KR102489853B1 - Fixed focus oral camera - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a fixed-focus oral camera. The fixed-focus oral camera, which photographs the oral cavity of a person to be examined and then generates an oral cavity image and transmits the same to an image processing device, comprises: a body part extended in the longitudinal direction and having a plurality of operation buttons; an extension part extended from the end portion of the body part; and a camera part formed at one side of the end portion of the extension part, and having a lens so as to photograph the oral cavity of a person to be examined. The camera part is characterized in that a formed focal distance is fixed to a preset value. The present invention can prevent blurring on an oral cavity image when the image is captured, thus having the effect of efficiently learning and identifying oral diseases by using artificial neural networks.

Description

Fixed focus intraoral camera {FIXED FOCUS ORAL CAMERA}

The present invention relates to a fixed focus oral camera, and more particularly, to a fixed focus intraoral camera for generating an oral image for identifying an oral disease region using a fixed focus method.

Oral diseases cause various symptoms such as pain in the mouth, chewing dysfunction, destruction of periodontal tissue, bad breath and cold teeth, and are the main cause of tooth loss. Recently, with the change in the diet of modern people, the causative factors of oral diseases are becoming more common. is on the rise.

Representative examples of such oral diseases include tooth decay (dental caries), periodontal disease (periodontal disease, gum disease, periodontal disease), malocclusion (malocclusion), attrition, abrasion, and the like.

Here, tooth decay is caused by acids excreted by bacteria (streptococcus mutans) in plaque (plaque), which removes minerals such as calcium and phosphorus from the tooth surface and dissolves organic substances such as proteins in it, eventually leading to tooth destruction. symptoms that cause In the initial caries stage, a dental filling treatment is performed in which the carious area is scraped out with a dental drill and filled with a dental material such as amalgam, gold, or resin. However, if the initial caries is neglected and the caries spreads to the pulp (nerve), the nerve in the pulp is removed, the inside of the pulp is disinfected for several days, and then nerve treatment is performed to fill it with dental materials.

Periodontitis refers to the destruction of gums, bones (alveolar bone), and supporting tissues around teeth due to inflammation in the tissues around the teeth. Plaque, that is, dental plaque, is the root cause of this taste, and bacteria in the dental plaque produce toxic substances, which inflame the gums and make the gums red and swollen. In addition, if this dental bacterial film is not removed, it turns into calculus, which is a hard calcified material, making the gums more inflamed and gradually destroying the alveolar bone, and in severe cases, the teeth must be extracted.

Malocclusion refers to a condition in which the teeth are not aligned or the positional relationship between the lower and upper teeth and the jawbone is not appropriate. Most of the causes of malocclusion are congenital, but occasional jaw injuries, failure to extract milk teeth at the right time, extraction of adult teeth at a young age, or bad habits related to the oral cavity can also cause malocclusion. . Since these malocclusion teeth are not cleaned well, the possibility of tooth decay or cavities increases, and the possibility of unbalanced and severe tooth wear due to malocclusion also increases.

Attrition refers to a phenomenon in which the chewing surface of teeth is worn out and flattened due to the use of teeth for a long time. Hypersensitivity when chewing food or cold water, and in severe cases, hypersensitivity can be prevented by applying nerve treatment or a metal crown.

Abrasion refers to a condition in which the boundary between the teeth and gums is depressed. That is, the enamel, the outermost layer of the tooth, is worn away and the dentin layer, which is the middle layer, is exposed, so that yellow teeth can be identified with the naked eye. As the dentin is exposed, eating hot food causes discomfort or discomfort, and sensitivity to sweet food also increases.

To help diagnose these oral diseases, various X-ray images are widely used for dental diagnosis and treatment. Of these, the X-ray panorama image is widely used in establishing treatment plans in that it can check the oral structure as a whole and appropriately reveals the anatomical structure of the oral cavity.

However, these X-ray panoramic images have a problem in that it is difficult to accurately determine the state of oral disease because the lesion area must be identified directly with the naked eye. In addition, the existing 2D X-ray panoramic image is only used for reference, and the doctor directly inspects the entire inside of the oral cavity of the patient (subject) to treat various oral diseases such as tooth decay, tooth decay, malocclusion, attrition, and abrasion. Since a considerable amount of time is consumed to identify each, there is a disadvantage that causes inefficiency in clinical care.

Accordingly, recently, an intraoral camera is used to take an intraoral image of a patient and then use it for clinical diagnosis. Among these intraoral cameras, there is an auto focus method that automatically adjusts the focus.

