JPH10155737A - Electronic endoscope apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To superimpose charactor information in accordance with the size of an endoscope image and to perform observation based on an image where the superimposed character informations do not overlap on the endoscope image. SOLUTION: A microcomputor 51 controls an enlarged circuit 37 based on an input from a key board 52 connected with a video processor 6 and changes and sets the size of a parent screen and controls a child screen forming circuit 42 and changes and sets the size of a child screen. A display controller 54 performs formation of character image data on a font based on font informations from the microcomputor 51 and formation of mask data based on mask positional information from the microcomputor 51.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic endoscope apparatus, and more particularly to an electronic endoscope apparatus having a feature in a display portion of character data superimposed on an endoscope image.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, an electronic endoscope apparatus which has a solid-state image pickup device, for example, a CCD at the distal end of an elongated insertion portion to be inserted into a body cavity, and which can observe and treat organs and the like in the body cavity has been widely used. Have been. Such an electronic endoscope device includes:
It comprises a light source device, a video processor that processes signals from the CCD, a display monitor that displays an endoscope image, and an electronic endoscope.

On the other hand, with the progress of solid-state imaging devices such as CCDs, electronic endoscopes capable of increasing the display size of a screen have been developed, and electronically expanding, reducing, and moving an endoscope image. There has been proposed an electronic endoscope apparatus that can perform the operation.

In these conventional electronic endoscope apparatuses, an endoscope image is displayed on one side of a display monitor, for example, at a position deviated rightward, and character data such as patient data is displayed on the left side.

[0005] However, in the conventional electronic endoscope apparatus, the method of displaying characters such as patient data on the display monitor is always fixed. Characters overlap. For this reason, when a lesion that must be observed is displayed on the back side of the character, the lesion becomes invisible, making it difficult to observe, and the examination time is increased because the angle of the lesion is changed. In addition, when an image is recorded on a recording device such as an image file, and the image is reproduced later for observation, the character makes it difficult to observe the lesion. There was a problem that it became necessary.

Accordingly, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-247690
And Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-261859 disclose techniques for moving an endoscope image and deleting character information.

[0007]

However, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-247690 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-261859 disclose the method.
In the gazette, in order to prevent characters from overlapping with the endoscope image and facilitate observation, the movement of the endoscope image is performed when there is little character information, or according to the display format of the endoscope screen. Since only character information is erased, for example, when electronically enlarging an endoscope image and observing it while checking the character information on a large screen, the character information overlaps the endoscope image. There is a problem that information such as the name of a patient required to erase character information cannot be confirmed.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and superimposes character information in accordance with the size of an endoscope image, and observes the superimposed character information with an image which does not overlap the endoscope image. It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic endoscope apparatus that can perform the operation.

[0009]

An electronic endoscope apparatus according to the present invention includes an electronic endoscope provided with an image pickup means at a distal end of an insertion portion, and an endoscope obtained by the image pickup means of the electronic endoscope. Image processing means for superimposing character information related to the endoscope image on an image to generate a composite image, the image processing means comprising: Image size setting means for setting an image size, and character superimposition control means for controlling superimposition of the character information on the endoscopic image based on the image size are provided.

[0010] In the electronic endoscope apparatus according to the present invention, the image size setting means sets an image size of the endoscope image in the composite image, and the character superimposing control means sets the endoscope based on the image size. By controlling the superimposition of the character information on the mirror image, the character information is superimposed according to the size of the endoscope image, and the superimposed character information is observed with an image that does not overlap the endoscope image. Make it possible.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 1 to 7 relate to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of an electronic endoscope apparatus, and FIG. 2 explains the operation of the electronic endoscope apparatus of FIG. FIG. 3 is a first explanatory view, and FIG. 3 is a second explanatory view of the operation of the electronic endoscope apparatus of FIG.
FIG. 4 is a third explanatory view illustrating the operation of the electronic endoscope apparatus of FIG. 1, FIG. 5 is a fourth explanatory view illustrating the operation of the electronic endoscope apparatus of FIG. 1, and FIG. 5 is a fifth explanatory view for explaining the operation of the electronic endoscope apparatus of FIG. 1, and FIG. 7 is a sixth explanatory view for explaining the operation of the electronic endoscope apparatus of FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, an electronic endoscope apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment has a solid-state image pickup device, for example, a CCD 3 as an image pickup means at the tip of an insertion section 2 to be inserted into a body cavity. Electronic endoscope 4 for capturing images of
And a video processor 6 as image processing means for performing signal processing on a video signal of an observation region obtained by the electronic endoscope 4.
Note that the electronic endoscope 4 may be either a flexible endoscope or a rigid endoscope.

