JPH08211309A - Endoscope device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To make the mesh of a net of an image guide fiber bundle invisible and to observe clearly an observation image transmitted through the image guide fiber bundle by a TV monitor and an exhibiting attachment. CONSTITUTION: This device is provided with two pieces of image guide fiber bundles 2, 3 for transmitting the observation image, objective optical systems 4, 5 arranged so as to project the same observation image on respective incident end surfaces 2a, 2b of two pieces of image guide fiber bundles 2, 3, composition observation means 20, 24 for observing while superimposing the images on the outgoing end surfaces 2b, 3b of two pieces of image guide fiber bundles 2, 3 so that non-light transmission parts between respective optical fibers of one side image guide fiber bundle 2 are placed on the light transmission parts of the optical fibers of the other side image guide fiber bundle 3.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an endoscope apparatus which transmits an observation image by an image guide fiber bundle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in an endoscope apparatus, an observation image transmitted by an image guide fiber bundle is magnified and observed by an eyepiece lens.

In such a case, since it is the exit end surface of the image guide fiber bundle that is magnified and observed by the eyepiece, the light opaque portion 50 of the optical fiber of the image guide fiber bundle is, as shown in FIG. It is observed as a mesh.

However, in reality, when the exit end face of the image guide fiber bundle is directly looked through the eyepiece lens, the observed image is strongly recognized visually due to the action of the eyes of a person who wants to see only the observed image, and the mesh is formed. Not so noticeable.

However, when a television camera adapter is connected to the eyepiece and the observed image is displayed on the television monitor, the mesh of the exit end face of the image guide fiber bundle is faithfully imaged and clearly displayed on the television monitor. It will be very difficult to see because it will be lost.

Further, when a viewing attachment for performing auxiliary observation is connected to the eyepiece section and an observation image obtained by spectral separation at the eyepiece section is observed through the auxiliary image guide fiber bundle, the endoscope side is observed. Moire fringes are generated by the interaction between the mesh of the image guide fiber bundle and the mesh of the auxiliary image guide fiber bundle, and the auxiliary observation image becomes very difficult to see.

Therefore, conventionally, in order to make the above-mentioned mesh and moire fringes inconspicuous, the projection state of the exit end face of the image guide fiber bundle is set to soft focus, or a low-pass filter is connected in series to the eyepiece optical system. Inserted (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-56488).

[0008]

However, if the projection state of the exit end face of the image guide fiber bundle is set to soft focus or a low-pass filter is inserted in series with the eyepiece optical system, the resolution of the observed image decreases and the image is slightly blurred. There is a big inconvenience that the image has no sharpness.

Therefore, the present invention provides an endoscope apparatus in which the mesh of the image guide fiber bundle is invisible and the observed image transmitted through the image guide fiber bundle can be clearly observed by a television monitor or an attachment for viewing. The purpose is to do.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, the endoscope apparatus of the present invention comprises two image guide fiber bundles for transmitting an observation image and the two image guide fiber bundles. Of the objective optical system arranged so as to project the same observation image on each of the incident end faces of the image guide fiber and the images of the exit end faces of the two image guide fiber bundles described above. A synthetic observation means for superimposing and observing is provided so that the non-transmissive portion is located at the light transmitting portion of the optical fiber of the other image guide fiber bundle.

The observation images are incident on the incident end faces of the two image guide fiber bundles so that the images transmitted by the two image guide fiber bundles coincide with each other on the exit end faces. It is good that it is configured as follows.

[0012]

Embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings. Figure 1
1 shows an endoscope apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention, in which two flexible or rigid image guide fiber bundles 2 and 3 are inserted into an insertion portion 1 to be inserted into a body cavity. Has been done.

Both image guide fiber bundles 2 and 3
The incident end surfaces 2a and 3a of are are arranged on the image plane of the object by the two objective optical systems 4 and 5 arranged side by side in the tip portion of the insertion portion 1.

The two objective optical systems 4 and 5 have exactly the same specifications, so that the images of the subject at the common distance can be changed to the incident end faces 2a of the two image guide fiber bundles 2 and 3.
3a is arranged so as to form the same image as much as possible. As a result, substantially the same observation images are projected on the respective incident end faces 2a, 3a of the two image guide fiber bundles 2, 3.

