JPH0345645B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field] The present invention relates to an endoscope device, and particularly to an endoscope device that images the inside of a body cavity and displays a still image.

[Prior art]

In conventional endoscope devices, the objective optical system is equipped with a focusing lens that is movable in the optical axis direction.
It is known to adjust focusing.
For example, Utility Model Application Publication No. 151302 (1983)
No. 50991), an endoscope is equipped with a focusing knob on the operation part of the endoscope, the focusing lens and the focusing knob are connected with a wire, and the focusing lens is pushed and pulled by turning the focusing knob to adjust the focusing. Disclosed.
According to this method, since the focusing mechanism is not directly provided in the objective section, there is an advantage that the endoscope insertion section does not become thicker due to the focusing mechanism. However, depending on the model, the distance from the objective section to the operating section may be nearly 2 meters, and the focusing lens may not be able to be controlled accurately due to play or resistance in the wire. Additionally, focusing adjustment is performed in order to bring the endoscope closer to the lesion and observe its shape in detail or enlarged, but as with a general camera, the imaging distance becomes shorter. , the depth of field becomes shallow, so even a slight shift in focus will cause the image to become blurred. Therefore, in conventional endoscopic devices that have such a focusing adjustment mechanism, the body cavity is constantly moving due to breathing and peristalsis, and the focus is only momentary, making it difficult to observe details. It was possible. Since the endoscope is often out of focus, it is inconvenient to insert the endoscope, and sometimes a dangerous situation may occur. This is particularly a problem when imaging the inside of a body cavity and recording a still image. Generally, the inside of a body cavity is constantly moving due to breathing, peristalsis, and pulsation, so in order to observe it in detail, it is desirable to display a still image and take time to observe it. However, since the inside of the body cavity is constantly moving, each frame-by-frame image contains some blur.

〔the purpose〕

This invention was made to address the above-mentioned circumstances, and its purpose is to efficiently display a focused image, detect the state in which the high frequency component of the image is at its maximum, and display the image at that time as a still image. By doing so, it is possible to display a still image with no or minimal blurring of the body cavity, which is difficult to observe in detail because it is constantly moving due to breathing, peristalsis, and pulsation.This allows for detailed observation of the inside of the body cavity. An object of the present invention is to provide an endoscope device that can perform

〔overview〕

The purpose of this is to image the inside of the body cavity while adjusting the focusing, to detect from the output image signal of the imaging means that the image is in focus, and to detect the output image of the imaging means in accordance with this detection output. This is achieved by displaying still images.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of an endoscope apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The figure is a block diagram showing the configuration of this embodiment. This device consists of an endoscope main body 10 and a control unit 30. A light source lamp 32 is provided within the control unit 30, and illumination light emitted from the lamp is guided to the objective end of the endoscope body 10 via a light guide 20 made of an optical fiber bundle, thereby illuminating the inside of the body cavity. The endoscope main body 10 is mainly divided into a flexible part that is inserted into a body cavity and an operating part that is not inserted into a body cavity. An objective optical system is provided at the tip of the flexible portion, and a focusing lens 12 that is movable in the optical axis direction is provided in this objective optical system. A solid-state image sensor (for example, CCD) 14 is provided inside the objective optical system, and the solid-state image sensor 1 is connected through the objective optical system and the focusing lens 12.
The optical image inside the body cavity incident on 4 is converted into an image signal. The focusing lens 12 is connected via a wire 16 to a focusing knob 18 provided on the operating section. By rotating the focus knob 18, the focusing lens 12 is moved in the optical axis direction, and focusing is adjusted. A release switch 22 and a multi-switch 24 are also provided in the operation section of the endoscope body 10.

