KR20160006857A - medical imaging system using endoscope and method for controlling the same - Google Patents

Abstract

According to the present invention, a medical imaging system using an endoscope comprises the endoscope, a main monitor, an auxiliary monitor, an input unit, and a control unit. The endoscope photographs an internal human body inside the internal human body and transmits an internal human body image. The main monitor displays the internal human body image. The auxiliary monitor displays the internal human body image which is processed. The input unit remotely inputs an input order related to the image processing. The control unit controls the main monitor to display the internal human body image transmitted by the endoscope, and processes the internal human body image transmitted by the endoscope to eliminate noise. The control unit processes the internal human body image of which noise is eliminated based on the input order inputted by the input unit. The control unit controls the auxiliary monitor to display the processed internal human body image.

Description

Technical Field [0001] The present invention relates to a medical imaging system using an endoscope,

The present invention relates to a medical device, and more particularly, to a medical image system using an endoscope and a control method thereof.

Endoscopes are widely used in the medical field. Doctors diagnose the disease by inserting the insertion part of the endoscope into the body cavity of the organs and observe the inside of the body cavity of the organ or treat the affected part by using the treatment device inserted into the insertion channel provided in the endoscope according to the diagnosis result .

An example of a medical image system using a conventional endoscope is disclosed in Korean Patent Laid-Open No. 10-2006-0108713.

Hereinafter, a medical image system using a conventional endoscope will be described with reference to the drawings.

1 is a schematic view of a medical image system using a conventional endoscope.

1, a conventional medical imaging system using an endoscope includes an endoscope 1, a light source device 9, a video processor 10, and a monitor 11.

Meanwhile, in the medical image system using the conventional endoscope, the images taken by the endoscope 11 on the monitor 11 are directly displayed in real time so that the doctor can see the images.

Therefore, when a doctor performs an endoscopic examination using an imaging system using a conventional endoscope, the doctor observes the image taken by the endoscope in real time, and thus the medical treatment has to be totally dependent on the ability of the doctor. That is, the level of medical care may vary depending on the performance of the individual endoscopist.

Korean Patent Laid-Open No. 10-2006-0108713 (published on October 18, 2006)

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems occurring in the prior art, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a medical image system capable of assisting a doctor in performing a medical examination more accurately, And to provide a control method.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a medical imaging system using an endoscope, comprising: an endoscope for capturing an inside of a human body and transmitting an inside of the human body; A non-processed image display for displaying the human internal image; A controller for performing image processing on the human internal image; And a processed image display for displaying a human internal image imaged by the control unit. The unprocessed image display may take the form of a monitor that displays an image of an endoscope, but it may also include any type of equipment (e.g., an alternative lens, etc.) that allows the endoscope performer to directly view the image taken by the endoscope .

Preferably, the image processing apparatus may further include an instruction input unit for inputting an image processing instruction, and the control unit may perform image processing according to the image processing instruction.

Also, the command input unit may include at least one of an organ selection unit, an observation mode selection unit, and a video reproduction mode selection unit, which can select an organ in a human body being photographed.

The long-term selection unit may be any one selected from a plurality of endoscopically available organs including the stomach, colon, rectum and bronchus.

In addition, the observation mode selection unit may include a plurality of color modes.

In addition, the observation mode selection unit may include a plurality of image processing modes.

In addition, the image reproduction mode selection unit may include one or more of image speed adjustment and image enlargement / reduction.

In addition, the image processing may include reconstructing the human internal image to generate a map in the form of an organ in the human body.

In addition, the image processing may include automatically detecting a disease suspicious part of the organs in the human body and displaying it on the map.

In addition, the command input unit may include a function for directly displaying a disease suspicious region by the user.

In addition, the control unit may generate a warning signal when the suspicious part of the organ in the human body is automatically detected. At this time, the warning signal may include at least one of a sound signal and a light signal.

In addition, the image processing may further include image noise cancellation.

At this time, the image noise removal may include at least one of reflected light removal, image noise filtering, and inprinting.

In addition, the plurality of image processing modes may include a color space combination and optimization including RGV, La * b * and HSV, a vascular emphasized image mode, histogram stretching, histogram equalization, And normalization. By using this, the endoscope operator can individually select desired image processing modes and turn them on / off.

