TWM448255U - Capsule endoscopy device - Google Patents

Description

Endoscope capsule device

The present invention is an endoscope capsule device, in particular, a control unit having an image comparison processing design, and an endoscope capsule device derived therefrom.

As early as 1795, many medical predecessors began to carry out examinations of the digestive tract, and then in order to improve the convenience of examination, the concept and creation of endoscopes were used. At the time of inspection, a soft tube was inserted for inspection. Within the organ, such as the endoscope of the stomach. The light transmitted from the cold light source can illuminate the interior of the organ, and then the light sensing chip embedded in the end of the tube can clearly transmit the image signal back to the machine and appear on the screen; however, the above-mentioned technical means are applied to the human body. The small intestine segment cannot be examined with an endoscope, and if the traditional endoscope is too long, the manipulation will be difficult and the patient will suffer a lot of pain.

With the advancement of technology, 遂 developed a technology that utilizes bio-wireless telemetry, abandoning previous wired transmissions, and then solving the shortcomings of the aforementioned tubular endoscopes in terms of volume and usage.

In recent years, due to the creation of power-saving and miniaturized light-sensing wafers and wireless transmitting devices, a light and thin capsule internal vision system has been born. The capsule internal vision system is mainly divided into two parts, a capsule in the body and in vitro, and a capsule in the body. The visible light band image sensor coated by the outer casing transmits the image of the digestive tract to the external receiving device through the wireless radio frequency, and receives the device in vitro. A plurality of radio receiving antennas are installed, and the received signals are stored in a portable receiver for conversion into images, so the capsule internal system will faithfully record the photos it has photographed in the belly. All the pictures, and then excreted away from the body to complete the examination, so that the patient is very convenient to check and use, and can avoid the intrusion into the body by using the tube to cause discomfort and pain.

Capsule internal vision systems consume power when performing image capture, image processing, and wireless transmission in the human body. However, the length of each person's digestive tract is different, and the speed of gastrointestinal peristalsis is different, making the capsule endoscope system travel at different speeds in the human body. For people with longer digestive tracts or slower gastrointestinal motility, the capsule internal vision system takes longer to pass through the digestive tract; therefore, the capsule internal vision system before the capsule internal vision system passes completely through the digestive tract The power may be used up first, and a thorough shooting check cannot be performed. Therefore, how to improve the power consumption of the capsule internal vision system to prolong the shooting time of the capsule internal vision system is the purpose of the creation.

The main purpose of this creation is to provide an endoscope capsule device that has the effect of saving power.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an endoscope capsule device for capturing a plurality of images. The endoscope capsule device includes a housing, a light sensing chip, a control unit and a battery pack. The housing includes an image capturing area, a lens group and an accommodating space, and the position of the lens group corresponds to the image capturing area. The photo-sensing wafer is located in the accommodating space, and its position corresponds to the lens group. The control unit is located in the accommodating space and electrically connected to the photo-sensing wafer, and includes a aligning unit. Comparison The unit is configured to receive the plurality of images captured by the photo-sensing chip, and compare whether the contents of the two consecutive images are similar; if yes, retain one of the images with similar content and delete the remaining images. The battery pack is located in the accommodating space and electrically connected to the control unit.

Because the creation of this creation is novel, it can provide industrial use, and it has improved efficiency, so it applies for a new patent according to law.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent and understood.

Please refer to Figure 1 to Figure 5 below for this creation. 1 is a schematic view of an endoscope capsule device according to a first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing the connection between an endoscope capsule device and an electronic device according to the first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an image taken by an endoscope capsule device according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 5 is implemented according to one of the creations of the present invention; FIG. A schematic image of an image taken by an endoscope capsule device.

As shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, in the first embodiment of the present invention, the endoscope capsule device 1 of the present invention includes a housing 10, a control unit 20, a photo-sensing chip 30, and a light-emitting unit 40. A battery pack 50, a storage unit 60 and a data transmission module 70.