The operation of the solid-state image sensor 14 is controlled by drive pulses from a solid-state image sensor (SID) driver 34 within the control unit 30. The output image signal of the solid-state image sensor 14 is supplied to a sample/hold circuit 36 within the control unit 30. The output of the sample/hold circuit 36 is supplied to a monitor device 46 via a low pass filter 38, an auto gain controller (AGC) 40, a gamma correction circuit 42, and an NTSC decoder 44, and is displayed as a moving image. The output of the low pass filter 38 is a high pass filter 48,
It is also supplied to the control circuit 52 via the A/D converter 50. The control unit 30 is provided with a freeze switch 54 as a mode switch, a focus-in-freeze switch 56, a focus-in-trigger switch 58, and a focus-in-freeze and trigger switch 60. Signals from a release switch 22 and a multi-switch 24 provided on the endoscope body 10 are supplied to a control circuit 52.
Here, mode switches 54, 56, 58, 60
is a self-illuminating switch with four options. The output of the gamma correction circuit 42 is also supplied to a frame memory 64 via an A/D converter 62. The signal read from the frame memory 64 is supplied to a monitor device 72 via a D/A converter 66, a low-pass filter 68, and an NTSC decoder 70, and a moving image is displayed.
The output of the NTSC decoder 70 is also supplied to a recording device 74, and the image is recorded as a still image. The recording device 74 includes, for example, a disk cartridge magnetic storage device. A timing generator 76 is provided for timing control of each part, and its output is sent to the solid-state image sensor driver 34, sample/
The signal is supplied to the hold circuit 36, NTSC decoder 44, 70 control circuit 52, and frame memory 64.
Writing to the frame memory 64 is performed by the control circuit 52.
The recording is stopped by a write freeze signal F from the control circuit 52, and recording to the recording device 74 is executed by a recording trigger signal T from the control circuit 52.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained. When the focus knob 18 is turned, the wire 16 and the focus lens 12 are moved in the optical axis direction, and the imaging conditions for the solid-state image sensor 14 of the objective optical system are varied.
The monitor device 46 constantly displays the output image of the solid-state image sensor 14 as a moving image. The monitor device 72 displays the output image of the solid-state image sensor 14 as a moving image when none of the mode switches 54, 56, 58, and 60 are turned on. At this time, frame memory 6
4 is always writable, and the image signal from the solid-state image sensor 14 is written one frame at a time, and
The data is read out and the data in the frame memory 64 is sequentially updated. Here, it is assumed that the monitor device 72 is smaller than the monitor device 46.

When the release switch 22 is turned on, a recording trigger signal T is supplied from the control circuit 52 to the recording device 74. Then, only one frame of the output image signal of the NTSC decoder 70 is supplied to the recording device 74, and a still image is recorded. Here, the recording device 7
4 is not limited to a disk cartridge magnetic storage device, but may also be an optical file, a normal photographic camera, or the like.
Note that when the release switch 22 is turned on, writing to the frame memory 64 (data update) is not possible.
The display is stopped for 0.3 seconds, and the monitor device 72 is frozen during this period and displays a still image.

Below, mode switches 54, 56, 58, 60
The operation for each operation mode determined by the following will be explained. First, in the freeze mode in which the freeze switch 54 is turned on, when the multi-switch 24 is turned on, the control circuit 52 supplies the write freeze signal F to the frame memory 64.
Stop writing data to 4. Therefore, the monitor device 72 is frozen and displays a still image. When the multi-switch 24 is turned on again,
The control circuit 52 stops generating the write freeze signal F and resumes writing data to the frame memory 64, and the monitor device 72 is unfrozen and resumes displaying the moving image.

In the focus-in-freeze mode, in which the focus-in-freeze switch 56 is turned on, first, the focusing lens 12 is set at an appropriate position using the focus knob 18, and then
After turning on the multi-switch 24, turn on the endoscope body 1.
Adjust the focusing by bringing the tip of the 0 closer to the body cavity wall. Alternatively, maintain an appropriate distance between the tip of the endoscope body 10 and the body cavity wall, and switch the multi-switch 24.
The focusing may be adjusted by turning on the focusing lens 12 by turning the focusing knob 18. A high frequency component of the output of the solid-state image sensor 14 is input from the high-pass filter 48 to the control circuit 52 via the A/D converter 50. The control circuit 52 determines the imaging state of the optical image formed on the solid-state image sensor 14 by the objective optical system from the amount of high frequency components of the image signal. When the image is out of focus, the amount of high-frequency components is small; as the image comes into focus, the amount of high-frequency components increases; and when the image is in focus (in-focus state), the amount of high-frequency components reaches its maximum. Furthermore, as the tip of the endoscope main body 10 approaches the body cavity wall, the amount of high frequency components decreases. Therefore, by bringing the tip of the endoscope main body 10 close to the body cavity wall and detecting the maximum value of the high frequency component of the output of the solid-state image sensor 14, the in-focus state can be detected. In reality, the frame in which the high-frequency component changes from increasing to decreasing is the frame after the in-focus frame, but since the shooting time for one frame is usually as short as 1/30 seconds, one frame The deviation can be ignored.

