JPH0475627A - Electronic endoscope device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To execute the fine observation of an ultra fine lesional behavior or a blood vessel image under a mucous membrane, etc., by providing a means for generating a contour emphasizing signal from a video signal, a switching means for a regular observation and a fine observation, and a means for mixing the contour emphasizing signal into the video signal and outputting it. CONSTITUTION:As for switches 64 and 65, its turning-on/turning-off are controlled by a changeover switch 68 for switching the regular observation and the fine observation. That is, when the changeover switch 68 is switched to the regular observation side, the switches 64 and 65 are turned on, and the contour emphasizing signals are mixed into respective video signals of R, G and B by mixers 61, 62 and 63. On the other hand, when the changeover switch 68 is switched to the fine observation side, the switches 64 and 65 are turned off, and the contour emphasizing signal is mixed into only a G video signal by the mixer 62.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an electronic endoscope device, and particularly to an electronic endoscope device for observing the inside of a body cavity or the like using color images.

[Conventional technology]

Electronic endoscopes used for medical and industrial purposes are equipped with a scope section, a processor, and a monitor device, and the insertion section of the scope section is inserted into a body cavity or the like, and an illumination device built into the processor or independent of the processor is installed. The illumination light is irradiated toward the observation target part from the center, and the reflected image from the observation target part is C.
A video signal is formed by photoelectric conversion using a solid-state imaging device such as a CD, and the video signal thus obtained is read out from the imaging device and transmitted to a processor, where the processor performs signal processing and then displays it on a monitor device. I am trying to display it in color.

By the way, during diagnosis using the electronic endoscope device,
It may be necessary to observe ultra-fine lesions or submucosal blood vessels. When performing such minute observation,
Emphasizing the outline of an image using an outline emphasizing means is extremely effective, and has traditionally been done by mixing the outline emphasizing signals of red (R), green (G), and blue (B) video signals. A commonly used method is to emphasize.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, in conventional contour enhancement, R signal, G signal,
Since the contours of the B signal are equally emphasized, it is difficult to detect ultra-fine lesions under the mucosa.

Furthermore, since electronic endoscope devices generally drive the image pickup device in a so-called field sequential manner, the color images of each color channel are generated with a delay of one field. Although color shift occurs, conventional edge enhancement has a problem in that when the color shift occurs, blurring occurs instead.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an electronic endoscope device that allows minute observation of ultra-fine lesions or images of submucosal blood vessels, etc., as well as a very natural observation. do.

[Means for solving the problem: In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention irradiates illumination light from the tip of the scope toward the observation target area, and also uses a solid-state imaging device built in the tip of the scope to An electronic endoscope that images an observation target part obtained by imaging the observation target part to obtain red, green, and blue video signals indicating the observation target part, and displays a color image indicating the observation target part based on the red, green, and blue video signals. In the mirror device, there is provided a means for manually generating a previously recorded video signal and generating an edge enhancement signal from the video signal, a switching means for switching between normal observation and fine observation, and when the switching means is switched to the normal observation side. The red, green, and blue video signals are output as they are, or each video signal is mixed with the edge emphasis signal, and when switched to the fine observation side, the edge emphasis signal is mixed only with the previously recorded video signal. The method is characterized by comprising a means for outputting the output.

[Effect]

According to the present invention, it is possible to switch between normal observation, which allows very natural observation, and minute observation, such as images of ultra-fine lesions or submucosal blood vessels.

Focusing on the color green, which has high visibility, when we want to observe fine details, we apply contour enhancement to only the green video signal, increasing the effectiveness in elucidating fine structures.

〔Example〕

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of an electronic endoscope apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of an electronic endoscope device according to the present invention. As shown in the figure, this electronic endoscope device includes a scope section 10, a processor 20, and a monitor device 30.

The processor 20 receives R, G signals via the light guide 12.
An illumination device for sequentially irradiating the observation target section 14 with SB light is built-in. That is, white light from the light source 22 turned on by the light source lighting circuit 21 is guided to one end 12A of the light guide 12 via the condenser lens 23 and the rotating color filter 24.

