JPH1147089A - Endoscope image pickup device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the utilization efficiency of a recording medium by automatically compressing endoscope images with optimum compressibility. SOLUTION: At the digital I/F circuit of a CCU, the digital video signal is outputted to an extension unit 10 while adding a control signal and a discriminate signal from a CPU. The extension unit inputs a non-compressed digital video signal, to which the discriminate signal is added by the digital I/F circuit of the CCU, extracts the discriminate signal and outputs the non-compressed digital video signal while adding a compressibility signal corresponding to the discriminate signal through a discrimination circuit 51 and this unit is provided with a compression circuit 52 for compressing the non-compressed digital video signal, to which the compressibility signal is added, from the discrimination circuit with the compressibility corresponding to the compressibility signal and a recording part 53 for recording the compressibility signal and the compressed digital video signal through a PC card slot 11 onto a PC card 12.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an endoscope image pickup apparatus, and more particularly to an endoscope image pickup apparatus having a feature in an endoscope image compression processing portion.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, endoscopes have been widely used in the medical and industrial fields. Also, recently, an endoscope externally mounted with a television camera equipped with a television camera equipped with an imaging unit at an eyepiece of an optical endoscope, or an electronic endoscope having a built-in imaging unit at a distal end, has been used. Endoscope imaging devices that display an endoscope image on a monitor have also been widely used.

When an endoscopic examination is performed using, for example, a medical field using such an endoscope imaging apparatus, an operator uses an endoscopic imaging apparatus so as to make a detailed diagnosis later. The user captures and records a mirror image or obtains a hard copy of an endoscope image using a video printer.

However, in the case of a photographing device, it takes a long time to develop a film, and therefore, it is not possible to cope with a demand for immediately confirming an image. In addition, the photographing apparatus and the video printer have the disadvantage that the management of the photographed film or printer paper becomes complicated, and it takes a very long time to search for an endoscopic image.

[0005] Therefore, an endoscope imaging apparatus that records an endoscope image as a digital signal has been proposed, and a database of the endoscope image has been made as an image file.

Further, it has been practiced to record an endoscope image on an external recording medium (for example, a PC card), capture the endoscope image with a personal computer or the like, and use it for creating a medical chart or a report.

[0007]

However, the conventional endoscope image recorded as a digital signal is compressed at a constant compression rate by JPEG or the like and written on the recording medium, so that the utilization efficiency of the recording medium is low. There is.

Although there is an endoscope image pickup apparatus capable of manually switching the compression ratio, it is necessary to switch the compression ratio, which makes the operation complicated, and is not accepted in a medical site where it is difficult to touch the apparatus. There is also a problem.

Further, the image quality such as the required resolution of the medical image differs depending on the endoscope or solid-state imaging device used, the medical field, and the target lesion, and various types of images from high-resolution images to low-resolution images. Image quality,
If compression is always performed using a constant compression rate, recording may be performed at an unnecessarily low compression rate in some cases.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and automatically compresses an endoscope image at an optimum compression ratio.
An object of the present invention is to provide an endoscope imaging apparatus capable of improving the use efficiency of a recording medium.

[0011]

An endoscope imaging apparatus according to the present invention is an endoscope imaging apparatus having an endoscope which is inserted into a body cavity to capture an image of a subject. A digital signal converting means for converting an image signal from the imaging means into a digital signal; a signal processing means for performing signal processing on the digital signal from the digital signal converting means; and the digital signal processed by the signal processing means. Discrimination signal adding means for adding a predetermined discrimination signal to a signal; compression for determining a compression rate based on the discrimination signal added by the discrimination signal adding means and compressing the digital signal processed by the signal processing means; Means, and recording means for recording the digital signal compressed by the compression means on a recording medium.

[0012] In the endoscope imaging apparatus according to the present invention, the compression means determines the compression ratio based on the discrimination signal added by the discrimination signal addition means, and converts the digital signal processed by the signal processing means. By compressing, the recording means automatically records the digital signal compressed by the compression means on the recording medium, thereby automatically compressing the endoscope image at an optimal compression ratio and improving the use efficiency of the recording medium. It is possible to make.

[0013]

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

FIGS. 1 to 4 relate to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an endoscope imaging apparatus. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an extension unit in FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the endoscope imaging apparatus of FIG. 1,
FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of a modification of the endoscope imaging apparatus of FIG.

