JPS6280604A - Optical fiber image transmitter - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make a high resolution and a wide visual field compatible with each other by providing a storage means where correspondence relations of arrangement positions on both end faces of an optical fiber bundle gathered body, an overall scanning means which scans roughly every small section of the whole of an image, and a local scanning means which scans precisely only a desired small section. CONSTITUTION:A light source is placed in, for example, a small section #i of an original image and a flying spot scanner 4 is stopped temporarily so that the image of the small section #i is incident on the scanner 4, and correspondence relations are checked with respect to individual small sections of an original image 3 and those on an image sensor 6 and are stored in a storage circuit 8. When the image read out from the image sensor 6 is displayed on a monitor device 9, the whole of the original image 3 is reproduced as a rough image scanned roughly at every small section. A small section #k is scanned precisely locally, and the image of high resolution in the small section #k is displayed on a monitor device 9.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application This invention relates to an image transmission device using optical fibers.

2. Description of the Related Art Devices that transmit images using an optical fiber bundle called an image fiber, which is a bundle of optical fibers, have been known under the names of fiberscopes and the like.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, although conventional optical fiber image transmission devices such as fiber scopes can transmit high-resolution images, they have the drawback of having an extremely small field of view.

Of course, a wide angle can be achieved by reducing the original image using an optical system at the incident end (on the object side), but this naturally reduces the resolution.

Incidentally, in recent years, there has been an increasing need to capture minute phenomena over a wide area and wide angle, and to monitor objects using stereoscopic images taken from various angles.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an optical fiber image transmission device that can meet these needs and achieve both high resolution and a wide field of view.

Means for Solving the Problems The optical fiber image transmission device according to the present invention includes an optical fiber bundle assembly in which the optical fiber bundles are arranged in a random manner on the input end face and the output end face. a storage means for storing the correspondence of the arrangement positions of each optical fiber bundle on both end faces of the assembly; an overall scanning means for roughly scanning the entire screen for each small section transmitted by each optical fiber bundle; and local scanning means for finely scanning only a desired subsection out of the subsections transmitted by the bundle to each optical fiber.

Using an optical fiber bundle assembly in which the arrangement positions of the optical fiber bundles on the input end face and the output end face are randomly assembled, an image is input from one end of the optical fiber bundle assembly, and an image is transmitted from the other end. When emitted, the emitted images have random positions of the subdivisions transmitted by each optical fiber bundle. However, it is easy to check the correspondence between the array positions of each optical fiber bundle on both end faces, and if this correspondence is known in advance, the positional relationship in the original image can be reproduced. Therefore, there is no need to align and gather the optical fiber bundles so that the arrangement positions of the optical fiber bundles on both end faces correspond to each other, which facilitates manufacturing.

In addition, by coarsely scanning the entire screen with the overall scanning means for each small section transmitted by each optical fiber bundle,
An unrestricted wide-angle image of the whole can be transmitted, and a desired small section can be precisely scanned by the local scanning means, so that resolution is not sacrificed.

In the embodiment diagram, an optical fiber bundle assembly 1 is an assembly in which optical fiber bundles 2 are randomly assembled. That is, in this randomly assembled optical fiber bundle assembly 1, a large number of optical fibers 2 are irregularly assembled, and the correspondence of the arrangement positions of the optical fiber bundles 2 on both end faces is random. The Φ6 optical fiber bundle 2 is composed of an image fiber that is a collection of optical fibers.

At the entrance end, a large-area original image 3 is scanned section by section by a flying spot scanner 4, and #1
, #2, #3, . . . , the images of the small sections are sequentially incident on the input end face of each optical fiber bundle 2. Small plot #1
, #2, #3, . #3. ...and... In other words, the small sections are divided so as to correspond to the size of the incident end surface of the optical fiber bundle 2.

