JPH0530422A - Picture synthesizer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To send a picture to a remote location in real time through a conventional telephone line or the like by synthesizing a new picture data with a preceding picture data. CONSTITUTION:An object is arranged to a scanning stage 5 of a microscope 1 and a picture picked up by a TV camera 2 is stored in a picture memory 4. A scanning stage controller 6 changes the relative position between the object and the TV camera 2. A host computer 8 detects a quantity corresponding to the moving quantity of the object image. A picture transmitter 10 detects a picture part appearing newly in the picture after movement based on the moving quantity and sends the data of the new picture and the moving quantity to a picture transmitter 11. A picture synthesis memory 12 fetches the data of the new picture and the moving quantity from the picture transmitter 11 and synthesizes the picture data before the movement and the data of the new picture based on the moving quantity and displays the result onto a monitor 13 as the picture after the movement.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image synthesizing apparatus used in an image transmitting apparatus, an image recording / reproducing apparatus or the like to generate a target image after change.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Image data generally has a large amount of data,
When recording, a lot of storage capacity is required,
Moreover, when transmitting image data, a high-speed transmitting means is required, and when using a normal transmitting means, much time is required. Therefore, it has been difficult to transmit images in real time using a low-speed transmission means such as a telephone line.

As an image transmission device for transmitting the above-mentioned image, for example, a device for transmitting so-called microscope image to a distant place and performing so-called "telepathology" (remote pathological diagnosis) in which a specialist looks at the image and performs pathological diagnosis There is. In this telepathology system, to transmit the image to a distant place,
Since a high-speed transmission means is required, conventionally, the entire image is transmitted using a communication satellite or a high-speed digital line.

[0004]

However, in the case of transmitting an image using a telepathology system or the like, the communication satellite requires a large amount of charge and at the same time requires a large-scale facility. However, the usage fee was high, and at the same time, it was not possible to use it in places such as remote islands and remote areas where telepathology was most needed. In addition, when transmission is performed using a normal telephone line or ISDN, it takes time to transmit as described above, and there is a problem that image transmission cannot be performed in real time.

Further, in the above-mentioned image transmitting apparatus and image recording / reproducing apparatus, in order to reduce the amount of image data to be transmitted or recorded, a method of compressing the data by an image compression means is generally used. .. However, when it is necessary to reduce the amount of data to be transmitted or recorded, or when the image data that cannot be compressed is transmitted or recorded, it takes a long time to transmit or a large amount of data is required to record. Problems such as the need for recording capacity occur.

The present invention has been made in view of these circumstances, and an image capable of obtaining a target image with a small amount of data can be obtained by synthesizing the previous image data and the image data of the new portion. It is intended to provide a synthesizer.

[0007]

An image synthesizing apparatus according to the present invention comprises a relative position changing means for changing the relative position of a subject and an image pickup means in a direction perpendicular to an optical axis of the image pickup means, and an output of the image pickup means. Image movement amount detection means for detecting an amount corresponding to the movement amount of the subject image moved by the relative position change in the image, image storage means for storing the image before the relative position change, and output of the image movement amount detection means A new image extracting means for detecting a newly appearing image portion in the output image of the imaging means after the relative position change, and an image stored in the image storing means according to the output of the image movement amount detecting means. Image position shifting means for shifting the position of the image position, and image synthesizing means for synthesizing the image after the relative position change from the output of the image position shifting means and the output of the new image extracting means. .

[0008]

The relative position changing means changes the relative position between the subject and the image pickup means in the direction perpendicular to the optical axis of the image pickup means. The image before the relative position change is stored by the image storage means. The image movement amount detection means detects an amount corresponding to the movement amount of the subject image moved due to the relative position change in the output image of the image pickup means. The new image extracting means detects the newly appearing image portion in the image output means output image after the relative position change based on the output of the image movement amount detecting means. The image position shift means shifts the position of the image stored in the image storage means according to the output of the image movement amount detection means. Then, the image synthesizing unit synthesizes the image after the relative position change from the output of the image position shifting unit and the output of the new image extracting unit.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 6 relate to a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image transmitting apparatus including an image synthesizing apparatus, and FIG. 2 is a block showing a configuration of an image synthesizing memory 12 in FIG. 3, FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an imaging area of a subject image, FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing image addresses in the image memory 4 of FIG. 1, and FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing image addresses in the image memory A24 of FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing image addresses on the image memory B25 of FIG.

