Endoscope apparatus for determining situation of occurrence of rolling distortion

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11337595-B2
Application number	US-201916387831-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 18, 2019
Priority date	Oct 24, 2016
Publication date	May 24, 2022
Grant date	May 24, 2022

Abstract

When a first mode is set in an endoscope apparatus, a light source control unit causes a light source to be turned on during a period including all or a part of a period during which available storage periods of pixels in all simultaneous exposure lines. An imaging device generates a first image. When a second mode is set, the light source control unit causes the light source to be turned on during a period including all of the available storage period of the pixels in each of a plurality of rows. The imaging device generates a second image. The rolling distortion determination unit determines a situation of occurrence of rolling distortion using the first image and the second image.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An endoscope apparatus comprising:
a light source configured to generate illumination light for illuminating a subject;
an optical system configured to form an optical image of the subject illuminated with the illumination light;
an imaging device comprising a plurality of pixels disposed in a matrix and configured to generate pixel signals of the pixels based on the optical image in each of a plurality of frames and generate an image of the subject using the pixel signals; and
a processor configured to:
switch between settings of a first mode and a second mode;
in response to the first mode being set,
cause the imaging device to perform a first scan for reading the pixel signals from the pixels in simultaneous exposure lines by consecutively scanning all the simultaneous exposure lines, the simultaneous exposure lines being some of a plurality of rows in an array of the plurality of pixels;
cause the light source to be turned on during a first period and cause the light source to be turned off during a period including all of a second period,
wherein the first period is a period including all or a part of a period during which available storage periods of the pixels in all the simultaneous exposure lines overlap, and
wherein the second period is a period during which a scan is performed for reading the pixel signals generated by the pixels in all the simultaneous exposure lines from the pixels during the first period; and

cause the imaging device to generate a first image using the pixel signals generated by the pixels in all the simultaneous exposure lines during the period in which the available storage periods of the pixels in all the simultaneous exposure lines overlap;

in response to the second mode being set, the processor is configured to:
cause the imaging device to perform a second scan for reading the pixel signals from the pixels in the plurality of rows by consecutively scanning the plurality of rows;
cause the light source to be turned on during a period including all of the available storage periods of the pixels in each of the plurality of rows before the second scan is performed; and
cause the imaging device to generate a second image using the pixel signals read by the second scan; and

determine a situation of an occurrence of a rolling distortion using the first image and the second image.

2. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to determine the situation of the occurrence of the rolling distortion using data of the simultaneous exposure lines of the first image and data of rows corresponding to the simultaneous exposure lines of the first image in the second image.

3. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the processor is configured to cause the imaging device to read the pixel signals of a second frame from the pixels in rows including all the simultaneous exposure lines after the pixel signals of a first frame are read from the pixels in all the simultaneous exposure lines by the first scan,
wherein the imaging device is configured to generate the first image using the pixel signals of the second frame,
wherein after a scan of all the simultaneous exposure lines by the first scan is completed, the processor is configured to cause the light source to be turned on during a period including all or a part of a period during which the available storage periods of the pixels in all the simultaneous exposure lines overlap and causes the light source to be turned off during a period including all of a period during which the first scan is performed, and
wherein the processor is configured to cause the light source to be turned off during a period in which the pixel signals of the second frame are read from the pixels in the simultaneous exposure lines.

4. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein, in response to the first mode being set, the processor is configured to cause the imaging device to simultaneously reset the pixels in all the simultaneous exposure lines,
wherein after the pixels in all the simultaneous exposure lines are simultaneously reset, the processor is configured to cause the imaging device to perform the first scan,
wherein the imaging device is configured to generate the first image using the pixel signals read by the first scan, and
wherein after the pixels in all the simultaneous exposure lines are simultaneously reset, the processor is configured to cause the light source to be turned on during the first period and cause the light source to be turned off during a period including all of a period during which the first scan is performed.

5. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the processor is configured to determine a situation of occurrence of a blur in the first image,
wherein, in response to an instruction of any one of freezing, image recording, and measurement being accepted, the processor is configured to set the first mode, and
wherein, in response to determining that a blur in the first image is less than or equal to a predetermined amount, the processor is configured to set the second mode.

6. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the processor is configured to determine a situation of occurrence of a blur in the first image and the second image,
wherein, in response to an instruction of any one of freezing, image recording, and measurement being accepted, the processor is configured to determine a situation of occurrence of a blur in the second image,
wherein in response to determining that a blur in the second image is less than or equal to a predetermined amount, the processor is configured to set the first mode, and
wherein in response to determining that a blur in the first image is less than or equal to a predetermined amount, the processor is configured to set the second mode.

7. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to perform a process using the second image for which the rolling distortion is determined to be less than or equal to a predetermined amount.

8. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the processor is configured to cause the second image for which the rolling distortion is determined to be less than or equal to the predetermined amount to be stored in a memory after an image recording instruction is accepted.

9. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the processor is configured to perform measurement of the subject using the second image for which the rolling distortion is determined to be less than or equal to the predetermined amount after a measurement instruction is accepted.

10. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a temperature sensor configured to measure a temperature of the imaging device,
wherein the processor is configured to:
perform switching between the first mode, the second mode, and a third mode;
in response to the temperature being greater than a predetermined value, sequentially set the first mode and the second mode;
in response to the temperature being less than or equal to the predetermined value, set the third mode;
in response to the third mode being set, cause the imaging device to perform the second scan during a period shorter than a frame cycle;
cause the imaging device to generate a third image using the pixel signals read by the second scan in the third mode;
cause the light source to be turned on during a period including all or a part of a period during which the available storage periods of the pixels in each of the plurality of rows overlap before the second scan is performed in the third mode; and
cause the light source to be tur

Assignees

• Olympus Corp

Inventors

• Ogawa Kiyotomi

Classifications

• H04N25/40

  Extracting pixel data from image sensors by controlling scanning circuits, e.g. by modifying the number of pixels sampled or to be sampled · 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

• A61B1/00163

  Optical arrangements (A61B1/002, A61B1/06 take precedence) · CPC title

• G02B23/24

  Instruments {or systems} for viewing the inside of hollow bodies, e.g. fibrescopes · CPC title

• A61B1/0676

  at distal tip of an endoscope · CPC title