JP4931189B2 - Processor for electronic endoscope - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic endoscope processor that processes a video signal of a video imaged by an endoscope and displays an image and character information corresponding to the processed signal on a monitor.

  The electronic endoscope is an endoscope having a built-in image pickup device such as a CCD at the distal end of the insertion section, and processes an image signal corresponding to an image picked up by the image pickup device to output a video output device such as a monitor / video printer. It is used together with a processor for an electronic endoscope that outputs to a computer. A combination of the electronic endoscope and the electronic endoscope processor is hereinafter referred to as an electronic endoscope apparatus.

  The processor for an electronic endoscope has a first-stage signal processing circuit that processes a video signal from the electronic endoscope, and a second-stage signal that converts an image signal processed by the processing circuit into a video signal (NTSC signal or the like) of a predetermined format. It is a device having a processing circuit and a case for housing these signal processing circuits. Generally, a connector for connecting a video output device and an electronic endoscope is provided on the outer surface of the case.

  Some of such electronic endoscope processors can output character information to a video output device together with an image captured by an image sensor. As this character information, the character information input by the user of the electronic endoscope through the input means such as a keyboard connected to the processor for electronic endoscope, or the storage means built in the electronic endoscope There are model information of the electronic endoscope stored in (EEPROM or the like), date and time information acquired using an RTC (real time clock) built in the processor for electronic endoscope, and the like. These character information can be selectively displayed / hidden by the user of the electronic endoscope apparatus. Furthermore, it is also possible to selectively display only one or a plurality of items (for example, date information) of the character information.

Here, if these character information and the image sent from the electronic endoscope are displayed on the monitor in an overlapped state, the image and the character information are difficult to see, which adversely affects the diagnosis using the electronic endoscope. there is a possibility. In view of this, there is an electronic endoscope processor disclosed in Patent Document 1 that shifts an image to the right side to display character information in a region without an image when displaying character information.
Japanese Patent No. 2572776

  In recent years, higher resolution and smaller size of image pickup devices have been advanced. In the conventional electronic endoscope, the pixels of the solid-state imaging device are about 100,000 pixels, so the area of the area where the image is displayed is smaller than about 1/4 to 1/3 of the entire screen of the monitor. Even if taken widely, the image quality was not greatly improved. However, with the recent increase in resolution and size of image sensors, there is a high possibility that higher-resolution image sensors will be mounted on electronic endoscopes in the future. In such a situation, since the resolution of the image sensor is generally higher than the resolution of the monitor, the endoscopic image is reduced and displayed using pixel thinning or interpolation.

  When observing using such an electronic endoscope, text information is displayed so as not to overlap with the endoscopic image, and the display area of the endoscopic image is made as large as possible so that observation can be performed with high resolution. It is desirable to do so.

  In view of the above circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide an endoscope apparatus capable of displaying character information so as not to overlap an endoscope image and performing endoscopic observation at a high resolution. And

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention corresponds to a signal processing circuit that generates a digital image data by processing a video signal output from an electronic endoscope, and a digital image data generated by the signal processing circuit. An electronic endoscope processor comprising: an OSD circuit that generates a superimposed character image in which an image and character information are arranged; and a system control that controls the signal processing circuit and the OSD circuit. Is placed in the first character display area disposed at the upper end or lower end of the character superimposed image, it is determined whether or not it fits in the first character display area, and (1) the first character display area When it is determined that the character information is within the range, the OSD circuit is controlled so that the character information is arranged in the first character display area, and the area other than the first character display area of the character superimposed image is controlled. When the signal processing circuit is controlled so that the image corresponding to the digital image data is displayed at the maximum without changing the aspect ratio, and (2) it is determined that the image does not fit in the first character display area, the character information And controls the OSD circuit so that a part of the character information is arranged in the second character display area arranged on the right side of the character superimposed image and the remaining part of the character information is arranged in the first character display area. is other than the first character display area of the character superimposed image, and signal processing as an image corresponding to the digital image data in a region other than the second character display area is the maximum display without changing the aspect ratio What controls the circuit is provided.