(Structure) As shown in FIG. 1, an endoscope imaging apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment includes an endoscope 4 with a TV camera, in which a TV camera 3 is mounted on a rigid endoscope 2, and a rigid endoscope. A light source device 5 that supplies illumination light to the mirror 2, and a charge-coupled device (abbreviated as CCD) 6 that is a solid-state imaging device built in the TV camera 3
A camera control unit (abbreviated as CCU) 7 for performing signal processing on the image data, a color monitor 8 for displaying an endoscope image based on a video signal output from the CCU 7,
An expansion unit 10 is detachably connected to a digital video output terminal 9 provided in the CCU 7. As shown in FIG. A PC card 12 as a medium is detachably connected.

As shown in FIG. 1, the rigid endoscope 2 has an elongated insertion portion 21, a holding portion 22 provided at a rear end of the insertion portion 21, and a rear end of the holding portion 22. The grip 22 is provided with a light guide base 24, and is connected to the light source device 5 via a light guide cable 25.

Although not shown, the illumination light from the lamp in the light source device 5 is condensed by the condenser lens and supplied to the incident end face of the light guide in the light guide cable 25. The light is emitted forward through the light guide of the endoscope 2 from the front end of the light guide attached to the illumination window at the front end of the insertion section 21 to illuminate a subject such as an affected part.

An objective lens is attached to an observation window adjacent to the illumination window at the distal end of the insertion section 21 to form a subject image at the image forming position. The formed image is transmitted by a relay lens system arranged in the insertion section 21 facing the objective lens, and forms an image near the eyepiece section 23. This image is obtained by the eyepiece provided in the eyepiece 23 and the imaging lens 26 in the TV camera 3 arranged opposite to the eyepiece.
An image is formed on D6.

A mosaic filter (not shown) is attached immediately before the imaging surface (photoelectric conversion surface) of the CCD 6, and optically separates the light input to each pixel.
That is, the imaging means of this embodiment uses a simultaneous imaging means for obtaining a color imaging signal under white illumination.

The CCD 6 of the TV camera 3 is connected to the CCU 7, and a CCD driver 31 in the CCU 7 applies a CCD drive signal to the CCD 6.
The CCD output signal (image signal), which is photoelectrically converted and output at, is input to the amplifier 32 in the CCU 7 and
The signal amplified by is input to the pre-processing circuit 33.

The CCD input to the pre-processing circuit 33
The output signal is CDS (correlated double sampling) or S / H
A / D after pre-processing such as (sample hold)
After being input to the conversion circuit 34 and converted into a digital signal, a digital signal processor (abbreviated as DSP) 35
Is input to

In the DSP 35, the input digital signal is line-sequentially separated into three digital signals of Y, Cr and Cb and converted into RGB digital signals by a matrix conversion formula. The RGB digital signal converted by the matrix conversion formula is subjected to digital processing such as enhancement processing, γ correction, and character superimposition after white balance / black balance adjustment is performed.
The signal is input to the A conversion circuit 36.

The digital signal input to the D / A conversion circuit 36 is converted to an analog signal, converted to a standard video signal in a post-processing circuit 37, and output to the color monitor 8.

The CCU 7 is provided with a reference signal generating circuit (abbreviated as SSG) 38, and a timing signal generating circuit (abbreviated as TG) 39 generates a timing signal based on a clock signal generated from the SSG 38. The CCD driver 31 receives the timing signal and controls the CCD.
6 is driven. The clock signal from the SSG 38 is also output to the pre-processing circuit 33, the A / D conversion circuit 34, the DSP 35, and the D / A conversion circuit 36, and the CCD output signal (image signal) from the CCD driver 31 is Processing is performed based on the clock signal.

The digital video signal from the DSP 35 is also output to the digital I / F circuit 41 under the control of the CPU 40. The digital I / F circuit 41 converts the digital video signal into a control signal from the CPU 40 and a discrimination described later. A signal is added and output to the extension unit 10. An enhancement switch 42 and a display panel 43 are connected to the CPU 40, and the enhancement amount of the enhancement processing in the DSP 35 can be set by operating the enhancement switch 42.

The discrimination signal added to the digital video signal by the digital I / F circuit 41 is the number of pixels and the angle of view of the CCD 6 of the TV camera 3 and the set value of the enhancement switch 42. The CPU 40 reads these parameters from the DSP 35. , And a digital I / F circuit 41. In addition, these parameters are displayed on the display panel 43.
Is displayed.

