signals in parallel, and an image signal for recording the two endoscope image signals input from the image signal input unit A recording unit, and an image signal recording control unit for controlling a method of recording the two-system endoscope image signals in the image signal recording unit,
When the two types of endoscopic image signals are simultaneously input to the image signal input unit, one endoscopic image signal is overwritten on the other endoscopic image signal and is stored in the same recording area of the image signal recording unit. The two types of endoscopic image signals are sequentially recorded in different recording areas in the image signal recording unit, and the input time of one endoscopic image signal is stored in the image signal recording unit. An image signal recording apparatus for an endoscope, wherein a mode of recording in each individual recording area can be selected. 4. The endoscope image signal recording apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein both of the two systems of endoscope image signals are moving images. 4. The endoscope image signal recording apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein one of the two endoscope image signals is a still image and the other is a moving image. The endoscope image signal according to any one of claims 1 to 3 , wherein the one endoscope image signal is an enlarged observation image signal, and the other endoscope image signal is a normal observation image signal. Recording device.

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