  According to such a configuration, the image captured by the endoscope solid-state image sensor and the character information are arranged so as not to overlap with each other, and the image captured by the endoscope solid-state image sensor is as large as possible. It is possible to display in size.

  As described above, according to the present invention, an endoscope apparatus capable of displaying character information so as not to overlap with an endoscopic image and performing endoscopic observation at high resolution is realized.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the electronic endoscope apparatus according to the present embodiment. The electronic endoscope apparatus 1 includes an electronic endoscope 100, an electronic endoscope processor 200, a television monitor 301, a PC monitor 302, and a keyboard 400.

  The electronic endoscope 100 is connected to the electronic endoscope processor 200 via a connector portion 102 provided at the base end portion thereof. The electronic endoscope processor 200 includes a light source for supplying illumination light to the electronic endoscope 100, an image signal output from the electronic endoscope 100, an external television monitor 301, and a PC monitor. A circuit output to 302, a system control 210 for controlling a light source, a signal processing circuit, and the like are housed in a case 201.

  The electronic endoscope 100 captures an image near the distal end portion of the endoscope with a CCD 110 built in the distal end of the insertion tube 101, and outputs a CCD signal corresponding to the captured image. The CCD signal is processed by a signal processing circuit 103 built in the connector unit 102 of the electronic endoscope 100, and an image signal corresponding to the captured image is output from the signal processing circuit 103. The signal processing circuit 103 is controlled by a microcomputer 104 built in the connector unit 102. The system control 210 of the electronic endoscope processor 200 can control the signal processing circuit 103 by sending a control signal to the microcomputer 104.

  The image signal output from the signal processing circuit 103 is transmitted to the signal processing circuit 231 incorporated in the electronic endoscope processor 200. The signal processing circuit 231 processes the image signal transmitted from the signal processing circuit 103 to generate digital image data. The generated digital image data is sent to the OSD circuit 232. The OSD circuit 232 generates a character superimposed image in which an image corresponding to received digital image data and character information are arranged. In the present embodiment, the maximum number of characters that can be displayed in the character superimposed image (that is, the number of characters when only character information is displayed without displaying any other image) is horizontal 40 characters × 30 lines. That is, the number of pixels per character is 16 horizontal pixels × 16 vertical pixels.

  In this embodiment, the OSD circuit 232 has a built-in video signal generation circuit, converts a character superimposed image, and outputs an RGB signal, a Y / C separation signal, an NTSC composite signal, and a VGA signal. An RGB signal, a Y / C separation signal, an NTSC composite signal, and a VGA signal (signals based on the VESA standard) are an RGB terminal 241, a Y / C separation terminal 242, an NTSC terminal 243, and a VGA terminal formed on the surface of the case 201, respectively. 244. In this embodiment, an NTSC television monitor 301 and a PC monitor 302 are used. The television monitor 301 is connected to the NTSC terminal 243, and the PC monitor is connected to the VGA terminal 244, respectively.

  Here, the size of the image corresponding to the image signal output from the signal processing circuit 103 of the electronic endoscope 100 is about 2000 pixels wide × 1500 pixels high, and the resolution of the monitors 301 and 302 (width 640 pixels × Greater than 480 pixels). Therefore, the signal processing circuit 231 of the electronic endoscope processor 200 can thin out an image corresponding to the image signal from the signal processing circuit 103 of the electronic endoscope 100 and display it on the monitors 301 and 302 by an interpolation method or the like. Digital image data reduced in size is generated and transmitted to the OSD circuit 232. In order to support a character display area automatic setting function described later, the signal processing circuit 231 of the electronic endoscope processor 200 can reduce the image to a desired size of 640 pixels wide × 480 pixels high. .

  The CCD 110 continuously outputs a CCD signal corresponding to an image picked up at a predetermined timing (for example, one image per 1/30 second), and the signal processing circuit 103 has a predetermined interval. An image signal that generates an image of every other frame is generated. The signal processing circuit 231 sequentially processes the image signals and continuously outputs processed image signals. As a result, images captured at a predetermined timing are continuously displayed on the monitors 301 and 302. That is, the images picked up by the CCD 110 are displayed on the monitors 301 and 302 as moving images.

