JPH10274741A - Specimen remote observation system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To permit a high precision inspection by transmitting a picked up image of a specimen from an observation device to a remote device with a good response for a display according to changing operating of pickup condition and displaying a high definition image. SOLUTION: A control part 107 judges whether or not an adjusting operation of a pickup condition is being done in a microscope drive part 104, and as a result of this judgment, during an adjusting period, an observation image of a pathological specimen 103 picked up by a pickup device 102 is encoded as a moving picture by a moving picture encoding part 105 and transmitted from an observation device 100 to a remote device 300 for being displayed by a display device 303. On the other hand, during unadjusting period, the observation image of the pathological specimen 103 picked up by the pickup device 102 is encoded as a static image by a static image encoding part 106, and transmitted from the observation device 100 to the remote device 300 to display the image on the display device 303.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a physician, for example, transmitting a microscope image of a pathological specimen to a terminal of the pathologist via a communication network and displaying the image on a monitor. The present invention relates to a remote observation system for a subject in which a pathological examination can be performed by viewing an image.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a tissue of a human body is extracted at a medical site,
2. Description of the Related Art Pathological examinations, in which a pathological specimen is processed into a form of a pathological specimen so that the pathological specimen can be seen with a microscope and the pathological specimen is observed with a microscope to perform an examination for a disease or the like, have been widely used. However, in Japan, the number of pathologists is extremely small at about 1,000, and the number of pathologists is still scarce at most medical sites. When performing a pathological examination in such a medical setting, it is common to mail the removed tissue that needs to be examined to a specialist pathologist and request an examination, and it takes many days for the examination result to become clear. Was. For this reason, in emergency cases such as cancer surgery, it is not possible to know how much the lesion has spread because the pathological examination is not in time, and surgery to remove the tissue to an extra area in anticipation of safety is usually performed. Have been
Appropriate surgery may not have been performed.

Therefore, recently, a pathological specimen is photographed by a camera set on a microscope of a general physician at a remote place, and the image is transmitted to a terminal device of a specialized pathologist via a communication line, and the photographed image is obtained. Is displayed on the monitor device. A system has been proposed in which a pathologist performs an examination by looking at the display screen of the monitor device, and immediately returns the examination result to a requesting general doctor via a communication line.

FIG. 17 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an example of this type of system.
And a remote device 30 installed on the pathologist's side via a communication network 20.

[0005] In the observation apparatus 10, the pathological specimen 13 is seen through the microscope 12, and a fluoroscopic image is taken by the camera 11.
As the camera 11, a CCD camera or a CMOS camera is used. Usually, when examining the pathological specimen 13,
Since a delicate part is often observed, a high-definition image is required. Therefore, the data amount of the image increases, but since the image itself does not move, a moving image is not required, and the image can be practically used for still image transmission.

In addition, when digital data is currently transmitted to a remote place, an ISDN line is generally used because the cost is low. However, even if the ISDN line is used, when transmitting high-resolution still image data to a remote place,
The transmission time becomes longer due to the large amount of data transmission.

Therefore, in the observation device 10, the image picked up by the camera 11 is subjected to a compression process in a still image encoding unit 15, and the compressed still image data is transmitted from a communication interface (communication I / F) 16 to a communication network. 20. As a still image compression processing method, for example, JP
The EG (Joint Photographic Coding Experts Group) method is used. Normally, the JPEG compression ratio is such that the deterioration of image compression is not perceived by the pathologist and is 1/10.
Alternatively, the twentieth place is preferred and used. On the other hand, in the remote device on the pathologist's side, when the compressed still image data is transmitted from the observation device 10, the transmitted data is received by the communication interface 31 and the still image decoding unit 32
And then, after being JPEG-decompressed, supplied to the display device 33 and displayed. The pathologist diagnoses the pathological specimen while viewing the image displayed on the display device 33. At this time, the pathologist makes a diagnosis while making a voice call with a general doctor. An audio input / output unit 18, a speaker 19a, and a microphone 19 provided in the observation device 10.
b, a voice input / output unit 38, a speaker 39a, and a microphone 39b provided in the remote device 30 are used for this voice call. Conventionally, when performing an examination using such a system, a general physician sets the pathological specimen 13 on the microscope 12 and then sets the microscope 1 according to the instruction of the pathologist.
Operations such as horizontal movement of the pathological specimen 13 set on the microscope 2, switching of the magnification by switching the eyepiece of the microscope 12, and focusing of the eyepiece are performed. However, efficient pathological examination can be performed by controlling the movement of the pathological specimen 13, switching of the magnification of the microscope 12, and focusing (focusing) by the pathologist himself while viewing the image on the display device 33.

Therefore, recently, it has been attempted to allow a pathologist to remotely control the movement of the pathological specimen 13, the switching of the magnification of the microscope 12, and the focusing. That is, the remote device 30 of the microscope is provided with the sample moving handle 35, the focusing handle 36, and the magnification switching handle 37. When the pathologist operates these handles, the operation signal is transmitted to the control unit 34.
Is sent to the observation device 10 via the communication interface 31. In the observation device 10, when an operation signal is transmitted from the remote device 30, the control unit 17 drives and controls the microscope driving unit 14 according to the operation signal.

With this configuration, the pathologist can always adjust the observation area on the pathological specimen and the imaging magnification thereof to the optimum state desired by himself while watching the image displayed on the display device 33. Thus, efficient pathological examination can be performed.

[0010]

As described above, the conventional remote observation system proposed heretofore allows a general physician to compress a still image of a pathological specimen from a general physician to a pathologist and then transmit the compressed image via an ISDN line. However, since the amount of still image data is large, it takes several tens of seconds only in transmission time. For this reason, after the pathologist performs a handle operation to adjust the position of the pathological specimen 13, the magnification of the microscope, and the focus, the adjusted still image is displayed on the observation device 10.
Is transmitted to the remote device 30 and displayed on the display device 33 for several tens of seconds, so that an efficient examination cannot be performed.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its main purpose is to enable a captured image to be transmitted from an observation device to a remote device with high responsiveness in response to an operation for changing an imaging condition, and to be displayed. Moreover, it is an object of the present invention to provide a subject remote observation system that enables high-precision inspection by displaying a high-definition image.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention employs the following means.

