ENDOSCOPE APPARATUS

• US 20120086790A1
• Filed: 10/11/2011
• Published: 04/12/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/12/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Fujifilm Corporation (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Fujifilm Corporation (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Suzuki, Issei, TAKAHIRA, Masayuki, Kawata, Masayuki
• Application Number:
  US13/270,663
• Publication Number:
  US 20120086790A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/68
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/00048 Constructional features of the display
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/0005 combining images e.g. side-by-side, superimposed or tiled
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/015 Control of fluid supply or evacuation
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/018 for receiving instruments
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/273 for the upper alimentary canal, e.g. oesophagoscopes, gastroscopes

Abstract

An endoscope apparatus according to the subject matter includes: an illumination device configured to emit light to an object; an imaging device configured to generate a color imaging signal; a normal image generation device configured to generate a normal image from the color imaging signal; a spectral image generation device configured to generate a spectral image corresponding to a preset optical narrow band from the imaging signal; a display device configured to display a main screen region and a sub-screen region having a size less than a size of the main screen region; a switching signal generation device configured to generate a switching signal; and a display control device configured to control the display device so as to selectively switch between a region for displaying the normal image and a region for displaying the spectral image based on the switching signal.

Claims

1. An endoscope apparatus comprising:

an illumination device configured to emit light to an object;

an imaging device configured to generate a color imaging signal by imaging light reflected from the object irradiated by the light emitted from the illumination device;

a normal image generation device configured to generate a normal image by performing normal image processing on the imaging signal obtained by the imaging device;

a spectral image generation device configured to generate a spectral image corresponding to a preset optical narrow band by subjecting the color imaging signal obtained by the imaging device to matrix processing using matrix data of the preset optical narrow band;

a display device configured to display a main screen region and a sub-screen region having a size less than a size of the main screen region;

a display switching signal generation device configured to generate a display switching signal for switching a display content of the main screen region and the sub-screen region;

a still picture display switching signal generation device configured to generate a still picture display switching signal for displaying a still image at a predetermined timing of a moving image instead of the moving image displayed in the main screen region in a state in which the moving image is displayed in the main screen region and the sub-screen region of the display device; and

a display control device configured to control a screen display of the display device such that the normal image is displayed in any one of the main screen region and the sub-screen region, while the spectral image is displayed in another region, and the display control device configured to control the display device so as to selectively switch between a region for displaying the normal image and a region for displaying the spectral image based on the display switching signal generated by the display switching signal generation device, wherein,

when the moving image of the normal image is displayed in the main screen region and the moving image of the spectral image is displayed in the sub-screen region, the display control device controls a screen display of the display device so as to switch the display of the main screen region from the moving image of the normal image to the still image of the normal image and to switch the display of the sub-screen region from the moving image of the spectral image to the moving image of the normal image based on the still picture display switching signal generated by the still picture display switching signal generation device.

2. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the display control device controls the screen display of the display device such that when the moving image of the spectral image is displayed in the main screen region and the moving image of the normal image is displayed in the sub-screen region, the display of the main screen region is switched from the moving image of the spectral image to the still image of the spectral image and the sub-screen region continues to display the moving image of the normal image based on a still picture display switching signal generated by the still picture display switching signal generation device.

3. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a still picture display switching operation device operated when the display of the main screen region is switched from the moving image to the still image, wherein,

when the still picture display switching operation device is operated, the still picture display switching signal generation device generates the still picture display switching signal.

4. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a still picture display release signal generation device configured to generate a still picture display release signal for releasing the main screen region from the still image display and returning to the moving image display, wherein

the display control device controls the screen display of the display device so as to switch the display of the main screen region from the still image display to the moving image display based on the still picture display release signal.

5. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 4, wherein,

in a state in which a still image of the normal image is displayed in the main screen region and a moving image of the normal image is displayed in the sub-screen region, the display control device controls the screen display of the display device so as to switch the screen display of the sub-screen region from the moving image of the normal image to the moving image of the spectral image based on the still picture display release signal.

6. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising:

a still picture display release operation device operated when the still image display of the main screen region is released and returned to the moving image display, wherein,

when the still picture display release operation device is operated, the still picture display release signal generation device generates the still picture display release signal.

7. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a still image storage device configured to store the still image displayed in the main screen region.

8. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 7, wherein,

when the still picture display switching operation device is operated, the still image storage device stores the still image displayed in the main screen region.

9. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the spectral image generation device performs processing for estimating a reflected signal corresponding to an optical narrow band from the imaging signal corresponding to an optical wide band based on a spectral reflectance of the object, a spectral property of the illumination device, and a spectral property of the color filter of the imaging device.