  Note that the signal processing circuit 231 and the OSD circuit 232 are controlled by a timing control signal transmitted from the timing control 233. The operation of the timing control 233 and the operation of character superimposed image generation by the OSD circuit 232 are controlled by the system control 210. The electronic endoscope processor 200 includes a real-time clock (RTC) circuit 234, and the system control 210 can acquire current date and time information from the RTC circuit. This date / time information is sent to the OSD circuit 232 to display the current date / time on the screen, for example. The system control 210 can read the contents of the EEPROM 106 built in the connector unit 102 of the electronic endoscope by controlling the microcomputer 104 of the electronic endoscope 100. The EEPROM 106 stores model information of the electronic endoscope 100 and the like, and the system control 210 can determine the type of the electronic endoscope 100 from the model information.

  As described above, the electronic endoscope processor 200 includes the light source unit 220. The light source unit 220 includes a lamp 223, a lamp power source 221 for supplying power to the lamp 223, a lamp control unit 222 that adjusts the amount of power (current) supplied from the lamp power source to the lamp 223, and illumination generated by the lamp 223. A diaphragm 224 for adjusting the amount of light, and a peripheral control 226 for controlling the lamp controller 222 and the diaphragm 224 are provided.

  The peripheral control 226 is connected to the system control 210, and the system control 210 controls the aperture ratio of the diaphragm 224 via the peripheral control 226, so that an appropriate amount of illumination light is incident on the light guide 107 of the electronic endoscope 100. Make it incident on the edge. In addition, the system control 210 controls the lamp control unit 222 via the peripheral control 226 to control lighting / extinguishing of the lamp 223. The system control 210 includes a CPU 211 that performs various processes, and a RAM 212 that stores a program executed by the CPU 211 and data used in the program.

  A front panel 202 is provided on the case 201 of the electronic endoscope processor 200. The front panel 202 is provided with buttons, switches, dials, and the like. A user of the electronic endoscope 100 operates the electronic endoscope apparatus 1 by operating the front panel 202. For example, the lamp 223 can be turned off or the like, or the aperture amount of the aperture 224 can be changed.

In the electronic endoscope system 1 of the present embodiment, when character information is superimposed on a screen, characters are not superimposed on an image (endoscopic image) captured by the CCD 110 (that is, the characters are endoscopic images). The display area of the endoscopic image and the character information is adjusted so that the display area is displayed only in the area other than that. This configuration will be described below. In the following description, the display area on the monitor is expressed in the coordinate system (x, y). Here, the upper left of the screen is expressed by coordinates (0, 0), and the lower right of the screen is expressed by coordinates (639, 479). In the following description, a rectangular area having the coordinates (x ₁ , y ₁ ) as the upper left vertex and the coordinates (x ₂ , y ₂ ) as the lower right vertex is the area (x ₁ , y ₁ ) − (x ₂ , y ₂ ).

  When no characters are displayed on the screen, the signal processing circuit 231 displays the signal of the electronic endoscope 100 so that the size of the endoscope image is horizontal 640 × vertical 480 pixels as shown in FIG. The image corresponding to the image signal from the processing circuit 103 is reduced and displayed on the monitor in full screen.

  Further, when assigning the lower two lines of the screen (that is, the region (0, 448)-(639, 479)) as the character display region, the signal processing circuit 231 displays the size of the endoscopic image as shown in FIG. The image corresponding to the image signal from the signal processing circuit 103 of the electronic endoscope 100 is reduced so that the horizontal 596 × vertical 447 pixels, and the OSD circuit 232 reduces the image to the center of the upper end of the screen (that is, the region (22 , 0)-(617, 446)) is generated.