(1) An observation device having a microscope for observing a subject, and a remote device connected to the observation device via a communication line, wherein an observation image of the subject by the microscope is taken by the observation device. The apparatus captures the image, encodes the captured image, transmits the encoded image to a remote device via the communication line, receives the encoded image transmitted from the observation device by the remote device, decodes the image, and displays the image on a display unit. In the subject remote observation system described above, the microscope drive control means for adjusting at least one of the relative imaging position of the microscope with respect to the subject, the imaging magnification, and the focus, and the microscope drive control means The apparatus includes a determination unit that determines whether adjustment of an imaging element is performed, and an encoding transmission control unit. Then, during a period in which the encoding transmission control unit determines that the adjustment is being performed by the determination unit, the observation image captured by the imaging device is encoded as a moving image, transmitted from the observation device to a remote device, and transmitted to the display unit. On the other hand, during a period in which the determination unit determines that the image is not being adjusted, the observation image captured by the imaging device is encoded as a still image, transmitted from the observation device to a remote device, and displayed on the display unit. It is like that.

According to this invention, the subject image after the adjustment is displayed almost in real time on the remote device side in accordance with each operation of moving, focusing, and adjusting the magnification of the subject on the microscope. Will be. Therefore, the observer can quickly select and adjust an image of a desired part of the subject. In addition, when a desired image is determined, a high-definition still image is displayed, so that the observer can perform a highly accurate subject inspection. That is, it is possible to perform a high-efficiency subject test without lowering the test accuracy.

(2) The coded transmission control means divides a captured image obtained by the imaging device into a plurality of regions in the observation device during a period in which the determination means determines that the image is not being adjusted. An image corresponding to each of the divided areas is encoded as a still image and sequentially transmitted.

By doing so, the subject images are transmitted sequentially in a relatively short period of time in a relatively short time, whereby a high-definition still image of the whole subject is converted into one image. The frustration of the observer can be reduced as compared with the case of transmission.

(3) The coded transmission control means, in a period in which the non-adjustment is determined by the determination means, the remote apparatus freezes the moving image transmitted from the observation device immediately before the non-adjustment is performed. Then, each time a still image of each of the divided areas is transmitted from the observation device, the still image is replaced with a corresponding area of the moving image being displayed in the still state and displayed. .

In this manner, the entire image of the pathological specimen is displayed on the display screen of the remote device with low definition already on the display unit of the remote device. Is replaced with a high-definition still image. For this reason, the observer can grasp the overall state of the subject from the low-definition image until all the high-definition still images are transmitted and displayed, thereby causing the observer's irritation. Can be further reduced, and the inspection efficiency can be increased.

(4) The encoding transmission control means determines the size of the region of interest when an operation for designating the region of interest in the captured image is performed, and determines the size of the region of interest. The number of still images that can be transmitted per unit time is determined based on the determination result and the transmission capacity of the still image over the communication line, and the partial image corresponding to the attention area is encoded as a still image according to this determination. It is characterized by frame-by-frame transmission.

In this way, the partial image of the designated area is transmitted frame-by-frame in response to the operation of designating the area of interest, so that the observation image of the subject is transmitted in near real time in response to the operation. As a result, the same effect as that of the moving image transmission can be obtained.

(5) The encoding transmission control means, when a region of interest in the captured image is specified and an operation for enlarging the region is performed, expands the region of interest at the center. A still image is generated and transmitted.

By doing so, the enlarged image of the attention area is displayed such that it is always positioned at the center of the display screen. For this reason, it is possible to prevent a problem that an enlarged image of the attention area is displayed at an end portion of the display screen, and in some cases, the enlarged image is out of the display screen.

(6) The encoding transmission control means sets the designated shape of the attention area according to the shape of the display screen of the display unit in the remote device.

By doing so, the image of the region of interest can always be made to match the aspect ratio of the display screen, so that the image of the region of interest can be blanked on the display screen or displayed. It is possible to always display in an optimum state suitable for the display screen without causing leakage.

(7) The encoding transmission control means displays the still image of the designated region of interest and the enlarged still image of the region of interest side by side or on the same screen of the display unit. Features.

By doing so, the enlarged image is displayed in comparison with the whole image before the enlargement, so that it is easy to determine whether or not the image of the desired attention area has been displayed. You can check. Generally, there is an error in the movement amount of the subject and the magnification adjustment amount of the microscope, and the image corresponding to the designated region of interest is not always displayed. For this reason, displaying the image after the enlargement and the image before the enlargement as described above is extremely effective in confirming whether or not the image in the designated area is surely displayed.

(8) An observation device having a microscope for observing the subject and a remote device connected to the observation device via a communication line, and the observation device captures an observation image of the subject by the microscope. After capturing the color captured image by the device, encoding the color captured image, transmitting the encoded color captured image to the remote device via the communication line, receiving and decoding the encoded color captured image transmitted from the observation device by the remote device, and displaying the image on the display unit. In the subject remote observation system configured to display, the observation device performs a predetermined color detection process on a color captured image of the subject obtained by the imaging device to extract a plurality of representative colors. A representative color determining means for generating a look-up table representing a correspondence relationship between code data representing a representative color and R, G, B values corresponding to the code data; The captured color image is converted into an encoded color still image represented by a plurality of representative color code data extracted by the representative color determining means, and the encoded color still image is transmitted to the remote device together with the lookup table. And a remote device for displaying the coded color still image transmitted from the observation device by the R, G, B values of the representative color based on the look-up table. The image processing apparatus further comprises a reduced-color image reproducing means for performing inverse conversion to a reduced-color still image and displaying the reduced-color still image on a display unit.

According to this invention, the captured image of the subject is encoded by the color reduction process, and then transmitted from the observation device to the remote device, and the remote device reduces the image based on the transmitted encoded data. The colorized captured image is reproduced and displayed.
For this reason, the data amount of one still image can be significantly reduced as compared with the case where a high-definition full-color image is transmitted as it is, so that still image transmission with more real-time properties can be performed. In general, a subject such as a pathological specimen is often integrated into a color close to a staining solution as a whole since the subject is subjected to a staining process. Therefore, if the representative colors are appropriately selected and the number of colors is reduced, the inspection accuracy does not decrease.

(9) The representative color determining means transmits one frame of a still image including a processing time by the color-reduced transmitting means, a transmission time by the communication line, and a processing time by the color-reduced image reproducing means. It is characterized in that the number of representative colors is determined according to the total time required to perform the operation.

By doing so, it is possible to set the number of representative colors so as to keep the image quality at the maximum while sufficiently maintaining the real-time property of image display.