The rotating color filters 24 each have a center angle of 120°.
, G, and B, and is rotated by a motor 25. This motor 25 is connected to a motor control circuit 26 which receives a synchronization signal from a synchronization signal generation circuit 27.
is controlled to rotate at a predetermined rotation speed (for example, 20 rps). As a result, the light from the light source 22 passes through the rotating color filter 24 and becomes illumination light of each color of RSG and B, which changes sequentially at a cycle of 1/60 seconds, and is applied to the observation target section 14 via the light guide 12. .

An objective lens 1 is mounted at the tip of the scope section 10 of the electronic endoscope.
5 and a solid-state image sensor (CCD) 16 are arranged, and the objective lens 15 images the observation target part 14 illuminated by the RSG and B illumination lights on the light receiving part of the CCD 16.
6 is driven by a drive pulse applied from the CCD driver 28 via the signal line 17, photoelectrically converts the incident light and outputs RGB video signals corresponding to each illumination light to the signal processing circuit 29 via the signal line 18. .

The signal processing circuit 29 of the processor 20 includes a color shift detection circuit, performs signal processing such as simultaneous conversion of the frame-sequential RGB video signals inputted from the CCD 16, and outputs the signals to the monitor device 30.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing details of the processor.

In the same figure, frame-sequential RGB input from the CCD 16
The video signal is sent to the A/D via a process circuit 40 that includes a sample hold circuit, a T correction circuit, a clamp circuit, etc.
It is added to the converter 41.

The A/D converter 41 converts the input RGB video signal (analog signal) into a digital signal pixel by pixel, and sends this digital signal to the R, GSB field memory 42.43.4.
Output to 4.

Field memories 42, 43, and 44 are memory control circuits 4
Controlled by 5. That is, the memory control circuit 45 sequentially converts the RC and B video signals into a field memo 'J42 based on the vertical synchronization pulse applied from the synchronization signal generation circuit 27.
．． R-EN pulse, G-EN pulse and B- for storing in 43 and 44 and updating the stored contents of each memory.
Outputs EN pulse.

The RGB video signals sequentially written in the field memo 'J42.43.44 are read out at the same time, and include a D/A converter 46, 47, 48, an edge emphasis signal mixing section 60, a clamp circuit for aligning the black level, etc. Process circuit 5
Video output terminal 53.54.5 via 0.51.52
Output from 5.

On the other hand, the output of the D/A converter 47 is an enhancement circuit 70A,
It has been added to 70B. These enhancement circuits 70
A and 70B generate an edge enhancement signal from the G video signal, and the enhancement circuit 70A generates an edge enhancement signal in the horizontal direction of the image, and the enhancement circuit 70B generates an edge enhancement signal in the vertical direction of the image. These edge enhancement signals are mixed by a mixer 78 and then output to an edge enhancement signal mixing s60.

Next, details of the above enhancement circuit will be explained.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the enhancement circuit.

As shown in the figure, this enhancement circuit includes a delay circuit 7
1.72, adders 73 and 74, and an inverter 75.

The delay circuit 71 inputs the G video signal (original signal A (FIG. 4(A)) from the D/A converter 47 and transmits it for a predetermined time τ1.
The delay circuit 72 outputs the input τ1 delay amount B (FIG. 4(B)) delayed by a predetermined time τ2 to the τ2 signal C (FIG. 4(B)). C
)) is output to the adder 73.

The adder 73 is added to the original signal, and the adder 73
adds the τ2 signal C to the original signal, and outputs the added signal D (FIG. 4(D)) to the adder 74 via the inverter 75.

The adder 74 has a τ delayed signal added thereto, and the adder adds the τ1 delayed signal and the signal inverted by the inverter 75, and uses this added signal as an edge emphasis signal E (fourth
Output as figure (E)).

By adding this contour emphasis signal E to the original signal,
An original signal with enhanced contours (FIG. 4(F)) is obtained.