The present embodiment is an example applied to an image transmission device for transmitting a microscope image to perform telepathology. A TV camera 2 as an image pickup means is connected to an eyepiece of the microscope 1 for observing a subject. C for TV camera 2
The CU 3 is connected, the image signal is sent to the image memory 4 via the CCU 3, and the image data of the subject image is stored in the image memory 4. Further, the microscope 1 is provided with a scanning stage 5 on which a sample as a subject is placed.

Under the control of the scanning stage controller 6, the scanning stage 5 is moved in the direction perpendicular to the optical axis of the optical system of the microscope 1 (this is the Z direction) (this is the XY direction). ing. That is, the scanning stage 5 and the scanning stage controller 6 serve as a relative position changing means for the sample and the T.
By changing the relative position with respect to the V camera 2, it is possible to move the area of the subject image captured by the TV camera 2. In addition, AF (auto focus) is used for the microscope 1.
A device 7 is connected, and the AF device 7 keeps the Z direction of the scanning stage 5 at the focal position of the sample via the focusing mechanism of the microscope 1.

The scanning stage controller 6 is connected to a host computer 8 which outputs position coordinate data for moving the scanning stage 5 and detects a moved region of a subject image. Further, a magnification detection device 9 for detecting the magnification of the microscope 1 is connected to the microscope 1, and the magnification data of the optical system of the microscope 1 is output to the host computer 8. The host computer 8 detects the non-common portion of the subject image after the movement based on the magnification data and the coordinate data as the image movement amount detection means, and outputs it to the image transmission device 10 as movement area data. Is becoming

The image transmitting apparatus 10, as a new image extracting means, takes in the image data of the non-common portion from the image memory 4 based on the movement area data output from the host computer 8, and the non-common portion with these movement area data. And the image data of the above are transmitted to the image receiving device 11. Here, it is assumed that a general public telephone line is used as the transmission means. The image receiving device 11 is connected to an image synthesizing memory 12 for synthesizing the image data before the movement and the image data of the non-common portion after the movement based on the movement area data. The moved image combined in the image combining memory 12 is displayed on the monitor 13.

The image synthesizing memory 12 is constructed as shown in FIG. In the image composition memory 12, a buffer memory 21 for temporarily storing the image data input from the image receiving device 11, and as image position shift means and image composition means, image composition and the like are controlled based on the moving area data. A controller 22 is provided. The image data stored in the buffer memory 21 is stored in the image memory A 24 or the image memory B via the input selector 23. That is, one image memory stores the image data before the movement, and the other image memory stores the image data of the non-common portion after the movement.
In the other image memory, the images after the movement are combined under the control of the controller 22, and the image data after the movement is selected by the output selector 26 and output to the monitor 13.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.
A sample, which is a subject, is set on the scanning stage 5 of the microscope 1. The image of the subject is magnified by the optical system of the microscope 1 and formed on the image pickup surface of the TV camera 2. The image formed on the imaging surface of the TV camera 2 is converted into an electric signal by the TV camera 2 and the CCU 3 and stored in the image memory 4.

When observing the area around the imaged subject image, the moving coordinates are set in the host computer 8.
Then, the scanning stage controller 6 moves the scanning stage 5 to store the image data of the moved subject image in the image memory 4. The scanning stage controller 6 is a host computer 8
The scanning stage 5 is moved to the designated coordinates based on the XY coordinate data from. At this time, the magnification detection device 9 outputs magnification data of the optical system of the microscope 1 to the host computer 8.

