Endoscope apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10085630-B2
Application number	US-201615142507-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 29, 2016
Priority date	Oct 30, 2013
Publication date	Oct 2, 2018
Grant date	Oct 2, 2018

Abstract

An endoscope apparatus includes: first and second cooling units configured to cool first and second light source portions; an image pickup portion configured to generate a picked-up image; and a cooling control portion configured to control amounts of light emission of the light source portions while maintaining an amount-of-light ratio so that the brightness of the picked-up image becomes the target brightness and control cooling based on the information about the amount-of-light ratio and the brightness control information; wherein the cooling control portion decides a cooling capacity of the first cooling units and a cooling capacity of the second cooling units for cooling the respective light source portions for which the amounts of light emission are controlled, at the cooling ratio, so as to cause the light source portions to be included within a predetermined temperature range, based on the brightness control information.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An endoscope apparatus comprising:
a first light source configured to generate light;
a second light source configured to generate light;
a first cooling member configured to cool the first light source, a cooling capacity of the first cooling member varying depending on a volume of inputted driving power;
second cooling member configured to cool the second light source, a cooling capacity of the second cooling member varying depending on a volume of inputted driving power;
a light guide configured to:
be inserted into a subject;
guide the light from the first light source and the light from the second light source; and
emit the guided lights as illuminating light from a distal end of the light guide;

an image sensor configured to receive light from the subject to which the illuminating light emitted from the distal end of the light guide is radiated to generate a picked-up image;
a video processor configured to generate brightness control information for controlling an amount of the illuminating light; and
a control portion controller configured to:
obtain information about an amount-of-light ratio, which is a ratio of an amount of the light emitted by the second light source to an amount of the light emitted by the first light source, and the brightness control information;
control amounts of light emission of the first light source and the second light source while maintaining an amount-of-light ratio corresponding to the information about the amount-of-light ratio;
determine respective cooling capacities for the first cooling member and the second cooling member based on the information about the amount-of-light ratio and the brightness control information; and
control the driving power to be inputted to the first cooling member and the driving power to be inputted to the second cooling member so that the first and second cooling members have the determined cooling capacities,
wherein, when the control portion obtains, as the information about the amount-of-light ratio, information about a first amount-of-light ratio in which the ratio of the amount of the light emitted by the second light source to the amount of the light emitted by the first light source is a first value, the control portion is configured to:
obtain information about a first cooling ratio, which is a ratio of the cooling capacity to be set to the first cooling member to the cooling capacity to be set to the second cooling member, based on the information about the first amount-of-light ratio;
determine the cooling capacity of the first cooling member and the cooling capacity of the second cooling member for cooling, at the first cooling ratio, the first light source and the second light source for which the amounts of light emission are controlled, so as to cause the first light source and the second light source to have a temperature within a predetermined temperature range, based on the brightness control information and the information about the first cooling ratio, and

wherein, when the control portion obtains, as the information about the amount-of-light ratio, information about a second amount-of-light ratio in which the ratio of the amount of the light emitted by the second light source to the amount of the light emitted by the first light source is a second value different from the first value, the control portion is configured to:
obtain information about a second cooling ratio, which is a ratio of the cooling capacity to be set to the first cooling member to the cooling capacity to be set to the second cooling member, based on the information about the second amount-of-light ratio; and
determine the cooling capacity of the first cooling member and the cooling capacity of the second cooling member for cooling, at the second cooling ratio, the first light source and the second light source for which the amounts of light emission are controlled, so as to cause the first light source and the second light source to have a temperature within a predetermined temperature range, based on the brightness control information and the information about the second cooling ratio.

2. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the control portion is configured to read the information about the amount-of-light ratio stored in a storage portion of an endoscope to which illuminating light by the first light source portion and the second light source portion is supplied.

3. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the control portion is configured to control the cooling capacities of the first cooling member and the second cooling member at a predetermined cooling ratio if the information about the amount-of-light ratio is not given.

4. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the information about the amount-of-light ratio is set for each endoscope supplied with the illuminating light by the first light source and the second light source or for each observation mode of the endoscope.

5. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the control portion is configured to:
perform light emission control of the first light source and the second light source individually so that each of the first light source and the second light source emits light within a permitted predetermined amount of light emission, and
perform cooling control of the first cooling member and the second cooling member individually so that each of the first cooling member and the second cooling member performs cooling within a permitted cooling capacity.

Assignees

• Olympus Corp

Inventors

• SHIROTA Yutaka
• Takahashi Tomoya
• Toda Masato
• Yabe Yusuke
• Yoshida Yusuke
• Sakai Aiko
• Masaki Takahiro
• Hayama Takahiro
• Machida Ryo
• Omori Koji

Classifications

• A61B1/044

  for absorption imaging · CPC title

• H01L33/64

  Electricity · mapped topic

• A61B1/0669

  at proximal end of an endoscope · CPC title

• G02B27/141

  using dichroic mirrors · CPC title

• A61B1/0638

  providing two or more wavelengths · CPC title