In the first embodiment of the present invention, the aforementioned housing 10 is made of acid and alkali resistant Made of materials such as polyethylene (Polyethylene). It includes an image capturing area 11, a lens group 12 and an accommodating space 13. In the first embodiment, the image capturing area 11 is located at one end of the housing 10, and the remaining electronic components are located in the accommodating space 13 of the housing 10. For the light to penetrate, the image capturing area 11 is a transparent optical structure, which is generally called For the DOME, the light enters the image capturing area 11 and enters the inside of the casing 10. Meanwhile, in order to satisfy the biocompatibility, the material of the image capturing area 11 may be glass or other light transmissive polymer material. The lens group 12 is positioned corresponding to the image capturing area 11, and the lens group 12 is used to focus and project the light incident on the image capturing area 11 to the light sensing chip 30, which is usually a mirror group composed of a plurality of lenses, since Conventional techniques are hereby represented by a lens group 12. In this embodiment, the material of the lens group 12 may be glass or a light-transmissive polymer material. In order to control the optical quality, a band pass filter may be formed on the material of the lens group 12. However, the material of the housing 10 of the present invention is not limited to the above, and may be other materials having acid and alkali corrosion resistance. The material and structure of the image capturing area 11 and the lens group 12 are not limited to the above. The position of the image area 11 is also not limited to one end or both ends of the casing 10. It may be disposed on the middle side of the casing 10 according to design requirements.

The photo-sensing wafer 30 is located in the accommodating space 13 of the housing 10, and the position of the photo-sensing wafer 30 corresponds to the lens group 12, and the photo-sensitive wafer 30 is electrically connected to the control unit 20. In the first embodiment, the photo-sensing chip 30 is a CMOS photo sensor, or may be a CCD photo sensor. The photo-sensing chip 30 is configured to receive the light image focused by the lens group 12 and make the optical image signal. Change to a telegraph. After the light is focused and projected onto the photo-sensing wafer 30 through the lens group 12, the light is transmitted by the light-sensing wafer 30 driven by the control unit 20. Receiving, the optical sensor chip 30 converts the received light signal into an electrical signal and transmits it to the control unit 20. However, the design of the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, the light sensing chip 30 can also be an infrared light sensing chip. It can be used to capture infrared images, or it can be other sensing wafers designed for specific wavelengths.

The light-emitting unit 40 is electrically connected to the control unit 20, and the control unit 20 controls the light-emitting element 40 to emit white light or blue-green light. The reflected light that is incident on the object is focused and projected onto the light-sensing wafer 30 via the lens group 12. In turn, image information of reflected imaging is obtained. Since the white light has the lowest penetration force in the optical, and the blue-green light has a high penetration force, when the light-emitting element 40 uses white light as the illumination light source, the white light is reflected after contacting the human body surface, thereby being effective. After receiving the light sensing chip 30, the image of the tissue surface is displayed; and when the light emitting element 40 alternately uses blue-green light as the illumination source, since the short-wavelength light has strong penetrating power, it will penetrate the surface of the tissue surface. After reflection, the microvascular imaging of the underlying layer of the tissue can be obtained after the image is received by the photo-sensing wafer 30. The illumination unit 40 is in particular a light-emitting diode LED in this embodiment.

In the first embodiment of the present invention, the battery pack 50 is disposed in the accommodating space 13 of the housing 10, and electrically connects the control unit 20, the illuminating element 40, and the sensing wafer 30. The battery pack 50 is used to provide the power required to operate the various electronic components within the creation.

The aforementioned storage unit 60 is located in the accommodating space 13 of the casing 10. In the present creation, the storage unit 60 is a large-capacity non-volatile memory storage device that is connected to the control unit 20 via a data bus interface (DATA BUS) interface. When the photo-sensing chip 30 obtains image information, the photo-sensitive crystal The slice 30 transmits the image information to the control unit 20, and the control unit 20 performs the comparison or compression processing on the image information, and then transmits the image information to the storage unit 60.