The host computer 8 includes a magnification detecting device 9
Magnification data output from the TV camera 2
The non-common portion of the image is detected from the image pickup area and the XY coordinate change before and after the movement of the scanning stage 5, and is output to the image transmission device 10 as movement area data. The image transmitting device 10 takes in the image data of the non-common portion from the image memory 4 based on the moving region data, and sends the moving region data and the image data of the non-common portion to the image receiving device 11.

The image receiving device 11 supplies the input moving area data and image data to the image synthesizing memory 12. The image synthesizing memory 12 synthesizes the image data before the movement and the newly input image data on the basis of the movement area data, and outputs the synthesized image to the monitor 13 as the image after the movement, and the image after the movement on the monitor 13. Is displayed.

Next, with reference to FIGS. 2 to 6, a detailed description will be given of image composition. In FIG. 3, a region indicated by a chain line is a subject when the entire subject is imaged on the plane including the image pickup surface of the TV camera 2 (hereinafter referred to as an image pickup plane) at the same magnification as the optical system magnification of the microscope 1. This is an area that is supposed to be an image.

In FIG. 3, (0,0), (m, 0),
A solid line area surrounded by (m, n) and (0, n) is a subject image on the imaging plane which is captured by the TV camera 2 before the scanning stage 5 is moved. Equivalent to. Also, (Δm, Δn), (m + Δm, Δ
n), (m + Δm, n + Δn), and (Δm, n + Δn) are the object images on the imaging plane imaged by the TV camera 2 after the stage is moved, and are slightly deviated from the solid line area. It is an area. Therefore, (Δm,
n), (m + Δm, n), (m + Δm, n + Δn),
A region surrounded by (Δm, n + Δn), and (m, Δ
n), (m + Δm, Δn), (m + Δm, n), (m,
The area surrounded by n) is the non-common portion (hatched portion in FIG. 3).

Here, assuming that the XY coordinate change amounts before and after the movement of the scanning stage 5 are Δx and Δy, respectively, the following relationship is established. Δm = β × Δx, Δn = β × Δy (1) In the equation (1), β is the magnification of the optical system of the microscope 1.
Therefore, the host computer 8 uses the magnification data β from the magnification detection device 9 and the change amounts Δx, Δy of the XY coordinate data output to the scanning stage controller 6 to move the scanning stage 5 to obtain an image by the equation (1). It is possible to calculate the movement amounts Δm and Δn of the imaging area of the TV camera 2 on the plane. This movement amount Δ
By determining m and Δn, the non-common area is detected.

The image address on the image memory 4 is as shown in FIG. The pixels on the image pickup surface of the TV camera 2 and the image addresses on the image memory 4 have a one-to-one correspondence, and the following relationship is established. M = k × m, ΔM = k × Δm, N = k × n, ΔN = k × Δn (2) Here, k is a constant number. Therefore, in FIG.
(0, N-ΔN), (M, N-ΔN), (M, N),
A region surrounded by (0, N), and (M−ΔM, 0),
(M, 0), (M, N-ΔN), (M-ΔM, N-Δ
The area surrounded by N) is the image data of the non-common portion (hatched portion in FIG. 4). That is, the area of this non-common portion can be represented by calculating the values of ΔM and ΔN.

Therefore, the host computer 8 (1)
Equation (2) is used to calculate ΔM and ΔN, and the image transmission device 10
Output as moving area data. Image transmission device 10
Recognizes the address of the image data of the non-common portion described above from the moving area data ΔM and ΔN, and loads the image data of this address from the image memory 4. Then, the moving area data ΔM and ΔN and the image data of the non-common portion are converted to a general public telephone line by a high-speed modem or the like and output to the image receiving device 11. The image reception device 11 inversely converts these data and outputs them to the image synthesis memory 12.

The operation of the image synthesizing memory 12 is shown in FIGS.
Will be described. 5 shows the image address of the image memory A24, and FIG. 6 shows the image address of the image memory B25. Here, for the sake of explanation, it is assumed that an image before moving is stored in the image memory A24 and a new image after moving is combined in the image memory B25.