(10) The remote device compares the components of the coded color still image transmitted from the observation device with the components of the reference coded color still image stored in advance, and compares the comparison result. It is characterized by having means for outputting.

With this configuration, for example, a difference between a display image and a reference image is automatically detected, and the detection result is provided to an observer. For this reason, the observer can make a diagnosis on the subject with reference to the above-mentioned detection result in addition to the observation result by his / her own visual observation, thereby making it possible to efficiently perform a highly accurate diagnosis.

[0033]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

(First Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a first embodiment of a subject remote observation system according to the present invention.

The system of this embodiment includes an observation device 100 installed in a hospital or the like where a clinician exists,
Remote device 30 installed in a research facility or the like where a pathologist is located
0, and an ISDN between these devices 100 and 300 is provided.
It is connected via a communication network 200 composed of a network.

The observation device 100 includes a microscope 102,
A pathological specimen 103 is set on the working stage of this microscope. The microscope 102 is provided with a microscope driving unit 104. The microscope driving unit 104 has a function of adjusting a horizontal position of the pathological specimen 103 with respect to the microscope 102 and a magnification and a focus of the microscope 102 according to an instruction of the control unit 107. A camera 101 is provided on the mirror head of the microscope 102. This camera 101
For example, a CCD camera or a CMOS camera captures a fluoroscopic observation image of the pathological specimen 103 with the microscope 102 and inputs the captured signal to the moving image encoding unit 105 and the still image encoding unit 106, respectively.

When receiving a coding instruction from the control unit 107, the moving picture coding unit 105 converts the image signal into, for example, an H.264 video signal which is frequently used in a videophone system. In this manner, compression encoding is performed as a moving image by the H.261 method, and encoded moving image data is output. On the other hand, when the still image encoding unit 106 receives an encoding instruction from the control unit 107, the still image encoding unit 106
Compression encoding is performed as a still image by the EG method, and encoded still image data is output. The observation device 100 has a communication interface (communication I / F) 108. The communication I / F 108 has an access function and a transmission / reception function with respect to the communication network 200. After securing a communication channel with the communication network 200 under the control of the control unit 107, the communication I / F 108 is output from the video encoding unit 105. The encoded moving image data or encoded still image data output from the still image encoding unit 106 to the remote apparatus 300.
Send to At the same time, the control unit 107 receives data transmitted from the remote device 300 via the communication network 200 and inputs the data to the control unit 107.

The control unit 107 has a control function according to the present invention, which determines whether or not the microscope driving unit 104 is being driven.
That is, the horizontal position of the pathological specimen 103 is adjusted, and the microscope 102 is adjusted.
It has a function of determining whether or not the magnification or focus adjustment has been performed, and a function of controlling the transmission of encoded images.

This coded transmission control function is for operating the moving image coding unit 106 to transmit a captured image as a moving image during a period in which the microscope driving unit 104 is determined to be being driven by the above-described determination function. Encoding processing is performed.
On the other hand, during the period in which the determination function determines that the microscope driving unit 104 is not driven, the still image encoding unit 106 is operated to perform an encoding process for transmitting a captured image as a still image. Let it do.

On the other hand, the remote apparatus 300 has a similar communication interface (communication I / F) 308, and the coded moving image data and the coded still image data received by the communication 301
And input to the still image decoding unit 302. The moving image decoding unit 301 converts the received encoded moving image data into an H.264 image. 2
The video signal is decoded according to the 61 system. The still image decoding unit 302 converts the received encoded still image data into a JPE
The original still image signal is decoded according to the G method. Display device 30
3 selectively displays the moving image signal and the still image signal output from the moving image decoding unit 301 and the still image decoding unit 302 under the control of the control unit 304.

The remote device 300 includes a sample moving handle 305, a focusing handle 306, and a magnification switching handle 307. The sample moving handle 305 is
It is used to adjust the horizontal position of the pathological specimen 103 set on the microscope work table of the observation device 100.
The focusing handle 306 is used to adjust the focus of the microscope 102 on the pathological specimen 103. The magnification switching handle 307 is used to adjust the magnification of the microscope 102. These handles 305, 306, 30
The operation signal of No. 7 is converted into drive control data by the control unit 304, and then transmitted to the observation device 100 from the communication I / F 308.

Next, the operation of the system configured as described above will be described. When examining a pathological specimen, a clinician first sets the pathological specimen 103 to be examined on a work stage of the microscope 102. Then, an instruction to start the inspection is input to the control unit 107. Then, the communication I / F1
At 08, a calling procedure for the remote device 300 is executed, whereby a communication link is set up with the remote device 300 via the communication network 200. In addition, the camera 101 and each of the encoding units 105 are in the operating state, and thereby the imaging operation of the pathological specimen 103 and the transmission of the captured image data are started.

Upon receiving the notification of the completion of the setting from the clinician, the pathologist operates the sample moving handle 305 while viewing the image of the pathological sample 103 displayed on the display device 303 to adjust the horizontal position of the pathological sample. I do. Then, drive control data corresponding to this adjustment operation is transmitted to the control unit 30.
4 and transmitted to the observation device 100. Therefore, in the observation device 100, the horizontal position of the pathological specimen 103 is adjusted by controlling the driving of the microscope driving unit 104 based on the driving control data.

By the way, during the horizontal position adjustment period, the control unit 107 operates the moving image encoding unit 105. For this reason, the microscope image of the pathological specimen 103 captured by the camera 101 is converted into a H.264 image by the moving image encoding unit 105. 26
The moving image is encoded and compressed as a moving image by one method, and then transmitted from the communication I / F 108 to the remote device 300. Then, the encoded moving image data is transmitted to the remote device 300.
Are received by the communication I / F 308 and then decoded by the video decoding unit 301 and displayed on the display device 303.

That is, during the period when the sample moving handle 305 is operated, that is, during the period when the pathological sample 103 is moving along with the sample moving handle 305, the camera 1
The image of the pathological specimen 103 taken at 01 is compressed and encoded by the moving image encoding unit 105, and then transmitted to the remote device 300. Then, the encoded moving image data is transmitted to the remote device 3.
At 00, the original moving image is reproduced by the moving image decoding unit 301 and displayed on the display device 303, for example, as shown in FIG.