However, the above-mentioned autofocus intraoral camera has a disadvantage that blur often occurs in the image during the process of automatically focusing when taking oral images, and oral diseases using artificial neural networks when blur exists in the captured oral images. There is a problem that learning and identification cannot be performed properly.
Meanwhile, the background technology of the present invention is disclosed in Korean Registered Patent No. 10-1804930.

Republic of Korea Patent No. 10-1804930

An object of the present invention, to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, is to provide a fixed focus intraoral camera for generating oral images for identifying oral disease areas using a fixed focus method.

The above object is, according to the present invention, in the intraoral camera for photographing the subject's oral cavity and then generating an oral cavity image and transmitting the image to an image processing device, the body portion extending in the longitudinal direction and having a plurality of operation buttons formed thereon; an extension portion extending from an end portion of the body portion; And a camera unit formed on one side of an end of the extension unit and provided with a lens to photograph the oral cavity of the subject, wherein the camera unit has a fixed focal length fixed to a predetermined value by a fixed-focus intraoral camera is achieved

Also, the focal length may be fixed at a value of 7 mm to 13 mm.

In addition, the extension portion may be provided with a hood portion blocking light from the outside at one side of an end portion where the camera portion is formed.

In addition, the extension part extends from the end of the body part with a first angle formed between a first imaginary axis formed along the longitudinal direction of the body part and a second imaginary axis perpendicular to the first axis. It extends from the end of the first extension part with a second angle formed between the first extension part and a virtual third axis orthogonal to the first and second axes, respectively, and the first axis. The formed second extension part may be included.

In addition, the present invention may further include a speaker unit formed in the body portion and outputting a guide voice for guiding an oral cavity photographing sequence of the subject.

According to the present invention, since it is possible to prevent blur from occurring in an oral cavity image during oral imaging, learning and identification of oral diseases using an artificial neural network can be efficiently performed.

On the other hand, the effects of the present invention are not limited to the effects mentioned above, and various effects may be included within a range apparent to those skilled in the art from the contents to be described below.

1 shows a fixed focus intraoral camera as a whole according to an embodiment of the present invention,
Figure 2 shows the tooth structure,
3 shows the structure of the upper and lower jaws according to the arch,
4 is a view of the fixed focus intraoral camera according to an embodiment of the present invention in the XY plane,
5 is a view of a fixed focus intraoral camera according to an embodiment of the present invention in the XZ plane,
6 is a block diagram of a fixed focus intraoral camera according to an embodiment of the present invention;
7 shows that a hood is provided in the extension of a fixed focus intraoral camera according to an embodiment of the present invention,
8 shows that the first part and the second part of the fixed focus intraoral camera are rotated, respectively, according to an embodiment of the present invention;
9 shows that an air curtain module is provided in the second part of the fixed focus intraoral camera according to an embodiment of the present invention,
10 illustrates an intraoral image generation system using a timestamp including a fixed focus intraoral camera according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, some embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail through exemplary drawings. In adding reference numerals to components of each drawing, it should be noted that the same components have the same numerals as much as possible even if they are displayed on different drawings.

In addition, in describing an embodiment of the present invention, if it is determined that a detailed description of a related known configuration or function hinders understanding of the embodiment of the present invention, the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

In addition, in describing the components of the embodiment of the present invention, terms such as first, second, A, B, (a), (b) may be used. These terms are only used to distinguish the component from other components, and the nature, order, or order of the corresponding component is not limited by the term.

Also, in describing the embodiments of the present invention, each “unit”, “module” or “step” may be implemented through a processor and a memory. Processor should be interpreted broadly to include general purpose processor, central processing unit (CPU), microprocessor, digital signal processor (DSP), controller, microcontroller, state machine, and the like. In some circumstances, processor may refer to an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), programmable logic device (PLD), field programmable gate array (FPGA), or the like. A processor may refer to a combination of processing devices, such as, for example, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a combination of a plurality of microprocessors, a combination of one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration. .

Also, memory should be construed broadly to include any electronic component capable of storing electronic information. Memory includes random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable-programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically It may also refer to various types of processor-readable media, such as removable PROM (EEPROM), flash memory, magnetic or optical data storage, registers, and the like. A memory is said to be in electronic communication with the processor if the processor can read information from or write information to the memory, and each "part", "module" or "step" is said to be in electronic communication with the processor and the memory. It can be implemented through a based program or application.

Now, with reference to the accompanying drawings, the fixed focus intraoral camera 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail.

