With Endoscope Patents (Class 348/65)
  • Patent number: 8553996
    Abstract: The present invention is an image transmission terminal including: an image capture unit (17, 47) that outputs pixel signals; an image data generating unit (18, 48) that generates and outputs image frame data; a first image data compression unit (19, 49) that compresses and outputs the image frame data; a second image data compression unit (21, 51) that either leaves the image frame data uncompressed or else compresses and outputs the image frame data; an image selection unit (11, 13, 41, 43) that receives an operation input from a user, and selects the image frame data; an image data storage unit (22, 38, 52, 69) that stores the image frame data output from the second image data compression unit; and an image transmission unit (20, 50, 38) that wirelessly transmits the image frame data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2013
    Assignees: Olympus Corporation, Olympus Medical Systems Corp.
    Inventors: Shinya Kawasaki, Takemitsu Honda
  • Patent number: 8553075
    Abstract: An endoscope image is obtained by imaging a subject with a scope. Then, an edge portion of the endoscope image is extracted and a complexity degree of the edge portion is detected. Thereafter, a determination is made as to whether the endoscope image is an image obtained through near view imaging or distant view imaging according to the complexity degree and an imaging condition is changed according to the determined near view imaging or distant view imaging.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2013
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventors: Masahiro Kubo, Yasunori Ohta, Masayuki Takahira, Naoto Kinjo
  • Publication number: 20130258079
    Abstract: A method for presenting image data, in which an optical implement captures the position and positional information is obtained thus and, with the aid of the positional information, image data are determined and displayed or processed further. The image data to be displayed are at least in part based on virtual image data, not real image data captured directly by the optical implement. These virtual image data represent an object or body part situated in the field of view of the optical implement. Within the scope of the method, real image data are recorded by means of the optical implement, the position and/or alignment of the optical implement is captured simultaneously and positional information is derived therefrom.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 28, 2011
    Publication date: October 3, 2013
    Applicant: FIAGON GMBH
    Inventors: Andreas Rose, Timo Kruger
  • Publication number: 20130258080
    Abstract: The endoscopic image processing device includes an image acquisition section that acquires a normal observation image and a zoom observation image, the normal observation image being an image that includes an image of an object, and the zoom observation image being an image that magnifies the image of the object within an observation area that is part of the normal observation image, an attention area determination section that specifies an attention area on the zoom observation image, and a boundary setting section that detects a position of a boundary on the normal observation image that corresponds to a boundary of the attention area specified on the zoom observation image based on pixel values of the zoom observation image, and sets a boundary image at the detected position of the boundary on the normal observation image.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 31, 2013
    Publication date: October 3, 2013
    Inventor: Naoya KURIYAMA
  • Patent number: 8547428
    Abstract: A pipe inspection system employing a camera head assembly incorporating multiple local condition sensors, an integral dipole Sonde, a three-axis compass, and a three-axis accelerometer. The camera head assembly terminates a multi-channel push-cable that relays local condition sensor and video information to a processor and display subsystem. A cable storage structure includes data connection and wireless capability with tool storage and one or more battery mounts for powering remote operation. During operation, the inspection system may produce a two- or three-dimensional (3D) map of the pipe or conduit from local condition sensor data and video image data acquired from structured light techniques or LED illumination.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2013
    Assignee: Seescan, Inc.
    Inventors: Mark S. Olsson, David A. Cox
  • Patent number: 8547423
    Abstract: An imaging system and method of application, including lens designs tailored to be used with particular transformation algorithms, electronic hardware and algorithms for image transformations is described. Exemplary application of the system including automotive, photographic and medical endoscopic are also described. The system enables improved image view and allows customization of views by the end user even after installation of the image system hardware.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2013
    Inventor: Alex Ning
  • Patent number: 8542271
    Abstract: A monitor device for use with an endoscope apparatus, which has first and second display modes. In the first display mode, the monitor device displays, in real time, any image transmitted in a normal radio communication state. In the second display mode, the monitor device displays a noise-free image in real time, if a radio communication error occurs. If one-frame (or one-field) image data is not received within the frame (or field) time due to a communication error, the monitor device displays, in the second display mode, the image data received in a normal state immediately before the one-frame (or one-field) image data, and informs the operator of the communication error.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 24, 2013
    Assignees: Olympus Corporation, Olympus Medical Systems Corp.