At this time, a still image encoded by a high-definition JPEG method and a H.264 image are encoded. Comparing a moving image encoded by the H.261 system with respect to image quality, 261 is inferior.
However, since a high-definition image is not required in the process of adjusting the position of the pathological specimen 103, no problem occurs in the position adjustment operation. Therefore, the pathologist can adjust the horizontal position of the pathological specimen 103 while checking the positional change of the pathological specimen 103 in real time.

When the horizontal position adjustment operation is completed and the pathologist stops operating the sample moving handle 305, the control unit 304 of the remote device 300 receives the last time during the operation period of the sample moving handle 305. Fig. 2
As shown in (b), the image is displayed and held as a still image.

On the other hand, when the control unit 107 of the observation device 100 recognizes the end of the horizontal position adjustment operation, the control unit 107 operates the still image encoding unit 106 in place of the moving image encoding unit 105 which has been operating until then. For this reason, the imaging signal output from the camera 101 is hereinafter referred to as a JP by the still image encoding unit 106.
It is encoded as a still image by the EG method.

By the way, in the still picture coding mode, the control unit 107 divides the coded still picture data output from the still picture coding unit 106 into nine regions as shown in FIG. 2C, for example. . And of these areas,
First, the coded still image data corresponding to the most important central area (1) is transmitted to the remote apparatus 300. Upon receiving the encoded still image data of the partial area, the remote device 300 decodes the data, replaces the data with the moving image in the still display state which has been displayed on the central portion of the display device 303, and displays the moving image.

Next, the control unit 107 of the observation apparatus 100 selects the coded still image data corresponding to the area (2) on the left of the central part shown in FIG. Send. Upon receiving the encoded still image data of the partial area, the remote apparatus 300 decodes the data, replaces it with the moving image in the still display state that has been displayed so far at the position (2) of the display device 303, and displays it. I do.

Hereinafter, similarly, the observation apparatus 100 will be described with reference to FIG.
The remote apparatus 300 selects and transmits the coded still image data of each region in the peripheral portion in order as shown in FIG. The moving image in the still display state which has been displayed so far at the corresponding position on the display device 303 is displayed.

That is, when the moving operation of the pathological specimen 103 is completed on the display device 303, the moving image that was last displayed at that time is still displayed as it is. Then, the moving image in the still display state is generated by the encoded still image data of each divided region sequentially transmitted from the observation device 100.
It is sequentially replaced in a spiral form from the center to the periphery.

Therefore, during the period until the high-definition still image is displayed, the pathologist views the pathological specimen 10 based on the whole image of the pathological specimen 103 still displayed on the display screen while having a low definition.
3 can be ascertained, and furthermore, the displayed images are replaced with high-definition still images in order from the important central part, so that the pathological specimen 103 is not waited until all the still images for one screen are completely displayed. Can be inspected in detail. Therefore, the frustration of the pathologist is reduced, and the examination can be performed efficiently. And
When the pathologist operates the specimen moving handle 305 again,
The moving image is transmitted from the observation device 100 to the remote device 300 and displayed on the display device 303. For this reason, the pathologist can confirm again in real time how the pathological specimen 103 moves. When the operation of the sample moving handle 305 is stopped, the moving image in the still display state is sequentially replaced with a high-resolution partial still image as described above. Thereafter, similarly, every time the pathologist repeatedly operates and stops the specimen moving handle 305, the transmitted and displayed image switches from a moving image to a still image and back to a moving image.

Also, when the sample moving handle 305 is operated while all moving images are replaced with high-definition still images, the display screen of the display device 303 is switched to moving images at that point, and the pathological sample 103 moves. You can see how you are.

In the above description, when the sample moving handle 305 is operated, the moving image transmission mode is set, the encoded moving image data of the pathological sample 103 is transmitted from the observation apparatus 100 to the remote apparatus, and the operation of the sample moving handle 305 is performed. Has been described, the mode is shifted to the still image transmission mode when the still image data is transmitted. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the same control may be executed when the focusing handle 306 or the magnification switching handle 307 is operated.

That is, the sample moving handle 305, the focusing handle 306, and the magnification switching handle 30
7, the encoded video data is transmitted as the video transmission mode during the operation of the handle, and the still image transmission is performed during the operation of none of the three handles. The mode is shifted to a mode in which high-definition encoded still image data is transmitted.

In the above description, in the still image transmission mode, a captured image for one screen is divided into nine equal-sized regions, and still image data in these regions is sequentially transmitted. As shown in FIG. 3, a captured image for one screen may be divided into a plurality of regions in a concentric ellipse shape, and still image data in these regions may be sequentially transmitted from the center to the periphery.

Further, a progressive image display method may be applied as an image transmission method in the still image transmission mode. For example, as shown in FIGS. 4A to 4C, at first, low-definition still image data is transmitted at a high speed and displayed, and thereafter, the still image data whose definition is gradually increased over a plurality of stages is sequentially transmitted. May be displayed.

Further, even when the focusing handle 306 is operated, moving image data of the pathological specimen 103 is transmitted from the observation device 100 to the remote device 300, and the pathologist operates the focusing handle 306 while watching the moving image. Focus. However, as described above, the moving image is H.264. 2
Since the image is transmitted after being encoded by the 61 system, it is expected that the image quality will not be high definition and it will not be possible to accurately focus on a fine part of the pathological specimen 103.

The following countermeasures can be considered. That is, for example, in a state where a moving image is still displayed as shown in FIG. 5 or a state where a high-definition still image is displayed on the entire screen, a pathological doctor specifies a region of interest where the focus must be accurately adjusted with a mouse or the like ( (A region surrounded by a wavy line in FIG. 5). While the pathologist operates the focusing handle 306 for this designated area, the observation device 10
A high-definition moving image is transmitted from 0 to facilitate focusing.

A high-definition moving picture coding method includes a method such as MPEG2. Here, a high-definition moving picture coding section 106 and a still picture decoding section 302 which are already provided in the system are used. Moving images are transmitted equivalently by frame-by-frame transmission of fine still image data.

However, when the image quality accuracy of a high-definition still image is equal to the image quality accuracy of this system, the transmission amount of the high-definition still image data for each frame in the area is determined. The larger the set area, the larger the transmission amount. Therefore, if the number of frame feeds is kept constant, the amount of transmission increases when the area is enlarged, and there is a possibility that the frame cannot be tracked as a moving image. In this case, even if the pathologist operates the focusing handle 306, the moving image following the movement of the handle 306 will not be displayed.