By the way, in the case of the enhancement circuit 70A that generates a horizontal edge enhancement signal, the predetermined times τ1 and τ2 of the delay circuits 71 and 720 are set to, for example, 200 ns, and the enhancement circuit 70B that generates a vertical edge enhancement signal
In this case, the predetermined time τ of the delay circuits 71 and 72,
τ2 is set to LH (H: horizontal scanning period Fl!It).

Now, in FIG. 2, the contour emphasis signal mixing section 60 is composed of mixers 61, 62, 63 and switches 64, 65, and the contour emphasis signal mixed by the mixer 78 is directly added to the mixer 62. , switch 6
4 and 65 to mixers 61 and 63.

Further, the switches 64 and 65 are set to 0N-1 by a changeover switch 68 for switching between normal observation and fine observation.
OFF is controlled.

That is, when the changeover switch 68 is switched to the normal observation side,
The switches 64 and 65 are turned on, and mixers 61, 62 and 63 mix the RGB video signals with the edge enhancement signal, respectively.

On the other hand, when the changeover switch 68 is switched to the fine observation side,
The switches 64 and 65 are turned off, and the mixer 62 mixes the contour emphasis signal only with the G video signal.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the contour emphasis signal mixing section,
This contour emphasis signal mixing section 80 is composed of a mixer 81 and switches 82, 83, and 84. According to this contour enhancement signal mixing unit 80, during normal observation, the RGB output from the D/A converters 46, 47, 48 as shown in the figure
The video signal is output as is without contour enhancement, and during fine observation, switches 82 and 84 are turned off and switch 83 is turned on, blocking the output of R and B video signals, and applying contour enhancement to only the G video signal. The signals are mixed by mixer 81 and output.

Note that the contour emphasis signal mixing section is not limited to this embodiment and various configurations can be considered, and the point is that a natural color image can be obtained during normal observation, and a color image can be obtained by mixing the contour emphasis signal only with the G image signal during fine observation. Any type of image may be used as long as it is configured so that an image that can be minutely observed even if the image is unnatural.

In addition, in the above-described embodiments, RGB is used as the video signal.
Although the example is based on a signal, an encoder signal may also be used. In this case, no component coder is required.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the electronic endoscope device according to the present invention described above, it is possible to perform observation using normal color images, and at the time of microscopic observation, the contour enhancement signal is mixed only with the G image signal with high visibility, so that ultra-fine lesions or It becomes possible to observe images of submucosal blood vessels, etc., and perform endoscopic diagnosis by switching images as necessary.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of an electronic endoscope device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing details of the processor in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing details of the enhancement circuit in FIG. 2. The block diagram shown in FIGS. 4(A) to 4(F) are signal waveform diagrams used to explain the enhancement circuit, respectively.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the edge emphasis signal mixing section shown in FIG. 2. 14... Observation target part, 16... Solid-state image sensor (C
CD), 22... Light source, 24... Rotating color filter, 42.43.44... Field memory, 45... Memory control circuit, 60.80... Contour emphasis signal mixing unit, 68... ... Selector switch, 70A, 70B... Enhancement circuit, 61.62.6
3.78.81... Mixa, 64.65.82.83
．． 84...Switch. Figure 5

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] Red illumination light is irradiated from the tip of the scope toward the observation target area, and the irradiated observation target area is imaged by a solid-state imaging device built in the scope tip to indicate the observation target area; In an electronic endoscope device that obtains green and blue video signals and displays a color image showing an observation target area based on the red, green, and blue video signals, the green video signal is input and the video signal is extracted from the video signal. means for generating an edge enhancement signal; a switching means for switching between normal observation and fine observation; and when the switching means is switched to the normal observation side, the red color,
Means for outputting the green and blue video signals as they are or by mixing the edge emphasis signal with each video signal, and when switching to the fine observation side, mixing the edge emphasis signal only with the previously recorded video signal and outputting the mixture. An electronic endoscope device comprising: and.