ENDOSCOPE APPARATUS

• US 20170236280A1
• Filed: 05/04/2017
• Published: 08/17/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Olympus Corporation
• Original Assignee: Olympus Corporation
• Inventors: YAMAZAKI, Ryuichi, IWASAKI, Tomoki
• Granted Patent: US 9,996,927 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/00009 of image signals during a use of endoscope
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/00045 Display arrangement
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/045 Control thereof
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/05 characterised by the image sensor, e.g. camera, being in the distal end portion
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/024 Detecting, measuring or recording pulse rate or heart rate A61B5/0205, A61B5/021 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0012 Biomedical image inspection
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/20 Analysis of motion motion estimation for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals H04N19/43, H04N19/51

Abstract

An endoscope apparatus includes: a detector configured to detect a movement of an organ that moves a subject and output a detection signal; an image pickup portion configured to pick up an image of the subject and output a plurality of picked-up images; and a freeze processing portion configured to calculate a movement evaluation value evaluated according to the detection signal of the detector for at least some of the plurality of picked-up images, and determine a still image from the plurality of picked-up images based on the evaluated movement evaluation value.

Claims

1. An endoscope apparatus comprising:

a detector configured to detect a movement of an organ that moves a subject and output a detection signal;

an image pickup portion configured to pick up an image of the subject and output a plurality of picked-up images; and

a freeze processing portion configured to calculate a movement evaluation value evaluated according to the detection signal of the detector for at least some of the plurality of picked-up images, and determine a still image from the plurality of picked-up images based on the evaluated movement evaluation value.

2. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the detector includes a heart rate meter.

3. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 1, comprising

a movement signal processing portion,

wherein the movement signal processing portion generates a movement signal based on the detection signal, and

the movement evaluation value is evaluated based on the movement signal.

4. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the movement signal has a signal value corresponding to each of the plurality of picked-up images.

5. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the freeze processing portion includes a movement evaluation value calculation portion configured to calculate the movement evaluation value for each of the plurality of picked-up images.

6. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 5,

wherein the movement signal processing portion

sets a first signal value to the movement signal when a movement amount of the organ is smaller than a predetermined amount, and

sets a second signal value to the movement signal when the movement amount of the organ is larger than the predetermined amount, and

the movement evaluation value calculation portion calculates the movement evaluation value by multiplying a weighting coefficient only in a case that the movement signal is the first signal value.

7. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 5,

wherein the movement signal processing portion

sets a first signal value to the movement signal when a movement amount of the organ is smaller than a predetermined amount, and

sets a second signal value to the movement signal when the movement amount of the organ is larger than the predetermined amount, and

the movement evaluation value calculation portion calculates the movement evaluation value by

multiplying a first weighting coefficient when a signal value of the movement signal corresponding to the picked-up image is the first signal value, and

multiplying a second weighting coefficient larger than the first weighting coefficient when the signal value of the movement signal corresponding to the picked-up image is the second signal value.

8. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 5,

wherein the movement signal processing portion

sets a first signal value to the movement signal when a movement amount of the organ is smaller than a first movement amount,

sets a second signal value to the movement signal when the movement amount of the organ is larger than the first movement amount and smaller than a second movement amount, and

sets a third signal value to the movement signal when the movement amount of the organ is larger than a third movement amount, and

the movement evaluation value calculation portion calculates the movement evaluation value by

multiplying a first weighting coefficient when a signal value of the movement signal corresponding to the picked-up image is the first signal value,

multiplying a second weighting coefficient larger than the first weighting coefficient when the signal value of the movement signal corresponding to the picked-up image is the second signal value, and

multiplying a third weighting coefficient larger than the second weighting coefficient when the signal value of the movement signal corresponding to the picked-up image is the third signal value.

9. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 5,

wherein the freeze processing portion includes an image pickup frame determination portion, and

the image pickup frame determination portion determines a minimum movement evaluation value from the movement evaluation value in plurality.

10. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 9,

wherein the image pickup frame determination portion determines the minimum movement evaluation value excluding the movement evaluation value for which the signal value of the movement signal is a predetermined signal value.

11. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 5,

wherein the plurality of picked-up images are picked up in an RGB frame-sequential manner, and

the movement evaluation value of each picked-up image is a value calculated based on a color shift amount of RGB.

12. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 5,

wherein the plurality of picked-up images are picked up by an image pickup device for which RGB pixels are arranged on a same plane, and

the movement evaluation value is a value calculated based on a blurring amount.

13. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 5, comprising

a memory,

wherein the memory stores the plurality of picked-up images, the movement evaluation value corresponding to each of the plurality of picked-up images, and a signal value of the movement signal.

14. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 13,

wherein the movement signal processing portion

sets a first signal value to the movement signal when a movement amount of the organ is smaller than a predetermined amount, and

sets a second signal value to the movement signal when the movement amount of the organ is larger than the predetermined amount, and

when the signal value of the movement signal corresponding to the picked-up image is the first signal value,

the picked-up image is stored in the memory.

15. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 13,

wherein the movement signal processing portion

sets a first signal value to the movement signal when a movement amount of the organ is smaller than a first movement amount,

sets a second signal value to the movement signal when the movement amount of the organ is larger than the first movement amount and smaller than a second movement amount, and

sets a third signal value to the movement signal when the movement amount of the organ is larger than a third movement amount, and

the movement evaluation value calculation portion calculates the movement evaluation value by

multiplying a fourth weighting coefficient when a signal value of the movement signal corresponding to the picked-up image is the first signal value, and

multiplying a fifth weighting coefficient larger than the fourth weighting coefficient when the signal value of the movement signal corresponding to the picked-up image is the second signal value, and

stores the movement evaluation value in the memory.