1 shows a fixed focus intraoral camera as a whole according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 shows the structure of teeth, FIG. 3 shows the structure of the upper and lower jaws according to the arch, and FIG. A fixed-focus intraoral camera according to an embodiment of the present invention is viewed from the XY plane, Figure 5 is a fixed-focus intraoral camera according to an embodiment of the present invention viewed from the XZ plane, Figure 6 is an embodiment of the present invention It is a block diagram of a fixed focus intraoral camera according to, Figure 7 shows that the hood is provided in the extension of the fixed focus intraoral camera according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 8 is according to an embodiment of the present invention It shows that the first part and the second part of the fixed focus intraoral camera are rotated, respectively, and FIG. 9 shows that the air curtain module is provided in the first part of the fixed focus intraoral camera according to an embodiment of the present invention. , FIG. 10 shows an intraoral image generation system using a timestamp including a fixed focus intraoral camera according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention relates to an intraoral camera for photographing the oral cavity of a subject (patient) using a fixed focus method and then generating an oral cavity image and transmitting the image to an image processing device (P), as shown in FIGS. 1 to 10, The fixed focus intraoral camera 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes the body part 110, the extension part 120, the camera part 130, the speaker part 140, and the controller 150. include

The body portion 110 extends in the longitudinal direction and is grasped by the user, and a plurality of operation buttons 111 are formed on the outer circumferential surface, and a space in which a control unit 150 described later can be installed is formed inside. This body portion 110 may be formed in a cylindrical shape having a certain diameter, but is not limited thereto.

On the other hand, the operation button 111 includes, in more detail, a photographing button 111a and a rotation button 111b.

The photographing button 111a generates input signals such as start, end, and pause of photographing, and is provided in a push button manner and is formed on the outer circumferential surface of the body portion 110 .

The rotation button 111b rotates a portion of the extension portion 120 when a portion of the extension portion 120 is provided in a rotational manner, and is provided in a sliding manner and is formed on the outer circumferential surface of the body portion 110, which will be described later. I'm going to do it.

The extension part 120 extends from the end of the body part 110, and a camera part 130 to be described later is formed on one side of the end of the extension part 120. This extension 120 may be formed in a cylindrical shape having a certain diameter, but is not limited thereto.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 7 , the extension part 120 may have a hood part 120a that blocks light from entering from the outside at one side of the end where the camera part 130 is formed. The hood portion 120a may be formed to have a trapezoidal cross-section in which the diameter of the opening is larger than that of the bottom portion. Meanwhile, a plurality of guide points for guiding an image position when generating an intraoral image may be formed at a position of a quarter point on an inner circumferential surface of the hood part 120a. According to this, since the position of the image is guided by the guide points when capturing oral images, oral images can be easily and consistently created.

In more detail, the extension part 120 includes a first extension part 121 and a second extension part 122 .

The first extension part 121 is formed between a virtual first axis (X axis) formed along the longitudinal direction of the body part 110 and a virtual second axis (Y axis) orthogonal to the first axis. It has a first angle α, which is an angle, and extends from the end of the body portion 110.

More specifically, the first angle α of the first extension 121 is such that the camera unit 130, which will be described later, can easily maintain a focal length of a predetermined value in the oral cavity of the subject. ) is an angle formed with the second axis (Y axis).

Since the camera unit 130 of the present invention uses a fixed focus method, in order for the camera unit 130 of the present invention to maintain a preset focal length, it must be maintained at a certain distance from the subject to be photographed, that is, teeth or gums. do. However, to do this, the subject had to open his mouth excessively, and especially when the subject was an infant, oral imaging was not easy because the space inside the oral cavity was not large. In addition, there was also a problem that the inside of the oral cavity is damaged by the end of the intraoral camera in the process of taking oral images of the subject.

Accordingly, for both infants and adults, the first angle α is provided at 38° to 48° so that the camera unit 130 can easily maintain the preset focal length even if the subject does not open his or her mouth excessively. The camera unit 130 can be easily separated from the teeth or gums to be photographed by a predetermined distance.

The second extension part 122 is an angle formed between a virtual third axis (Z axis) orthogonal to the first axis (X axis) and the second axis (Y axis) and the first axis (X axis). It has a second angle (β) of , is formed extending from the end of the first extension part 121, and the camera unit 130 is formed on one side of the end.

More specifically, the second angle β of the second extension part 122 is determined so that interference between the body part 110 and the extension part 120 with the mouth tail part (edge part) of the open mouth can be avoided. This is an angle between the second extension part 122 and the third axis (Z axis).