The electronic endoscope 4 has an insertion section 2 and an operation section 8 provided with a switch 7 for holding various functions of the electronic endoscope 4 provided at the base end of the insertion section 2 and for performing various operations.
And a universal cord 9 extending from the operation unit 8, and are connected to the light source device 5 and the video processor 6 by connectors 10 and 11 provided at the end of the universal cord 9.

The light source device 5 includes a lamp 1 that emits white light.
2, a rotary filter 13 for converting the white light into red, blue, and green plane-sequential illumination light, and dimming the plane-sequential illumination light via the rotary filter 13 to pass through the electronic endoscope 4. A dimming unit 15 that emits light to an incident end face provided on the connector 10 of the light guide 14, and a diaphragm driving circuit 16 that controls dimming of the dimming unit 15 by driving a diaphragm (not shown) in the dimming unit 15. Consists of

The light guide 14 passes through the insertion section 2 of the electronic endoscope 4, and the plane-sequential illumination light emitted to the incident end face of the light guide 14 is applied to the light guide 14.
And is illuminated by an illumination optical system 17 provided at the tip of the insertion section 2 toward an observation site (not shown).

On the other hand, an image of an observation site (not shown) irradiated with the field-sequential illumination light is formed on an image forming surface of the CCD 3 by an objective lens system 18 provided at the tip of the insertion section 2.
3, the optical image is photoelectrically converted and output as a video signal.

Here, although not shown, the CCD 3
An input terminal for inputting a CCD drive signal and an output terminal for outputting a video signal are provided. And
CC for driving CCD 3 from video processor 6
The D drive signal is output to the input terminal of the CCD 3 by the universal cord 9 via the connector 11, and the video processor 6 drives the CCD 3 by the CCD drive signal. The output terminal of CCD3 is CC
The amplifier 19 amplifies the video signal obtained by the CCD 3 and outputs it to the video processor 6 via the connector 11 by the universal cord 9 after the amplifier 19 amplifies the video signal obtained by the CCD 3. I have.

Inside the electronic endoscope 4, for example, in the operation unit 7, there is provided a type information storage unit 20 storing type information indicating the type of the CCD 3, and a video processor 6.
Drives the CCD 3 based on the identification information from the type information storage unit 20 and processes the video signal. The type information storage unit 20 may be configured by a circuit (for example, a contact circuit) or may be configured by a memory storing information.

The video processor 6 includes a type information storage 2
CCD drive circuit 31 that drives CCD 3 with a drive waveform suitable for each type of CCD based on identification information from 0
A video signal processing circuit 32 that inputs a video signal amplified by the amplifier 19 and performs signal processing such as waveform shaping, and a control that adjusts the amount of plane-sequential illuminating light to an observation site based on an output signal of the video signal processing circuit 32. And a dimming control circuit 33 that generates an optical signal and controls the diaphragm driving circuit 16 in the light source device 5 with the dimming signal. In the light source device 5, the aperture driving circuit 16 is controlled based on the dimming signal from the dimming control circuit 33.
Drives the diaphragm in the light control section 15 to perform light control.

In the video processor 6, the video signal processed by the video signal processing circuit 32 such as waveform shaping is
The signal is input to the A / D converter 34 via the isolation unit 35, converted into a digital signal, and output as image data.
The white balance circuit 36 is connected to the A / D converter 35
The white balance processing is performed on the image data from the image data, and the enlargement circuit 37 performs the enlargement processing on the image data on which the white balance processing has been performed. By the enlargement processing in the enlargement circuit 37, the display area of the endoscope screen can be changed.