First, immediately after the image transmission apparatus shown in FIG. 1 starts to operate, while the scanning stage 5 is stationary, the image is captured by the TV camera 2, stored in the image memory 4, and transmitted from the image transmission apparatus 10. The acquired image data is
The image is received by the image receiving device 11 and stored in the buffer memory 21. At this time, the input selector 23 is set so as to input the output of the buffer memory 21 to the image memory A24, and the image memory A24 has the buffer memory 2
Image 1 is copied. Further, the output selector 26 is
In the initial state, the output of the image memory A24 is monitored 13
The monitor 13 observes the image stored in the image memory A24.

If the scanning stage 5 remains stationary, the host computer 8 controls the image transmitting apparatus 10 not to transmit the image data, so that the image receiving apparatus 11 transmits the image data. No output. As a result, the controller 22 maintains the above state.

Next, when the scanning stage 5 is moved by a command from the host computer 8, the host computer 8 changes the moving speed of the scanning stage 5 between successive frame images obtained from the TV camera 2 with a time difference of 1/30 seconds. , Move the stage so that the speed is as follows. | ΔM | <(M / δ), | ΔN | <(N / λ) δ = 2 to several tens, λ = 2 to several tens (3) Normally, it is desired to move the scanning stage 5 from the entire subject. Most of the time, we are looking for a part, and even if we move the stage at a moving speed that satisfies the condition of Eq. (3), it is not too slow. The larger the values of δ and λ, that is, the slower the moving speed of the scanning stage, the smaller the amount of data in the non-common area, and thus the smaller the amount of image data transmitted after moving.

When the scanning stage 5 starts moving, of the image data stored in the image memory 4, only the image data in the non-common area between consecutive frames is extracted and transmitted from the image transmitting device 10, and the image receiving device 11 receives it. Be received. The image data of the non-common area is temporarily stored in the buffer memory 21. The moving area data ΔM and ΔN indicating the size of the non-common area are also sent to the controller 22 via the image transmitting apparatus 10 and the image receiving apparatus 11.

The controller 22 refers to these moving area data ΔM and ΔN and refers to the area 27a indicated by hatching in FIG. 5 among the image data stored in the image memory A24.
Image data is transferred to the area of the lower left diagonal line on the image address of the image memory B25 shown in FIG. After that, the input selector 23 is switched to the image memory B25 side, and the image data in the non-common area is transferred from the buffer memory 21 to the area 27b indicated by the lower right diagonal line in FIG. As a result, the image before the movement and the image in the non-common area due to the movement are combined in the image memory B25, and the image after the movement is formed. Then, the output selector 26 is switched to the image memory B25 side, and the image in the image memory B25 is output to the monitor 13. As a result, the moved image is displayed on the monitor 13. When the image before moving is stored in the image memory B25, the transfer direction of the image data and the switching between the input selector 23 and the output selector 26 are the reverse of those described above.

By continuously performing the above operation, the moving image can be observed on the receiving side only by sending the image data of the non-common area. In the microscopic observation, the observation part is changed by moving the stage, but in this embodiment, the image is synthesized by utilizing the characteristic that the observation part moves in parallel. That is, only the part newly appearing by the stage movement is transmitted, the common part with the image before the movement is not transmitted, and the image before the movement already transmitted is used, and the common part and the new part are separated. An image after movement is generated by combining.

As described above, according to this embodiment, by combining the previous image data and the image data in the non-common area to generate the current image data, the data in which only the image data in the non-common area is small is generated. A subject image can be obtained by simply transmitting the amount. That is, since it is not necessary to transmit the entire image, the amount of data to be transmitted can be reduced. As a result, it becomes possible to transmit in real time images of moving observation parts by using ordinary telephone lines or general ISDN without using expensive communication satellites or high-speed digital lines, and from remote islands or remote areas. The telepathology of can be realized.

7 and 8 relate to the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an image transmission device including an image synthesizing device, and FIG. 8 shows image addresses in the entire image storage memory. FIG.