    Inventors: Takahisa Endo, Takemitsu Honda
  • Patent number: 8542272
    Abstract: An image generating apparatus according to the present invention includes: a first light source unit that emits light in a first wavelength band to a subject; a second light source unit that emits light in a second wavelength band, which is a part of the first wavelength band, to the subject; an image pickup unit that picks up an image of the subject and outputs the image as an image pickup signal; a light cut filter unit that cuts light in the second wavelength band reflected from the subject; and a complementary processing unit that applies complementary processing to a component equivalent to the second wavelength band cut by the light cut filter unit in the image of the subject picked up by the image pickup unit in a state in which the subject is illuminated by the light in the first wavelength band.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 24, 2013
    Assignee: Olympus Medical Systems Corp.
    Inventors: Shunji Takei, Nobuyuki Doguchi, Kenji Yamazaki
  • Publication number: 20130242069
    Abstract: A scanning confocal endoscope system is configured by: a point source that scans on a subject with excitation light by periodically moving in a two-dimensional plane; a point source control means that controls the point source so that irradiation density of the excitation light becomes smaller than or equal to predetermined density over a whole scanning area; a confocal pinhole arranged at a position conjugate with a converging point of the excitation light; an image signal detection means that detects an image signal by receiving fluorescence emitted from the subject being excited by the excitation light via the confocal pinhole; and an image generation means that generates a confocal image using the detected image signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 14, 2011
    Publication date: September 19, 2013
    Applicant: HOYA CORPORATION
    Inventor: Shotaro Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 8537209
    Abstract: An endoscope device in which endoscope images and patient information can be recorded in a removable storage medium and in which the endoscope images and patient information recorded in the storage medium can be reproduced. The endoscope device has a selection means for reproducing the endoscope images in a list form and selecting at least one endoscope image from the reproduced list; a display means for inputting additional information other than the patient information, adding the additional information to the endoscope image selected by the selection means, and displaying the result; and a recording/reproduction means for recording the selected endoscope image and the additional information in the storage medium or reproducing the image and the information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2013
    Assignee: Olympus Corporation
    Inventors: Tomoki Iwasaki, Tsutomu Hirai, Susumu Hashimoto, Katsuyuki Saito, Takehiro Nakagawa
  • Patent number: 8537211
    Abstract: In an image managing apparatus connected to: an image processing apparatus receiving an image signal from an imaging apparatus capturing a medical examination image; and an image recording apparatus recording a captured image, an apparatus information storage stores an image processing apparatus type. An apparatus ID acquiring unit acquires an image processing apparatus identifier from the connected image processing apparatus. An apparatus type acquiring unit reads out the type of the connected image processing apparatus based on the image processing apparatus identifier acquired by the apparatus ID acquiring unit. If the image processing apparatus type read by the apparatus type acquiring unit indicates that the apparatus can transmit an image file directly to the image recording apparatus, a file acquiring unit reads out from the image recording apparatus an image file that the image processing apparatus stores directly in the image recording apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2013
    Assignee: Olympus Medical Systems Corp.
