Fluorescence observation device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9417188-B2
Application number	US-201414197614-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 5, 2014
Priority date	Sep 8, 2011
Publication date	Aug 16, 2016
Grant date	Aug 16, 2016

Abstract

Provided is a fluorescence observation device including: a processor configured to: extract, as a candidate region of interest, a region in a corrected fluorescence image that has a gradation value larger than a gradation-value threshold, the gradation-value threshold being set based on an average of gradiation values, a standard deviation, a first coefficient, and a second coefficient; receive a result, inputted by an observer, as to whether a candidate region of interest displayed on a display is a result of right indicating a determination by the observer that the candidate region of interest is a region of interest or a result of wrong indicating a determination by the observer that the candidate region of interest is not a region of interest; and set at least one of the first coefficient and the second coefficient so as to reflect the result inputted by the observer.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A fluorescence observation device comprising:
a light source configured to radiate excitation light and reference light onto an object;
a fluorescence capturing sensor configured to capture fluorescence produced in the object irradiated with the excitation light;
a return light capturing sensor configured to capture return light from the object irradiated with the reference light; and
a processor comprising hardware, wherein the processor is configured to:
generate a fluorescence image based on the fluorescence captured by the fluorescence capturing sensor;
generate a reference image based on the return light captured by the return light capturing sensor;
generate a corrected fluorescence image by correcting the fluorescence image with the reference image;
set a gradation-value threshold based on an average of gradation values of the entire corrected fluorescence image, a standard deviation of the gradation values, a first coefficient related to weighting of the average of the gradation values of the entire corrected fluorescence image, and a second coefficient related to weighting of the standard deviation of the gradation values;
determine and extract, as a candidate region of interest, a region in the corrected fluorescence image that has a gradation value larger than the gradation-value threshold;
control a display to display the candidate region of interest extracted and the reference image in association with each other; and
receive a result, inputted by an observer, as to whether the candidate region of interest displayed on the display is right or wrong, wherein a result of right indicates a determination by the observer that the candidate region of interest is a region of interest, and a result of wrong indicates a determination by the observer that the candidate region of interest is not a region of interest,
wherein the processor is configured to set at least one of the first coefficient and the second coefficient so as to reflect the result inputted by the observer.

2. The fluorescence observation device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the processor is configured to correct the fluorescence image with the reference image by dividing the fluorescence image by the reference image.

3. The fluorescence observation device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the processor is configured to set one of the first coefficient and the second coefficient to a fixed value and maintain or reduce the other of the first coefficient and the second coefficient in response to receiving the result of right.

4. The fluorescence observation device according to claim 3 ,
wherein the processor is configured to maintain the other of the first coefficient and the second coefficient in response to the gradation value of the candidate region of interest being larger than an upper gradation-value threshold that is higher than the gradation-value threshold by a predetermined rate and reduce the other of the first coefficient and the second coefficient in response to the gradation value of the candidate region of interest being lower than the upper gradation-value threshold.

5. The fluorescence observation device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the processor is configured to set one of the first coefficient and the second coefficient to a fixed value and to increase the other of the first coefficient and the second coefficient in response to receiving the result of wrong.

6. The fluorescence observation device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the processor is configured to calculate the gradation-value threshold by the following equation:
S 0= a ×m+b×σ

where S 0 indicates the gradation-value threshold,
a indicates the first coefficient,
b indicates the second coefficient,
m indicates the average of the gradation values of the entire corrected fluorescence image, and
σ indicates the standard deviation of the gradation values of the entire corrected fluorescence image.

7. The fluorescence observation device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the processor is configured to:
calculate an average of gradation values of the extracted region; and
calculate a third coefficient based on the average of the gradation values of the extracted region;

wherein the fluorescence observation device further comprises a storage configured to store, in response to the candidate region of interest being extracted and receiving the result inputted by the observer, the result inputted by the observer and the third coefficient in association with each other; and
wherein in response to receiving the result of right for a new candidate region of interest, the processor is configured to set, as a new first coefficient, the smaller of the current first coefficient and a lower coefficient that is lower, by a predetermined rate, than an average value of previous third coefficients stored in the storage in association with the received result.

8. The fluorescence observation device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the processor is configured to:
calculate an average of gradation values of the extracted region, and
calculate a third coefficient based on the average of the gradation values of the extracted region;

wherein the fluorescence observation device further comprises a storage configured to store, in response to the candidate region of interest being extracted and receiving the result of right inputted by the observer, the result of right and the third coefficient in association with each other, and
wherein in response to receiving a result of right for a new candidate region of interest, the processor is configured to set as a new second coefficient, the smaller of the current second coefficient and a lower coefficient that is lower, by a predetermined rate, than an average value of previous third coefficients stored in the storage in association with the received result.

9. The fluorescence observation device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the processor is configured to:
calculate an average of gradation values of the candidate region of interest; and
calculate a third coefficient based on the average of the gradation values of the candidate region of interest,

wherein the fluorescence observation device further comprises a storage configured to store, in response to the candidate region of interest being extracted and receiving the result inputted by the observer, the result and the third coefficient in association with each other, and
wherein in response to receiving a result of right indicating that a new candidate region of interest the processor is configured to calculate a standard deviation of the previous third coefficients stored in the storage in association with the received result and set, as a new first coefficient, the smaller of the current first coefficient and a lower coefficient that is obtained by subtracting the calculated standard deviation of the third coefficients from an average value of the previous third coefficients stored in the storage.

10. The fluorescence observation device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the processor is configured to:
calculate an average of gradation values of the extracted region; and
calculate a third coefficient based on the average of the gradation values of the extracted region;

wherein the fluorescence observation device further comprises a storage configured to store, in response to the candidate region of interest being extracted and receiving the result inputted by the observer, the result inputted by the observer and the third coefficient in association with each other, and
wherein, in response to receiving a result of right for a new candidate region of interest, the processor is configured to calculate a s

Assignees

• Olympus Corp

Inventors

• Ishihara Yasushige

Classifications

• G01N21/64 Primary

  Fluorescence; Phosphorescence · CPC title

• A61B1/00039 Primary

  provided with input arrangements for the user · CPC title

• A61B1/000094

  extracting biological structures · CPC title

• G06T5/00

  Image enhancement or restoration · CPC title

• A61B1/043

  for fluorescence imaging · CPC title