As shown in FIG. 7, this embodiment is an example applied to an image transmission device for transmitting an image on a slide film. The slide film 31 on which an endoscopic image or the like is recorded is a moving motor 32 including a pulse motor or the like.
It can be moved in both left and right directions by A and 32B. The slide film 31 is illuminated by the light emitted from the lamp 34 by the lamp power supply 33 and condensed by the condenser lens 35, and is imaged by the TV camera 36. The output of the TV camera 36 is A / D by the A / D converter 37.
Switches that are converted and consist of semiconductor switches, etc. (1)
38 and the b terminal of the switch (2) 43.

The terminal a of the switch (1) 38 is the image memory A.
39A, the b terminal is connected to the image memory B39B, and the outputs of these image memories 39A and 39B are composed of a movement amount detecting means 41 composed of an inter-image correlation arithmetic circuit, a digital counter and a digital comparator, etc. It is supplied to the designated area extracting means 40. The output of the movement amount detecting means 41 is the designated area extracting means 40.
And the image movement amount transmitting means 42 including a high-speed modem and the like. The output of the designated area extracting means 40 is a switch
(2) It is supplied to the a terminal of 43. Further, the image movement amount transmitting means 42 transmits the movement amount data to the image movement amount receiving means 48 on the distant place B side via a public telephone line or the like.
The output end of the image movement amount receiving means 48 is connected to the memory address control means 49 including a digital counter and a digital adder. The memory address control means 49 is connected to the address input of the entire image storage memory 50 composed of a dual port memory or the like. The data output of the entire image storage memory 50 is input to the monitor 52 via the D / A converter 51.

On the other hand, the common terminal of the switch (2) 43 is DC
It is connected to an image compression means 44 composed of a dedicated IC or the like for executing a T (discrete cosine transform) algorithm, and the output of this image compression means 44 is supplied to an image transmission means 45 composed of a high speed modem or the like. It has become so. The image transmitting means 45 transmits the image data to the image receiving means 53 on the side of the place B via a public telephone line or the like. The output of the image receiving means 53 is supplied to an image expanding means 54 composed of an IC or the like which executes IDCT (Inverse Discrete Cosine Transform) at high speed, and the output end of the image expanding means 54 is the whole image. Storage memory 50
Connected to the data input of.

A film movement command means 56 composed of a joystick switch or the like is provided on the side of the place B, and a film movement command transmission means 5 composed of a modem or the like.
Connected to 5. This film movement command transmitting means 5
The output of 5 is a film movement command receiving means 47 composed of a modem or the like installed on the location A side via a public telephone line or the like.
Is transmitted to the controller 46, and its output is input to the controller 46 including a microprocessor or the like.
The controller 46 is connected to the control terminals of the moving motors 32A and 32B, the switch (1) 38, the switch (2) 43, and the signal output terminal of the TV camera 36.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.
Immediately after operating the image transmission device of FIG. 7, the controller 46 does not drive the moving motors 32A and 32B,
The slide film 31 is stationary. Here, for simplicity of explanation, it is assumed that the position of the slide film 31 is set at a position where its end is imaged by the TV camera 36.

In this state, the image of the slide film 31 taken by the TV camera 36 is converted into digital data by the A / D converter 37, and the image compression means 44 is supplied through the b terminal and the common terminal of the switch (2) 43. Entered in. The image compression means 44 compresses the image data by a fraction such as DCT to several tenths and supplies it to the image transmission means 45. The image transmitting means 45 converts the input data into a sound signal,
Send to public telephone line. Then, the compressed image data sent to the place B side through the public telephone line is demodulated from the audio signal to the digital signal by the image receiving means 53,
The image expansion unit 54 performs processing such as ICDT and restores the original image data. This image data is stored in area 1 in FIG. 8A in the entire image storage memory 50 under the control of the memory address control means 49. FIG. 8 shows image addresses in the entire image storage memory 50. The hatched area in FIG. 8A is periodically read at the video rate, converted into a video signal by the D / A converter 51, and displayed on the monitor 52. That is,
On the place B side, a still image of the end portion of the slide film 31 placed on the place A side is observed by the monitor 52.

