JPH0866357A - Electronic endoscope device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide an electron endoscope device capable of providing the clear color image of a vocal cord moving at high speed, according to a facial sequence system. CONSTITUTION: This electron endoscope device is equipped with a microphone 27 for detecting a sound wave, a sound wave synchronous lighting means 22 and 23 for irradiating and, then, shading a 'subject with every color of multiple- color light synchronously with the form of the sound wave detected with the microphone 27, and an image processing means 24 for forming a color image made of superposed images photographed with each color of the light.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a frame-sequential electronic endoscope apparatus capable of observing vocal cords.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in a frame-sequential type electronic endoscope apparatus, three colors of illumination light of red (R), green (G), and blue (B) are sequentially irradiated onto a subject by shifting the time for each color. do it,
Images of the subject are sequentially captured by the solid-state image sensor.

In the video processor, the video signals of the respective colors sequentially sent from the solid-state image pickup device are combined into one, and a color image is displayed on the monitor screen.

[0004]

In such a field-sequential imaging method, since a full-color image can be displayed by using a small solid-state image pickup device for monochrome, an extreme restriction is imposed on the size of the solid-state image pickup device. It is suitable for use in receiving endoscopes.

However, in the frame-sequential system, in order to obtain an image of one frame, it is necessary to sequentially illuminate the subject with illumination light of three colors for each color at different times to capture the respective images.

Therefore, if the subject moves quickly like a vocal cord, the subject moves at the same position without receiving the illumination light of the three colors, so that a striped pattern of three colors is repeated on the monitor. There is a gap and it becomes impossible to observe.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an electronic endoscope apparatus capable of obtaining a clear color image of a vocal cord moving at high speed by a frame sequential method.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the electronic endoscope apparatus of the present invention irradiates a plurality of colors of illuminating light on a subject one after another by shifting the time for each color, and displays the image of the subject. In a field-sequential electronic endoscope device in which a solid-state image sensor sequentially captures a color image on a monitor screen, a microphone for detecting sound waves and a waveform of the sound waves detected by the microphone are synchronized. And a sound wave synchronous illumination means for illuminating and shielding the subject with each color illumination light for each color, and a video processing means for forming a color image by combining the images captured by each color illumination light into one. It is characterized by being provided.

It should be noted that the sound wave synchronous lighting means always illuminates and shields the sound wave waveform detected by the microphone at the same timing, so that a still image signal is output from the video processing means. Alternatively, the sound wave synchronization illumination means changes the timing of illumination and light blocking with respect to the waveform of the detected sound wave in units of one or a plurality of color images, and as a result, a slow motion image signal is output from the video processing means. You may do it.

[0010]

Embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, in which 10 is an electronic endoscope, 20 is a light source device / video processor, and 40 is a monitor television.

At the tip of the insertion portion of the electronic endoscope 10, there is built-in a solid-state image pickup device 11 composed of, for example, a monochrome type charge coupled device (CCD) for converting an observation image of a subject into an electric signal and transmitting the electric signal. A light guide fiber bundle 12 for transmitting illumination light for illuminating a subject is arranged.

In the light source device / video processor 20,
A light source lamp 21 that generates illumination light to be supplied to the light guide fiber bundle 12 is arranged.
1 and the incident end of the light guide fiber bundle 12, an RGB rotary filter 22 that is rotationally driven at a constant speed to alternately insert and remove color filters of three colors of R, G, and B, and a fan-shaped cut. A disk-shaped chopper 23, which has a notch and is rotationally driven so as to intermittently block the illumination light, is arranged.

In the light source device / video processor 20,
From the video signal sent from the solid-state image sensor 11, RGB
A video processing unit 24 for displaying a color image of a frame sequential system on the monitor TV 40 is provided,
The video signals time-divided into three colors of green and blue are combined into one, and a color image is displayed on the monitor television 40.

Then, the video signal processing control in the video processing unit 24, the RGB rotation filter 22 and the chopper 23 are performed.
The rotation control and the like are performed by a control signal from the central processing unit (CPU) 25. The control content is changed by key input from the keyboard 26.

A microphone 27 for detecting a sound wave is connected to the light source device / video processor 20, and a signal of the sound wave detected therein is synchronized with a synchronizing circuit 28.
Is sent to the CPU 25.

Then, in synchronism with the waveform of the sound wave detected by the microphone 27, RG is used to illuminate the object for each color with R, G, and B illuminating light and to shield the object.
The rotations of the B rotation filter 22 and the chopper 23 are controlled,
In response to this, the signal processing of the video processing unit 24 is controlled.