    Inventors: Koji Suzuki, Koichi Hirose, Hirofumi Inaba
  • Publication number: 20130235176
    Abstract: An imaging optical system comprises a first lens group composed of a negative single lens, a second lens group composed of a positive lens element and a negative lens element attached together, an aperture stop, a third lens group composed of a positive lens element and a negative lens element attached together, and a fourth lens group composed of a negative single lens, in this order from an object side. Expressions 0.37<hF/IH<0.5 and 0.37<hR/IH<0.5 are satisfied where “IH” denotes a maximum image height on an image plane, “hF” denotes an incident height of a principal ray, directed to a position of the maximum image height on the image plane, at its entrance into the first lens group, and “hR” denotes an exit height of the principal ray at its exit from the fourth lens group.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 23, 2013
    Publication date: September 12, 2013
    Applicant: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventor: Hitoshi MIYANO
  • Publication number: 20130235174
    Abstract: An image pickup apparatus includes: an objective optical system for focusing a bundle of light rays from an object into an image; an image sensor placed in the vicinity of the image-forming position of the objective optical system; a dividing element placed between the objective optical system and the image sensor and used for dividing a bundle of light rays from the objective optical system into reflected and transmitted bundles of light rays; a first reflection member for reflecting back the bundle of light rays reflected by the dividing element; and a second reflection member for reflecting the bundle of light rays transmitted by the dividing element, wherein the bundle of light rays reflected by the first reflection member via the dividing element is focused to form an image on a first area of the image sensor, and the bundle of light rays reflected by the second reflection member is focused to form an image on a second area of the image sensor, the second area of the image sensor being different from the
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 22, 2013
    Publication date: September 12, 2013
    Applicant: OLYMPUS MEDICAL SYSTEMS CORP.
    Inventor: Yasushi Namii
  • Publication number: 20130235175
    Abstract: Provided is an endoscope system in which an insertion unit includes a distal end, an optical fiber cable configured to transmit a first image signal output by an image signal generating unit as an optical signal, and an electric cable configured to transmit the second image signal output by the image signal generating unit as an electrical signal. An image signal processing unit performs image processing of any one of the first image signal or the second image signal transmitted by the insertion unit. A scope distal end includes an imaging unit configured to include a plurality of pixels to output a pixel signal, and the image signal generating unit configured to generate the first image signal and the second image signal having a data volume smaller than that of the first image signal using the pixel signal output by the imaging unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 11, 2013
    Publication date: September 12, 2013
    Applicant: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
    Inventor: Satoshi Kazama
  • Publication number: 20130235173
    Abstract: An image pickup apparatus includes an image pickup section that acquires an image by image pickup of an object and acquire digital data of the image, a determining section that determines whether there are a predetermined number or more of consecutive bits with a first bit value or a second bit value in data per pixel included in the digital data, a bit value inversion processing section that inverts, when a determination result that there are the predetermined number or more of consecutive bits with the first or the second bit value is obtained, the bit values so that a ratio between the first bit value and the second bit value included in the corresponding pixel data becomes a predetermined ratio, and a serial conversion section that serializes and outputs the respective bit values of the digital data obtained as the processing result of the bit value inversion processing section.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 22, 2013
    Publication date: September 12, 2013
    Applicant: OLYMPUS MEDICAL SYSTEMS CORP.
    Inventor: Kazunori SEGAWA
  • Patent number: 8531511
    Abstract: Provided is a diffractive optical element that is formed by laminating two optical material layers formed of different energy-cured resins; in which a relief pattern is formed at the interface between the two optical material layers; and that satisfies the following conditional expressions: 0.01<d2/d1<0.2??(1) 0.05<d1/?E<1.0??(2) 0.0005<d2/?E<0.1??(3) wherein d1 is the center plate thickness (mm) of one optical material layer 2 that is cured first, d2 is the center plate thickness (mm) of the other optical material layer 3 that is cured later, and ?E is the effective diameter (mm) of the relief pattern 4.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 10, 2013
    Assignee: Olympus Medical Systems Corp.
    Inventor: Masahiro Katakura
  • Patent number: 8531510
    Abstract: An endoscope apparatus having a plurality of observation modes includes: an objective optical system including a moving lens; a CCD that picks up an image of an object via the objective optical system; a contour enhancement section that performs contour enhancement of the image outputted from the CCD and outputs contour component signals; a signal value comparison section that compares a maximum value of the contour component signals and a predetermined threshold value according to the observation mode; a focusing evaluation section that determines a focusing state by determining a signal distribution of the contour component signals; and an actuator drive section that controls movement of the moving lens based on the focusing state determined by the focusing evaluation section and a result of the comparison by the signal value comparison section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 10, 2013
    Assignee: Olympus Medical Systems Corp.
