Endoscope system with scanning function
AssigneeHoya Corporation
InventorYuichi Shibasaki
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An endoscope system has a light source system configured to emit illumination light on a target area, a scanner configured to periodically scan the illumination light over a target area at predetermined time intervals, and an imager configured to receive the illumination light reflected from the target area and to acquire in succession a sequence of image-pixel signals. Further, the endoscope system has a luminance detector that detects in succession a sequence of luminance data of the object image from the sequence of image-pixel signals; and a brightness adjuster that adjusts the brightness of an observed image on the basis of the sequence of luminance data. Then, the brightness adjuster adjusts an amount of illumination light in accordance with a scanning position of the illumination light.
Claims17
An endoscope system comprising:
- a light source system configured to emit illumination light on a target area;
- a scanner configured to periodically scan the illumination light over a target area, said scanner comprising a fiber driver that vibrates a tip portion of a scanning fiber in two dimensions to scan the illumination light, vibration of the tip portion of the scanning fiber determining a scan path of the illumination light, the scan path in each frame occurs over a time interval defining a frame of an object image;
- an imager configured to receive the illumination light reflected from the target area and to acquire a sequence of image-pixel signals in succession;
- a luminance detector that detects, in succession, a sequence of luminance data of the object image from the sequence of image-pixel signals;
- and
- a brightness adjuster that adjusts the brightness of an observed image on the basis of the sequence of luminance data, said brightness adjuster adjusting an amount of illumination light in accordance with a scanning position of the illumination light on the scan path, such that the amount of illumination light in the frame which occurs over the time interval is time-sequentially changed,
- wherein the brightness adjuster determines the amount of illumination light in a current frame by correcting the amount of illumination light in a previous frame.
An apparatus for adjusting the brightness of an observed image according to an endoscope system, comprising:
- a luminance detector that detects, in succession, a sequence of luminance data of the object image on the basis of a sequence of image-pixel signals that are acquired in succession by illumination light reflected from the target area, while a scanner periodically scans the illumination light over the target area by vibrating a tip portion of a scanning fiber in two dimensions, vibration of the tip portion of the scanning fiber determining a scan path of the illumination light, the scan path in each frame occurs over a time interval defining a frame of an object image;
- a determiner that determines whether or not a brightness adjustment is necessary, on the basis of the sequence of luminance data;
- and
- a brightness adjuster that adjusts the brightness of an observed image on the basis of the sequence of luminance data when the brightness adjustment is necessary, said brightness adjuster adjusting an amount of illumination light in accordance with a scanning position of the illumination light on the scan path, such that the amount of illumination light in the frame which occurs over the time interval is time-sequentially changed,
- wherein the brightness adjuster determines the amount of illumination light in a current frame by correcting the amount of illumination light in a previous frame.
A non-transitory computer readable medium that stores a program executable by a computer, for adjusting the brightness of an observed image according to an endoscope system, the program comprising:
- a luminance detection code segment that detects, in succession, a sequence of luminance data of the object image on the basis of a sequence of image-pixel signals that are acquired in succession by illumination light reflected from the target area, while a scanner periodically scans the illumination light over the target area by vibrating a tip portion of a scanning fiber in two dimensions, vibration of the tip portion of the scanning fiber determining a scan path of the illumination light, the scan path in each frame occurs over a time interval defining a frame of an object image;
- a determination code segment that determines whether or not a brightness adjustment is necessary, on the basis of the sequence of luminance data;
- and
- a brightness adjustment code segment that adjusts the brightness of an observed image on the basis of the sequence of luminance data when the brightness adjustment is necessary, the brightness adjustment code segment adjusting an amount of illumination light in accordance with a scanning position of the illumination light on the scan path, such that the amount of illumination light in the frame which occurs over the time interval is time-sequentially changed,
- wherein the brightness adjustment code segment determines the amount of illumination light in a current frame by correcting the amount of illumination light in a previous frame.
A method for adjusting the brightness of an observed image according to an endoscope system, comprising:
- detecting, in succession, a sequence of luminance data of the object image on the basis of a sequence of image-pixel signals that are acquired in succession by illumination light reflected from the target area, while a scanner periodically scans the illumination light over the target area by vibrating a tip portion of a scanning fiber in two dimensions, vibration of the tip portion of the scanning fiber determining a scan path of the illumination light, the scan path in each frame occurs over a time interval defining a frame of an object image;
- determining whether or not a brightness adjustment is necessary, on the basis of the sequence of luminance data;
- and
- adjusting the brightness of an observed image on the basis of the sequence of luminance data when the brightness adjustment is necessary, the adjusting comprising adjusting an amount of illumination light in accordance with a scanning position of the illumination light on the scan path, such that the amount of illumination light in the frame which occurs over the time interval is time-sequentially changed,
- wherein the adjusting determines the amount of illumination light in a current frame by correcting the amount of illumination light in a previous frame.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.