Thereafter, the image data having passed through the enlargement circuit 37 is input to a synchronization memory 39 after the contour enhancement processing is performed by a contour enhancement circuit 38, and the image data in a frame sequential manner is synchronized by the synchronization memory 39. Is converted to image data.

Next, the image data synchronized by the synchronization memory 39 is subjected to a color conversion process by a color conversion circuit 40 comprising a color tone changing means comprising a linear matrix, and then subjected to γ
The data is input to the (gamma) correction circuit 41, and γ correction processing is performed.

The γ-corrected image data is output to the child screen generation circuit 42 and the parent screen mask unit 43. The small-screen generation circuit 42 performs a reduction process on the image data, and outputs the small-screen image data to the small-screen mask unit 44.
The parent screen image data, which is simply the γ-corrected image data, and the child screen image data generated by the child screen generation circuit 42 are converted into unnecessary image data by the parent screen mask unit 43 and the child screen mask unit 44, respectively. Is cut and input to the adder 44. Then, the parent screen image data and the child screen image data are combined by the adder 45 to generate one piece of combined image data, and the combined image data is converted by the D / A converter 4.
6 converts the signal into an analog composite video signal.

The composite video signal obtained by converting the composite image data into an analog signal is input to a video signal switching circuit 47, which superimposes a character video signal, which will be described later, and a VTR (not shown) connected to the outside. For example, a switching process with a video signal from an external device is performed.

Thereafter, the output of the video signal switching circuit 47 is
The video signal is output as a video signal to an external device (not shown) such as a monitor, a VTR, and an image file system via the video amplifier 48.

The video processor 6 includes the above-described enlargement circuit 37, outline emphasis circuit 38, and small picture generation circuit 42.
A microcomputer (hereinafter, referred to as a microcomputer) 51 is provided as image size setting means for controlling the processing of the internal circuit such as the microcomputer. The microcomputer 51 is provided with an input from a panel (not shown) or an isolation unit 35. Through the input from a switch 7 provided on the operation unit 8 of the electronic endoscope 4 via the keyboard and the input from a keyboard 52 or the like connected to the video processor 6, the enlargement circuit 37 is controlled and In addition to changing and setting the size of the screen, the small screen generation circuit 42 is controlled to change and set the size of the small screen. The microcomputer 51 outputs type information indicating the type of the CCD 3 from the type information storage unit 20 in the operation unit 8 of the electronic endoscope 4 via the isolation unit 35.

A memory 53 is connected to the microcomputer 51. The memory 53 stores programs for the microcomputer 51, font information for displaying characters, and mask processing in the mask units 42 and 43 described above. For example, mask position information to be performed is stored.

Further, the microcomputer 51 outputs font information and mask position information to a display controller 54 as character superimposing control means. The display controller 54 has a memory 55 in which character information and mask information are stored. It is connected.

Based on the character information and the mask information stored in the memory 55, the display controller 54 generates character image data in a font based on the font information from the microcomputer 51 from the character information. Mask data is generated based on the mask position information from 51. The display controller 54 can generate character image data and mask data with the same hardware, and can generate various mask shapes.

The character image data generated by the display controller 54 is converted into an analog character image signal by a D / A converter 56, and is converted together with a composite image signal from the D / A converter 45 and an image signal from an external device. The mask data output to the video signal switching circuit 47 and generated by the display controller 54 is output to the control signal generation circuit 56.

The control signal generation circuit 56 generates a mask control signal and a video superimposition control signal based on the mask data from the display controller 54, and controls the small screen generation circuit 42 and the main screen mask section 43 by the mask control signal. At the same time, the superimposition of the character video signal on the composite video signal in the video signal switching circuit 47 is controlled by the video superimposition control signal.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described.

In the electronic endoscope apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the parent screen 71 and the child screen 7 are displayed on the monitor screen.
2 and a first display mode that can be displayed when the power is turned on (FIG. 2A)
And a second display mode in which the display areas of the parent screen 71 and the child screen 72 are changed as compared with the first display mode by changing the enlargement magnification under the control of the enlargement circuit 37 and the child screen generation circuit 42 by the microcomputer 51 (FIG. 2 (b)) and the third display mode (FIG. 2 (c)). The display mode can be changed by the user from the keyboard 52 connected to the video processor 6.