  When assigning the lower three lines of the screen (that is, the region (0, 432)-(639, 479)) as the character display region, the signal processing circuit 231 has a size of the endoscopic image as shown in FIG. The image corresponding to the image signal from the signal processing circuit 103 of the electronic endoscope 100 is reduced so that the horizontal 576 × vertical 432 pixels are obtained, and the OSD circuit 232 reduces the image to the center of the upper end of the screen (that is, the region (32, 0 )-(607, 431)) to generate a character superimposed image.

  As described above, when the character information is arranged below the endoscopic image, the character string belonging to each item (patient name, patient ID, doctor name, facility name, etc.) is displayed from the upper left of the character display area to the left. It is supposed to be. When the character string of a certain item does not fit on one line (for example, when the display area of the previous item ends with the 30th character even though the maximum number of characters of a certain item is 16 characters), the next line The character string of the item is displayed so that the character string belonging to a certain item is not displayed over two lines.

  In addition, the endoscope image can be arranged on the upper left, and the character information can be displayed on the right side of the endoscope image. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the size of the endoscope image is horizontal 560 × vertical 420 pixels, the display area of this image is (0,0) − (559,419), and the character information is the area at the bottom of the screen ( 0,432)-(639,479) (40 characters × 3 lines) and the right region (561,0)-(639,431) (5 characters × 27 lines) of the endoscope image. In this case, for example, the character information of the item is arranged on the right side of the endoscopic image so that it is difficult to see even if it is displayed as a multi-line character string of 5 characters or less such as date information and age, and other character information is displayed. It arrange | positions in the area | region below the endoscopic image. In the configuration of FIG. 5, four lines are required to display characters only at the bottom of the screen, and the size of the endoscopic image is horizontal 552 × vertical 414 pixels, but the items “Date” and “Patient's” By displaying the character information of “Age” on the right side of the endoscopic image, the character display area at the bottom of the screen can be stored in three lines. In this case, the size of the endoscopic image is increased. It becomes possible.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the display size of the endoscopic image is set so as to match the size of the character display area, the character information does not overlap the endoscopic image, and the aspect ratio of the endoscopic image changes. The maximum size is set as much as possible. Note that it is also possible to display character information in an overlapping manner on the full-screen endoscopic image as shown in FIG. 6 according to necessity or user's preference.

  In the present embodiment, depending on what character information is displayed on the screen, the size of the display area suitable for displaying the character information is calculated, and the display area of the character information and the endoscope image are displayed. The size (compression rate) of the endoscopic image is calculated so that the display areas do not overlap. The configuration will be described below.

  In order to determine the display area of the character information, it is necessary to grasp in advance the number of characters of the character information for each item of character information. In the present embodiment, for each item of character information, a table defining the maximum number of characters in the item is prepared. The system control 210 refers to this table to check the number of characters in each item, and character information Determine the display area. This table is stored in the ROM 213 of the system control 210. FIG. 7 shows an example of a table for defining the maximum number of characters.

  As shown in FIG. 6, an item identification number di is defined for each item of character information. For each identification number di, the name of the item, the number of characters required to display the character information of the item in one line, and the character information of the item per line when the character information of the item is displayed in a plurality of lines on the right side of the endoscope image. The number of characters and the number of rows when the character information of the item is displayed in a plurality of rows on the right side of the endoscope image are defined. For example, di corresponding to the patient's name is 1, and the maximum number of characters is 22 characters. The number of characters per line when the patient's name is displayed in a plurality of lines is 8, and the number of lines at that time is 3. For example, when displaying the patient's name in one line, as shown in Fig. 2 or 3, "name:", "Yamada", "Name (Taro)" are displayed in a line in this order, and the next item Is the position where the first character of the item “name” (the first character on the 29th line in FIG. 2) is separated from the maximum number of characters of the item “name” by 22 characters and a blank as a delimiter (see FIG. 2 is displayed starting from the 24th character on the 29th line). When displaying a specific item, for example, the date and time (mm / dd HH / MM format) and the patient's age in multiple lines, the patient's age is displayed in two lines (first and second lines) as shown in FIG. Then, one line (third line) is opened, and the date and time is displayed in three lines (fourth to sixth lines).

