JP3079435B2 - Electronic endoscope device - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic endoscope apparatus, and more particularly to an electronic endoscope apparatus for observing the inside of a body cavity or the like with a color image.

[Conventional technology]

An electronic endoscope used for medical or industrial use includes a scope section, a processor, and a monitor device, and an insertion section of the scope section is inserted into a body cavity or the like, and is built in or independently of the processor. Illuminates the observation target with illumination light, and reflects the reflected image from the observation target.
A video signal is formed by photoelectric conversion by a solid-state imaging device such as a CCD, and the obtained video signal is read out from the imaging device and transmitted to a processor. The color display is used.

By the way, at the time of diagnosis with the above-mentioned electronic endoscope apparatus, it may be necessary to observe an ultra-fine lesion or a blood vessel image under the mucous membrane. When performing such fine observation, it is extremely effective to perform contour enhancement of the video using the contour enhancement means. Conventionally, each of the red (R), green (G), and blue (B) video signals has been used. A method of mixing a contour emphasis signal and emphasizing a contour is generally performed.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, in the conventional contour enhancement, since the R signal, the G signal, and the B signal are equally contour-enhanced, it is difficult to find a submucosal ultrafine lesion. In general, since an electronic endoscope apparatus drives an image pickup device in a so-called plane-sequential system, a color image of each color channel is generated with a delay of one field at a time. Although color misregistration occurs, the conventional contour enhancement has a problem in that if there is such color misregistration, blurring occurs instead.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic endoscope apparatus capable of performing a very natural observation as well as a microscopic observation of an ultra-fine lesion or a submucosal blood vessel image. I do.

[Means for solving the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention irradiates red, green, and blue illumination light sequentially from the distal end of the scope toward the observation target portion, and irradiates the observation target with the solid-state imaging device built in the distal end of the scope. A red, green, and blue video signal indicating the observation target portion is obtained by imaging the portion, and a color image indicating the observation target portion is displayed based on the red, green, and blue video signals. In the endoscope apparatus, means for inputting the green video signal and generating an outline emphasis signal from the video signal, switching means for switching between normal observation and fine observation, and the switching means being switched to a normal observation side And the red, green, and blue video signals are mixed with the contour emphasis signal and output, and when switched to the fine observation side, the contour emphasis signal is mixed and output only with the green video signal and the red Means for outputting a blue video signal as it is characterized by comprising a.

In addition, the present invention sequentially irradiates red, green, and blue illumination light from the distal end of the scope toward the observation target portion, and images the illuminated observation target portion with a solid-state imaging device built in the distal end of the scope. A red, green, and blue video signal indicating the observation target portion is obtained, and the red, green, and blue in the plane-sequential type electronic endoscope apparatus that displays a color image indicating the observation target portion based on the blue video signal, A means for inputting a green image signal and generating an outline emphasis signal from the image signal, a switching means for switching between normal observation and fine observation, and the red, green, and Each of the outline video signals is mixed and output to a blue video signal, and when switched to the fine observation side, the outline video signal is mixed and output only to the green video signal and the red and blue video signals are mixed. Out Characterized by comprising a means for stopping.

Further, the present invention sequentially irradiates red, green, and blue illumination light from the distal end of the scope toward the observation target portion, and images the irradiated observation target portion with a solid-state imaging device built in the distal end of the scope. A red, green, and blue video signal indicating the observation target portion is obtained, and the red, green, and blue in the plane-sequential type electronic endoscope apparatus that displays a color image indicating the observation target portion based on the blue video signal, A means for inputting a green image signal and generating an outline emphasis signal from the image signal, a switching means for switching between normal observation and fine observation, and the red, green, and Means for outputting the blue video signal as it is, switching to the fine observation side, mixing and outputting the contour emphasis signal only to the green video signal, and stopping the output of the red and blue video signals. Equipped The features.