At the output end, the image output from the end face is directly projected onto the image sensor 6 by the optical system 5. In other words, the arrangement position of each optical fiber bundle 2 at the output end is projected as it is. Therefore, since the optical fiber bundle assembly 1 is of a random assembly type, the #i subdivision of the original image 3 is the image sensor 6.
Projected onto the parcel # above, i,! : The relationship with Ni will be random. However, it is possible to check the correspondence between i and k. For example, a light source is placed in subdivision #i of the original image, and the flying spot scanner 4 is temporarily stopped so that the image of subdivision #i is incident. At this time, the overall scanning circuit 7 If we decide to scan the subdivisions above 6 in the regular order as #1, #2, #3, etc., a light spot will be obtained in the subdivision #, so the combination of i and k You can see the correspondence. In this way, all the correspondence relationships between each of the small sections of the original image 3 and each of the small sections on the image sensor 6 are investigated and stored in the storage circuit 8.
Then, when the flying spot scanner 4 sequentially scans the small sections in the original image 3 in the order of #l, #2, #3, etc., the images are sequentially projected at random positions on the image sensor 6. The overall scanning circuit 7 is controlled according to the stored contents of the memory circuit 8 so that the small sections are read out in that order. When the image read out from the image sensor 6 is displayed on the monitor device 9, the entire original image 3 is reproduced as a rough image obtained by roughly scanning each small section.

The image roughly displayed on this monitor device 9 causes
For example, it becomes possible to monitor the entire original image 3 depicting a half-space of the universe. If an abnormality occurs at one point in space, the abnormality will appear at one point on the image on the monitor device 9, so when this is discovered, the controller 10 can be activated manually or automatically by operating the controller 10. Operate.

At this time, the controller 10 sends a stop signal to the overall scanning circuit 7 to stop the overall scanning, and also sends a start signal to the local scanning circuit 11 to start the local scanning. For example, # of original image 3! If an abnormality occurs in the subdivision #, the entire scanning is stopped at the subdivision # of the image sensor 6. Fine scanning is then performed locally in this small section #, and a high-resolution image of the small section # is displayed on the monitor device 9. Since the scanning section of this local scanning is small, even fine scanning results in a narrow band or short period of time.

Each optical fiber bundle 2 constituting the optical fiber bundle assembly 1 is
It consists of an image fiber that is a collection of optical fibers, and each optical fiber bundle 2 transmits a high-resolution image, so a high-resolution image, albeit an image of this small section, is displayed on the monitor device 9. That is why it is done.

Note that this optical fiber bundle 2 itself may also be a random assembly type optical fiber bundle instead of a regular assembly type optical fiber bundle.
In this case, local fine scanning also needs to be performed in accordance with the correspondence relationship of the positions of each optical fiber between the input end and the output end, which has been investigated in advance.

For example, in cases where it is meaningless to reproduce the positional relationship of the small sections of the original image 3, such as when the small sections of the original image 3 contain images of the object taken from various angles, etc. , the entire scan of the image sensor 6 may be performed for each sub-section in the original order; in this case, it is only necessary to know the number of the sub-section in which the abnormality has occurred.

Further, depending on the application, it is conceivable that the entire original image 3 is directly input to the optical fiber/wave bundle assembly 1 without being scanned by the flying spot scanner 4 or the like at the input end.

Effect of the invention According to the optical fiber image transmission device of this invention.

It is possible to achieve both high resolution and a wide field of view, and it is also easy to manufacture.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The figure is a block diagram showing an optical fiber image transmission device according to an embodiment of the present invention. l... Randomly assembled optical fiber bundle assembly 2... Optical fiber bundle 3... Original image 4... Flying spot scanner 5... Optical system 6... Image sensor 7... Overall scanning Circuit 8...Memory circuit 9...
Monitor "A" position 10...Controller 11.
・Local scanning circuit

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) An optical fiber bundle assembly in which the arrangement positions of the optical fiber bundles on the input end face and the output end face are randomly assembled;
A storage means for storing the correspondence of the arrangement positions of each optical fiber bundle on both end faces of the optical fiber bundle assembly, and an overall scanning means for roughly scanning the entire screen for each small section transmitted by each optical fiber bundle. and local scanning means for finely scanning only a desired subdivision among the subdivisions transmitted by each of the optical fiber bundles.