  A procedure for determining the display area of the character information, the size of the endoscopic image, and the display area of the endoscopic image will be described below. FIG. 8 is a character information selection screen displayed on the monitor 301 or 302. When the user presses a specific key on the keyboard 400 while operating the electronic endoscope apparatus 1, for example, a character information selection screen shown in FIG. 8 is displayed. The user of the endoscope apparatus 1 determines which items are displayed by operating the keyboard 400 while visually recognizing the selection screen displayed on the monitor.

  Based on this setting result, the display area for character information, the size of the endoscopic image, and the display area for the endoscopic image are determined by a routine described below. FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a character information and endoscope image display routine executed by the system control 210 of the electronic endoscope processor 200 of the present embodiment. FIGS. 10 and 11 are flowcharts of FIG. It is a flowchart of the character display position determination subroutine called from step S102.

The routine of FIG. 9 is executed after setting display items on the setting screen shown in FIG. When the setting is performed on the setting screen of FIG. 8, a display ON / OFF flag F _di is set for each item identification number di. Here, when the display item of the identification number di is 1 in the flag F _di is the case without displaying 0 in the flag F _di is substituted. For example, when displaying the patient's name, ID, age, date and time (mm-dd HH: MM format), doctor name, facility name, and comment as shown in FIG. 5, flags F ₁ , F ₂ , F ₃ , F ₉ , F ₁₂ , F ₁₃ , F ₁₅ are assigned 1 and other flags F _di are assigned 0. Thus, the flag F _di while a value is substituted, the routine is started.

When this routine starts, step S101 is first executed. In step S101, it is determined whether or not to display character information on the screen. Specifically, check the contents of the flag F _di, and confirms whether the contents and there is a flag F _di of non-zero. If the contents of all the flags _Fdi are 0, the character information is not displayed. In this case (S101: YES), the process proceeds to step S110, the display of the endoscopic image of this size is started with the size of the endoscopic image set to horizontal 640 × vertical 480 pixels, and then this routine is ended. As described above, when it is selected that character information is not displayed on the setting screen (all items are not displayed), the endoscopic image is displayed on the screen in full screen as shown in FIG. It will be. On the other hand, if there is a flag F _di whose content is other than 0 in step S101, this means that there is character information to be displayed on the screen. In this case (S101: NO), the process proceeds to step S102.

In step S102, the character display position is determined for each item of character information so that the character and the endoscope image do not overlap and the size of the endoscope image is the largest. Specifically, the display position (x _di , y _di ) of the first character of the character information of the item is determined for each item identification number di. Next, the process proceeds to step S103.

In step S103, the system control 210 controls the OSD circuit 232 using (x _di , y _di ) obtained in step S102, and starts displaying character information. Next, the process proceeds to step S104.

  In step S104, it is determined whether or not to display the character information on the endoscope image. Whether or not to perform overlay display is selected by the user of the endoscope apparatus 1 operating the keyboard 400 or the front panel 202. When the character information is overlaid on the endoscopic image (S104: YES), the process proceeds to step S110 to start full screen display of the endoscopic image, and then this routine is terminated. In this case, on the monitor screen, as shown in FIG. 6, the character information is displayed in an overlay on the full-screen endoscope image. On the other hand, when overlay display is not performed (S104: NO), the process proceeds to step S105.

In step S105, the size and display position of the endoscopic image are obtained. Specifically, using the number of lines l ₁ character information calculated at step S102 (which appear under endoscopic image). That is, in the present embodiment, the size of the entire screen is horizontal 640 × vertical 480 pixels, and one character is horizontal 16 × vertical 16 pixels, so the size (x _I , y _I ) of the endoscopic image is It is calculated by the following formula 1.