Next, when the operator on the side of the place B uses the film movement instructing means 56 to instruct the forward movement of the film, this instruction is sent to the film movement transmitting means 55 as a digital signal. The film movement command transmitting means 55 converts the digital signal into a voice signal and transmits it to the film movement instruction receiving means 47 on the side of the place A via the public telephone line. The film movement command receiving means 47 returns the received audio signal to a digital signal and sends it to the controller 46. The controller 46 decodes a digital signal that means a film movement command, and drives the movement motors 32A and 32B according to the command. As a result, the slide film 31 is sequentially fed.

Immediately before driving the moving motors 32A and 32B, the controller 46 sets the switch (1) 38 to the a side and the switch (2) 43 to the a side. Therefore, the frame image immediately after the moving motors 32A and 32B are driven and the slide film 31 starts to be sequentially fed is stored in the image memory A39A. Next, the controller 46 switches the switch (1) 38 to the b side immediately before the start of the next frame, so that the second frame image signal is stored in the image memory B39B. At this time, the controller 4
Since the output of the TV camera 36 is input to 6, the frame timing can be easily detected.

The images stored in the image memories 39A and 39B are continuous two-frame images. The movement amount detecting means 41 obtains the image correlation between the two pieces of image data, calculates the movement amount of the image, and sends them to the image movement amount transmitting means 42 and the designated area extracting means 40. The designated area extracting means 40 extracts the non-common area designated by the movement amount, that is, the area of the image newly appearing in the image pickup area of the TV camera 36 by the movement of the slide film 31. Switch the image data of the extracted non-common area
(2) It is input to the image compression means 44 via the terminal a of 43.

Further, the image movement amount transmitting means 42 converts the movement amount into a voice signal and transmits it to the location B via the public telephone line.
It is sent to the image movement amount receiving means 48 on the side. The image movement amount receiving means 48 restores the audio signal to the original image movement amount data and inputs it to the memory address control means 49.

On the other hand, the image data of the non-common area input to the image compression means 44 is compressed to a data amount of a fraction to a few tenths by the processing such as DCT, and the image transmission means 4
5 is converted into an audio signal. This audio signal is sent to the place B via a public telephone line or the like, and the image receiving means 53 on the side of the place B returns the audio signal to the original compressed image signal. This compressed image signal is subjected to processing such as IDCT by the image decompression means 54 and is returned to the original image data of the non-common area. Then, this image data is stored by the memory address control means 49 in an area (area 2 in FIG. 8A) in which the address is shifted in the entire image storage memory 50 by a value corresponding to the image moving amount.

In the next frame, the switch (1) 38 is again set to the a terminal side, and the image of the third frame is stored in the image memory A39A. Then, the non-common area is extracted from the image of the second frame already stored in the image memory B39B. Subsequent operations are similar to those in the case of the second frame, but in the entire image storage memory 50, the address is stored at a position further shifted according to the image movement amount (area 3 in FIG. 8A). ).

Thereafter, the same operation is repeated while the slide film is moving.

When the slide film 31 is moved from one end to the other, all the images on the slide film 31 are stored in the entire image storage memory 50. Here, in the case where the slide film 31 is reversely fed or the reverse feeding and the forward feeding are arbitrarily performed, it is no longer necessary to transmit the image from the location A to the location B, and as shown in FIG.
As shown in (c), the image of the area corresponding to the movement amount is displayed only by shifting the address read from the entire image storage memory 50.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, by combining the image data of one frame before and the image data of the non-common area to generate the current image data, only the image data of the non-common area is generated. A subject image can be obtained by simply transmitting a small amount of data. That is, since it is not necessary to transmit the entire image, the amount of data to be transmitted can be reduced. As a result, an image in which the observation part is moving can be transmitted in real time by a normal telephone line or a general ISDN without using an expensive communication satellite or high-speed digital line. Further, since the image transmitted to the position corresponding to the amount of movement on the entire image storage memory 50 is stored, when the subject is reversely fed, or when the reverse feed and the forward feed are arbitrarily performed, a new image is added. It is possible to display an image of a desired area on a subject without transmitting image data to the device.

