Electronic endoscope with light-amount adjustment apparatus
First Claim
1. An electronic endoscope having a video-scope with an image sensor and a video-processor, said video-scope being one of a plurality of connectable video-scopes and being selectively connected to said video-processor, said electronic endoscope comprising:
- a light source that emits light;
an illuminating lens that is provided in a tip of said video-scope and that transmits the light to a subject;
an objective lens that is provided in the tip of said video-scope and that forms a subject image on said image sensor;
an image processor that generates luminance signals from image signals read from said image sensor;
a tip characteristic detector that detects tip characteristics corresponding to a type of said video-scope, the tip characteristics including at least an arrangement relationship between said objective lens and said illuminating lens;
a metering setter that defines a plurality of division areas by dividing the total area of the subject image into a plurality of areas and that sets a plurality of weighted coefficients corresponding to the plurality of division areas, in accordance with the tip characteristics;
a luminance calculator that calculates a plurality of segment luminance values corresponding to the plurality of division areas, and that calculates a total luminance value indicating a total brightness of the subject image by multiplying each of the plurality of the segment luminance values by a corresponding weighted coefficient among the plurality of weighted coefficients; and
a light-amount adjuster that adjusts a quantity of light illuminating the subject in accordance with the total luminance value.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An electronic endoscope has a video-scope with an image sensor and a video-processor. The video-scope has an objective lens and an illuminating lens in a tip portion. Further, the electronic endoscope has a luminance calculator and a light-amount adjuster. The luminance calculator divides the total area of a subject image into a plurality of division areas, defines weighted areas from the plurality of division areas in accordance with the tip characteristics of the video-scope, and calculates a total luminance value of the subject image by putting priority on predetermined weighted areas relative to the other areas. The light-amount adjuster adjusts the quantity of light illuminating the subject in accordance with the total luminance value.
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Citations
10 Claims
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1. An electronic endoscope having a video-scope with an image sensor and a video-processor, said video-scope being one of a plurality of connectable video-scopes and being selectively connected to said video-processor, said electronic endoscope comprising:
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a light source that emits light; an illuminating lens that is provided in a tip of said video-scope and that transmits the light to a subject; an objective lens that is provided in the tip of said video-scope and that forms a subject image on said image sensor; an image processor that generates luminance signals from image signals read from said image sensor; a tip characteristic detector that detects tip characteristics corresponding to a type of said video-scope, the tip characteristics including at least an arrangement relationship between said objective lens and said illuminating lens; a metering setter that defines a plurality of division areas by dividing the total area of the subject image into a plurality of areas and that sets a plurality of weighted coefficients corresponding to the plurality of division areas, in accordance with the tip characteristics; a luminance calculator that calculates a plurality of segment luminance values corresponding to the plurality of division areas, and that calculates a total luminance value indicating a total brightness of the subject image by multiplying each of the plurality of the segment luminance values by a corresponding weighted coefficient among the plurality of weighted coefficients; and a light-amount adjuster that adjusts a quantity of light illuminating the subject in accordance with the total luminance value. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. An automatic light-amount adjustment apparatus for an electronic endoscope, said electronic endoscope having a video-scope with an image sensor and a video-processor, said video-scope being one of a plurality of connectable video-scopes and being selectively connected to said video-processor, said video-scope having an objective lens and an illuminating lens in a tip of said video-scope, light for illuminating a subject being radiated from the tip via said illuminating lens, light reflected on the subject being directed to said image sensor via said objective lens, said automatic light-amount adjustment apparatus comprising:
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an image processor that generates luminance signals from image signals read from said image sensor; a tip characteristic detector that detects tip characteristics corresponding to a type of said video-scope, the tip characteristics including at least an arrangement relationship between said objective lens and said illuminating lens; a metering setter that defines a plurality of division areas by dividing the total area of a subject image into a plurality of areas and that sets a plurality of weighted coefficients corresponding to the plurality of division areas, in accordance with the tip characteristics; a luminance calculator that calculates a plurality of segment luminance values corresponding to the plurality of division areas, and that calculates a total luminance value indicating a total brightness of the subject image by multiplying each of the plurality of the segment luminance values by a corresponding weighted coefficient among the plurality of weighted coefficients; and a light-amount adjuster that adjusts a quantity of light illuminating the subject in accordance with the total luminance value.
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10. An electronic endoscope having a video-scope with an image sensor and a video-processor, said video-scope having an objective lens and an illuminating lens in a tip portion, said electronic endoscope comprising:
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a luminance calculator that divides a total area of a subject image into a plurality of division areas and that assigns weighted areas to the plurality of division areas in accordance with the tip characteristics of said video-scope, the tip characteristics including at least an arrangement relationship between said objective lens and said illuminating lens, and that calculates a total luminance value of the subject image by putting priority on the weighted areas relative to the other areas; and a light-amount adjuster that adjusts a quantity of light illuminating the subject in accordance with the total luminance value.
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Specification