Further, the automatic detection of the suspected lesion may include one or more of blob counting, detection, labeling, and real-time tracking.

The command input unit may be a wired or wireless remote controller.

In another aspect, a method of controlling a medical imaging system using an endoscope according to an embodiment of the present invention includes the steps of capturing an inside of a human body in a human body to transmit an internal human body image, displaying the human internal image, Processing the internal image of the human body according to the image processing command, and displaying the human internal image subjected to the image processing.

According to the embodiment of the present invention as described above, since the image taken by the endoscope is image-processed and displayed, it is possible to assist the doctor in performing the examination more accurately and objectively.

1 is a schematic view of a medical image system using a conventional endoscope.
2 is a block diagram illustrating a medical imaging system using an endoscope according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a command input unit (remote controller) of the medical image system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a view for explaining a process image display (auxiliary monitor) of a medical image system using an endoscope according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 to 9 are views for explaining images displayed by an unprocessed image display (main monitor) or a processed image display (auxiliary monitor) by a medical image system using an endoscope according to an embodiment of the present invention and a control method thereof to be.
10 is a flowchart illustrating a method of controlling a medical image system using an endoscope according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention is capable of various modifications and various embodiments, and specific embodiments are illustrated and described in the drawings. It should be understood, however, that the invention is not to be limited to the specific embodiments, but includes all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein like or corresponding elements are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description thereof will be omitted. It is to be understood that the terms used for the directions or positions of up and down, right and left, front and rear, and the like are used with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a medical imaging system 100 using an endoscope according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is an instruction input unit 140 that can be used in a medical imaging system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention And FIG. 4 is a view for explaining a process image display of a medical image system using an endoscope according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 5 to 10 are views illustrating a medical image system using an endoscope according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 8 is a view for explaining an image displayed by an unprocessed image display or a processed image display by the control method thereof.

2 to 9, a medical imaging system 100 using an endoscope according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is a medical imaging system 100 that uses an endoscope, such as a human organs or body cavity in which an endoscope such as a stomach, An endoscope 110 for capturing the inside of the human body and transmitting the inside of the human body, an unprocessed image display 120 for displaying the inside of the human body as it is, a processing image display for displaying the inside of the human body image processed by the controller 150 A command input unit 140 for inputting an image processing command in a wireless or wired manner, a noise removing unit 140 for removing noise from a human body internal image transmitted by the endoscope 110, And a controller 150 for processing an image of a human body without noise. Image processing may be performed after noise removal, but image processing may be performed with the noise removal omitted.

Since the endoscope 110 can be a general endoscope that is commonly used, a detailed description thereof will be omitted. The unprocessed image display 120 may be configured in the form of a monitor used for a general endoscopic examination, and thus a detailed description thereof will be omitted. However, the unprocessed image display 120 need not be in the form of a monitor, and any type of apparatus may be used as long as the endoscopic performer can identify the internal image of the human body at a position where the endoscope passes.

The command input unit 140 transmits the image processing command to be performed by the controller 150 to the controller 150. [ The command input unit 140 may be implemented as a wired or wireless remote controller so that an input command can be input to the controller 150 remotely. However, the command input unit 140 does not necessarily need to be a remote controller, and may be of any type as long as the user can select / operate the type of image processing as required.

3, the command input unit 140 includes an organ selection unit 142, an observation mode selection unit 144, and a video reproduction mode selection unit 146 that can select an organ in the human body being photographed . The organ selection unit 142 may be configured to select among a plurality of organs in the body, including, for example, the gastrointestinal, colon, rectum and the like among various organs. Of course, any organ can be included if it is an organ capable of endoscopy.

The observation mode selection unit 144 may be configured to select among a plurality of color modes. The color mode may be automatically selected depending on the type of organ to which the endoscope is performed or may be selected by the user at will. Observation modes may include various types of observation modes, including vascular emphasized imaging mode.

The video playback mode selection unit 146 may include a video speed adjustment function and / or an image zooming function. That is, it may include rewind, slow, fast, zoom in, zoom out, and the like. In addition, any type of regeneration mode that facilitates the observation of the endoscope performer is possible.

Further, the command input unit 140 may be configured to select a direct display function that allows the endoscope performer to directly display a suspected disease part.