FIG. 2 shows the operation of the apparatus of the above embodiment. The sinusoidal curve shows the waveform of the sound wave detected by the microphone 27, which corresponds to the state of the vocal cords shown at the left end.

In this embodiment, the synchronization reference point is set for each cycle of the sound wave as indicated by the circle, and the image is taken at the timing indicated by the ●, which is always a fixed time after the synchronization reference point.

First of all, the red (R) filter of the RGB rotary filter 22 and the notch of the chopper 23 are located between the light source lamp 21 and the incident end of the light guide fiber bundle 12, and the object is red. It is performed at the moment of being illuminated with the illumination light of (R).

When the chopper 23 rotates and the light shielding part of the chopper 23 is located between the light source lamp 21 and the incident end of the light guide fiber bundle 12, the light guide fiber bundle 12 is not supplied with illumination light. Then, the subject becomes completely dark, and charge transfer from the solid-state imaging device 11 is performed during that period.

As shown in FIG. 2, the rotation of the chopper 23 is synchronized with the waveform of the sound wave detected by the microphone 27, and the chopper 23 is exactly 1 in three cycles of the sound wave waveform.
Rotate. Further, the rotation of the RGB rotary filter 22 is also in synchronization with it, and the RGB rotary filter 22 is the chopper 2
While 3 rotates once, it rotates 1/3.

Therefore, the image of the green (G) component is taken at exactly the same timing as the image of the R component, exactly 3 cycles after the sound wave waveform from the image of the red (R) component,
Subsequently, charge transfer is performed, and after three cycles, image capturing and charge transfer of the blue (B) component are performed.

In this way, the R, G, and B three-color components are imaged, and the three images are images of the vibrating vocal cords every three cycles, which are synchronized with the sound waves input from the microphone 27. This is the vocal cord image in the same state as it is.
Therefore, the color image of the first frame is obtained by superimposing the three images on one in the video processing unit 24.

Then, in the same manner as the first frame, the second frame
The color image of the frame is obtained, and further, although not shown, the color images of the third and subsequent frames are similarly obtained. As a result, the image of each frame is a still image obtained by capturing the same state of the vocal cords, which is displayed on the monitor television 40.

FIG. 3 shows the operation in the case where the image pickup timing indicated by the mark ● is sequentially shifted in units of color images of each frame. The control is the keyboard 2
It is performed by the CPU 25 in accordance with the key input from 6.

As shown in FIG. 3, R,
The G and B three-color components are imaged at the same timing, the second frame is imaged at a timing slightly delayed from the first frame, and each frame is sequentially imaged with the same time delay. It As a result, a slow-motion color image of the vocal cords is obtained and displayed on the monitor television 40.

A slow-motion color image can be obtained even if the timing of image pickup is sequentially shifted in units of color images of a plurality of frames.

[0028]

According to the present invention, an image picked up by each color of illumination light is obtained by illuminating an object for each color with illumination light of a plurality of colors in synchronism with a sound wave waveform detected by a microphone and blocking the light. By combining them into one, it is possible to obtain a clear color image of a vocal cord moving at high speed by a frame sequential method, and by controlling the timing of synchronization, either a still image or a slow motion image can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of an example.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an operation when capturing a still image according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an operation at the time of capturing a slow motion image according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Solid-State Image Sensor 22 RGB Rotating Filter 23 Chopper 24 Image Processing Unit 27 Microphone 28 Synchronous Circuit

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A frame-sequential system in which illumination light of a plurality of colors is sequentially irradiated to a subject at different times for each color, the images of the subject are sequentially captured by a solid-state image sensor, and a color image is displayed on a monitor screen. In the electronic endoscope system of the method, a microphone for detecting a sound wave, and a sound wave synchronization for illuminating a subject for each color with each color illumination light and shielding the light in synchronization with a sound wave waveform detected by the microphone An electronic endoscope apparatus, comprising: an illuminating unit and an image processing unit that forms a color image by combining images captured by illumination lights of respective colors. 2. The sound wave synchronous lighting means always illuminates and shields the sound wave waveform detected by the microphone at the same timing, and as a result, a still image signal is output from the video processing means. The electronic endoscope apparatus according to claim 1. 3. The sound wave synchronous illumination means changes the timing of illumination and light shielding with respect to the waveform of the detected sound wave in units of one or a plurality of color images, and as a result, a slow motion image signal is output from the video processing means. The electronic endoscope apparatus according to claim 1.