Patents by Inventor Takao Makino

Takao Makino has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 11944261
    Abstract: An electronic endoscope system includes an electronic endoscope, a processor that includes an evaluation unit, and a monitor. The evaluation unit includes an image evaluation value calculation unit that calculates an image evaluation value indicating an intensity of lesion in the living tissue for each of a plurality of images of the living tissue, and a lesion evaluation unit that calculates a representative evaluation value of the image evaluation value from the image evaluation values of the plurality of images corresponding to a plurality of sections for each of the plurality of sections in which a region of the organ is divided using information of an imaging position in the organ whose image is captured and evaluates an extent of the lesion in a depth direction inside the organ using the representative evaluation value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2024
    Assignee: HOYA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ryohei Koizumi, Yousuke Ikemoto, Takao Makino
  • Publication number: 20240087090
    Abstract: An aspect of the present invention is a processor for an electronic endoscope that acquires a captured image of a living tissue and performs enhancement processing. The processor includes: a region detection unit configured to detect an enhancement processing target region in the captured image from pixel information of the captured image of the living tissue; and an enhancement processing unit configured to perform enhancement processing on the enhancement processing target region detected by the region detection unit. The region detection unit detects the enhancement processing target region based on a difference in signal level between a pixel of interest in the captured image and a pixel surrounding the pixel of interest, and the enhancement processing unit performs enhancement processing on the enhancement processing target region such that enhancement is weakened as the difference in signal level is larger and enhancement is strengthened as luminance is higher.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 11, 2022
    Publication date: March 14, 2024
    Applicant: HOYA CORPORATION
    Inventor: Takao MAKINO
  • Publication number: 20230301491
    Abstract: An endoscope system includes: a light source device; an electronic endoscope including an image sensor that images a biological tissue by a rolling shutter method; and a processor including an adjustment unit that is a part adjusting luminance of the frame image by combining adjustment of an exposure time of the image sensor with at least one of adjustment of light intensity of the illumination light and gain adjustment for determining a signal level of the frame image obtained from the image sensor, the adjustment unit determining whether or not a motion amount of an object image in the captured image or information regarding a blurring amount satisfies an adjustment condition and performing the adjustment processing by adjusting an adjustment level representing a degree of strength of the adjustment processing by a magnitude of a value according to at least the determination result.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 25, 2020
    Publication date: September 28, 2023
    Inventors: Yoshihiro HAYASHI, Takao MAKINO
  • Patent number: 11701032
    Abstract: An electronic endoscope processor includes a converting means for converting each piece of pixel data that is made up of n (n?3) types of color components and constitutes a color image of a biological tissue in a body cavity into a piece of pixel data that is made up of m (m?2) types of color components, m being smaller than n; an evaluation value calculating means for calculating, for each pixel of the color image, an evaluation value related to a target illness based on the converted pieces of pixel data that are made up of m types of color components; and a lesion index calculating means for calculating a lesion index for each of a plurality of types of lesions related to the target illness based on the evaluation values calculated for the pixels of the color image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2022
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2023
    Assignee: HOYA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takao Makino, Yousuke Ikemoto
  • Publication number: 20230142219
    Abstract: A processor for an endoscope includes an image processing unit that obtains a severity of a lesion in which a degree of progression is represented by one value, wherein the image processing unit includes a feature amount calculation unit configured to calculate a first pixel evaluation value indicating a degree of a first feature of appearance appearing in a lesion part, a representative value calculation unit configured to calculate a first representative evaluation value by integrating the first pixel evaluation values, and an integration unit configured to adjust an influence degree of the first representative evaluation value indicating a change in the severity with respect to a change in the first representative evaluation value based on information on a color component of an image, and calculate the severity of the lesion based on at least the first representative evaluation value by using the adjusted influence degree.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 1, 2021
    Publication date: May 11, 2023
    Applicant: HOYA CORPORATION
    Inventor: Takao MAKINO
  • Publication number: 20230113382
    Abstract: An electronic endoscope system includes a plotting unit which plots pixel correspondence points, which correspond to pixels that constitute a color image that has multiple color components, on a first color plane according to color components of the pixel correspondence points, the first color plane intersecting the origin of a predetermined color space; an axis setting unit which sets a predetermined reference axis in the first color plane; a transform unit which defines a second color plane that includes the reference axis, and subjecting the pixel correspondence points on the first color plane to projective transformation onto the second color plane; and an evaluation value calculating unit which calculates a prescribed evaluation value with respect to the color image based on the pixel correspondence points subjected to projective transformation onto the second color plane.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 15, 2022
    Publication date: April 13, 2023
    Applicant: HOYA CORPORATION
    Inventor: Takao MAKINO
  • Publication number: 20230112696