The control unit 20 is located in the accommodating space 13 of the housing 10. The control unit 20 is an electronic device having a control IC for controlling the operation of the respective components of the creation, such as controlling the photo-sensing chip 30 to capture images and control storage. The unit 60 stores the image or controls the data transmission module 70 to transmit the data; however, the control unit 20 of the present invention is not limited to the electronic device having the control IC.

Since the peristaltic speed of the human digestive tract is relatively slow, the endoscopic capsule device 1 in the human body may not move in a short time, so the photo-sensing wafer 30 may be photographed during the time when the endoscope capsule device 1 does not move. Continuous images of overlapping areas of the same or similar content; since the contents of the images are the same or similar, the amount of data that can be used by these images is substantially equal to only one amount of data that can be used; if the contents are the same or similar All of the images are transferred to the storage unit 60, which causes unnecessary power consumption and occupies the storage space of the storage unit 60, especially the non-volatile memory used by the device of the present invention, especially the flash memory, when stored. The power consumed is quite large, and reducing the power consumed by the memory is one of the greatest spirits of this creation. In order to solve this problem, the control unit 20 of the present invention includes a matching unit 21, which includes a first memory area 211, a second memory area 212, an image comparison logic unit 213, and a The logic unit 214 is compressed. The image comparison logic unit 213 is configured to compare whether the contents of the plurality of images captured by the photo-sensing chip 30 are the same or similar. The compression logic unit 214 electrically connects the image comparison logic unit 213, used to compress the captured image.

For example, when the photo-sensing wafer 30 transmits the captured first image A (as shown in FIG. 4) to the control unit 20, the first image A will be stored in the first memory region 211; After the next second image A' (shown in FIG. 4) captured by the sensing chip 30 is transmitted to the control unit 20, the second image A' is stored in the second memory region 212. At this time, the image comparison logic unit 213 compares the first image A of the first memory region 211 with the second image A of the second memory region 212. The image comparison logic unit 213 is in an embodiment. The method of motion estimation is used to evaluate the overlap of two images. Of course, the method used in this creation is not limited to this. Since the image content of the first image A and the second image A′ are the same or partially the same, the comparison unit 21 deletes the second image A′ stored in the second memory area 212, so that the image with the same content will be It is not transmitted to the storage unit 60 and causes waste of power. At the same time, in order to save space in the first 211 and the second 212 memory area, it is also possible to select only to capture or compare partial images. At the same time, the image comparison logic unit 213 may further include a partial memory for use as image processing. If the content of the plurality of images captured by the photo-sensing chip 30 is different, for example, when the photo-sensing chip 30 transmits the captured first image A (as shown in FIG. 4) to the control unit 20, the first image A will be Stored in the first memory area 211; then, after the next third image B (shown in FIG. 5) captured by the light sensing chip 30 is transmitted to the control unit 20, the third image B is stored in the second memory. Body area 212. At this time, the image matching logic unit 213 compares the first image A of the first memory region 211 with the third image B of the second memory region 212. Since the image content of the first image A and the third image B are different, the compression logic unit 214 will An image A is compressed and transmitted to the storage unit 60, and the compression logic unit 214 may further include a partial memory for compression processing; meanwhile, the third image B is transmitted from the second memory region 212 to the first memory. The area 211, whereby the image taken by the photo-sensing wafer 30 will be transferred to the second memory area 212, and the comparison unit 21 will be able to view the third image B of the first memory area 211, and the second The subsequent captured images of the memory area 212 are compared; however, the present creation is not limited to the above, for example, when the image contents of the first image A and the third image B are different, the third image B may remain in the image. The second memory area 212 allows the next captured image to be stored in the first memory area 211, and then the image is compared, thereby reducing the transfer of image data and saving power. By the above image comparison, it can be ensured that only images with different contents are transmitted to the storage unit 60; among the images with the same content, only one image is retained, and the rest of the images with the same content are deleted. It is not transmitted to the storage unit 60 and causes unnecessary power consumption. In addition, since the creep speed of the human digestive tract is relatively slow, the moving speed of the endoscope capsule device 1 in the human body is also slow, and thus the content of each image captured by the photo-sensing chip 30 may have a part of the content being repeated; After the endoscope capsule device 1 completely captures the image inside the human body, the image of the partial content can be processed through the computer, and the repeated portions of the image are combined to form a similar long lens (Long Take) ) The image taken.

