Focus control device, endoscope system, and focus control method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9621781-B2
Application number	US-201414226571-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 26, 2014
Priority date	Oct 11, 2011
Publication date	Apr 11, 2017
Grant date	Apr 11, 2017

Abstract

The focus control device includes a focus control section that controls an imaging optical system that is configured so that an in-focus object plane position is changed when an imaging magnification is changed, an image acquisition section that acquires a plurality of images captured through the imaging optical system at a different imaging magnification, and a change-in-magnification detection section that detects a change in magnification that is at least one of a change in the imaging magnification and a change in size of an object within an image among the plurality of images, the focus control section driving the imaging optical system based on an AF evaluation value that indicates the focus state of the imaging optical system and calculated based on the image and the change in magnification to control focus of the imaging optical system.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A focus control device comprising:
a focus control section that controls an imaging optical system that is configured so that an in-focus object plane position is changed when an imaging magnification is changed;
an image acquisition section that acquires a plurality of images captured through the imaging optical system at a different imaging magnification;
a change-in-magnification detection section that detects a change in magnification, the change in magnification being at least one of a change in the imaging magnification and a change in size of an object within an image among the plurality of images; and
an image scaling section that subjects the image to an image scaling process based on the change in magnification to acquire a scaled image,
the focus control section calculating an autofocus (AF) evaluation value that indicates a focus state of the imaging optical system based on the image and the change in magnification, and driving the imaging optical system based on the calculated AF evaluation value to control focus of the imaging optical system, and
the image scaling section calculating the detected change in magnification that excludes a change in magnification due to the driving of the imaging optical system for focus control as a target change in magnification, and performing the image scaling process based on the target change in magnification to cancel a change in angle of view due to the driving of the imaging optical system for focus control.

2. The focus control device as defined in claim 1 ,
the image scaling section acquiring the scaled image having a relatively small size when the change in magnification is relatively large, and acquiring the scaled image having a relatively large size when the change in magnification is relatively small.

3. The focus control device as defined in claim 2 ,
the change-in-magnification detection section detecting the change in magnification between a first timing and a second timing that differs from the first timing, and
the image scaling section subjecting the image acquired by the image acquisition section at the second timing to the image scaling process using a reciprocal of the change in magnification to acquire the scaled image.

4. The focus control device as defined in claim 1 ,
the image scaling section outputting the acquired scaled image to the focus control section and a display device.

5. The focus control device as defined in claim 4 ,
the image scaling section outputting a first scaled image obtained by subjecting the image to a first image scaling process to the focus control section, and outputting a second scaled image obtained by subjecting the image to a second image scaling process that differs from the first image scaling process to the display device.

6. The focus control device as defined in claim 5 ,
the change-in-magnification detection section detecting a first change in magnification and a second change in magnification as the change in magnification, the first change in magnification being the change in the size of the object within the image, and the second change in magnification being the change in the imaging magnification, and
the image scaling section performing the first image scaling process based on the first change in magnification to acquire the first scaled image, and performing the second image scaling process based on the second change in magnification to acquire the second scaled image.

7. The focus control device as defined in claim 5 ,
the image scaling section performing the image scaling process in a period from a first timing to an Nth timing (N is an integer equal to or larger than 2),
the change-in-magnification detection section detecting an ith (1≦i≦N) change in magnification at an ith timing, and
the image scaling section performing the second image scaling process at a kth (1≦k≦N) timing based on a first change in magnification to a kth change in magnification to acquire the second scaled image, and outputting the second scaled image to the display device.

8. The focus control device as defined in claim 5 ,
the image scaling section performing the image scaling process in a period from a first timing to an Nth timing (N is an integer equal to or larger than 2),
the change-in-magnification detection section detecting an ith (1≦i≦N) change in magnification at an ith timing, and
the image scaling section determining whether or not the change in magnification at an mth (1≦m≦N) timing is included within a given allowable scaling range, performing the second image scaling process at the mth timing in a way similar to the second image scaling process at an (m−1)th timing that precedes the mth timing when the change in magnification at the mth timing is included within the given allowable scaling range, and performing the second image scaling process at the mth timing using a value closer to 1 than a reciprocal of an mth change in magnification when the change in magnification at the mth timing is not included within the given allowable scaling range.

9. The focus control device as defined in claim 1 ,
the change-in-magnification detection section detecting a ratio of a magnification evaluation value at a second timing to the magnification evaluation value at a first timing as the change in magnification at the second timing, the second timing differing from the first timing, and the magnification evaluation value being at least one of the imaging magnification and the size of the object within the image.

10. The focus control device as defined in claim 9 ,
the change-in-magnification detection section detecting a ratio of the imaging magnification at a second timing to the imaging magnification at a first timing as the change in magnification at the second timing, the second timing differing from the first timing.

11. The focus control device as defined in claim 9 ,
the change-in-magnification detection section detecting a ratio of the size of the object at a second timing to the size of the object at a first timing as the change in magnification at the second timing, the second timing differing from the first timing.

12. The focus control device as defined in claim 11 ,
the change-in-magnification detection section detecting the change in magnification by applying a phase-only correlation technique to the image at the first timing and the image at the second timing.

13. The focus control device as defined in claim 11 ,
the change-in-magnification detection section setting a plurality of feature points to the image at the first timing and the image at the second timing, and detecting the change in magnification based on positions of the plurality of feature points.

14. The focus control device as defined in claim 9 ,
the first timing being a timing at which the AF evaluation value starts to be calculated.

15. The focus control device as defined in claim 9 ,
the first timing and the second timing being adjacent AF evaluation value acquisition timings.

16. The focus control device as defined in claim 1 ,
the change-in-magnification detection section including a change-in-distance detection section that detects a change in distance information about a distance from the imaging optical system to the object, and
the change-in-distance detection section detecting the change in the distance information based on the change in the imaging magnification and the change in the size of the object.

17. The focus control device as defined in claim 1 ,
the image scaling section calculating a global change in magnification incl

Assignees

• Olympus Corp

Inventors

• On Seigo
• Kuriyama Naoya

Classifications

• H04N23/673 Primary

  based on contrast or high frequency components of image signals, e.g. hill climbing method · 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

• G02B23/2438

  Zoom objectives · CPC title

• G02B7/36 Primary

  using image sharpness techniques {, e.g. image processing techniques for generating autofocus signals (image data processing per se G06T; in cameras having a solid state image sensor H04N23/67)} · CPC title