The two image guide fiber bundles 2 and 3 pass through the inside of the insertion portion 1 into the operation portion 7 connected to the proximal end portion thereof, and into the image pickup portion 8 projecting from the operation portion 7. Has reached

In the image pickup section 8 in which the exit end faces 2b and 3b of the image guide fiber bundles 2 and 3 are arranged, two solid-state image pickup devices 11 and 12 for color image pickup and the image guide fiber bundles 2 and 3 are provided. Ejection end faces 2b, 3b
The two projection lenses 13 and 14 having the same specifications for projecting the image of 1 to the solid-state image pickup devices 11 and 12 are arranged.

By removing the solid-state image pickup devices 11 and 12 from the image pickup unit 8, the exit end faces 2b and 3b of the image guide fiber bundles 2 and 3 are observed with the naked eye through both or one of the projection lenses 13 and 14. You can also do it. Such an eyepiece function is the same in other embodiments.

When the solid-state image pickup devices 11 and 12 pick up the images of the exit end faces 2b and 3b of the image guide fiber bundles 2 and 3 one by one, the image pickup signals are sent to the signal processing circuits 16 and 17, respectively. In each, the exit end faces 2b and 3b of the image guide fiber bundles 2 and 3
The video signal of the image is extracted.

Then, the video signals output from both the signal processing circuits 16 and 17 are combined into one by the signal combining circuit 20, the combined image is sent to the television monitor 24, and the image observed by the endoscope is displayed on the television. It is displayed on the screen of the monitor 24 in a greatly enlarged manner.

In this way, the images displayed on the screen of the television monitor 24 are the emission end faces 2b and 3 of the two image guide fiber bundles 2 and 3 which transmit the same observation image.
The image of b is superposed and unified.

FIG. 2 also shows a signal conversion circuit, etc. of the signal processing circuits 16 and 17 and the signal synthesizing circuit 20 for displaying a synthetic screen of an observed image by the two image guide fiber bundles 2 and 3 as described above. It is a circuit block diagram shown.

The signal processing circuits 16 and 17 are CCs each including an amplifier, a sample hold circuit, a gamma correction circuit, and the like.
The D process circuits 16a and 17a and the analog-to-digital conversion circuits 16b and 17b that convert the video signal from an analog signal to a digital signal are included.

From the signal synthesizing circuit 20, two video signals are output as digital signals in synchronization with each other by a synchronizing signal, and the digital video signal is converted into an analog signal by the digital-analog converting circuit 21, and then the television monitor 24. Sent to.

This circuit portion drives the two solid-state image pickup devices 11 and 12 in synchronism with the TV monitor system by a timing generator 22 as shown in, for example, the second embodiment of FIG. In the video process circuit 23 controlled by the above, the image frames by the two solid-state image pickup devices 11 and 12 may be alternately displayed on the same screen.

FIG. 3 shows images of the exit end faces 2b and 3b of the two image guide fiber bundles 2 and 3 displayed on the television monitor 24. The exit end face 2b of one image guide fiber bundle 2 is shown in FIG. The image is displayed by being displaced by the radius of one optical fiber from the exit end face 3b of the other image guide fiber bundle 3. In order to do so, the solid-state image sensor 1
One or both of 1 and 12 can be moved or rotated in the direction perpendicular to the optical axis to be fixed at an arbitrary position.

As a result, the light opaque portion 50 between the optical fibers on the exit end surface 2b (3b) of the one image guide fiber bundle 2 (or 3) becomes the exit end surface of the other image guide fiber bundle 3 (2). Since the optical fibers 3b (2b) are located in the light transmitting portions of the respective optical fibers, the light non-transmitting portion 50 between the optical fibers does not become black. Therefore, the mesh of the image guide fiber bundle does not occur on the display screen of the television monitor 24.

In this way, the emission end faces 2b and 3b of the two image guide fiber bundles 2 and 3 are displayed on the television monitor 24 with a deviation by the radius of one optical fiber. Also on the end portions 2a and 2b side, the images formed by the two objective optical systems 4 and 5 are incident end faces 2 of both image guide fiber bundles 2 and 3.
It is preferable to set the positions a and 3a so that they are displaced by the radius of the optical fiber. Such a set may be adjusted by moving either the objective optics 4, 5 or the image guide fiber bundles 2, 3.

For example, the two image guide fiber bundles 2 and 3 are rotated with respect to each other so that the light transmitting portions of the optical fibers of each other overlap with the light transmitting portions of the other optical fibers to complement each other at the best position. Then, the image guide fiber bundles 2 and 3 may be fixed.