As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, in the first embodiment of the present invention, the data transmission module 70 is a transmission interface, which is located in the casing 10 and electrically connected to the control unit 20. The data transmission module 70 is configured to output the memory storage data of the storage unit 60 to the terminal host 110 of the connection end. when After the data transmission module 70 is connected to the terminal host 110, the image data accessed in the storage unit 60 can be quickly transmitted to the terminal host 110 through the data transmission module 70, and the data transmission module 70 can also serve as a providing device. Power supply interface for electricity.

In the present embodiment, the living body mirror capsule device 1 is implemented in a living body. In this embodiment, the living body is, for example, a human body, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and may also be a pet. Wait for the body of the animal. When the endoscope capsule device 1 is placed inside a human body (for example, the user swallows the endoscope capsule device 1 so that the endoscope capsule device 1 is located in the digestive tract), the control logic of the control unit 20 can directly request the light sensing chip 30. At the same time, the control unit 20 controls the light-emitting element 40 to emit white light or blue-green light, and the reflected light that is incident on the object is focused and projected onto the light-sensing wafer 30 via the lens group 12, thereby obtaining a reflection imaging image. Like information. The imaged image information is transmitted from the photo-sensing wafer 30 to the control unit 20, and after comparison by the comparison unit 21, one of the images of the same content is retained, and the remaining images of the same or partially identical content are deleted. The images that are compared and whose image contents are different from each other are compressed and transmitted to the storage unit 60 to avoid unnecessary power consumption. The storage data of the storage unit 60 can be output to the storage module 92 of the electronic device 90 through the connection of the data transmission module 70 and the transmission module 91.

Please refer to FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 for the endoscope capsule device according to the second embodiment. 6 is a schematic view of an endoscope capsule device according to a second embodiment of the present invention; and FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing the connection of the endoscope capsule device and the electronic device according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, the difference between the second embodiment and the first embodiment In the second embodiment, the endoscope capsule device 1a does not include the storage unit 60, and the data transmission module 70a is a wireless transmission module. In the second embodiment, through the data transmission module 70a, the endoscope capsule device 1a is connected to the two electronic devices 90 in a wireless connection manner, and the two electronic devices 90 are disposed at positions corresponding to the living digestive system (for example, the belly). Surrounding) to wirelessly connect the endoscopic capsule device 1a of the living digestive system; however, the number of electronic devices 90 is not limited to two, and the position is not limited to the above, and may be increased according to design requirements. Less. In the second embodiment, the electronic device 90 of the present invention is disposed on a garment 100 so that the user wears the garment 100 provided with the electronic device 90, so that the electronic device 90 wirelessly connects the endoscope capsule in the user body at any time. Device 1a. Each of the electronic devices 90 includes a transmission module 91 and a storage module 92. The transmission module 91 is configured to connect the endoscope capsule device 1a by wireless connection, so that the endoscope capsule device 1a transmits the captured image to the transmission module 91. The storage module 92 is electrically connected to the transmission module 91 for storing the image received by the transmission module 91. However, the present invention is not limited to the above, for example, the electronic device 90 is not limited to being disposed on the garment 100.

In the second embodiment, when the comparison unit 21 performs image comparison, if the content of the plurality of images captured by the photo-sensing chip 30 is different, for example, when the photo-sensing chip 30 is to capture the first image A (as shown in the figure) After being transmitted to the control unit 20, the first image A will be stored in the first memory region 211; then, the next image captured by the photo-sensing wafer 30 will be compared to the image B (as shown in FIG. 5). After being transmitted to the control unit 20, the third image B is stored in the second memory area 212. At this time, the comparison unit 21 performs the first image A of the first memory region 211 and the third image B of the second memory region 212. Comparison. Since the image content of the first image A and the third image B are different, the control unit 20 compresses the first image A and transmits it to the data transmission module 70a; meanwhile, the third image B passes from the second memory region 212. Transfer to the first memory region 211, whereby the image captured by the photo-sensing wafer 30 will be transferred to the second memory region 212, and the comparison unit 21 will be third to the first memory region 211. Image B is compared with subsequent captured images of second memory region 212. After the data transmission module 70a receives the first image A, the first image A is wirelessly transmitted to the transmission module 91.

In summary, this creation, regardless of its purpose, means and efficacy, is showing its characteristics that are different from the well-known techniques. You are kindly requested to review the examination and express the patent as soon as possible. It is to be noted that the various embodiments described above are merely illustrative for ease of explanation, and the scope of the claims is intended to be limited by the scope of the claims.

1, 1a‧‧‧ endoscope capsule device

10‧‧‧shell

11‧‧‧Image capture area

12‧‧‧ lens group

13‧‧‧ accommodating space

20‧‧‧Control unit

21‧‧‧ comparison unit

211‧‧‧First memory area

212‧‧‧Second memory area

213‧‧‧Image comparison logic unit

214‧‧‧Compressed logic unit

30‧‧‧Photosensitive wafer

40‧‧‧Lighting unit

50‧‧‧Battery Pack

60‧‧‧ storage unit

70, 70a‧‧‧ data transmission module

90‧‧‧Electronic devices

91‧‧‧Transmission module

92‧‧‧ storage module

100‧‧‧ clothes

110‧‧‧End Host

A‧‧‧ first image

A’‧‧‧Second image

B‧‧‧ third image

1 is a schematic view of an endoscope capsule device in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a schematic illustration of the connection of an endoscope capsule device to an end host in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a circuit configuration diagram of an endoscope capsule device connected to an end host according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a schematic diagram of an image taken by an endoscope capsule device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of an image taken by an endoscope capsule device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 6 is a schematic illustration of an endoscope capsule device in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 7 is a schematic illustration of the connection of an endoscope capsule device to an electronic device in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention.

1‧‧‧Endoscope Capsule Device

10‧‧‧shell

11‧‧‧Image capture area

12‧‧‧ lens group

13‧‧‧ accommodating space

20‧‧‧Control unit

21‧‧‧ comparison unit

211‧‧‧First memory area

212‧‧‧Second memory area

213‧‧‧Image comparison logic unit

214‧‧‧Compressed logic unit

30‧‧‧Photosensitive wafer

40‧‧‧Lighting unit

50‧‧‧Battery Pack

60‧‧‧ storage unit

70‧‧‧Data Transmission Module

Claims (16)