When the intraoral camera takes the form of being extended in the longitudinal direction, inevitably, interference with the corner of the mouth of the patient's mouth inevitably occurs in order to photograph the teeth (eg, molars, etc.) or gums inside the oral cavity. There was a problem in that it was difficult to photograph the teeth or gums inside the oral cavity properly. In addition, there is also a problem in that the corners of the mouth are damaged due to interference between the body part 110 and the extension part 120 of the intraoral camera in the process of photographing the subject's oral cavity image.

Accordingly, the second angle β is provided at 55 ° to 65 ° so that the camera unit 130 can easily photograph the teeth or gums inside the mouth, even when the teeth or gums inside the mouth are photographed. 110) to the extension part 120 are prevented from interfering with the corners of the mouth.

Meanwhile, the second extension part 122 is formed extending from the end of the first part 122a extending from the end of the first extension part 121 and the first part 122a, and the camera part 130 is formed on one side of the end. ) is formed, and the first part 122a and the second part 122b may be rotatably provided in a manual method or a motor method, respectively. That is, as shown in FIG. 8, by rotating the first part 122a by 180 ° and then rotating the second part 122b by 180 ° in a state in which the photographing is paused for a while after photographing the teeth on the right side of the upper jaw. The teeth on the left side of the upper jaw can be photographed in the same manner as the way in which the right side of the upper jaw was photographed (ie, the corners of the mouth and the teeth do not interfere with each other). According to this, there is an effect that can easily photograph the upper right, upper left, lower left, and lower right teeth.

Meanwhile, the rotation button 111b allows the first portion 122a and the second portion 122b of the above-described second extension portion 122 to rotate, respectively, and is provided in a sliding manner. For example, when sliding the rotation button 111b without pressing the push button provided on the upper surface of the rotation button 111b, the first part 122a can be rotated 180° clockwise or counterclockwise, and the rotation button (111b) When the rotation button 111b is slid while pressing the push button provided on the upper surface, the second part 122b may be rotated 180° in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction. According to this, the first part 122a and the second part 122b do not rotate after the user manually grips the first part 122a and the second part 122b of the second extension part 122 by hand. Since it can be easily rotated, there is an effect of easily photographing the teeth of the upper right side, the upper left side, the lower left side, and the lower right side.

The camera unit 130 is equipped with a lens to take pictures of the subject's oral cavity, and is formed on one side of an end of the extension unit 120 .

Here, the camera unit 130 may fix the focal length formed by fixing the refractive index of the lens to a preset value. At this time, the focal length may be preferably fixed to a value of 10 mm to 30 mm, more preferably 7 mm. to 13 mm. According to this, since it is possible to prevent blur from occurring in the oral cavity image during oral imaging, learning and identification of oral diseases using an artificial neural network in the image processing device P can be efficiently performed.

Meanwhile, an air curtain module may be provided inside the extension part 120 where the camera part 130 is formed, that is, the second part 122b. As shown in FIG. 9 , an air curtain module is provided inside the second portion 122b where the camera unit 130 is formed, and the inner surface of the second portion 122b where the camera unit 130 is formed. A plurality of through-holes (h) are formed, and the air curtain module ejects high-pressure air in a direction parallel to the upper surface of the camera unit 130 through the plurality of through-holes (h) to moisten the upper surface of the camera unit 130. this can be prevented. According to this, it is possible to prevent an error from occurring when learning and identifying oral diseases using an artificial neural network in the image processing device P due to moisture condensing on the upper surface of the camera unit 130 .

The speaker unit 140 outputs a guide voice for guiding the subject's oral cavity photographing sequence, and is formed on the outer circumferential surface of the body unit 110 .

As shown in FIG. 10, the oral cavity image generated by the fixed focus intraoral camera 100 of the present invention is transmitted to an external image processing device (P) to be learned or identified, and each identified oral disease area is After inserting a timestamp into the frame of the oral image that starts to be exposed, it is output through the display (D). At this time, the learning model using the convolutional neural network (CNN) of the identification unit of the image processing device (P) is After discriminating each of the upper right, upper left, lower left, and lower right teeth based on the dental arch, it can be learned to recognize and identify how many teeth are present in each position.