In this embodiment, the image transmitting means 45 on the place A side, the image moving amount transmitting means 42, the film moving command receiving means 47 and the image receiving means 53 on the place B side, the image moving amount receiving means 48, the film moving means. Although the command transmitting means 55 are independent of each other, they may be combined into one, one modem may be prepared at each of the locations A and B, and various data may be multiplexed and transmitted / received.

Although the public telephone line is used as the transmission means in this embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this, and an ISDN or a LAN transmission line using a twisted pair line, a coaxial cable, an optical fiber or the like may be used. .. In this case, the digital data may be converted into an audio signal and transmitted, or may be transmitted without being converted.

9 and 10 relate to the third embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an image transmission device including an image synthesizing device, and FIG. 10 shows the reading of image data from the image memory 88. It is an explanatory view explaining.

As shown in FIG. 9, this embodiment is an example applied to an image transmission device for transmitting an image on a slide film as in the second embodiment. A roller A76A and a roller B76B which are made of rubber or the like so as to sandwich the slide film 71.
Are arranged. The roller B76B is pressed by the spring 77 so as to urge the slide film 71, and the roller A7 is moved according to the movement of the slide film 71.
6A and roller B76B are adapted to rotate. A rotary encoder 78 including an optical encoder or the like is connected to the roller B76B and sends a pulse corresponding to the rotation amount of the roller B76B to the controller 84.

The controller 84 is connected with the image movement amount transmitting means 83, the image transmitting means 82, the film movement command receiving means 85, and the movement motors 72A and 72B, which are pulse motors and the like. There is.

Further, the output of the TV camera 79 is inputted to the image compression means 81 constituted by a DCT dedicated IC or the like via the A / D converter 80. The output of the image compressing means 81 is supplied to the image transmitting means 82, and the output thereof is sent to the image receiving means 90 provided on the side of the place B via a public telephone line or the like. The output of the image receiving means 90 is I
It is inputted to the image expansion means 91 composed of a DCT dedicated IC or the like, and the output of the image expansion means 91 is supplied to the image memory 88 composed of a dual port semiconductor memory or the like and connected in a ring buffer form. There is. Others are the same as those in the second embodiment.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.
Before the operation of the film movement command means 92 is started, the slide film 71 is stationary, the image of the slide film 71 taken by the TV camera 79 is converted by the A / D converter 80, and the image compression means 81 performs DCT or the like. The data amount is reduced by the processing of 1 and is sent to the image transmitting means 82. The image transmitting means 82 transmits the compressed image data to the image receiving means 90 installed in the place B via a public telephone line or the like. The image data received by the image receiving means 90 is subjected to processing such as IDCT by the image expanding means 91 and reproduced as an original image. Then, this image data is stored in the image memory 88.

Next, when the operator issues a command to move the slide film 71 in the forward direction by means of the film movement command means 92, the command is sent to the film movement command transmission means 93 and sent through a public telephone line or the like. It is transmitted to the film movement command receiving means 85 at the location A. The received film movement command is sent to the controller 84. The controller 84 drives the moving motors 72A and 72B in response to the film moving command to move the slide film 71.
Forward. Then roller A76A, roller B76B
Rotates according to the amount of movement of the slide film 71, and a predetermined pulse is output from the rotary encoder 78 to the controller 84.

The controller 84 counts this pulse, calculates the amount of movement between the first frame image after movement and the image before movement, and sends this amount of movement to the image movement amount transmission means 83. At the same time, the image transmitting means 82 is controlled based on the movement amount, and the compressed image data of the new image portion appearing only in the first frame after the movement is sent to the image receiving means 90 via the public telephone line or the like. To transmit. The compressed image data received by the image receiving means 90 is restored to the original image data by the image expanding means 91 and supplied to the image memory 88.

