JPS5969045A - Endoscope imaging system - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] This invention relates to an endoscopic imaging system.

In recent years, television cameras have been connected to the eyepiece of endoscopes]
An endoscopic imaging system that displays images inside a body cavity on a monitor has been developed. According to this, the image of the eyepiece of the endoscope is displayed in an enlarged form on the monitor, making it easy to see and allowing diagnosis by a large number of doctors.

However, conventional systems only display the current image viewed through the endoscope or the recorded past images, and cannot perform a comprehensive diagnosis based on various information. Ta.

This invention was made to deal with the above-mentioned circumstances,
The purpose is to provide an endoscopic imaging system that can perform a more comprehensive diagnosis by comparing past and current pathologies.

An embodiment of the endoscopic imaging system according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing its appearance. 12 is connected, and its output image signal is sent to the control unit 1.
4. A light source unit 16 is also connected to the endoscope 10. Large capacity memory 18, small capacity memory 20, OR
A T-monitor 22, a keyboard 24, and a light pen 26 are connected to the control unit 14.

The configuration of this embodiment will be explained in detail with reference to the block diagram shown in FIG. The television camera 12 uses a solid-state sensor such as a COD, and although the optical system is not shown, it captures color images, and a 1-inch ORT monitor is installed in the viewfinder to simulate angles. There is. Furthermore, the television camera 12 has a shutter mechanism and is configured to be capable of capturing still images. The output signal of 0OD32, which is checked by the driver 30, is supplied to the process amplifier 34.
It may also be provided in the objective section. The OOD 32 consists of pixels arranged in a two-dimensional array, and one-element information for each pixel is signal-processed by a process amplifier 34 and supplied to the control unit 14 as one-frame image signal. Control unit 14 is 0
- From the PU 36 and the image memory 38. Image memory 38
is composed of a semiconductor memory such as a dynamic RAM, and has a capacity to store several frames of image signals. , a large capacity memory 18 , a small capacity memory 20 , an ORT monitor 22 , and a keyboard 24 are connected to the CPU 3 via a system bus 40 .
Connect to 6. A magnetic disk memory is used as the large capacity memory 18. The small capacity memory 20 is composed of a floppy disk memory with a capacity of several tens of frames.

Keyboard 24iI-j: Provided for imprinting data and instructing various operations of the system.

The operation of this embodiment will be explained. The endoscope 10 is in the body cavity]
114 people were examined and their affected areas were examined. When the desired image is obtained, the release of the television camera 12 or the operation of the keyboard 24 (one still surface image is taken). At this time, the patient name, affected area name, photographing date Data such as the date and medical examination code are also imprinted.The output signal of the television camera 12 is stored in the small capacity memory 20. - When the consultation is completed, this data is transferred to the large capacity memory 18. This is done at every consultation,
The large-capacity memory 18 stores all I[I! The image signal is stored. For comparative diagnosis,
While reading signals from the large capacity memory 18 or the small capacity memory 20 and displaying them on the CRT monitor 22, two predetermined frames of images are selected. These two frames of image signals are transferred to the image memory 38, and in the image memory 38, these two frames of 1lilj image signals are stored within the area of one frame. Specifically, the number of pixels of the image signal of two frames is reduced to one-fourth, and the pixel information of the remaining one frame is written in the right half of the one frame area, C21 frame, and the left half.

As a result, the contents of one frame in the image memory 38 are CR
When displayed on the T monitor 22, two images reduced in size to one-half are displayed side by side on the screen. Since past images of the same patient are stored in the large-capacity memory 1B, these two images are the past image read from the large-capacity memory J8 and the image read from the small-capacity memory 20 of the same patient. By selecting the current image that has been taken, it is possible to compare the affected area, allowing accurate understanding of the progress of the disease and the effects of treatment, and making a comprehensive diagnosis.

Here, if the two frames are not photographed at the same angle and magnification, accurate comparison will not be possible. The orientation and magnification of the two-frame images are lI! ! l image memory 38
The images are aligned by processing 1...1 image above. The orientation of the image is determined by rotating the coordinate axes of the image relative to the pixel information (2) on the 1llUl image memory 38. The magnification of the image is reduced or enlarged by increasing or decreasing the number of pixels, respectively.

The orientation and magnification of the images are aligned υ by setting a reference vector on both images C2 on the ORT monitor 22 using the light pen 26. In the image on the CRT monitor 22,
The light pen 26 points out two points in the area that should be A, where the size of the area other than the affected area remains the same. 1 on the image memory 38, one image is processed so that the reference vector connecting these two points is at the same position in two frames.

In this way, according to this embodiment (=), images from the present and the past are displayed side by side on the same monitor at the same magnification, making it easy to recognize changes in the medical condition over time. Diagnosis can be performed. In the above explanation, two frames of the picture "Q" are arranged on the same monitor, but the same effect will be produced even if they are displayed on separate monitors installed adjacently. However, the images to be displayed side by side are not limited to 2 frames, but may be 3 frames or more.Furthermore, it is possible to compare not only with past II!IJ images of the same patient, but also with images of the same 1st position of a healthy body. Therefore, useful information for diagnosis can be obtained.

As explained above, according to the present invention, an endoscopic imaging system can perform comprehensive comparative diagnosis by displaying multiple images obtained by an endoscope side by side at the same magnification on a monitor. is provided.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of an endoscopic imaging system according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram thereof. 10... Endoscope, 12... Television camera, 1
4... Control unit, 18... Large capacity memory, 22
...(jRT monitor, 24...keyboard, 26.
...Light pen skewer M1 person Jjjli person Patent attorney Takehiko E Takehiko Continued from page 1 0 authors Hiroyuki Furuto 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Lymphus Optical Industry Co., Ltd. - 0 authors Hiroharu Taniyo, 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Tokyo (inventor) Kaiaki Nakamura, 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Tokyo (inventor) Genji Ogawa, 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, located at Rinpus Optical Industry Co., Ltd. (Inventor: Taketo Kawasaki, 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, 224-

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A means for capturing an optical image obtained by an endoscope, a means for storing an image signal output from the image capturing means, and a plurality of frames 11! from the memory means. ! 1. An endoscopic imaging system comprising means for reading an image signal and displaying a plurality of images simultaneously. (2) The endoscope β yawning according to claim 1, wherein the display means makes the optical images of each frame the same magnification and displays them side by side on a monitor. system.