In the above equation 1, int is a function that rounds down to an integer by rounding down the decimal point. With the above configuration, the number of pixels in the horizontal direction of the endoscopic image is set to a multiple of 4, and the number of pixels in the vertical direction is set to a multiple of 3. That is, even if the image is reduced, the aspect ratio of the image is maintained. The upper left coordinate of the endoscopic image calculated as described above is the endoscope when character information is not displayed on the right of the endoscopic image (int ((640−X _I ) / 2), 0). When character information is displayed on the right side of the image, it is (0, 0). Display of the reduced endoscopic image is started so that the obtained coordinates are at the upper left of the endoscopic image. Next, this routine ends.

Next, a procedure for setting the display position of the character information of each item will be described with reference to FIG. When the subroutine of FIG. 10 is executed, step S201 is executed. In step S201, 0 is substituted into the variables F _S and l ₂ . In the configuration of this routine, first, a configuration in which character information is arranged only under the endoscopic image as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 is examined, and then the right side of the endoscopic image as shown in FIG. Consider a configuration in which some character information is placed in The variable F _S is a flag indicating whether or not the examination of the configuration in which the character information is arranged only under the endoscopic image is completed, and the value of the flag F _S is 0 before the completion. The variable l ₂ is the total number of lines of character information displayed on the right of the endoscopic image. Next, the process proceeds to step S202.

In step S202, 0 is substituted into variables di, l ₁ , and C. The variable l ₁ is the total number of lines of character information displayed below the endoscopic image. C is a variable indicating how many characters of the character information of the item to be displayed next are displayed when counted from the left end of the screen. Next, the process proceeds to step S203.

In step S203, it is determined whether or not the value of the variable di is larger than the constant d _MAX . The constant d _MAX is the number of registered items. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, since there are items from di = 0 to 15, d _MAX = 16. If di = d _MAX , it means that the examination of display positions has already been completed for all items. In this case (S203: YES), the process proceeds to step S210. If not di = d _MAX , it means that the examination of the display position of the character information has not been completed. In this case (S203: NO), the process proceeds to step S204.

In step S204, it is determined whether or not the flag _Fdi is 1. If F _di is a value other than 1, an item having di as an identification number at that time is not displayed below the endoscopic image. In this case (S204: NO), the process proceeds to step S209. In step S209, 1 is added to the value of di, and then the process returns to step S203. If F _di is 1 in step S204, the item having the di as an identification number is displayed below the endoscopic image. In this case (S204: YES), the process proceeds to step S205.

In step S205, the system control 210 refers to the table of FIG. 7, to obtain the maximum number of characters C ₁ at the time of display row of items having the identification number di. Then performing a value obtained by adding the _{C 1} to the variable C, and comparison with the constant _{C MAX.} The constant C _MAX is the number of characters per line that can be displayed on the screen, and is 40 in this embodiment. If C + C ₁ > C _MAX , a line break is required to display this item. In this case (S205: YES), the process proceeds to step S206.

In step S206, 1 is substituted and C, also adds 1 to _{l 1.} Next, the process proceeds to step S207.

If C + C ₁ ≦ C _MAX in step S205, this item can be displayed without a line feed. In this case (S205: NO), the process proceeds to step S207.

In step S207, the C variable _{x di,} substituting _{l 1} to the variable _{y di.} Next, the process proceeds to step S208.

In step S208, C ₁ +1 is added to C. Not only the maximum number of characters C ₁ of the item but also 1 is added to C in order to place a space for one character between the character string belonging to a certain item and the character string of the item adjacent to the item. is there. Next, the process proceeds to step S209, 1 is added to di, and then the process returns to step S203.

As described above, by repeating the loop of steps S203 to S209 until di = di _MAX , the characters in the horizontal direction are displayed for all items for which the flag F _di = 1 (that is, character information is displayed). The position x _di is calculated. The vertical display position y _di of the character is not fixed at this point, and is determined by a routine of steps S220 to S227 described later. As described above, if di = di _MAX in step S203, the process proceeds to step S210. In step S210, a check value of the variable _{F S} is performed. Here, if F _S = 0, only the case where the character information is arranged only in the lower part of the endoscopic image is completed, and the case where the character information is arranged on the right side of the endoscopic image is considered. Is not done. In this case (S210: YES), the process proceeds to step S211. On the other hand, if F _S = 0 is not the case, the study of placing characters on the right side of the endoscopic image has already been completed. In this case, the process proceeds to S220 (FIG. 11).

