Image Display Apparatus

• US 20080024599A1
• Filed: 11/17/2005
• Published: 01/31/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/29/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Olympus Corporation
• Original Assignee: Olympus Corporation
• Inventors: Hirakawa, Katsumi
• Granted Patent: US 8,467,615 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/65
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/00009 of image signals during a use of endoscope
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/00016 using wireless means
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/0005 combining images e.g. side-by-side, superimposed or tiled
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/041 Capsule endoscopes for imaging
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/00 Surgical instruments, devices or methods, e.g. tourniquets A61B18/00 takes precedence; contraceptive devices, pessaries, or applicators therefor A61F6/00; eye surgery A61F9/007; ear surgery A61F11/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2505/00 Evaluating, monitoring or diagnosing in the context of a particular type of medical care
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/183 for receiving images from a single remote source

Abstract

An image display apparatus that can shorten time for observing a series of images of an interior of a subject without hampering observation of a desired region of interest is provided. The image display apparatus according to the present invention is an image display apparatus for displaying the series of images of the interior of the subject picked up at time series, including an image extracting unit 15a that extracts images each having a feature of a desired region in the interior of the subject and that identifies the extracted images as images of the desired region among the series of images, and a frame rate controller 15b that sets a display frame rate for the identified images of the desired region to be different from a display frame rate for images of regions other than the desired region.

Claims

1. An image display apparatus for displaying a series of images of an interior of a subject picked up along time series, comprising:

an image identifying unit that extracts images each having a feature of a desired region in the interior of the subject, and that identifies the extracted images among the series of images as images of the desired region; and

a frame-rate controller that makes a display frame rate for the identified images of the desired region different from a display frame rate for images of regions other than the desired region.

2. The image display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the frame rate controller makes the display frame rate for the identified images of the desired region slower than the display frame rate for the images of the regions other than the desired region.

3. The image display apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an input unit that inputs an instruction for a display frame rate for the series of images, wherein

the frame rate controller sets the display frame rate for which the instruction is input as a display frame rate for the series of images, changes the display frame rate for the images of the desired region among the set display frame rate to a rate slower than the set display frame rate, and changes the display frame rate for the images of the regions other than the desired region to a rate faster than the set display frame rate.

4. The image display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the frame rate controller excludes images other than the identified images of the desired region among the series of images.

5. The image display apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a region selector that selects the desired region in the interior of the subject, wherein

the image identifying unit extracts the images each having the feature of the selected desired region, and identifies the extracted images among the series of images as the images of the desired region.

6. The image display apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the image identifying unit further extracts images each having a feature of a medically abnormal site, and identifies the extracted images among the identified images of the desired region as images of the abnormal site, and

the frame rate controller deletes the images other than the images of the desired region among the series of images, and makes a display frame rate for the identified images of the abnormal site slower than the display frame rate for the images of the desired region except for the abnormal site.

7. The image display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the identified desired region is one of an esophagus, a stomach, a small intestine, a large intestine, and a bleeding site in the interior of the subject.