An endoscope capsule device for capturing a plurality of images, the endoscope capsule device comprising: a housing comprising an image capturing area, a lens group and an accommodating space, the lens group corresponding to the image capturing area a photo-sensing chip is disposed in the accommodating space, and the photo-sensing chip is disposed corresponding to the lens group; a control unit is located in the accommodating space and electrically connected to the photo-sensing chip, and the control unit includes a aligning unit. The comparison unit includes an image comparison logic unit; the comparison unit is configured to receive the plurality of images captured by the photo-sensing chip, and compare the two consecutive image contents of the plurality of images through the image comparison logic unit. If yes, one of the images is retained, and another image with similar content is deleted; and a battery pack is located in the accommodating space and electrically connected to the control unit. The endoscope capsule device of claim 1, further comprising a data transmission module, wherein the data transmission module is located in the accommodating space and electrically connected to the control unit, the data transmission module is a wireless Transmission module or cable transmission module. The endoscope capsule device of claim 1, further comprising a storage unit located in the accommodating space and electrically connected to the control unit. The endoscope capsule device of claim 1, wherein the comparison unit further comprises a first memory region and a second memory region; when one of the images is transmitted to the comparison unit, One of the images will be stored Stored in the first memory area; then, when another image is transmitted to the comparison unit, the other image is stored in the second memory area. The endoscope capsule device of claim 3, wherein the comparison unit further comprises a first memory region and a second memory region; when one of the images is transmitted to the comparison unit, One of the images is stored in the first memory area; then, when another image is transmitted to the comparison unit, the other image is stored in the second memory area; the comparison unit will Whether the content of the two images stored in the first memory region and the second memory region is similar; if so, deleting the other image stored in the second memory region; if not, the first One of the images stored in the memory area is transferred to the storage unit. The endoscope capsule device of claim 4, further comprising a storage unit located in the accommodating space and electrically connected to the control unit; wherein the aligning unit compares the first memory area Whether the content of the two images stored in the second memory area is similar; if so, deleting the other image stored in the second memory area; if not, storing the first memory area The image is transferred to the storage unit. The endoscope capsule device of claim 2, wherein the comparison unit further comprises a first memory region and a second memory region; when one of the images is transmitted to the comparison unit, One of the images is stored in the first memory area; then, when another image is transmitted to the comparison unit, the other image is stored in the second memory area; the comparison unit will Whether the content of the two images stored in the first memory region and the second memory region is similar; if so, deleting the second memory The another image stored in the body region; if not, transmitting the image stored in the first memory region to the data transmission module. The endoscope capsule device of claim 4, further comprising a data transmission module located in the accommodating space and electrically connected to the control unit, wherein the data transmission module is a wireless transmission module or a wired transmission module; wherein the comparison unit compares the content of the two images stored in the first memory area and the second memory area; if so, deleting the other stored in the second memory area An image; if not, transmitting the one image stored in the first memory area to the data transmission module. The endoscope capsule device of claim 1, wherein the photo-sensing chip is a CMOS photo sensor or a CCD photo sensor. The endoscope capsule device of claim 1, further comprising an illumination unit electrically coupled to the control unit. The endoscope capsule device of claim 10, wherein the illumination unit emits a white light source or a blue-green light source. The endoscope capsule device of claim 1, wherein the comparison unit further comprises a compression logic unit electrically coupled to the image comparison logic unit. The endoscope capsule device of claim 5, wherein the comparison unit further comprises a compression logic unit electrically coupled to the image comparison logic unit, wherein the compression logic unit is configured to The one image stored in the first memory area is compressed and stored to the storage unit. The endoscope capsule device of claim 12, wherein the comparison unit further comprises a first memory region and a second memory region; when one of the images is transmitted to the comparison unit, One of the images is stored in the first memory area; then, when another image is transmitted to the comparison unit, the other image is stored in the second memory area; the comparison unit will Whether the content of the two images stored in the first memory region and the second memory region is similar; if so, deleting the other image stored in the second memory region; if not, the compression logic unit The one image stored in the first memory area is compressed and stored in the storage unit. The endoscope capsule device of claim 6, wherein the comparison unit further comprises a compression logic unit electrically coupled to the image comparison logic unit, wherein the compression logic unit is configured to The one image stored in the first memory area is compressed and stored in the data transmission module. The endoscope capsule device of claim 12, wherein the comparison unit further comprises a first memory region and a second memory region; when one of the images is transmitted to the comparison unit, One of the images is stored in the first memory area; then, when another image is transmitted to the comparison unit, the other image is stored in the second memory area; the comparison unit will Whether the content of the two images stored in the first memory region and the second memory region is similar; if so, deleting the other image stored in the second memory region; if not, the compression logic unit The one image stored in the first memory area is compressed and stored in the data transmission module.