In step S211, it is determined whether the value of l ₁ is greater than 5. If the value of l ₁ is greater than 5, the number of lines of characters arranged below the endoscopic image by placing items with C ₂ (see FIG. 7) of 5 or less on the right side of the endoscopic image May be reduced. Therefore, in this case (S211: YES), the process proceeds to step S212.

In step S212, the F _di value of the item whose C2 value is within 5 (4 or 5 in the present embodiment) is inverted. That is, if F _di = 1, F _di = −1. If F _di = 0, F _di = 0 remains even if the polarity is inverted. Next, the process proceeds to step S215.

In step S211, if the value of l ₁ is 5 or less (S211: NO), the process proceeds to step S213. In step S213, the value of _{l 1} is the determination of whether 5 is performed. If the value of l ₁ is 5, C ₂ (see FIG. 7) is arranged on the right side of the endoscopic image, and the number of lines of characters arranged under the endoscopic image is set. There is a possibility to reduce to 4 lines. Therefore, in this case (S213: YES), the process proceeds to step S214. On the other hand, the value of l ₁ is not 5 in the step S213, namely if the l ₁ is 4 or less, can not place text information to the right of the endoscope image, or text information on the right of the endoscope image arrangement Even if it is determined that the number of lines of characters placed under the endoscopic image cannot be reduced, no consideration is given to placing character information on the right side of the endoscopic image, and the process proceeds to step S220.

At step S214, the to sign inverts the value of _{F di} item value of C2 is 4. That is, if F _di = 1, F _di = −1. If F _di = 0, F _di = 0 remains even if the polarity is inverted. Next, the process proceeds to step S215.

Step S215 substitutes 1 into the variable F _S, the process returns to step S202, again, it examined the display position of the character information to be placed under endoscopic image. At this time, for the item C ₂ , that is, the number of characters per line when displaying on a plurality of lines is 4 or 5 (when l ₁ > 5), or 4 (when l ₁ = 5), the flag F _di Since it is 0 or -1, it is excluded from the consideration of the display position. After examining the display positions for all items in the loop of steps S203 to 209, the process proceeds to step S210 again. After the step S215 is executed once, the value of _{F S} is 1, the process proceeds from step S210 to step S220.

In step S220, the variable di and _{l 2} to zero (in the case of _{l 1 ≧ 5) C MAX -4} ( For _l 1 = 4) or _C MAX -5 variable _{x R} is respectively substituted. Next, the process proceeds to step S221.

In step S221, it is determined whether or not the value of the variable di is larger than the constant d _MAX . If di = d _MAX , it means that the examination of display positions has already been completed for all items. In this case (S221: YES), this routine ends. If not di = d _MAX , it means that the examination of the display position of the character information has not been completed. In this case (S221: NO), the process proceeds to step S222.

In step S222, it is determined whether or not the value of F _di is 1, that is, whether or not an item having di as an identification number is displayed below the endoscopic image. If F _di = 1 (S222: YES), the process proceeds to step S223. In step S223, L _MAX -l ₁ is added to the variable y _di . Note that L _MAX is the number of lines of characters that can be displayed on one screen, and L _MAX = 30 in the present embodiment. By this step, the vertical display position of the character information is corrected so that the character information is displayed under the endoscopic image. Next, the process proceeds to step S227.

On the other hand, if F _di = 1 is not satisfied in step S222 (S222: NO), the process proceeds to step S224. In step S224, whether the value of F _di is -1, that is, whether the judgment items whose identification number di is displayed on the right of the endoscope image is performed. If F _di = −1 (S224: YES), the process proceeds to step S225. On the other hand, if F _di = −1 is not satisfied in step S224, that is, if F _di is 0 and an item having di as an identification number is not displayed (S224: NO), the process proceeds to step S227.