    Abstract: An electronic endoscope system includes a plotting unit which plots pixel correspondence points, which correspond to pixels that constitute an intracavitary color image that has a plurality of color components, on a target plane according to color components of the pixel correspondence points, the target plane intersecting the origin of a predetermined color space; an axis setting unit which sets a reference axis in the target plane based on pixel correspondence points plotted on the target plane; and an evaluation value calculating unit which calculates a prescribed evaluation value with respect to the captured image based on a positional relationship between the reference axis and the pixel correspondence points.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 15, 2022
    Publication date: April 13, 2023
    Applicant: HOYA CORPORATION
    Inventor: Takao MAKINO
  • Patent number: 11612310
    Abstract: An electronic endoscope system includes an image processing unit that uses a numerical value to evaluate an appearance feature appearing in a biological tissue by using an images captured by an electronic endoscope. The image processing unit calculates a first pixel evaluation value indicating a degree of a first feature, which is featured by a first color component or a first shape appearing in an attention area in the biological tissue, and which relates to the first color component or the first shape, for each pixel from the image, and calculates a first representative evaluation value relating to the first feature by integrating the first pixel evaluation value. Furthermore, the image processing unit evaluates a degree of a second feature that shares the first color component or the first shape with the first feature.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2023
    Assignee: HOYA CORPORATION
    Inventor: Takao Makino
  • Patent number: 11589777
    Abstract: An electronic endoscope processor includes a converting means for converting each piece of pixel data that is made up of n (n?3) types of color components and constitutes a color image of a biological tissue in a body cavity into a piece of pixel data that is made up of m (m?2) types of color components, m being smaller than n; an evaluation value calculating means for calculating, for each pixel of the color image, an evaluation value related to a target illness based on the converted pieces of pixel data that are made up of m types of color components; and a lesion index calculating means for calculating a lesion index for each of a plurality of types of lesions related to the target illness based on the evaluation values calculated for the pixels of the color image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2023
    Assignee: HOYA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takao Makino, Yousuke Ikemoto
  • Publication number: 20230041803
    Abstract: An image processing unit of a processor for an endoscope includes: an emphasis processing calculation unit performing nonlinear gradation conversion for a pixel value of a pixel of interest, using each pixel of a captured image as the pixel of interest; and a preprocessing unit setting a reference upper limit characteristic line and a reference lower limit characteristic line in order to adjust an output pixel value after the nonlinear gradation conversion and calculating a degree of variation in pixel values in a partial setting region around the pixel of interest. The emphasis processing calculation unit calculates an output ratio of the output pixel value to a maximum pixel value that can be taken by the captured image, an adjustment upper limit value and an adjustment lower limit value, and an emphasis-processed pixel value, using the adjustment upper limit value, the adjustment lower limit value, and the output ratio.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 30, 2021
    Publication date: February 9, 2023
    Applicant: HOYA CORPORATION
    Inventor: Takao MAKINO
  • Patent number: 11571108
    Abstract: An electronic endoscope system includes a plotting unit which plots pixel correspondence points, which correspond to pixels that constitute an intracavitary color image that has a plurality of color components, on a target plane according to color components of the pixel correspondence points, the target plane intersecting the origin of a predetermined color space; an axis setting unit which sets a reference axis in the target plane based on pixel correspondence points plotted on the target plane; and an evaluation value calculating unit which calculates a prescribed evaluation value with respect to the captured image based on a positional relationship between the reference axis and the pixel correspondence points.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2023
    Assignee: HOYA CORPORATION
    Inventor: Takao Makino
  • Patent number: 11559186
    Abstract: An electronic endoscope system includes a plotting unit which plots pixel correspondence points, which correspond to pixels that constitute a color image that has multiple color components, on a first color plane according to color components of the pixel correspondence points, the first color plane intersecting the origin of a predetermined color space; an axis setting unit which sets a predetermined reference axis in the first color plane; a transform unit which defines a second color plane that includes the reference axis, and subjecting the pixel correspondence points on the first color plane to projective transformation onto the second color plane; and an evaluation value calculating unit which calculates a prescribed evaluation value with respect to the color image based on the pixel correspondence points subjected to projective transformation onto the second color plane.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2023
    Assignee: HOYA CORPORATION
    Inventor: Takao Makino
  • Patent number: 11521319
    Abstract: An endoscope system includes a processor including an image processing unit that obtains an inflammation evaluation value in which a degree of inflammation of a biological tissue is digitized on the basis of information of a color component of an image of the biological tissue, from the image that is obtained by imaging the biological tissue, and a monitor displaying the inflammation evaluation value. The image processing unit includes a blood vessel region determination unit obtaining certainty of a blood vessel region of the biological tissue in the image, a pixel evaluation value generation unit obtaining a pixel evaluation value by performing digitization processing with respect to each of the pixels of the image, a pixel evaluation value adjustment unit calculating an adjustment value in which the pixel evaluation value is reduced as the certainty of the blood vessel region increases.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2022