Furthermore, the present invention sequentially provides red, green,
Along with irradiating the blue illumination light toward the observation target portion, the solid-state imaging device built in the tip of the scope captures the illuminated observation target portion, and outputs a red, green, and blue video signal indicating the observation target portion. In the electronic endoscope apparatus of the frame sequential type that displays a color image indicating the observation target portion based on the red, green, and blue image signals, the green image signal is input, and an edge enhancement signal is input from the image signal. And a switching means for switching between normal observation and fine observation, and when the switching means is switched to the normal observation side, the red, green, and blue video signals are output as they are and switched to the fine observation side. Means for mixing and outputting the outline emphasizing signal only to the green video signal and outputting the red and blue video signals as they are.

[Action]

According to the present invention, it is possible to switch between normal observation, which allows very natural observation, and fine observation, such as an ultra-fine lesion or a submucosal blood vessel image. Attention is paid to green, which has high visibility, and when it is desired to perform fine observation, contour enhancement is performed only on the green video signal, thereby improving the effect of elucidating the fine structure.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of an electronic endoscope apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of an electronic endoscope apparatus according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the electronic endoscope device includes a scope unit 10, a processor 20, and a monitor device 30.

To the processor 20, R, G,
An irradiation device for sequentially irradiating the B light to the observation target portion 14 is built in. That is, the white light from the light source 22 lit by the light source lighting circuit 21 is guided to one end 12A of the light guide 12 via the condenser lens 23 and the rotating color filter 24.

The rotating color filters 24 each have a central angle of 120 ° R,
It has three color filters of G and B and is rotated by a motor 25. This motor 25 is a synchronous signal generation circuit
By the motor control circuit 26 that inputs the synchronization signal from 27,
It is controlled to rotate at a predetermined rotation speed (for example, 20 rps). As a result, the light from the light source 22 is sequentially changed via the rotating color filter 24 at a cycle of 1/60 second R,
The light becomes illumination light of each color of G and B, and is applied to the observation target portion 14 via the light guide 12.

At the tip of the scope 10 of the electronic endoscope, an objective lens 15
And a solid-state imaging device (CCD) 16, and an objective lens 15
Is the observation target portion illuminated by each of the R, G, and B illumination lights
14 is imaged on the light receiving portion of the CCD 16, and the CCD 16 is driven by a drive pulse applied from the CCD driver 28 via the signal line 17, photoelectrically converts incident light and converts an RGB video signal corresponding to each illumination light into a signal line. The signal is output to the signal processing circuit 29 via 18.

The signal processing circuit 29 of the processor 20 includes a color misregistration detection circuit, performs signal processing such as simultaneous conversion of plane-sequential RGB video signals input from the CCD 16, and then outputs the signals to the monitor device 30.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing details of the processor.

In the figure, a plane-sequential RGB video signal input from the CCD 16 is applied to an A / D converter 41 via a process circuit 40 having a sample hold circuit, a γ correction circuit, a clamp circuit, and the like. The A / D converter 41 converts an input RGB video signal (analog signal) into a digital signal one pixel at a time, and converts the digital signal into R, G, B field memories 42, 43, 44.
Output to

The field memories 42, 43, 44 are controlled by a memory control circuit 45. That is, the memory control circuit 45 performs the RGB control based on the vertical synchronization pulse applied from the synchronization signal generation circuit 27.
The video signals are sequentially stored in the field memories 42, 43 and 44, and R-EN pulses, G-EN pulses and B-EN pulses for updating the stored contents of the memories are output.

Sequentially written to the field memories 42, 43, 44
The RGB video signals are read out simultaneously and the D / A converters 46, 47, 4
8. The video signals are output from the video output terminals 53, 54, and 55 via the process circuits 50, 51, and 52 having the contour emphasis signal mixing section 60 and the clamp circuit for adjusting the black level.