Here, in the third display mode, the enlargement magnification of the main screen 71 is larger than that in the first display mode, and the display is enlarged to the full length of the monitor screen. on the other hand,
The second display mode is different from the first display mode in that characters 73
Are reduced so that only one line is displayed so as not to overlap with the image, and the enlargement ratio of the child screen 72 is changed from the third display mode.

The characters 73 in each display mode include patient information including the patient's name, gender, ID number, etc., date and time information for storing the date of the examination, and peripheral devices connected to the endoscope apparatus. And character information such as a peripheral device status indicating the state of. In the second display mode and the third display mode, the character 73 is
It is displayed in a form shifted to the left with respect to the first display mode.

The display position of the character is changed by the microcomputer 51 receiving a signal from the keyboard 52 and controlling the display controller 54.

By the way, in recent years, CCDs having various numbers of pixels have been developed with the progress of image pickup devices. For example, the number of pixels has been reduced to reduce the size and increase the sensitivity, and conversely, the number of pixels has increased to increase the resolution. However, in the electronic endoscope apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, an electronic endoscope 4 having a different CCD can be connected, and a screen display corresponding to the CCD can be performed.

That is, the microcomputer 51 inputs the type information from the type information storage unit 20 in the operation unit 8 of the electronic endoscope 4 via the isolation unit 35. For example, when the CCD 3 is of the first type, The first to third display modes of the first type shown in FIG. 2 are executed. Also, CCD
3 is a second type having a smaller number of pixels than the first type, the first and second display modes in the second type as shown in FIG. In the case of the third type having a large number, the first to third display modes in the third type as shown in FIG. 4 are executed.

As shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, in the microcomputer 51 of this embodiment, the magnification is changed and the character display position is changed according to the type of CCD. That is, the electronic endoscope apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment has different endoscope image display areas depending on the type or magnification of the CCD, and by changing the display position of the characters in accordance with the area. The character information is not overlapped with the endoscope image, or the area where the character information overlaps is minimized.

In this embodiment, in addition to the full display mode in which all the character information is displayed in the character 73, a mode in which the character information amount of the display information is reduced by an instruction from the user through the keyboard 52 (an abbreviated display mode) ), And a mode in which all character information is eliminated (all erasing mode). Further, the display positions of these characters 73 change according to the type of CCD connected.

Here, FIG. 5 shows a first display mode when the CCD 3 is of the first type and a full display mode in the first and second display modes when the CCD 3 is of the second type (FIG. )), An abbreviated display mode (FIG. 5 (b)) and a full erase mode (FIG. 5 (c)). FIG. 6 shows the second and third display modes and the CCD when the CCD 3 is of the first type.
In the case where 3 is the third type, all display modes (FIG. 6A), abbreviated display mode (FIG. 6B), and all erasure mode (FIG. 6C) in the first and second display modes. FIG. 7 shows a full display mode (FIG. 7A), an abbreviated display mode (FIG. 7B), and a full erase mode (FIG. 7 () in the first display mode when the CCD 3 is of the third type. c))
Is shown.

In the electronic endoscope apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, when displaying all the display modes, the user
When an instruction is given from step 2, the microcomputer 51 shifts to the abbreviated display mode under the control of the microcomputer 51.

In this abbreviated display mode, since the data such as gender and age are deleted as compared with the full display mode, the minimum patient data is displayed while reducing the character information on the endoscope image. Thus, there is an advantage that the patient name and the like can be confirmed even during the examination.

When the user further gives an instruction from the keyboard 52, the mode shifts to the all erasing mode. In the all erasure mode, no character information is displayed, and the user can concentrate on the endoscope image.

It is to be noted that an instruction from the user is input to the keyboard 5.
The electronic endoscope 4 is not limited only to the electronic endoscope 4.
The operation may be performed from the switch 7 provided on the operation unit 8.