The optical fiber diameter may be changed between the two image guide fiber bundles 2 and 3. FIG. 5 shows a third embodiment of the present invention in which the optical fiber diameter of one image guide fiber bundle 2 is 20% larger than the optical fiber diameter of the other image guide fiber bundle 3. With this configuration, most of the light non-transmissive portions between the optical fibers of the two image guide fiber bundles 2 and 3 do not need to be displaced so as to overlap the light transmissive portions of the other optical fiber. can do.

FIG. 6 shows a fourth embodiment of the present invention. Compared with the first embodiment of FIG. 1, both objective optical diameters 4 and 5 are shown.
The prism optical system 31 is arranged in front of the optical system, and the optical axes of the light incident on both objective optical systems are completely matched. By doing so, the same subject image can be formed on both image guide fiber bundles 2 and 3.

FIG. 7 shows a fifth embodiment of the present invention, in which a prism optical system 32 is arranged also on the exit end side of the two image guide fiber bundles 2 and 3, and both image guide fiber bundles are arranged. The images of the exit end faces 2b and 3b of 2 and 3 are formed on one solid-state image pickup device 34 by one projection lens 33. Therefore, only one signal processing circuit 35 in the subsequent stage is required.

However, the relative displacement between the exit end faces 2b and 3b of the two image guide fiber bundles 2 and 3 is
Exit faces 2 of both image guide fiber bundles 2 and 3
It is necessary to carry out by moving b and 3b relatively. Therefore, the attachment structure of the exit end faces 2b and 3b may be the same as that on the incident end faces 2a and 3a side.

With this structure, the mesh of the image guide fiber bundle can be erased from the observed image incident on the projection lens 33, so that the mesh of the image guide fiber bundle does not appear in the image displayed on the television monitor 24.

Further, as shown in FIG. 8, if the solid-state image pickup device 34 is removed from the endoscope apparatus shown in FIG. 7 and the attachment 40 for viewing is attached thereto, it is observed through the auxiliary image guide fiber bundle 41. Moire fringes do not occur in the viewed image.

Reference numeral 42 is a beam splitter of the attachment 40 for viewing, 43 is a projection lens, and 44 is an eyepiece lens. The operator observes the image transmitted through the beam splitter 42, and the viewer sees the auxiliary image guide fiber bundle 4
Observe the image transmitted through 1.

[0036]

According to the present invention, the light non-transmissive portions between the optical fibers of one image guide fiber bundle are superposed so as to be positioned on the light transmissive portions of the other optical fiber for observation. As a result, the non-transmissive part between the optical fibers does not become dark, so that the mesh of the image guide fiber bundle does not occur on the display screen, and the image of the exit end face of the image guide fiber bundle is soft-focused or inserted with a low-pass filter. Since it is not necessary to do so, the observation image transmitted through the image guide fiber bundle can be clearly observed by the television monitor or the attachment for viewing.

In order that the images transmitted by the two image guide fiber bundles may coincide with each other at the exit end faces of the image guide fiber bundles, the observation images may be shifted and incident on the incident end faces of the two image guide fiber bundles. Thus, a clear observation image with no deviation can be finally obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an endoscope apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a circuit unit according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the exit end faces of two image guide fiber bundles in an observation image of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a circuit unit according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of the exit end faces of two image guide fiber bundles in an observation image of the third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of an endoscope apparatus according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of an endoscope apparatus according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram showing a state in which a viewing attachment is connected to the endoscope apparatus according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged view of an exit end surface of a conventional image guide fiber bundle.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2, 3 Image guide fiber bundle 2a, 3a Incident end face 2b, 3b Emitting end face 4,5 Objective optical system 20 Signal combining circuit 24 Television monitor

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An image pickup fiber bundle for transmitting an observation image, and an objective optical system arranged so as to project the same observation image on each incident end face of the two image guide fiber bundles. The images of the exit ends of the two image guide fiber bundles are arranged so that the light non-transmissive portions between the optical fibers of one image guide fiber bundle are located in the light transmitting portions of the optical fibers of the other image guide fiber bundle. An endoscope apparatus comprising: a synthetic observation means for superimposing and observing the same. 2. The observation images are incident on the incident end faces of the two image guide fiber bundles so that the images transmitted by the two image guide fiber bundles coincide with each other on the exit end faces. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 1, which is configured as described above.