In-vivo image acquiring apparatus, receiving apparatus, and in-vivo information acquiring system

• US 7,803,108 B2
• Filed: 11/09/2006
• Issued: 09/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Olympus Corporation
• Original Assignee: Olympus Medical Systems Corporation (Olympus Corporation)
• Inventors: Honda, Takemitsu
• Primary Examiner(s): Leubecker; John P
• Assistant Examiner(s): CANDLER, SAMUEL M
• Application Number:
  US11/595,048
• Publication Number:
  US 20070118017A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,419 Days
• Field of Search: 600/101, 600/109, 600/117, 600/118, 600/160, 600/424, 600/476, 348/65, 348/68, 348/69, 348/74, 396/17
• US Class Current: 600/118
• 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 1/00181 for multiple fixed viewing angles A61B1/00193 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/04 combined with photographic or television appliances
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/041 Capsule endoscopes for imaging
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/051 Details of CCD assembly
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/0684 using light emitting diodes [LED]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7232 involving compression of the physiological signal, e.g. to extend the signal recording period

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to enable a receiving side to easily recognize which of imaging devices has picked up received image data. A capsule endoscope (one example of the in-vivo image acquiring apparatus) of the present invention is swallowed by a subject, and picks up images of the inside of organs of the subject. The capsule endoscope has a plurality of LEDs, a plurality of CCDs, and a transmission module. The CCDs paired with the LEDs pick up images of the inside of a body cavity illuminated by the LEDs. The transmission module adds identification data for identifying the CCDs to image data in front and rear directions of the capsule endoscope picked up by the CCDS, and transmit the image data together with the identification data to the receiving side.

Claims

1. An in-vivo information acquiring system, comprising:

an in-vivo image acquiring apparatus that includes

a first imager that serves to acquire image data,

a second imager that serves to acquire image data which is formed independent of the image data acquired by the first imager,

a transmission data generator that generates transmission data by receiving the image data from the first and the second imagers and adding identification data, which allows for identification of the imager, to each piece of the image data, and

a transmitter that performs radio transmission based on the transmission data generated by the transmission data generator; and

a receiving apparatus that includes

a receiver that receives data transmitted by the transmitter,

an identifying unit that identifies which imager picks up image data included in the data received by the receiver based on the identification data added,

a storage unit that has divided storage areas and stores the image data in the storage areas according to the imagers identified by the identifying unit; and

a compressor that performs moving-image compression separately on the image data among the image data received by the receiver according to the imager which is identified by the identifying unit as the imager picking up the image data.

2. The in-vivo information acquiring system according to claim 1, wherein the transmitter transmits image data picked up by plural imagers as an image data pair.

3. The in-vivo information acquiring system according to claim 1, wherein

the receiving apparatus further includes an output unit that sequentially outputs the image data stored in the storage unit for each imagers, and

the in-vivo information acquiring system further comprises

an image display apparatus that includes

a capturing unit which captures the image data sequentially output by the output unit, and

a display controller that controls display so that the image data captured by the capturing unit is displayed in separate display areas according to the imager.

4. The in-vivo information acquiring system according to claim 3, wherein

the image display apparatus further includes

a direction detector that finds a motion vector of each image sequence, and detects in which direction of the in-vivo image acquiring apparatus the image sequentially acquired from the receiving apparatus is picked up inside a body cavity, based on the motion vector.

5. The in-vivo information acquiring system according to claim 1, wherein

the in-vivo image acquiring apparatus includes

a capsule casing that is formed with end cover casings engaged respectively with two ends of a body casing, and

a spring member that is in contact with a battery arranged inside the capsule casing, that is compressed when the body casing and the end cover casings are engaged, and that has a biasing force directed towards the end cover casings.