System for endoscopic surgery having a function of controlling through voice recognition

• US 8,903,728 B2
• Filed: 04/19/2013
• Issued: 12/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Olympus Corporation
• Original Assignee: Olympus Medical Systems Corporation (Olympus Corporation)
• Inventors: Maeda, Yorito
• Primary Examiner(s): Opsasnick, Michael N
• Application Number:
  US13/866,697
• Publication Number:
  US 20130281987A1
• Time in Patent Office: 592 Days
• Field of Search: 704/275
• US Class Current: 704/275
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/00 Instruments for performing medical examinations of the interior of cavities or tubes of the body by visual or photographical inspection, e.g. endoscopes examination of body cavities or body tracts using ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves A61B8/12; endoscopic instruments for taking cell samples or for biopsy A61B10/04; for surgical purposes A61B17/00; endoscopic surgical cutting instruments A61B17/32; surgical instruments using a laser beam being directed along or through a flexible conduit A61B18/22; Illuminating arrangements therefor for the eyes A61B3/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/00006 of control signals
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/00042 for mechanical operation
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/00234 for minimally invasive surgery A61B17/0218, A61B17/0469, A61B17/12013, A61B17/1285, A61B17/29, A61B17/320016 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/00203 with speech control or speech recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/16 Sound input; Sound output speech processing G10L
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/00 Speech recognition G10L17/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/10 using distance or distortion measures between unknown speech and reference templates
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/223 Execution procedure of a spoken command
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/227 of the speaker; Human-factor methodology
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/228 of application context
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/034 Automatic adjustment

Abstract

In a system for endoscopic surgery, a storage unit stores a command for controlling a peripheral device and whether or not the command is valid or invalid in an associated manner for each operator and each procedure of an endoscopic surgery. A specification unit receives specification of an operator and a procedure. A conversion unit recognizes an input voice, and converts the voice into a voice command. A determination unit refers to the storage unit, and determines whether or not the voice command obtained by the conversion unit is identical to a command that has been set to be valid for the operator and the procedure specified by the specification unit. A transmission unit halts a transmission process to a peripheral device that corresponds to a command that has been determined to be invalid by the determination unit.

Claims

1. A system for endoscopic surgery having a function of controlling, through voice recognition, a connected peripheral device, comprising:

storage unit that stores a command for controlling the peripheral device and whether or not the command is valid or invalid in an associated manner for each combination of an operator and a procedure of an endoscopic surgery;

a specification unit that receives specification of the operator and the procedure;

a conversion unit that recognizes an input voice, and converts the voice into a voice command;

a determination unit that refers to the storage unit, and determines whether or not the voice command obtained by the conversion unit is identical to a command that has been set to be valid for the combination of the operator and the procedure specified by the specification unit;

a transmission unit that halts a transmission process to a peripheral device that corresponds to a command that has been determined to be invalid by the determination unit; and

a scene specification unit that receives specification of a scene of the endoscopic surgery, wherein;

in the conversion unit, a voice command is information obtained by conversion into a character string;

the storage unit stores, for each of the operators and the procedures, whether each of the commands is valid or invalid for each of the scenes; and

when a scene has been received in the scene specification unit, the determination unit determines whether or not the character string is identical to a command that has been set to be valid in the storage unit for the received scene for the operator and the procedure received in the specification unit.

2. The system for endoscopic surgery according to claim 1, wherein:

the determination unit determines whether or not a character string obtained in the conversion unit is identical to a command that has been set to be valid in the storage unit on the basis of whether or not the character string is partially identical to the command stored in the storage unit and whether or not a number of characters or a number of syllables of the character string is equal to or greater than a prescribed ratio of a number of characters or a number of syllables of the command stored in the storage unit.

3. The system for endoscopic surgery according to claim 1, further comprising:

an adjustment unit that measures a volume level of an input voice, and adjusts the volume level so that the measured volume level is within a prescribed range, wherein;

the conversion unit performs a process of converting the voice of which volume level has adjusted by the adjustment unit into a character string.

4. A system for endoscopic surgery having a function of controlling, through voice recognition, a connected peripheral device, comprising:

a storage unit that stores a command for controlling the peripheral device and whether or not the command is valid or invalid in an associated manner for each combination of an operator and a procedure of an endoscopic surgery;

a specification unit that receives specification of the operator and the ;

procedure

a conversion unit that recognizes an input voice, and converts the voice into a voice command;

a determination unit that refers to the storage unit, and determines whether or not the voice command obtained by the conversion unit is identical to a command that has been set to be valid for the combination of the operator and the procedure specified by the specification unit;

a transmission unit that transmits a command that has been determined to be identical by the determination unit, to a corresponding peripheral device; and

a scene specification unit that receives specification of a scene of the endoscopic surgery, wherein;

in the conversion unit, a voice command is information obtained by conversion into a character string;

the storage unit stores, for each of the operators and the procedures, whether each of the commands is valid or invalid for each of the scenes; and

when a scene has been received in the scene specification unit, the determination unit determines whether or not the character string is identical to a command that has been set to be valid in the storage unit for the received scene for the operator and the procedure received in the specification unit.