On the other hand, the image movement amount transmitting means 83 transmits the movement amount to the image movement amount receiving means 86 via a public telephone line or the like.
The image movement amount receiving means 86 inputs the data of the movement amount to the memory address control means 87 composed of a microprocessor or the like. Memory address control means 87
Controls the write address of the image memory 88 based on the movement amount data, and writes the image data of the new image portion in an area where the TV camera 79 no longer takes an image due to the movement of the slide film 91. After that, the memory address control means 87 controls the read address of the image memory 88, and as shown in FIG. 10, the image data of the new image portion and the position in the image sent before the movement are shifted but moved. The image data also existing in the subsequent frame is combined and read out and displayed on the monitor 90 via the D / A converter 89.

In the same manner for the next and subsequent frames, the data in the image memory 88 is partially rewritten as shown in FIG. 10 while the address is shifted and read, and the composite image is displayed on the monitor 90.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the image data before the movement and the image data in the non-common area are shifted in position and combined to generate the image data after the movement. A subject image can be obtained by transmitting only a small amount of image data of the area. That is,
Since it is not necessary to transmit the entire image, it is possible to reduce the amount of data to be transmitted, and it is possible to transmit in real time an image in which the observation portion is moving by a normal telephone line or a general ISDN.

Although the slide film 71 is used as the subject in this embodiment, a microscope image may be used as in the first embodiment. In this case, the amount of movement of the stage may be detected by a linear encoder or the like. At this time, even if the images move in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction at the same time, it is possible to detect the amount of movement for each direction component and combine the images.

Further, instead of mechanically detecting the movement amount of the slide film 71, the relative position of the image data before and after the movement is electrically shifted to obtain a cross correlation,
A new image portion may be detected depending on the magnitude of the correlation value.

Further, as the film movement command means 92, not only an ON / OFF type switch but also a joystick capable of designating the movement speed is used, and the movement speed command is sent to the place A to make the slide film 71. It is also possible to control the moving speed of the.

Further, in synthesizing the images, the address for reading the image data from the image memory 88 is not shifted to shift the position of the image, but the image data itself is rewritten by utilizing the blanking period of the television signal or the like. You may shift it.

In the above embodiments, examples relating to a microscope image and a slide film have been shown, but the present invention is not limited to this, and an ultrasonic image, an X-ray image, a scintigram image, etc., and the image and the image pickup means move in parallel. Any device can be applied.

Although only the image transmission apparatus is shown in this embodiment, for example, an image recording / reproducing apparatus is provided in the configuration of this embodiment, and after recording the image in the initial state, only the non-common portion is recorded. It is also possible to obtain an image at a desired position by combining the recorded images with the image combining apparatus of the present invention. As a result, the amount of image data to be recorded can be reduced, and a larger number of images can be recorded.

[0066]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to obtain a desired image with a small amount of data by synthesizing the previous image data and the image data of the new portion. is there.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image transmission device including an image composition device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image synthesis memory 12 in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an imaging area of a subject image.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing image addresses on the image memory 4 of FIG.

5 is an explanatory diagram showing image addresses on the image memory A24 of FIG.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing image addresses on the image memory B25 of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image transmission device including an image composition device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing image addresses on the entire image storage memory.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image transmission device including an image composition device according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating reading of image data from the image memory 88.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Microscope 2 ... TV camera 4 ... Image memory 5 ... Scanning stage 6 ... Scanning stage controller 8 ... Host computer 10 ... Image transmitting device 11 ... Image receiving device 12 ... Image composition memory 13 ... Monitor

Front page continuation (72) Inventor Shinichiro Hattori 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Inside Olympus Optical Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

Claim: What is claimed is: 1. A relative position change means for changing the relative position between a subject and an image pickup means in a direction perpendicular to an optical axis of the image pickup means, and the relative position change in an output image of the image pickup means Image movement amount detection means for detecting an amount corresponding to the movement amount of the subject image moved by, image storage means for storing the image before the relative position change, and relative position based on the output of the image movement amount detection means. New image extracting means for detecting a newly appearing image portion in the changed image output means, and an image for shifting the position of the image stored in the image storing means according to the output of the image movement amount detecting means An image synthesizing device comprising: a position shifting unit; and an image synthesizing unit for synthesizing an image after a relative position change from the output of the image position shifting unit and the output of the new image extracting unit. Place