Image pickup system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10531008-B2
Application number	US-201715478616-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 4, 2017
Priority date	Oct 10, 2014
Publication date	Jan 7, 2020
Grant date	Jan 7, 2020

Abstract

An image pickup system includes a light source apparatus and a light-source control section performing first control for setting a duty width and perform second control for, after the duty width is set to a minimum duty width by the first control, changing supply timing of the illumination light not to supply the illumination light in a period other than the period where the light amount control by the PWM is permitted and to supply, in the period where the light amount control by the PWM is permitted, light having a light amount integrated value equal to a light amount integrated value supplied in the period other than the period where the light amount control by the PWM is permitted, and an image pickup apparatus, where data representing a driving current value after the change of the supply timing and a value of the pulse width is stored.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An image pickup system comprising:
a light source apparatus comprising:
a light source configured to supply illumination light to an object and perform pulse width modulation (PWM) in any duty width; and
a processor; and

an image pickup apparatus provided separately from the light source apparatus, the image pickup apparatus storing data of a numerical value indicating a period in which a light amount control by the PWM is carried out,
wherein the processor is configured to:
read out the data from the image pickup apparatus, and set a numerical value of the data to maximum duty width; and
perform, on the light source, first control for narrowing down a duty width between the maximum duty width and minimum duty width and perform second control for, after the duty width is narrowed down to the minimum duty width by the first control, changing supply timing of the illumination light not to supply the illumination light to the object in a period other than the period in which the light amount control by the PWM is carried out and to supply, in the period in which the light amount control by the PWM is carried out, light having a light amount integral value equal to a light amount integral value supplied in the period other than the period in which the light amount control by the PWM is carried out, and

wherein, in the image pickup apparatus, data representing a value of a driving current to be supplied to the light source after the change of the supply timing of the illumination light and a value of the pulse width is further stored.

2. The image pickup system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the processor is configured to perform third control for controlling amplitude of the driving current supplied to the light source to increase and decrease between a maximum value and a minimum value that can be supplied and further perform the first control when it is necessary to limit a light amount of the illumination light after the third control.

3. A light source apparatus that is connectable to an image pickup apparatus that stores data of a numerical value indicating a period in which a light amount control by pulse width modification is carried out, the light source apparatus comprising:
a light source configured to supply illumination light to an object and perform pulse width modulation (PWM) in any duty width; and
a processor configured to:
read out the data from the image pickup apparatus, and set a numerical value of the data to maximum duty width;
perform, on the light source, first control for narrowing down a duty width between the maximum duty width and minimum duty width and perform second control for, after the duty width is narrowed down to the minimum duty width by the first control, changing supply timing of the illumination light not to supply the illumination light to the object in a period other than the period in which the light amount control by the PWM is carried out and to supply, in the period in which the light amount control by the PWM is carried out, light having a light amount integral value equal to a light amount integral value supplied in the period other than the period in which the light amount control by the PWM is carried out; and
read out data representing a value of a driving current to be supplied to the light source after the change of the supply timing of the illumination light and a value of the pulse width, the data being stored in the image pickup apparatus, to set the read-out data as the value of the driving current to be supplied to the light source after the change of the supply timing of the illumination light and the value of the pulse width.

4. An image pickup apparatus that is connectable to a light source apparatus,
wherein the light source apparatus comprises:
a light source configured to supply illumination light to an object and perform pulse width modulation (PWM) in any duty width; and
a processor configured to perform, on the light source, first control for narrowing down a duty width between maximum duty width and minimum duty width, and

wherein the image pickup apparatus is configured to:
store data of a numerical value indicating a period in which a light amount control by pulse width modification is carried out in an image pickup period of one frame; and
further store data representing a value of a driving current to be supplied to the light source and a value of a pulse width, the data being used after a change of supply timing of the illumination light by a second control performed on the light source by the processor, the second control being for changing the supply timing of the illumination light not to supply the illumination light to the object in a period other than the period in which the light amount control by the PWM is carried out and to supply, in the period in which the light amount control by the PWM is carried out, light having a light amount integral value equal to a light amount integral value supplied in the period other than the period in which the light amount control by the PWM is carried out.

Assignees

• Olympus Corp

Inventors

• Yabe Yusuke
• Takahashi Tomoya
• Tanaka Satoshi

Classifications

• H04N23/63

  by using electronic viewfinders · CPC title

• H04N23/73

  by influencing the exposure time · CPC title

• H04N23/56

  provided with illuminating means · CPC title

• H04N23/555

  for picking-up images in sites, inaccessible due to their dimensions or hazardous conditions, e.g. endoscopes or borescopes · CPC title

• H04N23/71

  Circuitry for evaluating the brightness variation · CPC title