When the control circuit 52 detects the focused state, it supplies a write freeze signal F to the frame memory 64 to stop writing data. As a result, the output image signal of the solid-state image sensor 14 is transferred to the frame memory 6.
A still image is recorded in 4, and the monitor device 72 enters a frozen state and displays a still image. In this state, the photographer can observe the affected area in detail based on the clear still image display. Furthermore, the endoscope main body 10
If you fix it and turn on the release switch 22,
A still image displayed on the monitor device 72 can be recorded on the recording device 74. The control circuit 52 supplies a recording trigger signal T to the recording circuit 74 in response to a signal from the release switch 22. In this way, in the focus-in/freeze mode, you can check the contents of the frozen still image in focus and record only what you want to keep if necessary. When the multi-switch 24 is turned on again, the write freeze signal F is stopped and the frame memory 6
Data writing to the monitor device 72 is resumed.
is released from the frozen state.

In the focus-in-trigger mode, in which the focus-in-trigger switch 58 is turned on, maintain an appropriate distance between the tip of the endoscope body 10 and the body cavity wall, turn on the multi-switch 24, and then turn the focus knob 18. to move the focusing lens 12. Alternatively, focusing may be adjusted by setting the focusing lens 12 at an appropriate position using the focusing knob 18, turning on the multi-switch 24, and then bringing the tip of the endoscope body 10 close to the body cavity wall. When the control circuit 52 detects the focused state, it supplies a recording trigger signal T to the recording device 74 to record one frame of image.
Here, the control circuit 52 does not generate the write freeze signal F, data writing to the frame memory 64 is not stopped, and the monitor device 72 continues to display the moving image without being frozen.

In the focus-in-freeze-and-trigger mode in which the focus-in-freeze-and-trigger switch 60 is turned on, the operations in the focus-in-freeze mode and the focus-in-trigger mode described above are the same. Both are done. That is, the focusing lens 12 is set at an appropriate position, and the multi-switch 2 is turned on.
4, bring the tip of the endoscope body 10 close to the body cavity wall, or maintain an appropriate distance between the tip of the endoscope body 10 and the body cavity wall, turn on the multi-switch 24, and then turn the focus knob 18. Imaging the inside of the body cavity is performed while adjusting the rotary focusing. When the control circuit 52 detects the in-focus state, writing to the frame memory 64 is stopped and the monitor device 72
is in a frozen state and a still image is displayed, and the still image is recorded in the recording device 74. The frozen state of the monitor device 72 is released by turning on the multi-switch 24.

As explained above, according to this embodiment, when the in-focus state is reached, writing to the frame memory is automatically stopped and a still image is obtained, which can be recorded in the recording device as necessary, so that the in-focus state is always maintained. An endoscopic device is provided that can obtain only images of the condition and is useful for diagnosis.

Note that this invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments and can be modified in various ways. The above-described embodiment uses a monitor device 46 that constantly displays moving images as a monitor device.
and a small monitor device 7 that freezes when focusing
However, if the monitor device 72 is made larger, the monitor device 46 may not be provided. However, if the monitor device 46 is constantly displaying the video,
Even after the monitor device 72 is in a frozen state,
When the distal end of the endoscope body is brought closer to the body cavity wall, there is an advantage that it is possible to know whether or not the body cavity wall will be burned by illumination light. Also, even if two monitor devices are installed, the frame memory 6 is always
4 is prohibited, nothing is displayed on the monitor device 72, and only when the camera is in focus,
Still images may be displayed on monitor device 72.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an endoscope device that allows detailed observation of the affected area by efficiently displaying only the in-focus image as a still image.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The figure is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of an endoscope apparatus according to the present invention. 12... Focusing lens, 14... Solid-state image sensor, 18... Focusing knob, 46, 72
... Monitor device, 48 ... High pass filter, 5
2... Control circuit, 54... Freeze switch, 5
6...Focus in freeze switch, 5
8...Focus in trigger switch, 60
. . . Focus-in-freeze and trigger switch, 64 . . . Frame memory, 74 . . . Recording device.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An imaging means for imaging the inside of a body cavity, a means for detecting the amount of high frequency components of an image based on an output image signal of the imaging means, and an amount of the high frequency components increasing or decreasing based on the output of the high frequency detecting means. and means for displaying the output image signal of the imaging means as a still image when the signal reaches a maximum.