Organ-region-indication system incorporated in electronic endoscope system

• US 20020118278A1
• Filed: 02/26/2002
• Published: 08/29/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pentax Corporation (Hoya Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Asahi Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
• Inventors: Kobayashi, Hiroyuki, Sugimoto, Hideo
• Granted Patent: US 6,930,706 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/65
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/042 characterised by a proximal camera, e.g. a CCD camera
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/20 for handling medical images, e.g. DICOM, HL7 or PACS

Abstract

In an organ-region-indication system incorporated in an electronic endoscope system in which an endoscope image is displayed as a motion image on a monitor in accordance with a video signal produced therein, an organ-region-image data base is formed based on an organ map. A plurality of reference data indicating organ-regions and a plurality of image data representing the organ-region are correspondingly stored in the data base. Still image data is retrieved as referential image data from the video signal at suitable regular time intervals. The data base is searched for image data which coincides with the referential image data after the retrieval of the still image data. Corresponding reference data is displayed on the monitor only when the image data, which coincides with the referential image data, is found by the searching.

Claims

1. An organ-region-indication system incorporated in an electronic endoscope system in which an endoscope image is displayed as a motion image on a monitor in accordance with a video signal produced therein, said indication system comprising:

an organ-region-image data base, constituted on the basis of an organ map, in which a plurality of reference data indicating distinctive organ-regions of said organ map and a plurality of image data representing said distinctive organ-regions are correspondingly stored;

a still-image-capturing system that retrieves a frame of still image data as referential image data from the video signal at suitable regular time intervals;

a searching system that searches said organ-region-image data base for image data which coincides with said referential image data after the retrieval of the frame of still image data from said video signal by said still-image-capturing system; and

a reference-data-display-control system that displays corresponding reference data on said monitor only when the image data, which coincides with the referential image data, is found by said searching system, whereby an endoscope image displayed as the motion image on said monitor is indicated by said corresponding reference data displayed thereon.

2. An organ-region-indication system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said reference-data-display-control system comprises a canceling system that cancels a preceding display of the reference data on said monitor when the image data, which coincides with the referential image data, is not found by said searching system.

3. An organ-region-indication system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said reference-data-display-control system comprises a forcible-canceling system that forcibly cancels a display of reference data on said monitor even if the image data, which coincides with the referential image data, is found by said searching system.

4. An organ-region-indication system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said searching system comprises a searching-area-designating system in which an area to be searched is designated in said organ-region-image data base.

5. An organ-region-indication system as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a data-base-renovating system that renovates said organ-region-image data base on the basis of the referential image data when the image data coincides with the referential image data.

6. An organ-region-indication system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said searching system comprises:

a reading system that reads image data in succession from said organ-region-image data base; and

a determining system that determines whether the read image data coincides with said referential image data.

7. An organ-region-indication system as set forth in claim 6, wherein said determining system comprises:

a numerical-evaluating system that numerically evaluates a degree of coincidence between the read image data and the referential image data; and

a comparison system that compares the degree of coincidence with a threshold, thereby determining that there is a coincidence between the read image data and the referential image data when the degree of coincidence is more than said threshold, and thereby determining that there is no coincidence between the read image data and the referential image data when the degree of coincidence is less than said threshold.

8. An organ-region-indication system as set forth in claim 7, wherein said determining system further comprises a threshold-altering system that alters a value of said threshold.

9. An organ-region-indication system as set forth in claim 1, wherein each image data, to be stored in said organ-region-image data base, is subjected to feature-extraction, and the referential image data is subjected to the same feature-extraction as each image data.