As shown in FIG. 2, the extension unit 10
A discrimination circuit that inputs a non-compressed digital video signal to which a discrimination signal is added by a digital I / F circuit 41, extracts a discrimination signal, adds a compression rate signal corresponding to the discrimination signal to the uncompressed digital video signal, and outputs the resulting signal. 51, a compression circuit 52 for compressing the uncompressed digital video signal to which the compression rate signal from the discrimination circuit is added at a compression rate according to the compression rate signal, and a PC card for compressing the compression rate signal and the compressed digital video signal. Recording unit 53 for recording on PC card 12 via slot 11
And

The PC card is divided into a plurality of types, for example, by patient, by medical field, and the like, and corresponding patient data and medical field data are recorded. Therefore, the discrimination circuit 51 can select a compression rate signal using the patient data and the medical field data recorded on the PC card as the discrimination signals as the discrimination signals.

(Operation) Next, the operation of the thus configured endoscope imaging apparatus 1 of the present embodiment will be described.

For example, when performing an operation on the abdomen under the observation of the endoscope, the TV camera 3 is mounted on the rigid endoscope 2, connected to the light source device 5 and the CCU 7, and further, the color monitor 8 is connected to the CCU 7. . Also, the extension unit 10 is connected to the digital video output terminal 9 of the CCU 7, and the extension unit 1
The PC card 12 is connected to the PC card slot 11 of the PC card.

Then, the insertion portion 21 of the rigid endoscope 2 is inserted into the abdomen of the patient via a trocar, so that the affected part such as an organ inside the abdomen can be observed. In that case (endoscope)
The image is displayed on the color monitor 8, and the operator observes the image. Then, when the image to be recorded is displayed on the color monitor 8, the operator operates a hand release switch or a foot switch (not shown) to take a picture so that the endoscope image is taken as follows. 12
And the image recorded by a personal computer or the like can be used later.

At this time, the CCD 6 of the TV camera 3
The digital video signal is driven based on the clock signal from the SG 38, and the pre-processing circuit 33, the A / D conversion circuit, and the DSP 35 also process the digital video signal based on the clock signal.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, the CPU 40 reads the number of pixels of the CCD 6, for example, by a signal from the DSP 35 as a parameter in step S1, and outputs a discrimination signal according to Table 1 according to the number of pixels read in step S2 according to Table 1. / D circuit 41, and the digital I / F circuit 41 adds the determination signal to the digital video signal from the DSP 35.

[0034]

[Table 1] Next, in step S3, the determination circuit 5 of the extension unit 10
1 reads out the discrimination signal added to the digital video signal, selects a compression rate signal according to Table 2 corresponding to the discrimination signal, adds it to the digital video signal, and outputs it to the compression circuit 52.

[0035]

[Table 2] Then, in step S4, the compression circuit 52 compresses the digital video signal at a compression rate corresponding to the compression rate signal, and in step S5
And P by the recording unit 53 via the PC card slot 11.
It is recorded on the C card 12 together with the compression rate signal. Since the compression rate signal is recorded on the PC card 12 together with the compressed digital video signal, the compressed image can be appropriately expanded when expanded by a personal computer or the like.

The parameter in step S2 in FIG. 3 is not limited to the number of pixels of the CCD 6, but may be, for example, the type of the rigid endoscope 2 according to the angle of view.
A discrimination signal using, for example, a first endoscope, a second endoscope, a third endoscope,... Corresponding to the small-diameter rigid endoscope to the large-diameter rigid endoscope as shown in Table 3 as parameters. May be selected.

[0037]

[Table 3] Further, the parameters in step S2 in FIG. 3 may be selected as shown in Table 4 according to the set value of the enhancement switch 42.

[0038]

[Table 4] Further, the discrimination signal in step S3 in FIG. 3 may be medical field data as shown in Table 5 or patient data as shown in Table 6, whereby the discrimination circuit 51 selects a compression rate signal. Good.

These medical data or patient data are recorded as data on the PC card 12 in advance.
The determination circuit 51 may read this data to determine the compression ratio.

