Endoscope system, method for operating endoscope system and storage medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11986147-B2
Application number	US-202017126460-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 18, 2020
Priority date	Jun 19, 2018
Publication date	May 21, 2024
Grant date	May 21, 2024

Abstract

An endoscope system includes a light source apparatus configured to generate first/second illumination light, an image pickup apparatus, a switching instruction device configured to be able to set one of a first observation mode in which an image obtained by image pickup of an object illuminated with the first illumination light is displayed and a second observation mode in which an image obtained by processing a color/pattern of an image obtained by image pickup of the object illuminated with the second illumination light is displayed and a processor configured to calculate a feature value indicating movement of a distal end portion of an endoscope and disable an instruction for setting the second observation mode when the feature value is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An endoscope system comprising:
a processor configured to:
control a light source to switch between generating first illumination light and second illumination light;
receive an instruction to switch from a first observation mode in which a first image is obtained by an image pickup sensor based on illumination with the first illumination light to a second observation mode in which a third image is obtained by processing at least one of a color and a pattern of a second image obtained by the image pickup sensor based on illumination with the second illumination light;
calculate a first feature value indicating a first amount of movement of a distal end portion of an endoscope provided with the image pickup sensor based on the first image;
determine whether the first amount of movement of the distal end portion of the endoscope, indicated by the first feature value, before switching from the first observation mode to the second observation mode, is equal to or higher than a first predetermined threshold; and
in response to determining that the first amount of movement before switching from the first observation mode to the second observation mode is equal to or higher than the first predetermined threshold, maintain the first observation mode.

2. The endoscope system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the processor is configured to:
in response to determining that the first amount of movement before switching from the first observation mode to the second observation mode is not equal to or higher than the first predetermined threshold, switch from the first observation mode to the second observation mode.

3. The endoscope system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the processor is configured to:
calculate a second feature value indicating a second amount of movement of the distal end portion of the endoscope provided with the image pickup sensor based on the second image;
determine whether the second amount of movement of the distal end portion of the endoscope, indicated by the second feature value, in the second observation mode, is equal to or higher than a second predetermined threshold; and
in response to determining that the second amount of movement, indicated by the second feature value, in the second observation mode, is equal to or higher than the second predetermined threshold, switch from the second observation mode to the first observation mode.

4. The endoscope system according to claim 3 ,
wherein the processor is configured to:
acquire a plurality of the second image obtained by the image pickup sensor based on illumination with the second illumination light, the plurality of second image comprising a first movement detection image and a second movement detection image; and
calculate the second feature value indicating the second amount of movement of the distal end portion of the endoscope based on pixel values of pixels included in the first movement detection image and pixel values of pixels included in the second movement detection image.

5. The endoscope system according to claim 4 ,
wherein the second movement detection image is acquired a predetermined time period after the first movement detection image is acquired, and
wherein the second feature value is calculated based on the pixel values included in the first movement detection image and the second movement detection image and the predetermined time period.

6. The endoscope system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the processor is configured to:
calculate a second feature value indicating a second amount of movement of the distal end portion of the endoscope provided with the image pickup sensor based on the second image;
determine whether the second amount of movement of the distal end portion of the endoscope, indicated by the second feature value, in the second observation mode, is equal to or higher than the second predetermined threshold; and
in response to determining that the second amount of movement, indicated by the second feature value, in the second observation mode, is equal to or higher than the second predetermined threshold, control to display visual information that can notify a state related to the movement of the distal end portion of the endoscope along with the third image.

7. The endoscope system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the processor is configured to:
detect that a predetermined time period elapsed after switching to the second observation mode; and
in response to detecting that the predetermined time period elapsed, switch from the second observation mode to the first observation mode.

8. The endoscope system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the processor is configured to:
in response to determining that the first amount of movement before switching from the first observation mode to the second observation mode is not equal to or higher than the first predetermined threshold, switch from the first observation mode to the second observation mode;
receive a release instruction for recording the second image as a still image; and
in response to receiving the release instruction in the second observation mode, record the second image as the still image and then switch from the second observation mode to the first observation mode.

9. The endoscope system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the processor is configured to calculate the first feature value based on a pixel value of each pixel included in a predetermined calculation region set in accordance with a distance from a center of a movement detection image corresponding to the first image.

10. The endoscope system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the processor is configured to calculate the first feature value based on a pixel value of each pixel included in a predetermined calculation region set in accordance with a distance from an end portion of a movement detection image corresponding to the first image.

11. The endoscope system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the processor is configured to calculate the first feature value based on a contrast value calculated based on a line profile acquired from a predetermined reference image and a contrast value calculated based on a line profile acquired from a movement detection image corresponding to the first image.

12. The endoscope system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the processor is configured to:
sequentially record the first image for each of a first predetermined time period before the instruction for switching from the first observation mode to the second observation mode is executed and a second predetermined time period corresponding to a time period continuous to the first predetermined time period after the instruction for switching from the first observation mode to the second observation mode is executed; and
calculate the first feature value indicating the first amount of movement of the distal end portion of the endo scope based on the first image sequentially recorded.

13. The endoscope system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the processor is configured to:
acquire a plurality of the first image obtained by the image pickup sensor based on illumination with the first illumination light, the plurality of first image comprising a first movement detection image and a second movement detection image; and
calculate the first feature value indicating the first amount of movement of the distal end portion of the endoscope based on pixel values of pixels included in the first movement detection image and pixel values of pixels included in the second movement detection image.

14. The endoscope system according to claim 13 ,
wherein the second movement detection

Assignees

• Olympus Corp

Inventors

• Arai Risa
• ARIYOSHI Daiki

Classifications

• A61B1/00006 Primary

  of control signals · CPC title

• A61B1/00009

  of image signals during a use of endoscope · CPC title

• A61B1/0005

  combining images e.g. side-by-side, superimposed or tiled · CPC title

• A61B1/045

  Control thereof · CPC title

• A61B1/05

  characterised by the image sensor, e.g. camera, being in the distal end portion · CPC title