Endoscope system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10694119-B2
Application number	US-201916598337-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 10, 2019
Priority date	Oct 11, 2018
Publication date	Jun 23, 2020
Grant date	Jun 23, 2020

Abstract

A direct-viewing observation image is displayed on a monitor, and a side-viewing observation image is not displayed on the monitor. A region of interest is detected using the side-viewing observation image. A display region for observation, which displays the direct-viewing observation image, of the monitor is maintained regardless of whether or not the region of interest is detected.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An endoscope system comprising:
an endoscope that includes an insertion part to be inserted into an object to be observed, a direct-viewing observation unit having a field of view in a distal end direction of the insertion part, and a side-viewing observation unit having a field of view in a lateral direction of the insertion part;
an image acquisition unit that acquires a direct-viewing observation image by the direct-viewing observation unit and acquires a side-viewing observation image by the side-viewing observation unit;
a display control unit that displays one of the direct-viewing observation image and the side-viewing observation image on a display unit as an image to be displayed and does not display the other thereof as an image not to be displayed; and
a region-of-interest detection unit that detects a region of interest by using the image to be displayed or the image not to be displayed,
wherein the display control unit maintains a first display region, which displays the image to be displayed, of the display unit regardless of whether or not the region of interest is detected by the region-of-interest detection unit.

2. The endoscope system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the display control unit displays a detection index, which indicates detection of the region of interest, on the display unit in a case where the region of interest is detected.

3. The endoscope system according to claim 2 ,
wherein the detection index indicates a position of the region of interest.

4. The endoscope system according to claim 2 ,
wherein the detection index is displayed in a second display region that is provided at a position different from a position of the first display region.

5. The endoscope system according to claim 2 ,
wherein the detection index is displayed in a third display region that is provided around the first display region and is formed so as to correspond to a shape of the first display region.

6. The endoscope system according to claim 5 ,
wherein the third display region has an annular shape.

7. The endoscope system according to claim 2 ,
wherein a color or a shape of the detection index is changed depending on a size or the kind of the region of interest.

8. The endoscope system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the display control unit displays a region-of-interest image, which includes a portion of the image not to be displayed where the region of interest is detected, on the display unit in a case where the region of interest is detected.

9. The endoscope system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the display control unit cancels the non-display of a portion where the region of interest is detected and displays the portion on the display unit in a case where the region of interest is detected.

10. The endoscope system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the display control unit electronically magnifies the image to be displayed and displays the image to be displayed on the display unit.

11. The endoscope system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the image acquisition unit acquires the direct-viewing observation image and the side-viewing observation image from an image that is obtained from one image sensor.

12. The endoscope system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the direct-viewing observation image is acquired from an image sensor for acquiring a direct-viewing observation image, and the side-viewing observation image is acquired from an image sensor for acquiring a side-viewing observation image different from the image sensor for acquiring a direct-viewing observation image.

13. The endoscope system according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a mode changeover switch that switches a normal display mode where both the direct-viewing observation image and the side-viewing observation image are displayed on the display unit and a specific display mode where the image to be displayed is displayed on the display unit and the image not to be displayed is not displayed.

14. The endoscope system according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a brightness information acquisition unit that acquires brightness information for an image not to be displayed from the image not to be displayed,
wherein gain processing for obtaining target brightness is performed on the image not to be displayed on the basis of the brightness information for an image not to be displayed.

15. The endoscope system according to claim 1 , further comprising:
an image processing unit that performs image processing, which is different for each frame, on the image not to be displayed.

16. The endoscope system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the direct-viewing observation unit is provided with a direct-viewing observation window and the side-viewing observation unit is provided with a side-viewing observation window,
a fluid feed line for side-viewing that feeds cleaning fluid to a nozzle for side-viewing to be used for cleaning the side-viewing observation window is provided separately from a fluid feed line for direct-viewing that feeds the cleaning fluid to a nozzle for direct-viewing to be used for cleaning the direct-viewing observation window, and
the cleaning fluid is automatically ejected to the side-viewing observation window through the fluid feed line for side-viewing and the nozzle for side-viewing in a case where a foreign matter is detected in the image not to be displayed.

Assignees

• Fujifilm Corp

Inventors

• Kitano Ryo

Classifications

• H04N23/555

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

• H04N23/60

  Control of cameras or camera modules · CPC title

• H04N23/45

  for generating image signals from two or more image sensors being of different type or operating in different modes, e.g. with a CMOS sensor for moving images in combination with a charge-coupled device [CCD] for still images · CPC title

• H04N23/74

  by influencing the scene brightness using illuminating means · CPC title

• H04N23/76

  by influencing the image signals · CPC title