Therefore, here, when the transmission amount of image data as a still image is determined according to the size of the area, the still image data can be transmitted in real time without delay according to the transmission capacity of the system. Adjust the frame feed number as follows. In general, since the pathologist performs the focusing operation of the microscope with a carefully slow operation, the operation of the focusing handle 306 is also a slow operation. Accordingly, sufficiently accurate focusing can be performed even if the number of frame feeds is small.

On the other hand, when the magnification of the microscope 102 is switched by the magnification switching handle 307, the image of the center portion at the original magnification is normally enlarged as it is and displayed on the display device 303. For this reason, if the pathologist specifies, for example, an area deviating from the center position of the display screen as the enlargement target area, an enlarged image of this area may be displayed at the end of the display screen or may be off the display screen.
In this case, the search must be performed by operating the enlarged sample moving handle 305.

Therefore, for example, when switching from 4 × to 10 ×, if a position at which enlargement is desired is designated by an image at 4 ×, the image is enlarged so that the 10 × image is located at the center of the screen.

The details of the operation will be described below with reference to FIG. Now, suppose that an enlargement operation at a position deviated from the center is designated while an image at the original magnification is displayed. In FIG. 6A, x and y represent the amount of deviation from the center. Subsequently, a lens having the designated magnification is selected and switched. As an example, an a-times lens is selected. At this time, the positional relationship between the center of the lens at the magnification and the display center O of the pathological specimen in FIG. 6A does not change. Then, the microscope driving unit 104 operates to move the pathological specimen 103 by ax in the x direction and ay in the y direction as shown in FIG. By doing so, FIG.
FIG. 6C shows the image of the magnification switching designation frame 126 in FIG.
It is enlarged and displayed like.

Next, a description will be given of the operation in the case where the image is displayed after being reduced from the original magnification. It is assumed that a reduction operation has been performed on the original image shown in FIG. Then, the designated reduction magnification lens switching operation is performed, and the image of the designated area after the switching is controlled to be positioned at the center of the display screen as indicated by G1 in FIG. 7B. By arranging the original image in the center of the display screen in the reduced image in this way, the original image is in the most visible state, and the original image is not moved any further. Note that even after the reduced image display, the original image before the reduction is displayed at the corner of the display screen, for example, by G2 in FIG. 7B.
Is displayed as a reference image as shown in FIG. In this way, the pathologist can easily confirm whether or not the original image before reduction has been correctly reduced.

Further, the shape of the magnification switching designation frame 126 shown in FIG. 6A is set so that the enlarged image designated by the designation frame is displayed on the entire screen of the display device 303. The shape is set so as to take into account the aspect ratio of the screen. In this way, a large margin is generated on the display screen while the enlarged image is displayed,
In addition, the enlarged image can be accurately displayed in an easy-to-view form without causing a problem that a part of the enlarged image is missing.

In the above description, the magnification is switched by operating the magnification switching handle 307. However, the magnification may be switched by selecting an icon displayed on the display device 303. For example, as shown in FIG. 8, an icon for specifying the magnification is displayed on the left end of the display screen. At this time, among the icons, the icon corresponding to the currently selected magnification is displayed in a different color from the other icons (shown by a thick line in FIG. 8). In this state, when the icon of the desired magnification is clicked with the mouse pointer, a rectangular frame 126 corresponding to the magnification is displayed on the screen as shown by a broken line in FIG. This rectangular frame 12
The six shapes are determined so as to correspond to the aspect ratio of the display screen. The rectangular frame 126 can be freely moved to any position on the display screen by dragging the mouse.

When the rectangular frame 126 is designated with the mouse pointer and double-clicked in a state where the enlargement area is determined, first, the objective lens of the microscope 102 is switched to a lens of the designated magnification, and then the microscope driving unit 104
Operates to move the pathological specimen 103, whereby the image in the designated frame is enlarged and displayed.

When a magnification smaller than the current magnification is designated in FIG. 8, the rectangular frame 126 is not displayed. In this state, when an arbitrary position on the display screen is designated with the mouse pointer and double-clicked, the lens is switched to the designated lens in the same manner as described above, and the designated reduced image is displayed on the display device 303.

In the above description, when the display is switched from the original image shown in FIG. 6A to the enlarged image shown in FIG.
The case where the movement is performed by a mechanical operation has been described.

However, in such a configuration, the image of the magnification switching designation frame 126 and the image of FIG.
There is a possibility that the enlarged image shown in FIG. In this case, if the movement error is extremely large, FIG.
The display screen shown in FIG.
Even part of the image will not fit. In this state, as described above, the user operates the microscope moving handle 305 to display a moving image on the display device 303, thereby searching for an image in the magnification switching designation frame 126. However, since the image of the magnification switching designation frame 126 has already been erased, the pathologist must search by relying on his own memory.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, measures are taken so that the image specified in the magnification switching designation frame 126 can be confirmed without relying on this ambiguous storage. That is, the magnification switching designation frame 1 is displayed in a part of the display screen shown in FIG.
The image 26 is left as a reduced window, and by referring to the reduced window, the specimen moving handle 305 can be operated and searched until the same moving image is displayed.

7 (b), when the original image of FIG. 7 (a) is displayed in a superimposed manner as shown in FIG. 7 (b), the reduced image shown in FIG. Even if there is a shift due to a mechanical error at the time of the movement, the sample moving handle 30
5 can be operated to move the reduced image to a desired position.

(Second Embodiment) In the pathological specimen inspection, when the pathological specimen image displayed on the display device of the remote device is actually viewed, the number of displayed colors is not so large. The reason is that, since a pathological specimen is created by performing a staining process on an extracted human tissue, the pathological specimen is often integrated into a color close to a staining solution, and the number of colors is reduced.

Therefore, when a plurality of representative colors are extracted for each pathological specimen to be inspected and colors close to those colors are appropriately integrated, that is, reduced in number of colors, the image captured by the camera has high definition and the data amount is small. Even a very large amount can be compressed to a very small amount of data. If the image data can be compressed to a large extent, the time required for transmission via the communication network can be greatly reduced. Therefore, when adjusting the horizontal position of a pathological specimen on a microscope,
It is no longer necessary to transmit a moving image with inferior definition, and by sending a frame of a high-definition still image subjected to the color-reduction processing, the moving state of the pathological sample is provided with the same real-time property as in the case of the moving image transmission. It can be displayed on a display device.

