JPH05161601A - Endoscope system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the endoscope system which can select system constitution corresponding to a scope used by a user and further can deal with any specifications of various scopes. CONSTITUTION:This system is composed of first and second electronic endoscopes 2A and 2B respectively provided with the imaging devices of different specifications, first and second CCD drivers 3A and 3B respectively independently provided corresponding to the electronic endoscopes 2A and 2B, common CCU device 4 which can respectively input the signals of the CCD drivers 3A and 3B and generates video signals based on the output signals of the CCD drivers 3A and 3B, and TV monitor 6 to display the video signals of this common CCU device.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an endoscope system which can be used even when image pickup means having different specifications are used.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, electronic endoscopes (also simply referred to as scopes) using a solid-state imaging device such as a charge-coupled device (hereinafter referred to as CCD) as an imaging means have been widely used. For example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-186618,
For the purpose of providing an electronic endoscope apparatus corresponding to a plurality of scopes composed of solid-state image sensors having different numbers of pixels, a detection circuit is provided in the scope of the main body device, and drive pulses and signals An endoscope is disclosed that switches the processing circuit to an optimum value.

[0003]

In the device of the above publication, since the electronic scope having a different number of pixels is adapted from the beginning, the configuration of the signal processing circuit becomes complicated.
Also, the user has to use a signal processing circuit having an extra function, for example, even when only a specific scope is used.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an endoscope system in which the system configuration can be selected according to the scope used by the user and the specifications of different scopes can be accommodated. To aim.

[0005]

According to the present invention, in an endoscope system for imaging a subject with an image sensor,
A plurality of signal processing units independently provided corresponding to image pickup devices having different specifications and the plurality of signal processing units can be connected to each other, and a video signal is generated based on an output signal of the signal processing unit. By providing the video signal processing section, the scopes having different specifications can be easily used by using the dedicated signal processing section. Therefore, the system can be selected according to the scope that the user intends to use. Therefore, the system configuration can be adapted to the scope that the user intends to use. Further, since the video signal processing unit can be used in common for scopes having different specifications, the system cost can be reduced.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 3 relate to a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 shows the configuration of an endoscope system of the first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 shows the configuration of a CCD driver, and FIG. The structure of a CCU apparatus is shown. In the first embodiment, the system configuration of the electronic endoscopes 2A and 2B having two different specifications is as shown in FIG. 1A or 1B.

The system 1A shown in FIG. 1A has a first (not shown) high-resolution CCD for the digestive tract provided at the tip.
The electronic endoscope 2A, a first CCD driver 3A for generating various drive signals for driving a high-resolution CCD, and converting it into a video signal of a fixed standard, and a fixed standard output from the CCD driver 3A. A common CC that performs signal processing on video signals to generate standard video signals
The U device 4, the light source device 5 that controls the amount of illumination light by the dimming signal from the common CCU device 4 to illuminate the subject, and the TV monitor 6 that displays the standard video signal from the common CCU device 4. Consists of

On the other hand, in the system 1B shown in FIG. 1 (b), a second electronic endoscope 2B provided with a small CCD for the bronco (bronchi) (not shown) at the tip and this electronic endoscope 2 are provided.
The second CCD driver 3B, which generates a drive signal dedicated to the B CCD and also converts it into a video signal of a certain standard, is shown in FIG.
Unlike the system 1A shown in (a), the other components have common components.

The first CCD driver 3A has a structure as shown in FIG. A PLL circuit 8 that synchronizes an internal signal by a synchronization signal from the common CCU device 4, and a synchronization signal that generates a synchronization signal of a signal in the CCD driver 3A by synchronizing the phase with the common CCU device 4 by this PLL circuit 8. From the generation circuit 9, the first drive pulse generation circuit 10A for generating a drive signal dedicated to the high pixel CCD based on the signal generated by the synchronization signal generation circuit 9, and the CCD driven by the first drive pulse generation circuit 10A. Preamplifier 11 that removes noise components and amplifies video signals of
Since the high pixel CCD has many pixels, two lines are simultaneously read in order to perform high speed reading. For this purpose, a two-line addition circuit 12 for adding two lines of the output from the preamplifier and an output of the two-line addition circuit 12 are
It is composed of an A / D converter 13 that performs A / D conversion and an output buffer 14 that outputs the output of the A / D converter 13 to the common CCU device 4. From the output buffer 14, a common standard video signal is formed into a common CCU. By performing signal processing in the device 4, a standard video signal can be generated.