As described above, in the present embodiment, when the endoscope image is enlarged and displayed, the character information is displayed outside the screen so that the character information is not displayed on the endoscope screen. Since the effective display image size can be increased, observation and diagnosis using an endoscope image can be easily performed.

Also, an electronic endoscope having a built-in CCD having a different number of pixels can be connected, so that even if the display area differs according to the number of pixels, it is possible to prevent character information from being applied to the endoscope image. In addition, observation and diagnosis can be easily performed.

Further, by changing the amount of character information to be displayed according to an instruction from the user and leaving only necessary character information or deleting all character information, it is possible to prevent the character information from affecting the endoscope image. Prevention allows easy observation and diagnosis.

[Appendix] (Appendix 1) An electronic endoscope having an image pickup means at the tip of the insertion portion, and an endoscope image obtained by the image pickup means of the electronic endoscope and an endoscope image. Image processing means for generating a composite image by superimposing related character information, wherein the image processing means sets an image size of the endoscopic image in the composite image. Means for controlling the superimposition of the character information on the endoscope image based on the image size.

(Additional Item 2) There is provided a discriminating means for discriminating the type of the image pickup means, and the image size setting means is configured to determine an image in the composite image of the endoscope image based on a discrimination signal obtained by the discriminating means. 2. The electronic endoscope apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the size is set.

(Additional Item 3) The electronic endoscope apparatus according to Additional Item 1, further comprising image size input means for instructing the image size setting means to set the image size.

(Additional Item 4) The character superimposition control means includes:
The electronic endoscope apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a superimposed position of the character information on the endoscope image is controlled based on the image size.

(Additional Item 5) The character information is composed of a plurality of information items, and the character superimposition control means is configured to convert the plurality of information items of the character information into the endoscope image based on the image size. 2. The electronic endoscope apparatus according to claim 1, wherein superposition is controlled.

[0055]

As described above, according to the electronic endoscope apparatus of the present invention, the image size setting means sets the image size in the composite image of the endoscope image, and the character superimposing control means sets the image size based on the image size. Control the superimposition of character information on the endoscope image, so that the character information is superimposed according to the size of the endoscope image, and the superimposed character information is observed with an image that does not overlap the endoscope image. There is an effect that can be.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of an electronic endoscope apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a first explanatory view illustrating the operation of the electronic endoscope apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a second explanatory view for explaining the operation of the electronic endoscope apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a third explanatory view illustrating the operation of the electronic endoscope apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a fourth explanatory view for explaining the operation of the electronic endoscope apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a fifth explanatory view for explaining the operation of the electronic endoscope apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a sixth explanatory view illustrating the operation of the electronic endoscope apparatus of FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Electronic endoscope apparatus 2 ... Insertion part 3 ... CCD 4 ... Electronic endoscope 5 ... Light source device 6 ... Video processor 7 ... Switch 8 ... Operation part 9 ... Universal code 10, 11 ... Connector 12 ... Lamp 13 ... Rotation Filter 14 Light guide 15 Dimming unit 16 Aperture driving circuit 17 Illumination optical system 18 Objective lens system 19 Amplifier 20 Type information storage unit 31 CCD driving circuit 32 Video signal processing circuit 33 Dimming control Circuit 34 A / D converter 35 Isolation 36 White balance circuit 37 Enlargement circuit 38 Outline enhancement circuit 39 Synchronization memory 40 Color conversion circuit 41 γ correction circuit 42 Child screen generation circuit 43 Parent Screen mask unit 44 ... Sub-screen mask unit 45 ... Adders 46, 56 ... D / A converter 47 ... Video signal switching circuit 48 ... Video amplifier 5 ... microcomputer 52 ... keyboard 53, 55 ... memory 54 ... display controller

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An electronic endoscope having an image pickup means at a distal end of an insertion portion, and character information related to the endoscope image superimposed on an endoscope image obtained by an image pickup means of the electronic endoscope. And an image processing unit for generating a composite image, wherein the image processing unit comprises: an image size setting unit configured to set an image size of the endoscope image in the composite image; And a character superimposition control means for controlling superimposition of the character information on the endoscopic image based on the electronic endoscope image.