The second embodiment of the present invention focuses on the above points, and measures the appearance frequency distribution of each color after digitizing a color image pickup signal picked up by a camera. And
Laplacian processing is performed on the measured value of the above-mentioned appearance frequency distribution in a predetermined three-dimensional color space having each of the colors G, B, and R as three axes. Next, a local maximum value in the three-dimensional color space of the appearance frequency distribution subjected to the Laplacian process is obtained, and this local maximum value is determined as a primary representative color of the color. afterwards,
Based on the primary representative colors, a predetermined number of representative colors are set, and the respective colors of the digital image are integrated with the respective representative colors, whereby the color input image is converted from the representative colors. The number of colors is reduced to a predetermined number of color images.

When an image is transmitted after performing such color reduction processing, not only can the data amount of the image be greatly reduced to transmit a still image with the same real-time property as a moving image, but also You can easily set the appropriate representative color,
In addition, it is possible to eliminate the trouble of setting parameters for integration processing each time according to the color input image so as to appropriately determine the width of the similar color.

Hereinafter, the second embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. FIG. 9 shows a schematic configuration of a system according to the present embodiment. In the figure, the same parts as those in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the detailed description is omitted. Here, a case where the number of colors for color reduction is set to 16 will be described.

The observation apparatus 110 is provided with a still image color reduction section 109. A microscope observation image of the pathological specimen 103 captured by the television camera 101 is color-separated into three primary color components of R, G, and B and is input to the still image color reduction unit 109. FIG. 10 shows a circuit configuration of the still image color reduction section 109.

In the figure, the color image signal output from the camera 101 is represented by image data of 4096 colors by a combination of three primary colors. This color image data is stored in each image memory 1 provided corresponding to the three primary colors.
29, and are used for color reduction processing.

The frequency distribution measuring section 134 examines the appearance frequency of each of the 4096 color components of the color image data stored in the image memory 129, and obtains the appearance frequency. The appearance frequency distribution of this color is determined by the Laplacian operation unit 1
31 where, for example, as shown in FIG.
Laplacian processing is performed by focusing on the local maximum value of the frequency distribution in a three-dimensional color space having each component of B and G as three axes.

The maximum value detecting section 132 detects the maximum value from the information of the frequency distribution subjected to the Laplacian processing as described above, and inputs the detection result to the representative color determining section 137. The representative color determination unit 137 determines a representative color to be reduced in color based on the information of the color having the maximum value.

By the way, in a general representative color setting method, colors having a high appearance frequency are sorted in order from the color appearance frequency distribution, and similar colors are determined according to the distance in the three-dimensional color space shown in FIG. After the rounding process, for example, the top 16 colors are selected.

On the other hand, in the present embodiment, as described above, the representative color is set by paying attention to the maximum value of the appearance frequency of the color.
Further, instead of directly setting the representative color from the maximum value, Laplacian processing is performed on the color appearance frequency distribution, and the maximum value is obtained from the result to set the representative color.

That is, in the case where a person's face is given as color image data, the appearance frequency distribution of the color is obtained. For example, as shown in FIG. The appearance frequency of the skin color) and the color of the lips (pink) are adjacent to each other, and information on the frequency of appearance of the pink mountain shape may be absorbed by the skin color to show a flat hill-shaped distribution characteristic. In such a case, the pink color may not be detected as the local maximum value, and the bink color may not be set as the representative color. Then, since the pink color is similar to the flesh color, it is integrated with the flesh color in the color reduction. As a result, the pink color is not represented in the reduced color image, and information on the lips may be lost.

Thus, in the present embodiment, for example, FIG.
As shown in (b), the Laplacian of the color appearance frequency distribution is obtained, and the maximum value in the Laplacian is detected. The Laplacian is set as a representative color of a color having a maximum value. For this reason, it is possible to reliably detect a color having a high appearance frequency. That is, by obtaining the Laplacian of the appearance frequency distribution, it becomes possible to remarkably indicate information of the color with a high appearance frequency, and it is possible to easily and reliably set the color with the high appearance frequency as the representative color. As a result, in the case of the above-described color image data, the pink color of the lips can be set as the representative color together with the skin color of the face.

Here, for convenience of explanation, the Laplacian of the color appearance frequency distribution is schematically represented on a two-dimensional plane.
Laplacian processing is performed on a three-dimensional color space having three primary colors of G and B as three axes. The Laplacian processing by the Laplacian calculation unit 131 will be described. This processing is executed by performing a calculation (operation) as shown in FIG. 14A on the appearance frequency distribution of the point of interest and its surrounding six points. Specifically, the value V of the point of interest
0, the values of the six surrounding points are V1, V2,.
In this case, the value V obtained by multiplying the Laplacian at the point of interest is
L is

(Equation 1)

Is calculated.

For the Laplacian of the appearance frequency distribution calculated in this way, the local maximum value detecting unit 132 determines whether the Laplacian value VL of the point of interest is larger than all the Laplacian values VL of the six surrounding points. It is determined whether or not the value is a maximum value in the three-dimensional color space. The representative color determination unit 137 first determines the color having the maximum value in the Laplacian as the primary representative color, and once integrates the remaining colors into these primary representative colors, and further finalizes the representative color. The color is set from among the representative colors determined in the first order.

In other words, if the representative colors primary determined from the Laplacian local maximum are within 16 colors which are the object of color reduction, these representative colors are set as final representative colors without any problem. I can do it. However, if the representative colors determined in the primary exceeds 16 colors, it is necessary to set the final 16 colors from these representative colors.

Therefore, the representative color determining section 137 sets the final representative color based on the integration process of the remaining colors for the primary color determined as follows.

That is, as shown in FIG. 10, the representative color determining section 137 is composed of an integrating section 133, a volume measuring section 135, and a sorting section 136. Integration unit 133
Determines which representative color in the three-dimensional color space is closer to the color other than the primary color determined primary as described above among the 4096 colors constituting the color image data. This is to integrate the representative color with the closest distance. The distance D between two colors in this three-dimensional color space is
Assuming that the color coordinates of each of these colors in the three-dimensional color space are (R1, G1, B1) and (R2, G2, B2), the calculation is performed as follows.

(Equation 2)

For the remaining colors, the distances D between the primary colors and the primary colors are calculated, and the distances D are compared with each other. Then, the colors are integrated for the representative color whose distance D is the shortest.

The volume measuring section 135 obtains the volume of the primary representative color thus integrated in the three-dimensional color space for each enlarged display.

