Light source apparatus for driving light sources based on generated light adjustment information

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10085611-B2
Application number	US-201514919849-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 22, 2015
Priority date	Jul 11, 2013
Publication date	Oct 2, 2018
Grant date	Oct 2, 2018

Abstract

A light source apparatus includes: a control section that acquires information relating to a ratio of a light amount value for light with second wavelength band to a light amount value for light with first wavelength band, obtains a light amount value for the light with the first wavelength band so that an observation image has a predetermined brightness, and, from the information relating to the ratio, determines a light amount value for the light with the second wavelength band, and generates light adjustment information for making first and second semiconductor light sources emit light with the light amount value for the light with the first wavelength band and the light amount value for the light with the second wavelength band; and a drive section that, based on the light adjustment information generated by the control section, drives the first and second semiconductor light sources.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A light source apparatus comprising:
a first semiconductor light source that emits light with a first wavelength band;
a second semiconductor light source that emits light with a second wavelength band that is different from the first wavelength band;
a control section that:
acquires information relating to a ratio of a light amount value for the light with the second wavelength band to a light amount value for the light with the first wavelength band, the information being provided for setting a light amount value for the light with the second wavelength band based on a light amount value for the light with the first wavelength band,
obtains a light amount value for the light with the first wavelength band based on brightness control information for making a brightness of an observation image, which is generated by an endoscope for observing a subject to which the light with the first wavelength band and the light with the second wavelength band are applied, be a predetermined brightness, and,
from the obtained light amount value for the light with the first wavelength band and the information relating to the ratio,
determines a light amount value for the light with the second wavelength band relative to the light amount value for the light with the first wavelength band, and
generates light adjustment information for making the first semiconductor light source and the second semiconductor light source emit light with the light amount value for the light with the first wavelength band and the light amount value for the light with the second wavelength band; and

a drive section that, based on the light adjustment information generated by the control section, drives the first semiconductor light source and the second semiconductor light source.

2. The light source apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the control section determines a current value and a duty ratio for a drive signal for driving the first semiconductor light source, determines a duty ratio for a drive signal for driving the second semiconductor light source so as to correspond to the duty ratio for the drive signal for driving the first semiconductor light source, determines a current value for the drive signal for driving the second semiconductor light source based on the current value for the drive signal for driving the first semiconductor light source, and generates information for setting the current value and the duty ratio for the drive signal for driving the first semiconductor light source and the current value and the duty ratio for the drive signal for driving the second semiconductor light source, as the light adjustment information.

3. The light source apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a memory section that stores the information relating to the ratio.

4. The light source apparatus according to claim 3 ,
wherein based on a target color balance value representing a light amount balance of illuminating light emitted from the first semiconductor light source and the second semiconductor light source, the control section determines the current value for the drive signal for driving the second semiconductor light source from the current value for the drive signal for driving the first semiconductor light source.

5. The light source apparatus according to claim 4 , comprising an information acquiring section that acquires the information relating to the ratio, the information being provided for obtaining the target color balance value, from the endoscope that picks up an image via an image pickup section using the illuminating light.

6. The light source apparatus according to claim 3 ,
wherein the control section generates light adjustment information using PWM control until the duty ratio reaches 100%, and generates light adjustment information using current control upon the duty ratio reaching 100%.

7. The light source apparatus according to claim 3 , further comprising a photosensor section that detects a light amount of the light emitted from the first semiconductor light source and a light amount of the light emitted from the second semiconductor light source,
wherein the control section corrects the current value for the drive signal for driving the second semiconductor light source, based on results of the detection by the photosensor section.

8. The light source apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein:
the photosensor section includes a first photodetection section that detects the light amount of the light emitted from the first semiconductor light source, and a second photodetection section that detects the light amount of the light emitted from the second semiconductor light source; and
the light source apparatus comprises a detection result correcting section that removes an amount of light from the second semiconductor light source that is not a target of the detection by the first photodetection section, from a result of the detection by the first photodetection section, and removes an amount of light from the first semiconductor light source that is not a target of the detection by the second photodetection section, from a result of the detection by the second photodetection section, thereby extracting only amounts of light from the first and second semiconductor light sources that are targets of the detection by the first and second photodetection sections.

9. The light source apparatus according to claim 8 , comprising a second memory section that stores a correction matrix generated from the results of the detection by the first and second photodetection sections based on light from each semiconductor light source where each of the first semiconductor light source and the second semiconductor light source solely emit light,
wherein the detection result correcting section corrects the results of the detection by the first and second photodetection sections, using a matrix operation using the correction matrix.

10. The light source apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the brightness control information that the control section uses is information of a ratio between the brightness of the observation image and the predetermined brightness.

11. The light source apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the control section generates first light adjustment information for causing the first semiconductor light source to emit light with the light amount value for the light with the first wavelength band, as the light adjustment information, based on the brightness control information, and further, generates second light adjustment information for causing the drive section to drive the second semiconductor light source to emit light, from information relating to a current value of a current applied to the first semiconductor light source and the information relating to the ratio, based on the first light adjustment information.

Assignees

• Olympus Corp

Inventors

• Yabe Yusuke
• Takahashi Tomoya
• Ogasawara Kotaro
• Tanaka Satoshi
• Sakai Aiko

Classifications

• A61B1/00009

  of image signals during a use of endoscope · CPC title

• G02B27/141

  using dichroic mirrors · CPC title

• A61B1/0669

  at proximal end of an endoscope · CPC title

• A61B1/0684

  using light emitting diodes [LED] · CPC title

• A61B1/0638

  providing two or more wavelengths · CPC title