Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
  • A61B1/00—Instruments for performing medical examinations of the interior of cavities or tubes of the body by visual or photographical inspection, e.g. endoscopes; Illuminating arrangements therefor
  • A61B1/00002—Operational features of endoscopes
  • A61B1/00004—Operational features of endoscopes characterised by electronic signal processing
  • A61B1/00009—Operational features of endoscopes characterised by electronic signal processing of image signals during a use of endoscope
  • A61B1/000094—Operational features of endoscopes characterised by electronic signal processing of image signals during a use of endoscope extracting biological structures
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
  • A61B1/00—Instruments for performing medical examinations of the interior of cavities or tubes of the body by visual or photographical inspection, e.g. endoscopes; Illuminating arrangements therefor
  • A61B1/00002—Operational features of endoscopes
  • A61B1/00043—Operational features of endoscopes provided with output arrangements
  • A61B1/00045—Display arrangement
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
  • A61B1/00—Instruments for performing medical examinations of the interior of cavities or tubes of the body by visual or photographical inspection, e.g. endoscopes; Illuminating arrangements therefor
  • A61B1/00002—Operational features of endoscopes
  • A61B1/00043—Operational features of endoscopes provided with output arrangements
  • A61B1/00045—Display arrangement
  • A61B1/0005—Display arrangement combining images e.g. side-by-side, superimposed or tiled
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
  • A61B1/00—Instruments for performing medical examinations of the interior of cavities or tubes of the body by visual or photographical inspection, e.g. endoscopes; Illuminating arrangements therefor
  • A61B1/04—Instruments for performing medical examinations of the interior of cavities or tubes of the body by visual or photographical inspection, e.g. endoscopes; Illuminating arrangements therefor combined with photographic or television appliances
  • A61B1/041—Capsule endoscopes for imaging
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
  • G06T—IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
  • G06T1/00—General purpose image data processing
  • G06T1/0007—Image acquisition
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
  • G06V—IMAGE OR VIDEO RECOGNITION OR UNDERSTANDING
  • G06V10/00—Arrangements for image or video recognition or understanding
  • G06V10/40—Extraction of image or video features
  • G06V10/46—Descriptors for shape, contour or point-related descriptors, e.g. scale invariant feature transform [SIFT] or bags of words [BoW]; Salient regional features
  • G06V10/462—Salient features, e.g. scale invariant feature transforms [SIFT]
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
  • G06V—IMAGE OR VIDEO RECOGNITION OR UNDERSTANDING
  • G06V10/00—Arrangements for image or video recognition or understanding
  • G06V10/40—Extraction of image or video features
  • G06V10/56—Extraction of image or video features relating to colour
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
  • A61B1/00—Instruments for performing medical examinations of the interior of cavities or tubes of the body by visual or photographical inspection, e.g. endoscopes; Illuminating arrangements therefor
  • A61B1/00002—Operational features of endoscopes
  • A61B1/00011—Operational features of endoscopes characterised by signal transmission
  • A61B1/00016—Operational features of endoscopes characterised by signal transmission using wireless means
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
  • A61B1/00—Instruments for performing medical examinations of the interior of cavities or tubes of the body by visual or photographical inspection, e.g. endoscopes; Illuminating arrangements therefor
  • A61B1/04—Instruments for performing medical examinations of the interior of cavities or tubes of the body by visual or photographical inspection, e.g. endoscopes; Illuminating arrangements therefor combined with photographic or television appliances
  • A61B1/05—Instruments for performing medical examinations of the interior of cavities or tubes of the body by visual or photographical inspection, e.g. endoscopes; Illuminating arrangements therefor combined with photographic or television appliances characterised by the image sensor, e.g. camera, being in the distal end portion

Definitions

• the present invention relates to an image display device that displays a series of images taken at a plurality of points in time, and in particular, a series of in-subject images taken using a capsule endoscope introduced into the subject.
• the present invention relates to an image display apparatus suitable for application to the above display.
• This capsule endoscope has an imaging function and a wireless communication function, and is swallowed from the subject's mouth for observation in various organs until it is naturally discharged, for example, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, etc.
• the inside of the organ is sequentially imaged while moving according to the peristaltic motion.
• image data captured in the subject by the capsule endoscope is sequentially transmitted to the outside of the subject using a wireless signal and provided in a receiver outside the subject.
• a wireless signal Stored in a stored memory or displayed on a display provided in the receiver. Doctors, nurses, etc. can make a diagnosis based on the image displayed on the display based on the image data stored in the memory, or the image displayed on the display provided in the receiver along with the reception. .
• Patent Document 1 Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-337596
• the average color of the entire image area is obtained for each image! /, So that, for example, a bleeding site or the like is captured in a part of the image area.
• a region to be noted in a part of the image region there is a problem that it is difficult to recognize the presence of the region to be noticed by the average color power. For this reason, there is a problem in that when an image is searched and discriminated by observing the average color, an image including a region to be noticed may be missed.
• the present invention has been made in view of the above, and a feature of a series of images captured at a plurality of time points can be displayed over a whole image capturing period for each of a plurality of image regions. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image display apparatus that can easily recognize the state of an imaging target for each image region in the image area.
• an image display device includes a time scale indicating an imaging period of the series of images together with a series of images taken at a plurality of time points.
• An image display device to be displayed has an average color calculation means for calculating an area average color of each divided image area obtained by dividing each image in the series of images into predetermined image areas, and on the time scale.
• Display control means for performing control to display the area average color of the divided image area in which each divided scale area is associated with each divided scale area obtained by dividing the display area at each time point in association with each divided image area It is characterized by comprising.
• the area average color averages the area average colors of a plurality of images for each of the divided image areas for each predetermined partial imaging period. It is characterized by the average color of the period region.
• each of the divided image regions is formed by dividing each of the images in a predetermined division direction
• the display control means includes the time
• the display area at each point on the scale is the same as the division direction on the display screen.
• the area average color or the period area average color of the divided image area associated with each divided scale area is displayed in each divided scale area associated with each divided image area in this division order. It is characterized by performing control.
• each of the divided image areas is obtained by dividing each image into four in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction on the display screen.
• the display control means is configured to divide the display area at each time point on the time scale into four in the vertical and horizontal directions on the display screen, and to divide each divided scale associated with the divided image areas in this division order. Control is performed to display the area average color or the period area average color of the divided image area in which the respective divided scale areas are associated with the area.
• the image display device includes feature region detection means for detecting a feature image region having a predetermined feature from each divided image region of each image,
• the average color calculation means as the area average color, weighted areas obtained by averaging different color information in the feature image area and color information in the divided image area excluding the feature image area. An average color is calculated.
• the weighted region average color is obtained by dividing the weighted region average color of a plurality of images by the predetermined partial imaging period. It is a period area average color averaged for each split image area.
• the average color calculation means may calculate the average color of the coverage area of the characteristic image including the characteristic image area as the average color of the period area.
• the weighted period area average color is calculated by averaging the area average colors of the plurality of images in the partial imaging period excluding the characteristic image by different weights.
• the average color calculation means calculates the period region average color using a series of images of a predetermined sampling period in the partial imaging period. It is characterized by that.
• the average color calculation means uses color information of each pixel at a predetermined sampling interval in the divided image region. The area average color is calculated.
• the series of images are in-subject images captured using a capsule endoscope introduced into the subject. It is characterized by that.
• the image display device of the present invention it is possible to display the characteristics of a series of images captured at a plurality of time points over a whole imaging period for each of a plurality of image areas, and the image area at each imaging time point. It is possible to easily recognize the state of the imaging target for each
• FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a wireless in-vivo information acquiring system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
• FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the image display apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
• FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a display screen displayed by the image display device shown in FIG. 1.
• FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the color bar drawing process shown in FIG. 3.
• FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the color bar drawing process shown in FIG. 3.
• FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a color bar drawing processing procedure performed by the image display device shown in FIG. 1.
• FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the average color calculation processing procedure shown in FIG.
• FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image display apparatus according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.
• FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a color bar drawing processing procedure performed by the image display device shown in FIG.
• FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the average color calculation processing procedure shown in FIG.
• FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the overall configuration of a wireless in-vivo information acquiring system.
• This wireless intra-subject information acquisition system uses a capsule endoscope as an example of the intra-subject introduction apparatus.
• the wireless in-vivo information acquisition system is a capsule that is introduced into the body of the subject 1 and wirelessly transmits the image data of the captured in-subject image to the receiving device 3.
• the endoscope 2, the receiver 3 that receives image data wirelessly transmitted from the capsule endoscope 2, and displays the in-subject image based on the image signal received by the receiver 3.
• an image display device 4 and a portable recording medium 5 for transferring image data and the like between the reception device 3 and the image display device 4.
• the receiving device 3 includes a receiving antenna 6 having a plurality of antennas 6a to 6h attached to the external surface of the subject 1 or the like.
• the receiving device 3 receives the image data and the like wirelessly transmitted from the capsule endoscope 2 via the receiving antenna 6, and each antenna 6a to 6h when the received image data is received in each received image data. Are recorded in association with each other.
• the antennas 6a to 6h are realized by using, for example, a loop antenna, and each organ in the subject 1 which is a predetermined position on the external surface of the subject 1, that is, a passage path of the capsule endoscope 2 is used. It is arranged at a position corresponding to.
• the antennas 6a to 6h may be arranged at predetermined positions such as a jacket worn by the subject 1. In this case, the antennas 6a to 6h are disposed at predetermined positions on the external surface of the subject 1 through the jacket or the like.
• the arrangement of the antennas 6a to 6h can be arbitrarily changed according to the purpose of observation or diagnosis in the subject 1. Note that the number of antennas included in the receiving antenna 6 need not be limited to the eight antennas shown as the antennas 6a to 6h, and may be smaller or larger than eight.
• the image display device 4 is realized by, for example, a workstation including a CRT, a liquid crystal display, and the like, and displays an image based on image data acquired via the portable recording medium 5 or the like.
• the image display device 4 can also output and display image data on an output device such as a printer.
• the image display device 4 may have a communication function with an external device, and may acquire or output image data through wired or wireless communication.
• the portable recording medium 5 is realized by a compact flash (registered trademark) memory, a CD, a DVD, and the like, and is detachable from the receiving device 3 and the image display device 4, and is attached to these.
• Various information such as image data can be output or recorded.
• the portable recording medium 5 is inserted into the receiving device 3 while the capsule endoscope 2 is introduced into the subject 1, and is received by the receiving device 3 from the capsule endoscope 2. Record data. Further, after the capsule endoscope 2 is ejected from the subject 1, the capsule endoscope 2 is taken out from the receiving device 3 and inserted into the image display device 4, and the recorded image data and the like are output to the image display device 4. In this way, by passing image data between the receiving device 3 and the image display device 4 by the portable recording medium 5, the subject 1 can freely move even while the capsule endoscope 2 is introduced. Can act. Note that data exchange between the receiving device 3 and the image display device 4 may be performed by wired or wireless communication.
• FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the image display device 4.
• the image display device 4 includes an input unit 11 for inputting various types of information, a display unit 12 for displaying various types of information, an image processing unit 13 for processing input images, and various types of information.
• a storage unit 14 that stores data and a control unit 15 that controls processing and operation of each unit of the image display device 4 are provided.
• the input unit 11, the display unit 12, the image processing unit 13, and the storage unit 14 are electrically connected to the control unit 15.
• the image display device 4 includes an interface corresponding to the portable recording medium 5 and is detachably equipped with the portable recording medium 5.
• the portable recording medium 5 at the time of insertion is electrically connected to the control unit 15.
• the input unit 11 includes various switches, input keys, a mouse, a touch panel, and the like, and inputs various processing information such as display image selection information.
• An observer of the display image as an operator of the image display device 4 can perform various operations such as reading, selection, and recording of the display image via the input unit 11.
• the input unit 11 may be provided with a wired or wireless communication interface such as USB or IEEE1394, and may input an image from an external device.
• the display unit 12 includes a liquid crystal display or the like, and displays various types of information such as image data.
• the display unit 12 is, in particular, image data stored in the portable recording medium 5 or the storage unit 14 And a GUI (Graphical User Interface) screen that requests an observer of the image display device 4 to input various processing information.
• GUI Graphic User Interface
• the storage unit 14 is realized by a ROM that stores various processing programs and the like, and a RAM that stores processing parameters, processing data, and the like for each processing.
• the storage unit 14 can store image data input via the portable recording medium 5 and the like, image data processed by the image processing unit 13, display control data processed by the image display control unit 15a, and the like. it can.
• the image processing unit 13 acquires image data from the portable recording medium 5 or the storage unit 14 based on control by the image processing control unit 15b, and performs density conversion (gamma conversion) on the acquired image data. Etc.), smoothness (noise removal, etc.), sharpness (edge enhancement, etc.), image recognition (detection of feature image area, calculation of average color, etc.), etc.
• the image processing unit 13 particularly includes an average color calculation unit 13a that calculates an average color in a series of inputted images.
• the average color calculation unit 13a divides each image in the series of images into a plurality of predetermined image areas, and averages the color information of each pixel in each divided image area as a result of the division. The area average color is calculated. Further, the average color calculation unit 13a calculates a period region average color obtained by averaging the region average colors of a plurality of images in a series of images for each divided image region for each partial imaging period which is a predetermined period.
• the control unit 15 is realized by a CPU or the like that executes various processing programs stored in the storage unit 14.
• the control unit 15 includes an image display control unit 15a and an image processing control unit 15b.
• the image display control unit 15a controls the display unit 12 to display a series of images captured at a plurality of points in time as image data stored in the portable recording medium 5 or the storage unit 14.
• a series of in-subject images obtained by imaging various internal organs of the subject 1 at a plurality of time points is displayed as the series of images.
• the image display control unit 15a particularly displays a time scale indicating the imaging period of a series of in-vivo images, and associates the display area at each time point on the time scale with the divided image area. Control is performed to display the area average color or the period area average color of the divided image area in which each division scale area is associated with each division scale area as a result of the division. More specifically, when the average color calculation unit 13a divides each image in a predetermined division direction, the image display control unit 15a displays the display area at each time point on the time scale on the display screen. The image is divided in the same direction as the image division direction, and each divided scale area is associated with each divided image area in this division order. Then, control is performed to display the area average color or the period area average color of the divided image area in which each division scale area is associated with each division scale area.
• the image display control unit 15a displays the display area at each time point on the time scale when, for example, the average color calculation unit 13a divides each image into four in the horizontal direction (or vertical direction) on the display screen. Similarly, divide into 4 in the left-right direction (or up-down direction) on the display screen, and associate each divided scale area with each divided image area in the division order. That is, the divided scale areas and the divided image areas of the left ends, the right ends, etc. (or the uppermost stages, the lowermost stages, etc.) are associated with each other.
• the time axis of the time scale is preferably set in the up-down direction (or left-right direction).
• the number of divisions of the divided image area and the divided scale area is preferably about four divisions, but it is not necessary to interpret the division limitation to four divisions.
• the image processing control unit 15b acquires image data stored in the portable recording medium 5 or the storage unit 14 and outputs the image data to the image processing unit 13, and controls various image processes for the output image. I do. Further, the image processing control unit 15b outputs and stores the image data of the processing result in the image processing unit 13 to the storage unit 14 or the portable recording medium 5.
• FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a GUI screen displayed by the image display device 4 based on control by the image display control unit 15a.
• the display unit 12 displays a window 21 (“diagnosis / diagnosis” window) as a GUI screen.
• the window 21 there are a main display area 22 for displaying a main display image, an image operation area 25 for displaying various image operation buttons shown as icons, and a time period indicating a series of in-vivo image capturing periods.
• a color bar 26 and time bar 27 as a scale, and a sub display area 28 for displaying thumbnail images and the like are displayed side by side in this order on the display screen from the top to the bottom.
• a main display image 23 which is an image selected from the images, and an antenna arrangement diagram 24 schematically showing the arrangement of the antennas 6a to 6h on the subject 1 are displayed.
• the name, ID number, gender, age, date of birth, and date of imaging of the subject 1 associated with the in-subject image selected as the main display image 23 are displayed.
• the imaging time is displayed as text information.
• two or more predetermined numbers of main display images can be displayed in accordance with a predetermined operation.
• the arrangement of the antennas 6a to 6h is schematically displayed together with a partial outline of the subject 1.
• an antenna number as an identification number of each antenna is displayed in the vicinity of the antennas 6a to 6h.
• antenna numbers “1” to “8” are shown.
• FIG. 3 shows a state in which the antenna having the antenna number “4” is displayed as the maximum strength antenna so that it can be distinguished from other antennas.
• the image display control unit 15a can display, for example, at least one of the display intensity, display hue, display saturation, and the like of the maximum intensity antenna differently from other antennas. .
• the average colors of the images included in the series of in-subject images are displayed in time series. That is, in the display area at each time point on the color bar 26, the average color of the in-subject image captured at this time point is displayed. Since a series of in-subject images have a specific average color depending on the organ that was imaged, the observer, etc., can see from the transition of the average color along the time axis (horizontal axis in Fig. 3) on the color bar 26. The organ imaged in the in-subject image at each time point can be easily identified.
• the color bar 26 is configured by dividing the entire display area into four parts in the vertical direction on the display screen.
• the divided color bars 26a to 26d in each of the divided stages have a series of coverings.
• the area average color or period area average color of each corresponding step in the divided image area of the in-vivo image is displayed in time series.
• the average color of each in-subject image is calculated for each divided image area obtained by dividing the entire image area into four parts in the vertical direction.
• the area average color or period area average color of each divided image area is displayed.
• an observer or the like is captured in the in-subject image at each time point from the transition of the average color along the time axis of the divided color bars 26a to 26d of each divided stage.
• the internal state of the imaged organ as long as the organ can be estimated can be easily recognized in detail according to the divided image area.
• an observer or the like indicates that a bleeding site exists in the organ imaged in this period, It can be recognized that there is a bleeding site in the imaging range corresponding to the uppermost divided image region in the in-subject image during this period.
• the black color average color of the image area including the lumen part and the average color of the other image areas are displayed on the divided color bars in different stages, so that the imaging range excluding the lumen part is displayed.
• the internal state of the organ can be recognized.
• the time bar 27 displays a slider 27a that can be moved in the time axis direction on the time bar 27.
• the slider 27a indicates on the time bar 27 the time point at which the in-subject image displayed as the main display image 23 is captured, and moves on the time bar 27 in conjunction with the display switching of the main display image 23. For example, when any of the image operation buttons in the image operation area 25 is not shown !, and is operated by a mouse or the like, the main display image 23 is switched and the slider 27a is displayed after the switching display. Move to a position that indicates when the in-vivo image displayed as image 23 is captured.
• the in-subject image corresponding to the imaging time pointed by the slider 27a after the moving operation is the main display image 23. Is displayed.
• the main display image 23 is continuously switched and displayed following the moving operation.
• the observer or the like moves the slider 27a to the imaging time corresponding to the in-subject image of the desired organ found with reference to the color bar 26, for example, thereby moving the inside of the subject.
• the image can be displayed as the main display image 23 immediately.
• the left end of the color bar 26 and the time bar 27 as time scales indicates the time point when the first image was captured in a time series in a series of in-subject images, and the right end represents the time series of the last image in the time series. Indicates the time of imaging. Normally, the leftmost imaging point is determined by the receiver 3.
• the image data reception start time corresponds to the image data reception start time
• the image data reception end time corresponds to the image data reception end time.
• an image selected and extracted from a series of in-subject images is displayed as a thumbnail image.
• the in-subject image displayed as the main display image 23 at the time of this operation is additionally displayed in the sub display area 28 as a thumbnail image.
• additional information such as an imaging time point is displayed as character information in the vicinity of each thumbnail image.
• the additional information displayed as the character information can be switched according to a predetermined operation and can be hidden.
• a line segment for associating each thumbnail image with the image capturing time point of each thumbnail image shown on the time bar 27 is displayed.
• thumbnail images Since the size of the display area is limited in the sub display area 28, up to a predetermined number of thumbnail images can be displayed together. For example, Fig. 3 shows the case where a maximum of 5 thumbnail images can be displayed together.
• the thumbnail images exceeding the predetermined number are switched and displayed according to the operation of the scroll bar displayed in the sub display area 28.
• the thumbnail image displayed in the sub display area 28 is displayed as the main display image 23 in accordance with a predetermined button operation or mouse operation.
• FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing an outline of a procedure for drawing a period area average color in the divided scale area 26am of the color bar 26 at the time Tm.
• the image processing control unit 15b first selects a predetermined portion corresponding to the time point Tm from the series of in-subject images. A predetermined number of in-subject images Pl to Pn within the imaging period are acquired.
• the in-subject images Pl to Pn images that are continuous in time series or a series of images extracted in a predetermined sampling period are selectively acquired. Which of these is selected can be arbitrarily switched according to a predetermined operation. Note that the image selected here may be the one at the time.
• the image processing control unit 15b divides the in-subject images P1 to Pn into a plurality of divided image regions by the image processing unit 13.
• the in-subject image P1 is divided into four divided image areas El1 to E14 in the vertical direction, and the in-subject image Pn is divided into divided areas En1 to En4.
• In-subject image power at the time Shows the state of being divided into two divided image areas! / Speak.
• the image processing control unit 15b calculates the area average color of each divided image area of each of the in-subject images P1 to Pn by the average color calculation unit 13a.
• the average color calculation unit 13a calculates a region average color using color information of all pixels or a plurality of pixels extracted at a predetermined sampling interval for each divided image region. Which of these is used for calculation can be arbitrarily switched according to a predetermined operation.
• the image processing control unit 15b calculates the period area average color by averaging the area average colors of the corresponding divided image areas of the in-subject images Pl to Pn.
• a period area average color is calculated by averaging the area average colors for the divided image areas of each of the four stages.
• the image processing control unit 15b for example, for the uppermost divided image areas Ell, E21, E31 to E (n ⁇ 1) 1, Enl indicated by diagonal lines in FIG.
• the average period color Eavel is calculated by averaging the average area color.
• the average period colors Eave2, Eave3, and Eave4 are calculated by averaging the average colors of the areas.
• the image processing control unit 15b associates these period region average colors Eavel to Eave4 with the divided image regions of each stage in the in-subject images Pl to Pn and the time point Tm, and sets the time point of the color bar 26. Recorded in the storage unit 14 as an average color group Pavem corresponding to the display area at Tm. The image processing control unit 15b repeats the series of processes for all the time points in the entire imaging period.
• the image display control unit 15a obtains the average color group at each time point from the storage unit 14.
• the average color of the period area of the divided image area associated with each divided scale area is drawn in the divided scale area at each time point.
• the uppermost division color bar 26a in the divisional scale area 26am at time Tm in the uppermost division color bar 26a The period area average color Eavel calculated for the time point Tm is drawn using the divided image area.
• the image display control unit 15a draws the period area average color of the divided image area associated with the divided scale area at each time point in the color bar 26 by the image processing control unit 15b.
• the period area average color drawn in the powerful drawing process is the average of the area in the one-time image when the image selected as the predetermined number of in-subject images Pl to Pn is the one-time image. Become a color.
• FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the drawing processing procedure of the color bar 26.
• the image processing control unit 15b corresponds to the first time point in time series among the series of in-subject images stored in the portable recording medium 5 or the storage unit 14.