    Inventor: Tomoki Iwasaki
  • Patent number: 8531513
    Abstract: In an assembly method for an endoscope image pickup unit, the endoscope image pickup unit includes a distal end portion main body portion including a front opening portion, a side opening portion, a rear opening portion and an arrangement space portion, a lens section including a distal end lens having an outer diameter that generally fits in the front opening portion, and an image pickup section that fits in the rear opening portion and includes an image pickup device arranged in an image forming position by a lens system such as the lens section. The assembly method includes steps for inserting the lens section into the arrangement space portion from the side opening portion, fitting the inserted lens section in the front opening portion, and fitting the image pickup section in the rear opening portion from a rear of the rear opening portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 10, 2013
    Assignee: Olympus Medical Systems Corp.
    Inventor: Kazuki Honda
  • Publication number: 20130229502
    Abstract: An endoscope system includes: a photoelectric conversion element that subjects an image formed by an optical lens to photoelectric conversion; a contour enhancing section that detects an edge component in a picked-up image subjected to the photoelectric conversion, thereby generating a contour enhancement signal; an electronic zoom region determining section that determines an electronic zoom region in the picked-up image based on a strength of the contour enhancement signal; an instruction section that provides an instruction for enlargement/reduction of the image; a parameter setting section that sets a zoom parameter for an electronic zoom section according to the of the instruction section; and the electronic zoom section that upon an input of the instruction of the instruction section, performs an electronic zoom of the picked-up image for the electronic zoom region determined by the electronic zoom region determining section, according to the parameter set by the parameter setting section.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 7, 2012
    Publication date: September 5, 2013
    Applicant: OLYMPUS MEDICAL SYSTEMS CORP.
    Inventors: Yuji KUTSUMA, Keisuke TSUTSUI
  • Publication number: 20130229505
    Abstract: There is provided an endoscope apparatus capable of stably and precisely measuring a distance to an object by suppressing variations in measured values of the distance to the object depending on the presence or absence of pigment dispersion or the like and capable of enabling observations based on clear and high quality images. The endoscope apparatus includes an optical system that condenses light from an object and simultaneously forms two optical images having the same characteristics with difference only in focal point; an imaging element that captures the two optical images formed by the optical system and acquires two images; and a calculation unit that obtains distance information corresponding to a distance to the object based on a contrast ratio of the two images in a range in which the two images acquired by the imaging element have a common contrast.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 13, 2013
    Publication date: September 5, 2013
    Inventor: Mitsujiro Konno
  • Publication number: 20130229504
    Abstract: An ultrasonic imaging system is used to observe and guide insertion of a needle into the body to access a targeted surgical site. A two dimensional array probe scans a volumetric region including the surgical site and a multiplanar reformatter formats the resulting 3D echo dataset to form a sequence of spatially adjacent images in real time. A plurality of the spatially adjacent images are concurrently displayed in real time. As the clinician inserts the needle into the body its progress of insertion may be observed in one plane. But if the insertion path of the needle is not constrained to one plane but passes through numerous planes, the insertion path is seen in successive ones of the concurrently displayed adjacent images.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 10, 2011
    Publication date: September 5, 2013
    Applicant: KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS ELECTRONICS N.V.
    Inventor: Jeanne Cheng
  • Publication number: 20130229503
    Abstract: An apparatus includes: a storage that stores operation information including information on an operation on a display screen of a medical image and reference feature data that are feature data of the medical image subjected to the operation; an acquiring unit that acquires image data corresponding to a series of medical images; a processor that calculates feature data of each medical image; a setter that compares the feature data calculated by the image processor with the stored reference feature data, and, when reference feature data having a correspondence to the feature data exist, sets, as information related to a display operation executed when the series of medical images are displayed on a screen, the information related to the operation associated with the reference feature data having the correspondence; and a controller that executes the set display operation when image data included in the series of medical images are played back.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 15, 2013
    Publication date: September 5, 2013
    Applicant: OLYMPUS MEDICAL SYSTEMS CORP.
