JPH02297515A - Stereoscopic electronic endoscope - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To automatically and exactly recognize the shape of depth of a recessed part and the height of a projecting part, etc., of a disease-affected part as a stereo-scopic three-dimensional structure by fetching a stripe pattern obtained by photographing a grid as an image to a computer, analyzing it by a computer, based on the theory of a trigonometrical survey and displaying it as a graphic. CONSTITUTION:In the scope, a light channel 8, a CCD cable 5, a feed air/feed water channel 6 and an angle wire 7 are incorporated and on the tip part of the light channel 8, an optical fiber 9, a grid 10 and a condensing lens 11 are provided successively toward the tip side of the scope. In this state, a projection is executed through the grid 10 and the condensing lens 11 from the optical fiber 9, and an obtained stripe pattern is fetched as an image to the frame memory of a computer. Also, the coordinate origins of a projecting system and a photographing system are detected correctly and each coordinate system is coordinated. In such a manner, the depth direction distribution of a disease- affected part is calculated, and a stereo-scopic image is obtained by executing a three-dimensional display with a computer graphic.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Field of Application] The present invention relates to improvement of an electronic endoscope and is used in the medical field.

[Conventional technology] Conventional electronic endoscopes, which consist of a scope, a scope body, a universal cord, and a scope connector, provide sharp images and magnified mucosal images, making them effective in diagnosing cracks and minute lesions. Moreover, it is widely used because it is easy to input video signals into a computer, which makes it easy to process images, and it is possible to emphasize lesions or establish new diagnostic methods based on changes in color tone.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Since images obtained by conventional electronic endoscopes are flat, it has been difficult to accurately grasp them as three-dimensional three-dimensional structures.

[Means for Solving the Problems] As a result of intensive research to develop an electronic endoscope that can accurately grasp diseased areas such as the stomach in three dimensions, the inventor of this invention has developed an electronic endoscope that was obtained by projecting a grid. The striped pattern is captured as an image on a computer, analyzed by computer based on the principle of triangulation, and this! The present invention was completed based on the discovery that if t is displayed as a figure, the height of an object in an image, that is, the shape such as the depth of a concave part or the height of a convex part of a lesion, can be automatically measured.

The electronic endoscope of the present invention includes a scope, a scope body,
In a normal electronic endoscope consisting of a universal cord and scope connector, the scope has a built-in light channel, CCD cable, air and water supply channel, and angle wire, and an optical fiber, grid, and condensing lens are attached to the tip of the light channel. It consists of a structure that is installed sequentially toward the tip side.

[Example] The electronic endoscope of the present invention will be explained below based on the drawings. Figures 1 to 3 are examples of the electronic endoscope of the present invention.
The electronic endoscope of this invention, like a normal electronic endoscope,
It consists of a scope (1), a scope body (2), a universal cord (3), and a scope connector (4).

S-Z-F Book K (2), Universal Code' (3)
The scope connector (4) used in conventional electronic endoscopes can be used as is.

The scope (1) has a CCD cable (5), an air/water supply channel, ('
6) and an angle wire (7), and in addition to these, a light channel (8) is also built in.

The light channel (8) utilizes a forceps channel or an illumination light guide fiber in a conventional electronic endoscope scope, and has an optical fiber (9) at its tip.
A grid (10) and a condensing lens (11) are sequentially built in toward the distal end of the scope (1). As the light source and the optical fiber (9), those having exactly the same structure as the conventional electronic endoscope can be used. Also, the grid (
10) is preferably one in which the width of the grid obtained by projection from a distance of 2.5 cm is about 0.5 mm.

In addition, the scope (1) has the following as well as the conventional scope.
A light guide fiber and a forceps channel (as shown) may be built-in.

Next, a method of using the electronic endoscope of the present invention will be explained.

First, use the scope (1) in the same way as a normal electronic endoscope.
Insert the probe into the stomach and position its tip toward the area to be observed. The distance between the tip of the scope (1) and the observation point is usually 2.5c.
It is sufficient if it is about +n. Projecting from an optical fiber (9) through a grid (10) and a condensing lens (11),
The resulting striped pattern is imported into the computer's frame memory as an image. Height distribution of objects by triangulation method,
In other words, in order to obtain the shape, it is necessary to correctly detect the coordinate origins of the projection system and the imaging system and to associate each coordinate system.

The coordinate origin of the imaging system may be set at the center of the screen.

To determine the coordinate origin of the projection system, a specific pattern such as a half mask is included in the pattern to be projected, and the origin is determined from that position. Furthermore, by sequentially determining how many grids are located on which coordinates of the imaging system from the origin, the correspondence between the coordinates of the projection and imaging system is completed. Through this association, the depth distribution, that is, the height distribution, of the object and the lesion can be calculated. If this height distribution is displayed three-dimensionally using computer graphics, a three-dimensional image as shown in FIG. 7 can be obtained. Of course, it is also possible to easily display a tomographic image of a lesion cut at any location or direction.

Note that during actual coordinate matching, it is necessary to correct lens aberrations. It has been confirmed through experiments that this aberration correction is sufficient in the case of an actual electronic endoscope optical system configuration by considering correction terms up to the third order.

[Effects] According to the electronic endoscope of this invention, it is possible to accurately grasp the shape of a lesion in three dimensions with an accuracy of about 0.1 mm, although it depends on the fineness of the pixels of the CCD element. This enables more accurate diagnosis and, in turn, more appropriate treatment.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 3 represent an embodiment of the electronic endoscope of the present invention,
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram thereof, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the scope, and FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the tip of the light channel. Figures 4 to 7 represent usage examples of the electronic endoscope of this invention, Figure 4 is an example of a grid pattern, Figure 5 is a part of a cylindrical object to be observed, and Figure 6 is a child invention. A computer image taken with a stereoscopic electronic endoscope, and FIG. 7 shows a part of a graphic image obtained by computer analysis of the computer image. (1) Scope, (2) Scope body, (3
)...Universal cord, (4)...Scope code 9-1 (5)...CCD cable, (6)...
・Air and water channel, (7)...Angle wire,
(8) Light channel, (9) Optical fiber, (10) Grid, (11) Condensing lens

Claims (1)

[Claims] An electronic endoscope consisting of a scope, a scope body, a universal cord, and a scope connector.The scope has a built-in light channel, a CCD cable, an air/water supply channel, and an angle wire, and the tip of the light channel has an optical fiber, a grid, and a light condenser. A stereoscopic electronic endoscope characterized in that lenses are sequentially provided toward the distal end of the scope.