The sorting section 139 sorts these representative colors in order from the one with the largest volume, and sets the upper 16 colors as the final representative colors.
After sealing to the final representative color set in this way, the integration unit 133 executes the color integration process again. That is, even if the primary color is set as the primary color, the color integration process is similarly performed for the primary representative color that has leaked from the finally set representative color.

The information of the 16 representative colors set in this way and the information indicating the correspondence between the 4096 colors integrated with these representative colors are given to the conversion table 130. The conversion table 130 stores 496 colors corresponding to the 4096 colors constituting the color input image described above.
096 color addresses are provided, and information indicating the integration relationship with the representative color is stored in each of these addresses.

That is, in the address of 4096 colors corresponding to 4096 colors, codes (0 to 15) corresponding to 16 colors indicating which representative color has been integrated and reduced to the representative color. Are respectively stored. Thus, the output of the reduced-color image is obtained through the conversion table 130 according to the color information read from the image memory 129, and code data corresponding to the representative color is obtained. As a result, the image is output as a code image composed of (〜15) code data corresponding to 16 colors.

When the code image is output, the R, G, and B values respectively corresponding to the 16 representative colors set as described above are stored in an LUT (Look Up Table).
The data is output from the representative color determination unit 137 as data.

The code image and the LUT are stored in the communication network 200.
To the still image reproduction unit 309 of the remote device 310 via The still image reproduction unit 309 includes, for example, an RGB conversion unit 311 and a reference code image storage unit 32 as shown in FIG.
And a comparison unit 313.

In the RGB conversion unit 311, the observation device 1
The values of R, G, and B corresponding to the respective code data of the code image sent from 10 are obtained by referring to the LUT, whereby a 16-color quantized color image is displayed on the display device 303. Is done.

In the above description, the representative color is 16
The color is predetermined as the upper limit. If the representative colors extracted by the color reduction processing of this embodiment are within 16 colors, the extracted colors are used as representative colors as they are. On the other hand, if the number of extracted colors exceeds 16, the integration process is performed from the extracted colors, and the process of narrowing down the final representative color to 16 colors is performed.

To narrow down the representative colors to 16 colors,
By setting the upper limit of the representative colors, it is possible to prevent a large number of representative colors from increasing, and to reduce the processing time of the still image color reduction unit 127 as hardware and the reduced color image data on the communication network 2.
This guarantees that the transmission time for transmission from the observation apparatus 110 to the remote apparatus 310 via 00 and the processing time in the still image reproduction unit 309 fall within the specified time.

However, since the actual pathological specimen image is subjected to the staining process as described above, the number of colors constituting the image is small. For this reason, emphasis should be placed on reducing and reproducing the few colors as faithfully as possible. Therefore, when performing remote observation of a pathological specimen, it is better to remove the restriction on the representative color and to adopt all the extracted colors as the representative color.

The following method can be considered as a method for determining the upper limit of the number of colors for color reduction. That is, when the sample moving handle 305 and the focusing handle 306 are operated, the still image is displayed in a small number of colors so that the movement of the pathological specimen 103 or the focusing of the pathological specimen 103 can be seen at a response speed that does not cause a practical problem on the display device 303. Processing time of the conversion unit 127, transmission time of the communication network 200, and the still image reproduction unit 3
The upper limit of the representative colors to be extracted can be determined by determining the time allocated to the total processing time including the processing interval of 09.

FIGS. 16A and 16B show code examples of a reference code image and a measured code image, respectively. In the figure, the code numbers are arranged from the representative color having a high appearance frequency, and the LUT is the output of the representative color determination unit 137 for the corresponding code image. Each code image represents the color of each element of the pathological specimen 103. In FIG. 16B, the code number C1 represents the background color, and the background color generally tends to have the highest appearance frequency. C2 to C7 indicate respective components (specimen elements) of the pathological specimen 103. Q1 to Q7 indicate the appearance frequency of each component. For example, as shown in FIG. 15, each pathological specimen has a specific shape and color, and these specimen elements are complicatedly intertwined to constitute a pathological specimen.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 11, the reference code image of the pathological specimen 103 to be inspected is stored in the reference code image storage unit 312 in advance, and the measured code image and the stored reference code image are stored. Are compared by the comparing unit 313. By this comparison, it is possible to determine how much the measured pathological sample differs from the reference pathological sample.

For example, the background color is first excluded from the object of comparison, and comparison is made between the reference data and the measurement data of the same specimen element. For example, NO. For one sample element, RK2, GK2, BK2 and RS2 for the same representative color,
Compare between GS2 and BS2. As a method of calculating the comparison, for example, a relative distance between the two data may be calculated. The following equation shows the calculation formula.

[0109]

(Equation 3)

As for the appearance frequency, the difference between the absolute values is calculated as in the following equation. SB2 = | P2-Q2 | By doing so, NO. If one specimen element has a large judgment result on the examination of the pathological specimen and the influence of other specimen elements is small, it is sufficient to examine the values of DC2 and SB2.

However, when it is necessary to determine a combination of a plurality of sample elements, the following formula is used to determine whether or not the determination is possible based on the value of the UMC value. UMC = A2 × DC2 ×
SB2 + A3 × DC3 × SB3 + ... where A2, A
3 are weighting factors, which are measured and calculated in advance from a sample of a pathological specimen. In particular, when the determination result is greatly affected by the sample element, the weight coefficient is set to be larger than <
By doing so, accurate determination can be made.

(Other Embodiments) In each of the above embodiments, a pathological specimen image is transmitted from a clinician's observation device to a remote device via a communication network and displayed on a display device.
Although the case where a pathologist examines a pathological specimen has been described as an example, the present invention is not limited to the image of the pathological specimen, but, for example, by transmitting and displaying an image of Hosozono or the like or a microscopic observation image of a plant or a mineral. The tissue or composition may be inspected.

[0113]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, it is determined whether or not the adjustment of the imaging element with respect to the subject is performed by the microscope drive control means. The image is encoded as a moving image, transmitted from the observation device to the remote device, and displayed on the display unit. On the other hand, during the period when it is determined that the image is not being adjusted, the captured observation image is encoded as a still image and transmitted from the observation device to the remote device. It is transmitted and displayed.

In another aspect of the present invention, the observation device performs a predetermined color reduction process on a color image of the subject obtained by the imaging device, and performs a code data process on the color data. R, G, B
And transmitting a look-up table representing a correspondence relationship with the value to the remote device, wherein the remote device reproduces and displays the reduced color image based on the code data and the look-up table transmitted from the observation device. I have to.