• a predetermined number of subject images within a predetermined partial imaging period are read and output to the image processing control unit 13 (step S101).
• the image processing control unit 15b causes the image processing control unit 13 to divide each in-subject image read in step S101 into a plurality of predetermined divided image regions (step S102). In this step S102, each intra-subject image is divided into, for example, four divided image regions.
• the image processing control unit 15b calculates the area average color of each divided image area divided in step S102 by the average color calculation unit 13a, and all the in-subject images read in step S101. An average color calculation process is performed to average the area average colors over time and calculate the period area average colors (step S103).
• the image processing control unit 15b associates the region average color and the period region average color calculated in step S103 with the imaging time point to be processed and the divided images at each stage in the in-subject image. Is recorded in the storage unit 14 (step S104). Then, the image processing control unit 15b determines whether or not the average color calculation process has been performed over the entire imaging period (step S105).
• step S105 the image processing control unit 15b repeats the processing from step S101 for the time point when the average color is not calculated. return.
• step S105: Yes the image The image processing control unit 15b draws the force bar 26 for each divided scale region, which is a divided display region at each time point, with the period region average color associated with each divided scale region (step S106). A series of color bar drawing processing ends.
• FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the average color calculation process.
• the average color calculator 13a first performs degamma processing on each intra-subject image to be processed (step S111).
• step S112 the area average color of each divided image area of each in-subject image is calculated
• step S112 the area average color of each divided image area of each in-subject image is calculated
• step S113 the period area average color is calculated by averaging the area average color over all the in-subject images to be processed.
• gamma processing is performed on each in-subject image to be processed (step S 114), and the process returns to step S 103.
• step S113 is omitted.
• the average color drawn by the image display control unit 15a in step S106 is the area average color instead of the period area average color.
• the image display control unit 15a displays the color bar 26 as a time scale, and displays each time point on the color bar 26.
• the area is divided in association with the divided image area, and the period average color or area average color of the divided image area associated with each divided scale area is displayed in each divided scale area as a result of the division. Therefore, the characteristics of a series of in-subject images captured at a plurality of time points can be displayed over the entire imaging period for each divided scale area corresponding to each divided image area on the color bar 26. This makes it possible for an observer or the like to easily recognize the state of the imaging target for each divided image area at each imaging time point.
• FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the image display device 104 according to the second embodiment.
• the image display device 104 includes an image processing unit 113 and a control unit 115 instead of the image processing unit 13 and the control unit 15 based on the image display device 4.
• the image processing unit 113 includes an average color calculation unit 113a and a feature region detection unit 113b.
• the control unit 115 replaces the image processing calculation unit 15b with the image processing calculation unit 115b based on the control unit 15. Prepare.
• Other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment, and the same reference numerals are given to the same components.
• the feature region detection unit 113b detects a feature region as a feature image region having a predetermined feature from each divided image region of each input in-subject image. That is, the feature region detection unit 113b detects a feature region by identifying a predetermined feature such as a blood discharge site based on color information of each pixel constituting the in-subject image, for example.
• the feature region detection unit 113b may detect a feature region based on various feature amounts such as a contour shape, a texture, and a density gradient, without being limited to color information.
• the average color calculation unit 113a calculates an average color in a series of input images. However, the average color calculation unit 113a weights the color information in the feature region detected by the feature region detection unit 113b and the color information in the divided image region excluding the feature region as the region average color. The weighted area average color averaged in this way is calculated. Further, the period area average color is calculated using the weighted area average color. Further, the average color calculation unit 113a converts the area average color of the feature image including the feature area and the weighted area average color as the period area average color, and the area average color of the plurality of images in the partial imaging period excluding the feature image. This is the calculation of the weighted period area average color averaged with different weights.
• FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the drawing processing procedure of the color bar 26.
• the image processing control unit 115b selects a predetermined time corresponding to the first time point in time series from among a series of in-subject images stored in the portable recording medium 5 or the storage unit 14.
• a predetermined number of subject images within the partial imaging period are read and output to the image processing control unit 113 (step S201).