On the other hand, the output of the D / A converter 47 is output from the enhancement circuits 70A and 70B.
Has been added to These enhancement circuits 70A and 70B
Generates an outline emphasis signal from a G video signal. The enhancement circuit 70A generates an outline emphasis signal in the horizontal direction of the image, and the enhancement circuit 70B generates an outline emphasis signal in the vertical direction of the image. These edge enhancement signals are mixed by the mixer 78, and then the
Is output to

 Next, details of the enhance circuit will be described.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the enhance circuit.

As shown in the figure, the enhancement circuit is a delay circuit.
It comprises 71, 72, adders 73, 74 and an inverter 75.

The delay circuit 71 receives the G video signal (original signal A (FIG. 4 (A)) from the D / A converter 47 and delays it by a predetermined time τ ₁ τ ₁ delay signal B (FIG. 4 ( B)) The delay circuit 72
Output to delay circuit 72 outputs the input to tau ₁ delayed signal B by a predetermined time tau ₂ delayed by tau ₂ signal C (FIG. 4 (C)) to the adder 73.

The adder 73 has been added is the original signal A, the adder 73 adds the original signal A and the tau ₂ signal C, and the addition signal D (FIG. 4 (D)) through the inverter 75 Output to the adder 74.

Tau ₁ delayed signal B to the adder 74 is added, the adder adds the signal D is inverted by the _first delay signal and the inverter 75 tau, the sum signal of the contour enhancement signal E (FIG. 4 (E)). By adding the contour-enhanced signal E to the original signal A, the contour-enhanced original signal (fourth
FIG. (F)) is obtained.

By the way, in the case of the enhancement circuit 70A that generates the horizontal edge enhancement signal, the predetermined times τ ₁ and τ ₂ of the delay circuits 71 and 72 are set to, for example, ₂₀₀ ns, and the enhancement circuit that generates the vertical edge enhancement signal is set. In the case of circuit 70B,
The predetermined times τ ₁ and τ ₂ of the delay circuits 71 and 72 are set to 1H (H: horizontal scanning period).

In FIG. 2, the contour emphasizing signal mixing section 60 comprises mixers 61, 62, 63 and switches 64, 65. The contour emphasizing signal mixed by the mixer 78 is directly added to the mixer 62. , Are applied to mixers 61 and 63 via switches 64 and 65.

The ON / OFF of the switches 64 and 65 is controlled by a changeover switch 68 that switches between normal observation and fine observation.

That is, when the changeover switch 68 is switched to the normal observation side,
The switches 64 and 65 are turned on, and the edge enhancement signals are mixed with the RGB video signals by the mixers 61, 62 and 63, respectively. On the other hand, when the changeover switch 68 is switched to the fine observation side, the switches 64 and 65 are turned off, and the mixer 62 mixes only the G video signal with the contour emphasis signal.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the contour emphasizing signal mixing section.
It is composed of 82, 83 and 84. According to the contour emphasizing signal mixing unit 80, the RGB video signals output from the D / A converters 46, 47, and 48 are output as they are without edge emphasizing as shown in FIG. Switch 8
2, 84 are turned off and switch 83 is turned on, R, B
The output of the video signal is blocked, and only the G video signal is mixed with the contour emphasis signal by the mixer 81 and output.

The outline emphasis signal mixing section is not limited to the present embodiment, and various configurations are conceivable. In short, a natural color image can be obtained at the time of normal observation, and a color image obtained by mixing the outline emphasis signal only with the G image signal at the time of fine observation is obtained. Any image may be used as long as it is configured to provide an image that is finely observable even if it is unnatural.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, an example is described in which an RGB signal is assumed as a video signal, but an encoder signal may be used. In this case, no component coder is required.