The second CCD driver 3B has a structure as shown in FIG. Differences from the first CCD driver 3A will be described. A synchronization signal generation circuit 9 that generates a synchronization signal for the CCD for the second electronic endoscope 2B, and a drive pulse generation circuit 10B that generates a drive signal dedicated to the small CCD based on the synchronization signal from the synchronization signal generation circuit 9. Interpolation / enlargement circuit 1 for interpolating and enlarging the image signal read from the CCD
5 and. However, since the CCD driver 3B is a CCD having a small size and a small number of pixels, 2-line reading is not performed, and therefore the 2-line addition circuit 12 is not provided. Other than that, the configuration is similar to that of the first CCD driver 3A.

Next, the structure of the common CCU unit 4 is shown in FIG. An input buffer 16 for buffering digital signals output from various CCD drivers 3A or 3B, and a light control circuit 17 for calculating a video signal level from the video signal from the input buffer circuit 16 and calculating a control signal for light control.
Common CCU device 4 and CCD drivers 3A, 3B
A synchronization signal generation circuit 18 for generating the timing signal of
A γ conversion circuit 19 for γ converting the digital signal of the input buffer, a synchronization memory 20 for synchronizing the color signals read out in time series, and a color shift that occurs when the subject or the endoscope moves. Color shift prevention circuit 21, an edge enhancement circuit 22 for enhancing sharpness by emphasizing the edge portion of the video signal output from the synchronization memory 21, and patient data input for inputting data of a patient under observation. A circuit 23, a superimpose circuit 24 for synthesizing the input patient data and the observed image, and a D / D for converting the image synthesized by the superimpose circuit 24 into an analog image signal so that the image can be observed. It is composed of an A converter circuit 25 and an output buffer circuit 26 for outputting a video signal to the TV monitor 6.

The operation of the first embodiment will be described below.
Since the first electronic endoscope 2A is provided with a high-resolution CCD, the scope has a large outer diameter, but it is used for the digestive tract because fine lesions can be detected. This electronic endoscope 2A
Has a large number of pixels due to its high resolution, and is driven by a dedicated CCD driver 3A that simultaneously reads two lines.

As shown in FIG. 2A, the CCD driver 3A synchronizes with the common CCU device 4 by synchronizing with the common CCU device 4 by applying a PLL with the sync signal from the common CCU device 4 to generate a PLL. Let This CCD driver 3A
CCD based on the synchronizing signal of the synchronizing signal generating circuit 9 in the CCD
The circuits of the driver 3A are synchronized. The drive pulse generation circuit 10A is based on the synchronization signal of the synchronization signal generation circuit 9,
By generating a drive signal dedicated to the high resolution CCD, the CCD provided in the electronic scope 2A is driven.

The preamplifier 11 removes noise and amplifies the video signal from the CCD driven by the drive pulse generation circuit 10A. The output from the preamplifier 11 is combined with the video signals for two lines by the two-line addition circuit 12. Since the two-line addition circuit 12 has a large number of pixels of the electronic endoscope 2A, in order to perform high-speed reading, the information for one line is divided into two lines to reproduce the read video signal. It is provided. The video signal combined by the 2-line addition circuit 12 is converted into digital data by the A / D converter 13, and then output from the output buffer circuit 14 to the common CCU device 4.

On the other hand, the CCD driver 3B is a small CCD
The Bronco electronic endoscope 2B is driven by the drive pulse generation circuit 10B that generates a dedicated drive signal. The video signal from the CCD is amplified by the preamplifier 11 like the CCD driver 3A. Next, unlike the CCD driver 3A, since the electronic endoscope 2B has a small number of pixels and a 2-line addition circuit is not necessary, the A / D converter 13 converts it into digital data. The image signal of the small CCD converted into digital data has a small number of pixels and the display area is smaller than that of the high resolution CCD. Therefore, the display area is interpolated and enlarged by the interpolation / enlargement circuit 15 in order to align the display area. The alignment output buffer 14 converts the video signal into a video signal of a certain standard (for example, a digital video signal synchronized with the synchronization signal of the common CCU device 4) and outputs the video signal to the common CCU device 4.

The common CCU unit 4 receives the digitized video signal from the dedicated CCD driver 3A or 3B at the input buffer 16 and performs the γ conversion for displaying on the TV monitor 6 at the γ conversion circuit 19. .. The RGB video signals input in time series are synchronized by the synchronization memory 20. Here, since the field-sequential endoscope forms one set of images from RGB video signals captured in time series,
Since a color shift occurs when the subject moves, the color shift correction circuit 21 corrects this color shift. The edge-enhanced circuit 22 enhances the edge of the video signal whose color shift has been corrected to improve the sharpness.

In the superimpose circuit 24, the patient data input from the patient data input circuit 23 and the edge-enhanced image in the edge enhance circuit 22 are combined. The endoscopic image screen-synthesized by the superimposing circuit 24 is converted into an analog signal by the D / A converter circuit 25 and output to the TV monitor 6 via the output buffer 26.

As described above, by dividing into a circuit dedicated to various CCDs and a circuit common to various CCDs, a circuit configuration corresponding to all dedicated CCDs for each adaptive site such as digestive tract and bronchus Without any special CCD
An endoscope system that can be used is constructed.

A small CCD for observing the Bronco
It can be configured with a dedicated driver 3B and a common CCU device 4, and for digestive tract observation, it is configured with a driver 3A dedicated to the high resolution CCD and a common CCU device 4, so various CCs
Since it is not necessary to provide drivers for all CCDs in advance so that D can be used, the system is inexpensively constructed. or,
The system configuration can be easily changed when the type of electronic endoscope used increases. The output signal from the dedicated CCD driver may be analog data instead of digital data.

Further, the circuit configurations of the dedicated CCD driver and the common CCU device are not limited to the above-mentioned configuration examples, and various CCs can be used.
A circuit peculiar to D may be provided in the CCD driver, and a commonly usable processing circuit may be configured as a common CCU device.

FIG. 4 shows a common C in the second embodiment of the present invention.
The structure of the CU apparatus 4 is shown. The CCU device 4 includes an image recording device 27 for recording the video signal edge-enhanced by the edge enhancing circuit 22 in the common CCU device 4 shown in FIG. 3, and a search data input device 28 for searching the recorded image. Have.

Further, the superimposing circuit 24 synthesizes the video signal from the image recording device 27 or the edge enhancing circuit 22 and the patient data from the patient data input circuit 23. In this embodiment, the image filing device 29 is commonly used. Other configurations are similar to those of the first embodiment.

Next, the operation of the second embodiment will be described. The video signal output from the edge enhancement circuit 22 is combined with the patient data input from the patient data input circuit 23 at the superimposing circuit 24 at the time of observation, and D /
It is A-converted and observed on the TV monitor 6. At the time of recording on the observation image, the video signal from the edge enhancement circuit 22 is recorded on the image recording device 27 together with the patient data. When the recorded data is reproduced and desired to be observed, the search data is input from the search data input circuit 2 and the image recording device 2
The video recorded in 7 is output.

The second embodiment has the same effect as that of the first embodiment, and also shares the image filing device 29, so that the circuit can be simplified and the system can be constructed at a low cost. In addition, high-quality filing is possible because digital data is recorded as it is.

The filing unit and the CCU device may be separately configured. Further, the present invention is not limited to the system using the field sequential illumination and image pickup means, and may be a simultaneous system or may be configured as a mixed system of the frame sequential system and the simultaneous system. ..

