Endoscopic device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9675238-B2
Application number	US-201514686687-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 14, 2015
Priority date	Aug 10, 2011
Publication date	Jun 13, 2017
Grant date	Jun 13, 2017

Abstract

An endoscopic device that irradiates a plurality of illuminating lights having different spectrums from each other onto a subject at a front edge of an endoscope inserting module and captures the subject to obtain an observation image, includes an illuminating module that generates the plurality of illuminating lights, an imaging module that captures the subject and outputs an image signal of the observation image, a light intensity ratio control module that controls the illuminating module to irradiate the plurality of illuminating lights onto the subject with a set light intensity ratio by setting the light intensity ratio of the plurality of illuminating lights for every observation image, and a color tone correcting module that corrects the color tone of the image signal so as to obtain the observation image with substantially a same color tone even though the light intensity ratio is changed.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An endoscopic device that irradiates a plurality of illuminating lights having different spectrums from each other onto a subject at a front edge of an endoscope inserting module and captures the subject to obtain an observation image, comprising:
an illuminating module that generates the plurality of illuminating lights;
an imaging module that captures the subject and outputs an image signal of the observation image;
a light intensity ratio control module that controls the illuminating module to irradiate the plurality of illuminating lights onto the subject with a set light intensity ratio by setting the light intensity ratio of the plurality of illuminating lights for every observation image; and
a color tone correcting module that corrects the color tone of the image signal so as to obtain the observation image with substantially a same color tone even though the light intensity ratio is changed,
wherein the light intensity ratio control module obtains an image contrast of the observation image and changes the set light intensity ratio to a new light intensity ratio such that the image contrast becomes a maximum,
wherein the light intensity ratio control module:
sets a first light intensity ratio, a second light intensity ratio in which an amount is subtracted from the first light intensity ratio, and a third light intensity ratio in which the amount is added to the first light intensity ratio;
sets the light intensity ratio of the illuminating light to the first, the second, and the third light intensity ratios, sequentially, to obtain respective observation images and image contrasts thereof; and
changes the new light intensity ratio by reducing the set light intensity ratio by a first amount when the image contrast is increased in a direction where the light intensity ratio is reduced from the first light intensity ratio, or changes the new light intensity ratio by increasing the light intensity ratio by a second amount when the image contrast is increased in a direction where the light intensity ratio is increased from the first light intensity ratio, and

wherein the light intensity ratio control module changes the set light intensity ratio to the new light intensity ratio based on the obtained image contrast of the observation image such that the image contrast becomes the maximum.

2. The endoscopic device according to claim 1 , wherein the color tone correcting module includes a correction information storing module in which correction information for correcting the color tone of the image signal corresponding to the new light intensity ratio set by the light intensity ratio control module is stored and corrects the color tone corresponding to the new light intensity ratio by referring to the correction information stored in the correction information storing module.

3. The endoscopic device according to claim 1 wherein the correction information comprises a color tone correcting table that corrects R, G, and B values for pixels of the observation image using a matrix.

4. The endoscopic device according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a featured image region extracting module that extracts a featured image region included in the observation image from the image signal of the observation image,
wherein the light intensity ratio control module sets the new light intensity ratio so that the featured image region is suitable for an observation.

5. The endoscopic device according to claim 4 , wherein the featured image region has a different color tone from other regions in the observation image.

6. The endoscopic device according to claim 4 , wherein the featured image region comprises a blood capillary region of a superficial portion of a mucous membrane of the subject.

7. The endoscopic device according to claim 1 , wherein the light intensity ratio control module sets the new light intensity ratio by referring to a light intensity ratio for blood emphasis prepared in advance.

8. The endoscopic device according to claim 6 , wherein the featured image region includes a high frequency component which comprises a micro pattern of a superficial portion of a mucous membrane.

9. The endoscopic device according to claim 6 , wherein the featured image region extracting module extracts the featured image region based on an R signal value, a G signal value, and a B signal value of the image signal.

10. The endoscopic device according to claim 6 , wherein the featured image region extracting module extracts the featured image region based on a ratio of a B signal value and a G signal value of the image signal.

11. The endoscopic device according to claim 6 , wherein the featured image region extracting module obtains a high frequency component extracted image obtained by extracting a predetermined high frequency component by performing a mask processing onto a spectrum image obtained by performing a two-dimensional Fourier transformation on the image signal and performing an inverse Fourier transformation on the high frequency component extracted image to extract the featured image region including only the predetermined high frequency component.

12. The endoscopic device according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of illuminating lights include a first illuminating light and a second illuminating light having a wavelength band narrower than the first illuminating light, and
the illuminating module includes a first light source which comprises a light source of the first illuminating light, a second light source that comprises a light source of the second illuminating light, and a wavelength converting member that converts a wavelength of light emitted from the first light source to make the light as first illuminating light.

13. The endoscopic device according to claim 12 , wherein the wavelength converting member is provided to simultaneously covert the wavelength of the light emitted from the first light source to use as the first illuminating light and convert the wavelength of the light emitted from the second light source to use as the second illuminating light, and a wavelength conversion efficiency of the wavelength converting member for the light emitted from the second light source is smaller than a wavelength conversion efficiency for the light emitted from the first light source.

14. The endoscopic device according to claim 12 , wherein the first light source comprises a blue light emitting light source, the first illuminating light comprises white light, and the second light source emits light having a central wavelength in a range between 370 nm and 470 nm.

15. The endoscopic device according to claim 13 , wherein the first light source comprises a blue light emitting light source, the first illuminating light comprises white light, and the second light source emits light having a central wavelength in a range between 370 nm and 470 nm.

16. The endoscopic device according to claim 1 , wherein the light intensity ratio control module finds the maximum image contrast based on an image contrast of a plurality of obtained observation images.

Assignees

• Fujifilm Corp

Inventors

• Iida Takayuki
• Kaku Toshihiko
• Yamaguchi Hiroshi
• Saito Takaaki

Classifications

• A61B1/000095

  for image enhancement · CPC title

• A61B1/044

  for absorption imaging · CPC title

• A61B1/0655

  Control therefor · CPC title

• A61B5/7257

  using Fourier transforms · CPC title

• A61B1/063

  for monochromatic or narrow-band illumination · CPC title