JPH0546157B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an endoscopic imaging device for effectively diagnosing an object with specific movement, such as a stomach.

A solid-state TV camera using a CCD displays the image of the subject on a monitor TV, and the operator photographs the displayed screen with the camera as needed to obtain a still image.
It is used for examinations of the stomach, etc. However, if the subject exhibits unusual movements, such as the stomach, the image seen on the TV monitor may not be obtained as a still image by camera photography. In particular, if the timing of pressing the camera's shutter release button is even slightly delayed, this tendency will further increase and may even interfere with medical examinations.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to produce a plurality of desired still images showing a series of movements of a subject exhibiting peculiar movements, such as the stomach, even if there is a slight delay in the timing of the release button operation. First, it is an object of the present invention to provide an endoscopic imaging device that is easily obtainable and that enables accurate and easy medical examinations.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the overall structure of an embodiment of the endoscopic photographing apparatus of the present invention. In the figure, a light source unit 10 includes a monitor TV 11, a universal cord 13 connected to a light emitting part 12, an operating part 14 of the endoscope, and an insertion part 15 connected to the operating part 14, which is connected to the light source unit 10. The light is guided to the distal end 16 through the light guide, and is emitted from the light emitting window 16a toward the inner wall of a subject (not shown), for example, the stomach.

The light reflected by the inner wall of the stomach is introduced into the image guide of the insertion section 15 through the light receiving window 16b, and is then introduced into the image guide of the insertion section 15.
4 is guided to a TV camera 18 via a TV adapter 17 attached to an eyepiece 19. TV camera 1
8 is constructed using a solid-state image sensor, for example, a CCD. The eyepiece section 19 is connected via the connector 20.
It is configured to be coupled to a TV adapter 17. A release signal generation button 21 for obtaining a still image, which will be described later, is provided below the screen of the monitor TV 11 of the light source unit 10.

Next, referring to FIG. 2, in this embodiment,
The circuit configuration of the TV shooting system will be explained. In the figure, a CCD 22 is installed in the TV camera 18 in FIG. 1, and is configured so that an optical image of the stomach wall, which is the subject, is incident on the light-receiving surface of the CCD 22. This CCD 22 is driven by a CCD control circuit 23 also provided in the TV camera 18. A TV signal corresponding to the incident optical image is obtained from the CCD 22, and this
A plurality of temporary image memories 24-1, 24-2...24 connected in parallel to the output end of the control circuit 23
−n respectively and to the main image memory 25. Temporary image memory 24-1...24-n
are each equivalent to one frame of TV image.
The main image memory 25 has a capacity to store signals, and the main image memory 25 has a capacity to sequentially store TV signals for multiple frames.

A control input terminal of each temporary image memory 24-1...24-n is connected to an output terminal of the timing control circuit 26, respectively. The timing control circuit 26 is connected to be driven by the output of the release signal generation circuit 27. Release signal generation circuit 2
A release button switch 21 is connected to 7.
When the release button switch 21 is operated, the sequential supply of memory control signals from the timing control circuit 26 to the temporary image memories 24-1...24-n is stopped, and the stored contents are fixed.

The outputs of the temporary image memories 24-1...24-n are sent to the main image memory 25 and the TV image control device 2.
8, respectively. The output of the TV image control device 28 is supplied to the monitor TV 11 for image display. The monitor TV 11 also receives a release signal output from a release signal generating circuit 27 to control its operation.

Next, the operation of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 will be explained in detail with reference to FIG. In FIG. 1, a light emitting section 12 of a light source unit 10 always outputs a constant amount of light. This light is emitted from the light emitting window 16a in the distal end 16 via the light guide, and the reflected light from the inner wall of the stomach passes through the light receiving window 16b and the image guide and is emitted into the TV camera 18.
The light is irradiated onto the light receiving surface of the CCD 22. Therefore, CCD
An optical image of the subject is always formed on the light receiving surface 22. This CCD 22 is driven by a CCD control circuit 23, and the TV signal of the subject is always outputted to the output terminal of the CCD control circuit 23.

Here, when the release button switch 21 is not operated, the timing control circuit 26 always outputs a memory control output. Therefore, one frame worth of TV signals is sequentially stored in the temporary image memories 24-1...24-n. On the other hand, the CCD TV signal is continuously supplied from the CCD control circuit 23 to the main image memory 25, and the TV signal of the latest frame is stored in the first memory location specified by the first address. Ru. All remaining memory locations of this main image memory 25 include temporary image memories 24-1...
...The TV signal stored in 24-n is transferred and stored. When the next frame of the TV signal is input, the oldest TV signal stored in the temporary image memory 24-n is erased, and the newest frame of the TV signal is stored in the memory 24-1 instead. In this way, the temporary image memory 24-1...24-
n and the frame-by-frame TV signals stored in the main image memory 25 are constantly updated.