By the way, in each of the above-described embodiments, the electronic endoscope 2A crotch 2B is exchanged and used for every 2B depending on how it is used. Next, a description will be given of a part of the electronic endoscope, for example, a part that can be used as an electronic endoscope suitable for the application by replacing the insertion part. The electronic endoscope 51 shown in FIG. 5 allows a plurality of insertion parts 52a, 52b, ... To be mounted, and has a screw part 53 provided at the base end of the insertion part 52i (i = a, b, ...). The connecting ring 54 screwed together is the operation unit 5.
It is provided at the front end of No. 5.

A universal cable 56 extends from one side of the operating portion 55, and an angle knob 57 is provided on the other side. Further, the operation unit 55 is also provided with various switches 58 and the like.

On the other hand, the insertion portion 52i has a hard tip portion 6
1, a curved portion 62 and a flexible tube portion 63. FIG. 6 shows the connection in detail. From the insertion portion 52i side, the right guide rod 65, the up / down bending angle wire fixing portion (only one pair is shown) 66, the right / left bending angle wire fixing portion (only one pair is shown) 67, A CCD driver signal, a sync signal, and a read signal connector pin 68 are provided in a protruding manner, and further, a CCD
There is provided a model identification means 69 for indicating the type or model of the above.

The operation portion 55 has an angle wire fixing portion 66.
There is provided a wire fixing portion receiving portion 71 (only one of the pair is shown in the figure) connected thereto, and an up / down angle stopper position adjusting screw 72 is provided. Similarly, a wire fixing portion receiving portion connected to the angle wire fixing portion 67 and a right / left angle stopper position adjusting screw 74 are provided.

Further, a connector pin receiving portion 75 connected to the connector pin 68 and a detecting means 76 for identifying the model from the model identifying means 69 are also provided. Furthermore, a connection part with the light guide rod 65, a suction channel (not shown),
A connection connector for the air / water supply device is also provided. Since it is sufficient to replace only the insertion portion 52i in this way, the cost can be reduced as compared with the case where the entire electronic endoscope is provided according to the application.

In the example of FIG. 5 or 6, the manual bending mechanism is used, but in the case of the electric angle system, as shown in FIG. 7, the detection information of the detection means 76 for detecting the CCD type or model is used. It is also possible to input to the angle control circuit 82 in the electric angle control device 81, determine the maximum rotation amount of the bending drive motor 83 according to this detection information, and realize the angle angle determined for each model.

[0032]

As described above, according to the present invention, in an endoscope system for picking up an image of a subject with an image pickup device, a plurality of signal processing units provided independently corresponding to image pickup devices having different specifications. And a video signal processing unit that is connectable to each of the plurality of signal processing units and that generates a video signal based on the output signal of the signal processing unit. It can be easily used by using parts. So depending on the scope the user is trying to use,
The system can be selected so that the system configuration can be adapted to the scope the user intends to use. Further, since the video signal processing unit can be used in common for scopes having different specifications, the system cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an endoscope system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a CCD driver.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a common CCU device.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a common CCU device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a side view showing an endoscope in which an insertion portion can be replaced.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a connecting portion between the insertion portion and the operation portion.

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram showing a part of an electric angle type endoscope.

[Description of Reference Signs] 1A, 1B ... System 2A, 2B ... Electronic endoscope 3A, 3B ... CCD driver 4 ... Common CCU device 5 ... Light source device 6 ... TV monitor 8 ... PLL circuit 10A, 10B ... Driving pulse generation circuit 11 ... Preamplifier 12 ... 2-line adder circuit 13 ... A / D converter

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Yoshihiro Okada 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Inside Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Hiroyuki Sasa 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Katsuyuki Saito 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Seiji Yamaguchi 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Olympus Optical Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An endoscope system for picking up an image of a subject with an image pickup device, comprising a plurality of signal processing units independently provided corresponding to image pickup devices of different specifications, and the plurality of signal processing units, respectively. An endoscope system comprising: a video signal processing unit that is connectable and that generates a video signal based on an output signal of the signal processing unit.