Therefore, according to these inventions, the captured image can be transmitted from the observation device to the remote device with high responsiveness and displayed in response to the operation of changing the imaging condition, and a high-definition image can be displayed. It is possible to provide a subject remote observation system capable of performing a high-precision inspection with the above.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a first example of a subject remote observation system according to the present invention.
The schematic block diagram which shows embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 2 is a view for explaining an image transmission operation and a display operation of the system shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing another example of a still image division transmission operation.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing another example of the still image transmission operation.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining an operation when a region of interest in an image is designated.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining an enlarged imaging / display operation of an image.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining a reduced image pickup / display operation of an image.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing another example for setting a magnification of an image.

FIG. 9 shows a second example of the subject remote observation system according to the present invention.
The schematic block diagram which shows embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 10 is a circuit block diagram showing a configuration of a still image color reduction unit in the system shown in FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a circuit block diagram showing a configuration of a still image reproduction unit in the system shown in FIG. 9;

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a three-dimensional color space having three colors R, G, and B as axes.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of the appearance frequency distribution of colors in a color captured image and the result of Laplacian processing of this distribution.

FIG. 14 is a diagram for explaining a Laplacian operator.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of a sample element.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of components of a code image of a pathological specimen to be a reference and a measured pathological specimen.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a conventionally proposed subject remote monitoring system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 100, 110: Observation device 101: Camera 102: Microscope 103: Pathological specimen 104: Microscope drive unit 105: Video encoding unit 106: Still image encoding unit 107: Control unit 108, 308 of the observation device Communication interface (communication 1) / F) 109: Still image color reduction unit 126: Magnification switching designation frame 129: Image memory 130: Conversion table 131: Laplacian operation unit 132: Local maximum value detection unit 133: Integration unit 134: Frequency distribution measurement unit 135: Volume measurement Unit 136: Sorting unit 137: Representative color determination unit 200: Communication network 300, 310 ... Remote device 301 ... Video decoding unit 302 ... Still image decoding unit 303 ... Display device 304 ... Remote device control unit 305 ... Sample moving handle 306: Focusing handle 307: Magnification switching handle 309: Still image reproduction 311 ... RGB converter 312 ... reference code image storage unit 313 ... comparing unit

Claims (10)

[Claims] An observation device having a microscope for observing a subject, and a remote device connected to the observation device via a communication line, wherein an observation image of the subject by the microscope is taken by the observation device. And encodes the captured image, transmits the encoded image to a remote device via the communication line, receives and decodes the encoded captured image transmitted from the observation device by the remote device, and displays the decoded image on a display unit. A microscope driving control unit for adjusting at least one of an imaging element, an imaging magnification, and a focal point of a relative imaging position of the microscope with respect to a subject, and the microscope driving control unit. Determining means for determining whether or not the adjustment of the element is being performed; and
The observation image picked up by the imaging device is encoded as a moving image and transmitted from the observation device to a remote device and displayed on the display unit. A remote observation system for a subject, comprising: an encoding transmission control unit that encodes a captured observation image as a still image, transmits the still image from the observation device to a remote device, and causes the display unit to display the encoded observation image. 2. The encoding transmission control unit, in a period during which the determination unit determines that the image is not being adjusted, divides a captured image obtained by an imaging device into a plurality of regions in an observation device. 2. The subject remote observation system according to claim 1, wherein the images corresponding to the respective areas are encoded as still images and transmitted sequentially. 3. The coded transmission control means, in a period during which the non-adjustment is determined by the determination means, causes the remote device to freeze the moving image transmitted from the observation device immediately before the non-adjustment is being performed. Each time a still image of each of the divided areas is transmitted from the observation device, the still image is replaced with a corresponding area of the moving image that is being still displayed and displayed. Item 4. The subject remote observation system according to Item 2. 4. The encoding transmission control means, when an operation for designating a region of interest in a captured image is performed, determines the size of the region of interest, and determines the size of the region of interest. The number of frames of a still image that can be transmitted per unit time is determined based on the result and the transmission capacity of the still image by the communication line, and according to this determination, the partial image corresponding to the attention area is encoded as a still image and the frame is encoded. 2. The subject remote observation system according to claim 1, wherein the transmission is performed by transmission. 5. An encoding and transmission control unit according to claim 1, wherein, when a region of interest in the captured image is designated and an operation for enlarging the region is performed, the encoded transmission control unit enlarges the stationary region with the region of interest arranged at the center. 2. The subject remote observation system according to claim 1, wherein the system generates and transmits an image. 6. The remote observation of a subject according to claim 5, wherein the encoding transmission control means sets a designated shape of the attention area according to a shape of a display screen of a display unit in the remote device. system. 7. The coded transmission control means displays a still image of the designated area of interest and an enlarged still image of the area of interest side by side or on the same screen of a display unit. The subject remote observation system according to claim 5, wherein 8. An observation device having a microscope for observing a subject, and a remote device connected to the observation device via a communication line, wherein the observation device captures an image of the subject observed by the microscope using an imaging device. And then encodes the captured color image and transmits it to the remote device via the communication line. The remote device receives and decodes the encoded color captured image transmitted from the observation device and displays the image on the display unit. In the subject remote observation system, the observation device performs a predetermined color detection process on a color captured image of the subject obtained by the imaging device to extract a plurality of representative colors, and Representative color determining means for generating a look-up table representing a correspondence relationship between code data representing the color data and R, G, B values corresponding to the code data; Converting the captured image into an encoded color still image represented by code data of a plurality of representative colors extracted by the representative color determining means, and transmitting the encoded color still image together with the lookup table to the remote device; The remote device transmits the coded color still image transmitted from the observation device based on the representative color R, G, and R based on the look-up table.
A remote observation system for a subject, comprising: a color-reduced image reproduction unit that performs inverse conversion to a color-reduced color still image represented by a B value and displays the color-reduced color still image on a display unit. 9. The one-frame transmission of a still image including a processing time by the color-reduced transmitting means, a transmission time by the communication line, and a processing time by the color-reduced image reproducing means. Depending on the overall time it takes
9. The system according to claim 8, wherein the number of representative colors is determined. 10. The remote device compares the components of the encoded color still image transmitted from the observation device with the components of the reference encoded color still image stored in advance.
9. The remote observation system for a subject according to claim 8, further comprising means for outputting the comparison result.