The TV signal obtained from the CCD control circuit 23 is also
The TV image of the frame most recently stored in the temporary image memory 24-1 and the main image memory 25 is displayed on the screen of the monitor TV 11 through the TV image control device 28.
An image of the signal is displayed.

In this state, when a still image of the image displayed on the screen of the monitor TV 11 is required, the operator operates the release button 21 located below the screen of the monitor TV 11. As a result, the release signal Re is generated from the release signal generation circuit 27, and this release signal is used to stop the operation of the timing control circuit 26. As a result, the temporary image memories 24-1, 24-2, .
The supplied memory control signals are stopped in the order of 4-n. When there is no release signal, the timing control circuit 26 outputs the first temporary image memory 24-.
The timing at which the memory control signal is supplied to 1 is as follows:
If the TV image currently displayed on the screen of the monitor TV 11 is the t-th frame, the TV image signal of the (t-△t)-th frame, which is △t before that, is sent to the CCD control circuit. This is the timing at which the signal is output from 23. Thereafter, in the temporary image memories 24-2, 24-3, ...24-n, (t-2△t), (t-3△t), ... (t-
The timing control circuit 26 sequentially outputs memory control signals so that the TV signal of the nΔt)th frame is stored. Therefore, the TV image signal displayed on the screen of the monitor TV 11 when the release button 21 was operated and the TV image signals of the previous n frames are stored in the main image memory 25 and the temporary image memory 24-1. ,...
24-n.

The release signal Re output from the release signal generation circuit 27 is also supplied to the TV image control device 28. When the TV image control device 28 is supplied with this release signal Re, the TV image control device 28 transfers a plurality of continuous frames of TV signals stored in the temporary image memories 24-1...24-n to two of the main image memories 25.
The data is sequentially stored in memory locations from the nth to the nth memory locations. In this way, the main image memory 25 sequentially stores successive frame images starting with the frame image displayed on the monitor TV 11 when the release button 21 was operated. Next, an address signal is sent from the TV image control device 28 to the main image memory 25, and the latest frame stored in the memory locations from the first address to the fourth address is sent.
(t), one frame before (t-△t), two frames before (t-2△t), three frames before (t-
Four sets of TV signals representing frame images of 3Δt) are read out. These four sets of TV signals are combined and converted into a TV signal representing one frame image arranged as shown in FIG.
The image is sent to the TV 11 and displayed as a still image.
The TV image control device 28 reads any combination of frames, for example, the TV signal for four consecutive frames from the (t-△t)th frame to the (t-4△t)th frame, and displays it on the monitor TV 11. It goes without saying that it can also be displayed as a still image.

As described above, according to the present invention, a single relay operation can convert multiple consecutive frames of TV images into one image.
It can be obtained as a still image compiled into
Further, since it is possible to reliably obtain an image of a frame that has already been formed at the time of the release operation, it is possible to reliably examine a subject, for example, a stomach that exhibits unusual movements. Furthermore, since the operator can reliably obtain the desired image on the monitor TV screen as a still image along with the previous image, a significant improvement in the accuracy of medical examinations can be expected.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the overall configuration of an embodiment of the endoscopic imaging device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration of the TV imaging system in this embodiment, and FIG. Composite obtained by example
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a TV image. 10...Light source unit, 11...Monitor TV,
12... Light emitting part, 13... Universal code,
14... Operation section, 15... Insertion section, 16... Tip part, 17... TV adapter, 18... TV camera,
21...Release button, 22...CCD, 23
...CCD control circuit, 24-1, ...24-n...
... Temporary image memory, 25 ... Main image memory, 26
. . . timing control circuit, 27 . . . release signal generation circuit, 28 . . . TV image control device.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In an endoscope imaging device that has a TV camera using a solid-state image sensor, the solid-state image sensor continuously images an object and sequentially generates TV signals, and the generated TV signals are supplied in parallel. A plurality of temporary image memories, a timing control circuit for storing TV signals sequentially supplied to the temporary image memories in chronological order, and a timing control circuit for sequentially reading out the TV signals; means for driving a timing control circuit; and a main image memory that sequentially stores at least the image data input to the solid-state imaging device when the release operation is performed and a series of TV signals stored in the temporary image memory. and a TV image control means that combines image data for a plurality of screens stored in the main image memory and displays it as a single screen image.