    Assignee: HOYA CORPORATION
    Inventor: Takao Makino
  • Patent number: 11457795
    Abstract: A processor for an electronic endoscope includes: a region detection unit configured to detect an enhancement processing target region to be enhanced from pixel information of a captured image of a living tissue; and an enhancement processing unit configured to perform enhancement processing on the enhancement processing target region detected by the region detection unit. The region detection unit is configured to repeat a candidate extraction process of extracting a focused pixel as a candidate for an enhancement processing target region when a signal level value of the focused pixel is smaller than signal level values of two farthest pixels located on both sides farthest from the focused pixel in any one of a plurality of pixel array directions in a region surrounded by a frame surrounding a region with the focused pixel as a center while changing a size of the frame.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2022
    Assignee: HOYA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takao Makino, Jurgen Glatz
  • Publication number: 20220296123
    Abstract: An electronic endoscope processor includes a converting means for converting each piece of pixel data that is made up of n (n?3) types of color components and constitutes a color image of a biological tissue in a body cavity into a piece of pixel data that is made up of m (m?2) types of color components, m being smaller than n; an evaluation value calculating means for calculating, for each pixel of the color image, an evaluation value related to a target illness based on the converted pieces of pixel data that are made up of m types of color components; and a lesion index calculating means for calculating a lesion index for each of a plurality of types of lesions related to the target illness based on the evaluation values calculated for the pixels of the color image.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 7, 2022
    Publication date: September 22, 2022
    Applicant: HOYA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takao MAKINO, Yousuke IKEMOTO
  • Patent number: 11436728
    Abstract: An endoscope system includes an image processing unit obtaining a severity of a lesion of a biological tissue in which a degree of lesion is digitized, from an image of the biological tissue that is obtained by imaging the biological tissue in a body cavity. The image processing unit includes a feature amount calculation unit calculating a plurality of pixel evaluation values corresponding to a plurality of features of an appearance, which are capable of discriminating each of the plurality of features of the appearance from a feature of a normal portion of the biological tissue by a shape and indicate each degree of plurality of features relevant to the color component indicated by the lesion portion or the color component and the shape, a representative value calculation unit calculating a representative evaluation value corresponding to each of the plurality of features of the imaged biological tissue.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2022
    Assignee: HOYA CORPORATION
    Inventor: Takao Makino
  • Publication number: 20220211250
    Abstract: An electronic endoscope system is provided with an electronic endoscope, a processor provided with a still image acquisition unit that acquires a part of a moving image imaged by the electronic endoscope as a still image, an association processing unit that associates place information regarding an imaging place of living tissue in a the lumen with the still image, and a recording unit, a monitor, and an input operation device that transmits a capture instruction for acquiring the still image from the moving image to the still image acquisition unit in response to an operation of determining one place out of a plurality of places in the lumen set in advance as a selected place as a trigger, and further transmits information of the selected place to the association processing unit as the place information regarding the imaging place during an imaging period of the moving image.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 31, 2020
    Publication date: July 7, 2022
    Applicant: HOYA CORPORATION
    Inventor: Takao MAKINO
  • Publication number: 20220192470
    Abstract: A light source device of an endoscope system that accurately evaluates a degree of a lesion in a lesion emits first light having a long wavelength and second light having a short wavelength which include a plurality of absorption peak wavelengths of hemoglobin as illumination light.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 1, 2020
    Publication date: June 23, 2022
    Applicant: HOYA CORPORATION
    Inventor: Takao MAKINO
  • Patent number: 11363177
    Abstract: An endoscope system processor includes: a blood vessel region determination unit that obtains a likelihood of a blood vessel region by a numerical value on the basis of a shape characterizing a blood vessel in each of a plurality of parts of an image of a biological tissue, from the image obtained by an electronic endoscope; and a blood vessel feature amount calculation unit that calculates a blood vessel feature amount indicating a feature amount of the blood vessel region by integrating the numerical values of the likelihood of the blood vessel region with each other in the entire image. The blood vessel region determination unit calculates an approximation degree as the likelihood of the blood vessel region, using a spatial filter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: HOYA CORPORATION
    Inventor: Takao Makino
  • Publication number: 20210407077
    Abstract: To provide an information processing device and the like for presenting a determination reason together with a determination result regarding a disease. The information processing device includes: an image acquisition unit that acquires an endoscope image; a first acquisition unit that inputs the endoscope image acquired by the image acquisition unit to a first model that outputs diagnosis criteria prediction regarding diagnostic criteria of disease when the endoscope image is input, and acquires the output diagnosis criteria prediction; and an output unit that outputs the diagnosis criteria prediction acquired by the first acquisition unit in association with the diagnosis prediction regarding a state of the disease acquired based on the endoscope image.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 13, 2019
    Publication date: December 30, 2021
    Applicant: HOYA CORPORATION
    Inventor: Takao MAKINO