• the image processing control unit 115b divides each in-subject image read in step S201 into a plurality of predetermined divided image regions by the image processing control unit 113 (step S202). In this step S202, each in-subject image is divided into, for example, four divided image areas.
• the image processing control unit 115b detects a feature region having a predetermined feature such as a bleeding site from each divided image region divided in step S202 by the feature region detection unit 113b (step S203). Subsequently, the image processing control unit 115b performs an average color calculation process for calculating an average color by the average color calculation unit 113a (step S204).
• the image processing control unit 115b records the average color calculated in step S204 in the storage unit 14 in association with the imaging point of the processing target and the divided images at each stage of the in-subject image. (Step S205). Then, the image processing control unit 115b determines whether the average color calculation process has been performed over the entire imaging period (step S206).
• step S206: No If the average color is calculated over the entire imaging period! /, In this case (step S206: No), the image processing control unit 115b calculates the average color, and at step S201, depending on the time. Repeat the process from. On the other hand, when the average color is calculated during the entire imaging period (step S206: Yes), the image processing control unit 115b sets the color bar 26 for each divided scale area which is a divided display area at each time point. Drawing is performed with the average color associated with each divided scale region (step S207), and this series of color bar drawing processing is completed.
• FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the average color calculation process.
• the average color calculation processing shown in FIG. 9 exemplifies a processing procedure when a bleeding site is detected as a feature region in step S203.
• the average color calculation unit 113a performs degamma processing on each in-subject image to be processed (step S211), and based on the detection result of the feature region in step S203, It is determined whether or not there is a bleeding site in each divided image area of each in-subject image (step S 212). If there is no bleeding site (step S212: No), average color calculation unit 1 13a calculates the area average color of each divided image area of each in-subject image, similarly to step SI12 shown in FIG. 6 (step S213).
• step S214 when there is a bleeding part (step S214: Yes), the average color calculation unit 113a compares the color information in the feature area indicating each bleeding part with the color information in the divided image area other than the feature area.
• the weighted area average color obtained by averaging the color information for each divided image area is calculated (step S214). Note that in this step S214, the weight applied to the color information of the divided image region other than the feature region is set to zero, and the calorie region average color can be calculated using only the color information in the feature region.
• the average color calculation unit 113a determines whether or not a bleeding image including a bleeding site is present in a predetermined number of in-subject images to be processed (step S215), if there is no bleeding image (Step S215: No), the same as the step SI13 shown in Fig. 6, averaged area average color over all in-subject images to be processed Is calculated (step S216).
• the average color calculation unit 113a uses the area average of the in-subject image other than the bleeding image as the area average color and the weighted area average color of each bleeding image.
• a weighted period area average color averaged by weighting larger than the color is calculated (step S217).
• the weighted period area average color can be calculated using only the area average color and the weighted area average color of the bleeding image by setting the weight applied to the in-subject image other than the bleeding image to zero.
• step 216 or step S217 the average color calculator 113a performs gamma processing on each in-subject image to be processed (step S218), and returns to step S204.
• the average color drawn by the image display control unit 115a in step S207 is a region average color or a weighted region average color.
• the feature region detection unit 113b has a predetermined region such as a bleeding site in each divided image region of each intra-subject image. A feature region having features is detected, and the average color calculation unit 113a weights at least one of the feature region and the feature image including the feature region, and the weighted region average color as the region average color; Since the weighted period area average color as the period area average color is calculated, the image display control unit 15a has an average color that strongly reflects the presence of the feature area in each divided scale area on the color bar 26.
• a capsule endoscope 2 in which a series of images displayed by the image display devices 4 and 104 that are useful for the present invention are introduced into the subject 1 is used.
• any image can be used as long as it is a series of images taken at a plurality of time points.
• An imaging device and an imaging target may be arbitrary.
• the image display device is useful for an image display device that displays a series of images taken at a plurality of points in time, and particularly in a capsule mold introduced into a subject. It is suitable for an image display device that displays a series of in-subject images captured using a endoscope.

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