[0040]

[Table 5]

[Table 6] (Effects) As described above, in the endoscope imaging apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, the compression rate is automatically changed according to the endoscope image without any special operation, and the PC card 12 is compressed. Therefore, the recording efficiency of the recording area of the recording medium can be improved, and the burden on the operator in the operation can be reduced.

The extension unit 10 may be constituted by a PC card. Further, the configuration of the extension unit 10 is as follows.
It may be provided in the CCU 7 as shown in FIG.

In the above embodiment, the rigid endoscope 2
Although the endoscope 4 with a TV camera equipped with a TV camera 3 has been described as an example, the endoscope is not limited to this, and a flexible endoscope may be used.
Even with a flexible endoscope with a TV camera equipped with a V camera 3,
Further, an electronic endoscope in which a CCD is disposed in the distal end of the insertion section may be used.

[Appendix] (Appendix 1) In an endoscope imaging apparatus having an endoscope which is inserted into a body cavity and takes an image of a subject, an imaging means for taking the subject image and an imaging signal from the imaging means Digital signal converting means for converting the digital signal into a digital signal, signal processing means for performing signal processing on the digital signal from the digital signal converting means, and adding a predetermined discrimination signal to the digital signal processed by the signal processing means. Discrimination signal adding means, compression means for determining a compression ratio based on the discrimination signal added by the discrimination signal adding means, and compressing the digital signal signal-processed by the signal processing means, and compression by the compression means. Recording means for recording the obtained digital signal on a recording medium.

(Additional Item 2) The discrimination signal is at least one of the type of the imaging unit, the type of the endoscope, the enhancement level in the signal processing unit, or the predetermined data previously recorded on the recording medium. 3. The endoscope imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the endoscope imaging apparatus is generated in accordance with the following.

(Additional Item 3) The endoscope imaging apparatus according to Additional Item 2, wherein the predetermined data pre-recorded on the recording medium is type data or patient data in a medical field.

[0046]

As described above, according to the endoscope imaging apparatus of the present invention, the compression means determines the compression ratio based on the discrimination signal added by the discrimination signal addition means and performs signal processing by the signal processing means. Since the digital signal is compressed and the recording means records the digital signal compressed by the compression means on the recording medium, the endoscope image is automatically compressed at an optimal compression ratio,
There is an effect that the use efficiency of the recording medium can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of an extension unit in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the endoscope imaging apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of a modification of the endoscope imaging apparatus of FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Endoscope imaging device 2 ... Rigid endoscope 3 ... TV camera 4 ... Endoscope with TV camera 5 ... Light source device 6 ... CCD 7 ... CCU 8 ... Color monitor 9 ... Digital video output terminal 10 ... Expansion unit 11 ... PC card slot 12 ... PC card 31 ... CCD driver 32 ... Amplifier 33 ... Preprocessing circuit 34 ... A / D conversion circuit 35 ... DSP 36 ... D / A conversion circuit 37 ... Post processing circuit 38 ... SSG 39 ... TG 40 ... CPU 41 ... Digital I / F circuit 42 ... Enhance switch 43 ... Display panel 51 ... Discrimination circuit 52 ... Compression circuit 53 ... Recording unit

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Kuniaki Kami, Inventor 2-43-2, Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Inside Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (72) Kanichi Matsumoto 2-43-2, Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo No. Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Shinji Yamashita 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo (72) Inventor Wataru Ohno 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo No. Olympus Optical Kogyo Co., Ltd. (72) Kotaro Ogasawara, inventor 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Olympus Optical Kogyo Co., Ltd. (72) Noboru Kusamura 2-43-2, Hatagaya Shibuya-ku, Tokyo No. Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Masahiro Hagiwara 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Olimpa Within Optical Industry Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Hideki Tashiro 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Orimus Optical Industry Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Kazutaka Nakachi 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Ori Inside of Opus Optical Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An endoscope imaging apparatus having an endoscope which is inserted into a body cavity and captures a subject image, wherein: an imaging unit for capturing the subject image; and an imaging signal from the imaging unit is converted into a digital signal. Digital signal conversion means, signal processing means for performing signal processing on the digital signal from the digital signal conversion means, and determination signal addition means for adding a predetermined determination signal to the digital signal processed by the signal processing means. Compression means for determining a compression ratio based on the discrimination signal added by the discrimination signal addition means and compressing the digital signal signal-processed by the signal processing means; An endoscope imaging apparatus comprising: recording means for recording on a recording medium.