In more detail, the learning model determines how many teeth exist among the teeth of the right maxilla from No. 11 to No. 18 (incisors, canines, molars, and molars), and from No. 21 to No. 28 on the left side of the maxilla (front teeth, Canines, premolars, molars) how many teeth exist, how many teeth exist among teeth numbered 31 to 38 (anterior teeth, canines, premolars, molars) on the left side of the mandible, how many teeth exist on the right side of the mandible Of the teeth 41 to 48 (anterior teeth, canines, premolars, and molars), it is possible to determine which teeth exist and how many. Thereafter, the learning model is trained to recognize and identify teeth and gums in oral images, and is trained to identify oral diseases such as tooth decay, gum disease, malocclusion, attrition, and abrasion on the teeth or gums. Thereafter, the image processing device P inserts a timestamp into each frame of the oral cavity image in which the parts of each oral disease identified in the identification unit begin to be exposed, and the display D inserts the timestamp from the image processing device P. It outputs the oral image inserted.

That is, the oral images used for learning have the same shooting sequence so that the learning model is easy, the oral images are taken in the order of the upper right side, the upper left side, the lower left side, and the lower right side after the oral cavity in front is taken. Preferably, the guide voice output from the speaker unit 140 of the present invention may guide the subject's oral cavity to be photographed in the order of front, upper right, upper left, lower left, and lower right.

The control unit 150 controls the operation of the intraoral camera of the present invention, selectively supplies power input from the power supply unit to each component, and generates oral images when the camera unit 130 photographs the oral cavity of the subject. , Each component of the intraoral camera is controlled to be operated according to an input signal applied by the user through the operation button 111.

The fixed focus oral cavity according to an embodiment of the present invention including the body part 110, the extension part 120, the camera part 130, the speaker part 140, and the controller 150 as described above. According to the camera 100, it is possible to prevent blur from occurring in the oral cavity image when capturing the image, so that oral disease learning and identification using an artificial neural network can be efficiently performed.

In the above, even though all the components constituting the embodiment of the present invention have been described as being combined or operated as one, the present invention is not necessarily limited to these embodiments. That is, within the scope of the object of the present invention, all of the components may be selectively combined with one or more to operate.

In addition, terms such as "comprise", "comprise" or "having" described above mean that the corresponding component may be present unless otherwise stated, and thus exclude other components. It should be construed as being able to further include other components. All terms, including technical or scientific terms, have the same meaning as commonly understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention belongs, unless defined otherwise. Commonly used terms, such as terms defined in a dictionary, should be interpreted as consistent with the contextual meaning of the related art, and unless explicitly defined in the present invention, they are not interpreted in an ideal or excessively formal meaning.

In addition, the above description is merely an example of the technical idea of the present invention, and various modifications and variations can be made to those skilled in the art without departing from the essential characteristics of the present invention.

Therefore, the embodiments disclosed in the present invention are not intended to limit the technical idea of the present invention, but to explain, and the scope of the technical idea of the present invention is not limited by these embodiments. The protection scope of the present invention should be construed according to the claims below, and all technical ideas within the equivalent range should be construed as being included in the scope of the present invention.

100: fixed focus intraoral camera according to an embodiment of the present invention
110: body part
111: operation button
111a: shooting button
111b: rotation button
120: extension
120a: hood part
121: first extension
α: first angle
122: second extension
β: Second angle
122a: part 1
122b: part 2
h: through hole
130: camera unit
140: speaker unit
150: control unit
P: image processing device
D: display

Claims (5)

In the intraoral camera for photographing the oral cavity of the subject and then generating an oral image and transmitting it to the image processing device,
a body portion extending in the longitudinal direction and having a plurality of operation buttons;
an extension portion extending from an end portion of the body portion; and
It is formed on one side of an end of the extension part and includes a camera unit provided with a lens to photograph the oral cavity of the subject,
The camera unit,
The formed focal length is fixed to a preset value,
the extension,
A first extension portion extending from an end portion of the body portion with a first angle formed between a first imaginary axis formed along the longitudinal direction of the body portion and a second imaginary axis orthogonal to the first axis portion. And, a second extension extending from the end of the first extension having a second angle, which is an angle formed between a virtual third axis orthogonal to the first axis and the second axis, respectively, and the first axis, A fixed focus intraoral camera comprising: The method of claim 1,
the focal length,
A fixed focus intraoral camera, characterized in that fixed at a value of 7mm to 13mm. The method of claim 1,
the extension,
Fixed focus intraoral camera, characterized in that the hood portion for blocking the inflow of light from the outside is provided on one side of the end where the camera portion is formed. delete The method of claim 1,
The fixed focus intraoral camera further comprising a speaker formed in the body and outputting a guide voice for guiding an oral cavity photographing sequence of the subject.

Images