Endoscope system for operating medical device by voice

• US 20050256370A1
• Filed: 03/12/2004
• Published: 11/17/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Olympus Corporation
• Original Assignee: Olympus Corporation
• Inventors: Fujita, Masaya
• Granted Patent: US 7,588,534 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/101
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/0004 for electronic operation
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/00042 for mechanical operation

Abstract

In an endoscope system according to the present invention, a system controller includes a communication I/F, a display I/F, a voice recognizing circuit which recognizes a voice signal from a microphone, a remote control I/F which receives and transmits data to/from a remote controller, a voice synthesizing circuit which synthesizes voice and generates the voice from a speaker, and an intensive operating panel I/F which receives and transmits the data to/from an intensive operating panel. An external recording medium can be connected to the system controller. A CPU can record and read image data to the external recording medium. With the structure, the device can be operated by the voice for natural conversation.

Claims

1. An endoscope system comprising:

a voice input unit which inputs voice;

a voice and character converting step which recognizes the voice inputted and converts the inputted voice into character data;

a monitoring unit which monitors command character trains for a plurality of devices that are hierarchized and are previously stored in a memory in a system controller for controlling the plurality of devices and the character data that is converted by the voice and character converting step; and

an executing unit which executes an instruction previously allocated to the combination of the command character trains, upon detecting, in the converted character data, the command character train from the plurality of command character trains for a predetermined time interval in accordance with the preset hierarchy.

2. The endoscope system according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of devices comprise an electric cautery device.

3. The endoscope system according to claim 2, wherein the command character trains include character trains which designate a plurality of output formats of the electric cautery device.

4. The endoscope system according to claim 3, wherein the character trains which designate the plurality of output formats of the electric cautery device include an output system designating group, an incision mode designating group, an incision output designating group, a clotting mode designating group, and a clotting output designating group.

5. The endoscope system according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of devices include a gas insufflator.

6. The endoscope system according to claim 5, wherein the command character trains include character trains which designate a plurality of output formats of the gas insufflator.

7. The endoscope system according to claim 6, wherein the character trains which designate the plurality of output formats of the gas insufflator include an air-supply on/off designating group, a set pressure designating group, an air-supply mode designating group, and a set fluid amount designating group.

8. The endoscope system according to claim 4, wherein the plurality of devices further include a gas insufflator.

9. The endoscope system according to claim 8, wherein the command character trains include character trains which designate a plurality of output formats of the gas insufflator.

10. The endoscope system according to claim 9, wherein the character trains which designate the plurality of output formats of the gas insufflator include an air-supply on/off designating group, a set pressure designating group, an air-supply mode designating group, and a set fluid amount designating group.

11. The endoscope system according to claim 1, wherein the executing unit executes the instruction allocated to the combination of the command character trains and thereafter displays the executed result of the instruction.

12. The endoscope system according to claim 1, wherein the executing unit determines whether or not the instruction allocated to the combination of the command character trains is an instruction necessary for checking the setting and, when the instruction is that necessary for checking the setting, the executing unit executes the instruction after checking the setting.

13. A device control method comprising:

a voice input step of inputting voice;

a voice and character converting step of recognizing the voice inputted and converting the inputted voice into character data;

a monitoring step of monitoring command character trains for a plurality of devices that are hierarchized and are previously stored in a memory in a system controller for controlling a plurality of devices and the character data that is converted by the voice and character converting step; and

an executing step of executing an instruction previously allocated to the combination of the command character trains, upon detecting, in the converted character data, the command character train from the plurality of command character trains for a predetermined time interval in accordance with the preset hierarchy.

14. The device control method according to claim 13, further comprising:

a display step of displaying an executed result of the instruction after executing the instruction allocated to the combination of the command character trains in the executing step.

15. The device control method according to claim 13, wherein in the executing step, it is determined whether or not the instruction allocated to the combination of the command character trains is an instruction necessary for checking the setting and, when it is determined that the instruction is the instruction necessary for checking the setting, the instruction is executed after checking the setting.

16. An endoscope system comprising one or a plurality of devices, the endoscope system comprising:

voice input means which inputs voice;

voice and character converting means which recognizes the voice inputted and converts the inputted voice into character data;

a system controller which controls the plurality of devices;

monitoring means which monitors command character trains for the plurality of devices that are hierarchized and are previously stored in a memory in the system controller and the character data that is converted by the voice and character converting means; and

executing means which executes an instruction previously allocated to the combination of the command character trains, upon detecting, in the converted character data, the command character train from the plurality of command character trains for a predetermined time interval in accordance with the preset hierarchy.