Subject observation system, light source apparatus for endoscope, method of operating subject observation system, and recording medium
AssigneeOlympus Corporation
InventorYusuke YABE
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Abstract
A subject observation system includes a light source, a light sensor, an image pickup device, a light source controller configured to cause the light source to alternately perform low-luminance illumination and high-luminance illumination at a predetermined luminance ratio, and a video processor configured to generate an HDR image, and sets a target sensor value S(n) in a temporarily succeeding n frame based on a sensor value S(n−1) in a temporarily preceding (n−1) frame and the luminance ratio.
Claims12
A subject observation system comprising:
- a light source configured to generate light having an intensity corresponding to a current value of an applied driving current as illumination light;
- a light sensor configured to detect the intensity of the illumination light to generate a sensor value S;
- an image pickup device configured to pick up an image of return light from a subject irradiated with the illumination light to generate an image pickup signal sequentially for each frame;
- a light source controller configured to apply the driving current to the light source to cause the light source to alternately perform low-luminance illumination in a low-luminance frame and high-luminance illumination in a high-luminance frame and perform control such that an intensity of illumination light in the low-luminance frame has a predetermined luminance ratio to an intensity of illumination light in the high-luminance frame;
- and
- a video processor configured to synthesize a high-luminance image pickup signal generated in the high-luminance frame and a low-luminance image pickup signal generated in the low-luminance frame out of the two consecutive high- and low-luminance frames, to generate one high dynamic range image,
- wherein the light source controller sets, when a temporarily preceding frame and a temporarily succeeding frame out of the high-luminance frame and the low-luminance frame relating to the one high dynamic range image are respectively an (n−1) frame and an n frame, and a sensor value S generated by the light sensor in the (n−1) frame is S(n−1), a target sensor value S(n) for the n frame using the sensor value S(n−1) and the luminance ratio, and applies the driving current to the light source in the n frame such that the target sensor value S(n) is generated by the light sensor.
A light source apparatus for an endoscope connectable to an endoscope system comprising an image pickup device configured to pick up an image of return light from a subject irradiated with illumination light to generate an image pickup signal sequentially for each frame and a video processor configured to synthesize, a high-luminance image pickup signal generated in the high-luminance frame and a low-luminance image pickup signal generated in the low-luminance frame out of two consecutive high- and low-luminance frames to generate one high dynamic range image, the light source apparatus for an endoscope comprising:
- a light source configured to generate light having an intensity corresponding to a current value of an applied driving current as the illumination light;
- a light sensor configured to detect the intensity of the illumination light to generate a sensor value S;
- and
- a light source controller configured to apply the driving current to the light source to cause the light source to alternately perform low-luminance illumination in the low-luminance frame and high-luminance illumination in the high-luminance frame and perform control such that an intensity of illumination light in the low-luminance frame has a predetermined luminance ratio to an intensity of illumination light in the high-luminance frame,
- wherein the light source controller sets, when a temporarily preceding frame and a temporarily succeeding frame out of the two consecutive high- and low-luminance frames are respectively an (n−1) frame and an n frame, and a sensor value S generated by the light sensor in the (n−1) frame is S(n−1), a target sensor value S(n) for the n frame using the sensor value S(n−1) and the luminance ratio, and applies the driving current to the light source in the n frame such that the target sensor value S(n) is generated by the light sensor.
A method of operating a subject observation system, the method comprising:
- causing a light source to emit light having an intensity corresponding to a current value of an applied driving current as illumination light;
- causing a light sensor to detect the intensity of the illumination light to generate a sensor value S;
- causing an image pickup device to pick up an image of return light from a subject irradiated with the illumination light sequentially for each frame;
- causing a light source controller to apply the driving current to the light source to cause the light source to alternately perform low-luminance illumination in a low-luminance frame and high-luminance illumination in a high-luminance frame and perform control such that an intensity of illumination light in the low-luminance frame has a predetermined luminance ratio to an intensity of illumination light in the high-luminance frame;
- causing a video processor to synthesize a high-luminance image pickup signal generated in the high-luminance frame and a low-luminance image pickup signal generated in the low-luminance frame out of the two consecutive high- and low-luminance frames, to generate one high dynamic range image;
- and
- causing the light source controller to set, when a temporarily preceding frame and a temporarily succeeding frame out of the high-luminance frame and the low-luminance frame relating to the one high dynamic range image are respectively an (n−1) frame and an n frame, and a sensor value S generated by the light sensor in the (n−1) frame is S(n−1), a target sensor value S(n) for the n frame using the sensor value S(n−1) and the luminance ratio, and applying the driving current to the light source in the n frame such that the target sensor value S(n) is generated by the light sensor.
A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing an operation program for a subject observation system executed by a computer, the operation program causing a subject observation system comprising a light source configured to generate illumination light, a light sensor configured to detect an intensity of the illumination light, a light source controller configured to apply a driving current to the light source, an image pickup device configured to pick up an image of return light from a subject irradiated with the illumination light, and a video processor configured to generate an image based on an image pickup signal obtained by image pickup by the image pickup device to:
- cause the light source to generate light having an intensity corresponding to a current value of the applied driving current as the illumination light;
- cause the light sensor to detect the intensity of the illumination light to generate a sensor value S;
- cause the image pickup device to pick up an image of return light from a subject irradiated with the illumination light to generate the image pickup signal sequentially for each frame;
- cause the light source controller to apply the driving current to the light source to cause the light source to alternately perform low-luminance illumination in a low-luminance frame and high-luminance illumination in a high-luminance frame and perform control such that an intensity of illumination light in the low-luminance frame has a predetermined luminance ratio to an intensity of illumination light in the high-luminance frame;
- cause the video processor to synthesize a high-luminance image pickup signal generated in the high-luminance frame and a low-luminance image pickup signal generated in the low-luminance frame out of the two consecutive high- and low-luminance frames, to generate one high dynamic range image;
- and
- cause the light source controller to set, when a temporarily preceding frame and a temporarily succeeding frame out of the high-luminance frame and the low-luminance frame relating to the one high dynamic range image are respectively an (n−1) frame and an n frame, and a sensor value S generated by the light sensor in the (n−1) frame is S(n−1), a target sensor value S(n) for the n frame using the sensor value S(n−1) and the luminance ratio, and apply the driving current to the light source in the n frame such that the target sensor value S(n) is generated by the light sensor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.