〔The invention's effect〕

According to the electronic endoscope apparatus according to the present invention described above,
In addition to being able to observe with a normal color image, at the time of microscopic observation, since the contour emphasis signal is mixed only with the G image signal with high visibility, it is possible to observe ultra-fine lesions or images of blood vessels under the mucous membrane, if necessary. Endoscope diagnosis can be performed by switching images.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of an electronic endoscope apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing details of a processor in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a detail of an enhancement circuit in FIG. 4 (A) to 4 (F) are signal waveform diagrams used to explain the enhance circuit, respectively.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the contour emphasizing signal mixing section shown in FIG. 14: Observation target part, 16: Solid-state image sensor (CCD), 22: Light source, 24: Rotating color filter, 42, 43, 44 ... Field memory, 45: Memory control circuit, 60, 80 ... ... Contour emphasis signal mixing section, 68 ... Changeover switch, 70A, 70B ... Enhancement circuit, 61, 62, 63, 78, 81 ... Mixer, 64, 65, 82, 83, 84 ... Switch.

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A red, green, and blue illumination light is sequentially emitted from an end of a scope toward an observation target portion, and the illuminated observation target portion is imaged by a solid-state imaging device built in the end of the scope. A red, green, and blue image signal indicating the target portion is obtained, and the red, green, and blue electronic signals are displayed in a plane sequential electronic endoscope apparatus that displays a color image indicating the target portion based on the blue image signal. Means for inputting the video signal and generating an outline emphasis signal from the video signal, switching means for switching between normal observation and fine observation, and when the switching means is switched to the normal observation side, the red,
The edge enhancement signals are mixed and output to green and blue video signals, respectively, and when switched to the fine observation side, the edge enhancement signals are mixed and output only to the green video signal and the red and blue images are output. Means for outputting a signal as it is, an electronic endoscope apparatus comprising: 2. A method of irradiating red, green, and blue illumination light sequentially from an end of a scope toward an observation target, and imaging the illuminated observation target by a solid-state imaging device built in the end of the scope. A red, green, and blue image signal indicating the target portion is obtained, and the red, green, and blue electronic signals are displayed in a plane sequential electronic endoscope apparatus that displays a color image indicating the target portion based on the blue image signal. Means for inputting the video signal and generating an outline emphasis signal from the video signal, switching means for switching between normal observation and fine observation, and when the switching means is switched to the normal observation side, the red,
The edge enhancement signals are mixed and output to green and blue video signals, respectively, and when switched to the fine observation side, the edge enhancement signals are mixed and output only to the green video signal and the red and blue images are output. An electronic endoscope apparatus comprising: a unit for stopping output of a signal. 3. A method for irradiating red, green, and blue illumination light sequentially from the distal end of the scope toward the observation target portion, and imaging the illuminated observation target portion with a solid-state imaging device built in the distal end of the scope to perform the observation. A red, green, and blue image signal indicating the target portion is obtained, and the red, green, and blue electronic signals are displayed in a plane sequential electronic endoscope apparatus that displays a color image indicating the target portion based on the blue image signal. Means for inputting the video signal and generating an outline emphasis signal from the video signal, switching means for switching between normal observation and fine observation, and when the switching means is switched to the normal observation side, the red,
Means for outputting the green and blue video signals as they are, mixing and outputting the contour emphasis signal only to the green video signal when switched to the fine observation side, and stopping the output of the red and blue video signals. An electronic endoscope device comprising: 4. A method of irradiating red, green, and blue illumination light sequentially from the distal end of the scope toward the observation target portion, and imaging the illuminated observation target portion by a solid-state imaging device built in the distal end of the scope to perform the observation. A red, green, and blue image signal indicating the target portion is obtained, and the red, green, and blue electronic signals are displayed in a plane sequential electronic endoscope apparatus that displays a color image indicating the target portion based on the blue image signal. Means for inputting the video signal and generating an outline emphasis signal from the video signal, switching means for switching between normal observation and fine observation, and when the switching means is switched to the normal observation side, the red,
Means for outputting the green and blue video signals as they are, mixing and outputting the contour emphasizing signal only to the green video signals when switched to the fine observation side, and outputting the red and blue video signals as they are, An electronic endoscope device comprising: