ENDOSCOPE SYSTEM, ENDOSCOPE, AND METHOD FOR MEASURING DISTANCE AND ILLUMINATION ANGLE
First Claim
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1. An endoscope system comprising:
- an endoscope which illuminates an object of interest with illumination light from an end surface of the endoscope, the endoscope including;
a light guide for transmitting laser light and irradiating the object of interest with the laser light from the end surface;
an image capturing section for capturing a projected shape of the laser light on the object of interest; and
a calculating section for detecting a size of the projected shape by analyzing the captured projected shape, and calculating a distance between the end surface and the object of interest and an illumination angle of the illumination light on the object of interest, the calculation of the distance and the illumination angle being performed based on the detected size.
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Abstract
An endoscope has a first light guide for transmitting measurement light from a light source, a second light guide for transmitting IR light from an IR light source, and a CCD for capturing a projected shape of the measurement light. An image processing circuit extracts the projected shape from an image obtained from the CCD, and calculates the size of the extracted projected shape to calculate a distance between an end surface of the endoscope and an object of interest and an illumination angle of the IR light on a surface of the object of interest. A CPU controls the operation of the IR light source in accordance with the calculated distance and the illumination angle.
22 Citations
13 Claims
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1. An endoscope system comprising:
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an endoscope which illuminates an object of interest with illumination light from an end surface of the endoscope, the endoscope including; a light guide for transmitting laser light and irradiating the object of interest with the laser light from the end surface; an image capturing section for capturing a projected shape of the laser light on the object of interest; and a calculating section for detecting a size of the projected shape by analyzing the captured projected shape, and calculating a distance between the end surface and the object of interest and an illumination angle of the illumination light on the object of interest, the calculation of the distance and the illumination angle being performed based on the detected size. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. An endoscope which illuminates an object of interest with illumination light from an end surface of the endoscope, the endoscope comprising:
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a light guide for transmitting laser light and for irradiating the object of interest with the laser light from the end surface; and an image capturing section for capturing a projected shape of the laser light on the object of interest, a distance between the end surface and the object of interest and an illumination angle of the illumination light from the end surface on the object of interest being calculated based on a size of the projected shape, the size being detected by analyzing the captured projected shape.
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13. A method for measuring a distance between an end surface of an endoscope and an object of interest and an illumination angle of illumination light from the end surface on the object of interest, the method comprising the steps of:
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transmitting laser light through a light guide and irradiating the object of interest with the laser light from the end surface; capturing a projected shape of the laser light on the object of interest; detecting a size of the projected shape by analyzing the captured projected shape; and calculating the distance and the illumination angle based on the detected size.
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Specification