The processing image display 130 displays the image processed by the control unit 150. FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, the image displayed on the processed image display 130 includes a portion displaying the observation mode C, the current state D, the selected organ B selected by the command input unit 140, , And a portion (A) for displaying a human body inner image subjected to an image processing, and a suspicious portion (for example, a lesion portion) is displayed in a portion (A) In the selected organ part (B), a map of the organ, the current position, the location of the suspicious part of the disease, and the like can be displayed.

The processed image display 130 may be configured in a monitor form including the speaker 131 so that a warning sound may be generated when a suspected lesion is detected. The processed image display 130 may be implemented as a display other than a monitor.

On the other hand, the warning signal may be a visual warning signal (for example, LED lighting, etc.) instead of a warning sound, or may generate any suitable warning signal. Therefore, when the endoscope operator perceives the warning signal, it becomes possible to observe the suspicious part of the auto-detected disease more carefully and to judge it more thoroughly without depending on subjective judgment and ability.

The control unit 150 performs noise elimination and image processing of the human body internal image according to the observation mode selected by the observation mode selection unit 144 of the command input unit 140, So that the internal processed image of the human body can be displayed. Here, the image noise removal may be performed using any one of general image noise removal techniques, for example, by using reflected light removal, image noise filtering, or inprinting.

Image processing for feature point emphasis is also possible with any suitable type of image processing method, for example, combining and optimizing color spaces including RGV, La * b *, HSV, histogram stretching, One or more of histogram equalization and normalization may be used.

Accordingly, the number of pixels corresponding to each gray scale value in an image is expressed in the form of a function, and then the histogram concentrated in a specific portion or the center is expanded to all the regions, so that the image is stretched including the pixel values of the entire range, Alternatively, the histogram may be equalized by changing the histogram of the image to appear evenly throughout the gray scale, or may be normalized by dividing the number of pixels by the total number of pixels of the image. In addition, the above methods may be used in combination.

On the other hand, the above-described image processing may be performed after noise cancellation but omitting noise cancellation.

In addition, the control unit 150 automatically processes an image of a diseased area (a lesion) of the human body without noise to display a processed image of the human body in which the diseased part (lesion) is automatically detected and processed can do. Herein, the automatic lesion detection image processing may use any suitable method for discriminating specific regions of an image through image processing, for example, blob counting, detection, labeling, or real-time tracking (real-time tracking) may be used and appropriate combinations thereof may be used.

On the other hand, automatic detection of suspected lesion (lesion) may be performed after noise cancellation, but noise cancellation may be omitted.

In addition, the control unit 150 may cause the processed image display 130 to display an image showing a suspected disease part in a long term according to a user's operation command when the direct disease suspicious part display function is selected in the command input unit 140. [

In addition, when a suspected disease site is found, the control unit 150 displays a place where the relevant site is located in the map of the organ.

Hereinafter, a method of controlling a medical image system using an endoscope according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

10 is a flowchart illustrating a method of controlling a medical image system using an endoscope according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 10, the endoscope 110 photographs the inside of the human body and transmits the human internal image (1010).

Then, the photographed human body internal image is displayed on the raw image display 120 as shown in FIG. 5 (1020). Accordingly, the user can perform the endoscopic operation while viewing the human body internal image displayed on the raw image display 120. [

Next, the control unit 150 removes noise from the human internal image transmitted from the endoscope 110 (1030). The noise-canceled image is as shown in FIG. At this time, noise cancellation may also include reflection light removal. As a result, image processing efficiency is improved and readability is increased. The image noise cancellation can be performed using any one of general image noise cancellation techniques, for example, using reflection noise elimination, image noise filtering, or inprinting.

Then, the control unit 150 performs image processing on the human internal image in which the noise is removed according to the type of organ selected in the command input unit 140 and / or the observation mode, and the processed image display 130 displays the human internal image (1040).

Specifically, the controller 150 grasps the type and / or the observation mode of the selected organ in the command input unit 140 (1040-1).

Next, the controller 150 performs image processing on the human internal image in which noises have been removed according to the type of organ selected and / or the observation mode, as shown in FIG. 7 (1040-2). Here, the image processing according to the observation mode includes feature point emphasis image processing, and the combination and optimization of color spaces including RGV, La * b *, and HSV, histogram stretching, histogram equalization ) And normalization may be used. In the observation mode, an observation mode suitable for the selected organ type may be automatically set, or the user may be allowed to set the observation mode.