In step S225, _{x R} to the variable _{x di} is the variable _{y di l 2} are respectively substituted. Next, the process proceeds to step S226.

In step S226, (see FIG. 7) value R of items whose identification number is di variable _{l 2} and 1 is added. With this setting, a plurality of rows belonging to a certain item displayed on the right of the endoscopic image and a plurality of rows belonging to other items adjacent thereto are displayed in one row. Next, the process proceeds to step S227.

  In step S227, 1 is added to the variable di, and then the process returns to step S221.

By executing steps S220 to S227 described above, the vertical display position of the character information displayed below the endoscopic image and the display position of the character information displayed to the right of the endoscopic image Is calculated. In step S103 of FIG. 9, display of character information is started using the calculated display position (x _di , y _di ).

  As described above, the display position of the character is obtained by executing the subroutine shown in FIGS.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the electronic endoscope apparatus by embodiment of this invention. In the embodiment of the present invention, a state where an endoscopic image is displayed in full screen is shown. In the embodiment of the present invention, a state in which two lines of character information are displayed below an endoscopic image is shown. In the embodiment of the present invention, a state in which three lines of character information are displayed below an endoscopic image is shown. In the embodiment of the present invention, the character information is displayed on both the lower and right sides of the endoscopic image. In the embodiment of the present invention, a state is shown in which character information is overlay-displayed on an endoscopic image displayed in full screen. In the embodiment of the present invention, an example of a table for defining the maximum number of characters of character information used when determining the display position of character information is shown. FIG. 6 shows a display selection screen for character information in the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. It is a flowchart of the display routine of character information and an endoscopic image in an embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart of the character display position determination subroutine in an embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart of the character display position determination subroutine in an embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Electronic endoscope apparatus 100 Electronic endoscope 104 Microcomputer 106 EEPROM
110 CCD
200 Processor for Electronic Endoscope 210 System Control 211 CPU
212 RAM
231 Signal processing circuit 232 OSD circuit 301 Television monitor 302 PC monitor 400 Keyboard

Claims (5)

A signal processing circuit for processing video signals output from the electronic endoscope to generate digital image data;
An OSD circuit for generating a character superimposed image in which an image corresponding to digital image data generated by the signal processing circuit and character information are arranged;
System control for controlling the signal processing circuit and the OSD circuit;
An electronic endoscope processor comprising:
The system control determines whether or not the character information fits in the first character display area when the character information is arranged in a first character display area arranged at an upper end or a lower end of the character superimposed image. ,
(1) When it is determined that the character information fits in the first character display area, the OSD circuit is controlled so that the character information is arranged in the first character display area, and the character superimposed image Controlling the signal processing circuit so that an image corresponding to the digital image data is displayed in a region other than the first character display region at maximum without changing an aspect ratio;
(2) When it is determined that the character information does not fit in the first character display area, a part of the character information is arranged in the second character display area arranged on the right side of the character superimposed image, and the character The OSD circuit is controlled so that the remaining part of the information is arranged in the first character display area , and the second character is outside the first character display area of the character superimposed image and An electronic endoscope processor, wherein the signal processing circuit is controlled so that an image corresponding to the digital image data is displayed at a maximum without changing an aspect ratio in an area other than a display area. The character information comprises a plurality of items, said system control is an electronic endoscope according to claim 1, characterized in, that display only a portion of the plurality of items in the character superimposed image Processor. The electronic endoscope processor, said should be displayed which items the character superimposed image is selected by the user of the electronic endoscope processor, the system control, depending on the selection result by the user 3. The electronic endoscope processor according to claim 2, wherein items to be displayed on the character superimposed image are set. The system control, as if the string of an item to be displayed on the first character display area does not fit on one line displays the character string of the item from the left edge of the line below it, the OSD circuit The processor for electronic endoscopes according to claim 2, wherein the processor is controlled. 5. The electronic endoscope according to claim 2 , wherein a part of the character information arranged in the second character display area is an item related to a date and a patient's age. Processor.

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