Next, the controller 150 displays the human internal image, which is noise-canceled and processed according to the observation mode, on the processing image display 130 (1040-3). Therefore, the user can easily observe the serosal adenomas and polyp removal surfaces which are difficult to be detected because of lack of morphological characteristics and which are difficult to be detected by vascular emphasized images because of lack of blood vessels.

Next, the control unit 150 performs an automatic detection image processing of a suspected lesion (lesion) on the noise-canceled human internal image (1040-4). At this time, the auto-detected image processing of the suspected lesion (lesion) can use at least one of blob counting, detection, labeling and real-time tracking.

Next, if the automatically detected disease suspect portion exists, the automatically detected disease suspect portion is also displayed (1040-6) in the image processed human body internal image displayed at (1040-5). An indication of the auto-detected disease suspicious part may be, for example, as shown in FIG. At this time, when the lesion is detected, the control unit 150 may output a warning signal such as a warning sound of the speaker 131 (1040-7). Accordingly, the user can observe the auto-detected disease suspected lesion (lesion) again, thereby giving the user one more chance to recognize the missed lesion.

If the display function is directly selected (1040-8) in the control unit 150, the control unit 150 displays a suspicious part of the disease in the internal image of the human body, which is subjected to the image processing according to the user's operation command inputted from the command input unit 140 or the like (1040-9). The disease suspicious part indication may be displayed on the map of the internal organs of the human body as shown in Fig. Therefore, the endoscopic performer, the follower of the disease, and the like can perform necessary work while confirming the location of the suspicious part of the disease indicated on the map.

Then, it is determined whether the termination condition is satisfied (1050). If the termination condition is not satisfied, the process is continued.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims It can be understood that

100: Medical imaging system using endoscope
110: Endoscope
120: Display of raw image
130: Processed image display
131: Speaker
140: command input unit
150:

Claims (17)

An endoscope for capturing the inside of the human body and transmitting the inside of the human body;
A non-processed image display for displaying the human internal image;
A controller for performing image processing on the human internal image; And
A processed image display for displaying a human internal image imaged by the control unit;
A medical imaging system using an endoscope. The method according to claim 1,
And a command input unit for inputting a video processing command,
Wherein the control unit performs image processing in accordance with the image processing command. 3. The method of claim 2,
Wherein the command input unit includes at least one of an organ selection unit, an observation mode selection unit, and a video reproduction mode selection unit, which can select an organ in a human body being photographed. The method of claim 3,
Wherein the organ selection is selected from a plurality of human organs including the stomach, colon, rectum and bronchus. The method of claim 3,
Wherein the observation mode selection unit comprises a plurality of color modes. The method of claim 3,
Wherein the observation mode selection unit includes a plurality of image processing modes. The method of claim 3,
Wherein the image reproduction mode selection unit includes at least one of image speed adjustment and image enlargement / reduction. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the image processing includes reconstructing the human internal image to generate a map in the form of an organ in the human body. 9. The method of claim 8,
Wherein the image processing includes automatically detecting a disease suspicious part of the organ in the human body and displaying it on the map. 10. The method of claim 9,
Wherein the command input unit includes a function for directly displaying a disease suspicious part by a user. 10. The method of claim 9,
Wherein the control unit generates a warning signal when the suspicious part of the organ in the human body is automatically detected, and the warning signal includes at least one of a sound signal and a light signal. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the image processing further comprises image noise cancellation. 13. The method of claim 12,
Wherein the image noise removal comprises at least one of reflected light removal, image noise filtering, and inprinting. The method according to claim 6,
The plurality of image processing modes may include a combination of color spaces including RGV, La * b *, HSV, and optimization, a vascular emphasized image mode, histogram stretching, histogram equalization and normalization normalization). < / RTI > 10. The method of claim 9,
Wherein the automatic detection of the suspected lesion includes one or more of blob counting, detection, labeling, and real-time tracking. The medical image system according to claim 2, wherein the command input unit has the form of a wired or wireless remote controller. Capturing a human body inside the human body and transmitting an internal human body image;
Displaying the human internal image;
Receiving an image processing command;
Processing the internal image of the human body according to the image processing command;
A step of displaying the human internal image subjected to the image processing
And a control unit for controlling the medical image system.

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