    Inventor: Katsuyoshi TANIGUCHI
  • Patent number: 8525875
    Abstract: An adapter for endoscope includes: an image pickup device driving signal generation circuit; an image signal output circuit; an endoscope identification information reception circuit receiving endoscope ID information; a ROM storing adapter ID information about the adapter; a flash memory storing parameters for adjustment; and a control section performing control to store the parameters for adjustment into the flash memory according to a command from a processor to write the parameters for adjustment, and read the parameters for adjustment stored in the flash memory and output the parameters for adjustment stored in the flash memory to the processor according to a command from the processor to read the parameters for adjustment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2013
    Assignee: Olympus Medical Systems Corp.
    Inventors: Susumu Kawata, Takahiro Tanabe, Kazuma Kaneko
  • Publication number: 20130222562
    Abstract: An imaging apparatus includes: a first and second optical systems that focus and emit incident light, a transparent wavelength, and a focal length of them being different from each other; an imaging unit that includes a first region on which the light emitted from the first optical system is incident and a second region on which the light emitted from the second optical system is incident, can output, as pixel information, an electric signal after photoelectric conversion from pixels arbitrarily set as read targets; a setting unit that can arbitrarily set the read targets in at least one of the first region and the second region; a reading unit that reads the pixel information from the read targets; a control unit that changes the read targets according to an acquisition target image; and an image processing unit that generates the acquisition target image.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 27, 2012
    Publication date: August 29, 2013
    Applicant: Olympus Medical Systems Corp.
    Inventor: Olympus Medical Systems Corp.
  • Publication number: 20130222563
    Abstract: An electronic endoscopic apparatus includes an endoscopic scope, an imaging device provided in the endoscopic scope, a signal processing unit processing a captured image signal obtained by the imaging device to generate an observation image, a monitor device displaying the observation image, and a control unit controlling the signal processing unit to generate a high definition observation image and a high sensitivity observation image as the observation image, in which the control unit makes the signal processing unit generate the high sensitivity observation image at the time of screening the inside of the biological body, and generate the high definition observation image at the time of precise inspecting for an interest area in the body.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 30, 2013
    Publication date: August 29, 2013
    Applicant: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventor: FUJIFILM Corporation
  • Patent number: 8520100
    Abstract: A very small area CMOS image sensor, e.g., for an endoscopic system, includes only four pads (power, ground, digital in, analog out), and includes an array of 4T pixels and associated control circuitry for performing correlated double sampling (CDS) to generate analog reset level and analog signal level values associated with light detected by photodiodes in each pixel. Instead of processing the analog values on-chip, the analog reset values and analog signal values are transmitted in separate sets one row at a time along with interleaved synchronization signals by way of a single analog contact pad, e.g., to a host device of an endoscopic system, which uses the synchronization signals to reconstruct the sensor's internal clock in order to process the analog values. An endoscope housing incorporating the CMOS image sensor thus requires only four wires.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 27, 2013
    Assignee: Tower Semiconductor Ltd.
    Inventors: Raz Reshef, Erez Sarig, Aviad Haber, Shay Alfassi, Guy Yehudian
  • Publication number: 20130208101
    Abstract: An imaging apparatus includes first and second imaging units, a reading unit that reads pixel information from pixels set as a reading target in each of the first and second imaging units, a control unit that sets the pixels as the reading target in each of the first and second imaging units in a manner such that the pixel information is alternately read from the first and second imaging units by the reading unit, and controls timing of exposure processes in the first and second imaging units and timing of reading processes of the pixel information for the first and second imaging units by the reading unit, to be correlated with one another, a transmission unit that transmits the pixel information read from each of the first and second imaging units in a same transmission path, and an image processing unit that generates an image based on the pixel information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 4, 2013
    Publication date: August 15, 2013
    Applicant: OLYMPUS MEDICAL SYSTEMS CORP.
    Inventor: OLYMPUS MEDICAL SYSTEMS CORP.
  • Publication number: 20130201309
    Abstract: An endoscope includes a bending operation knob inputting a bending operation of a bending section in first perpendicular directions, a touch surface which is exposed in an outer surface of a grip casing and on which a bending operation of the bending section in second perpendicular directions is input, and a positional information calculator calculating a positional information of a touched region with time, the touched region being a region that is touched in the touch surface. The endoscope includes a positional change detector detecting a positional change of the touched region when the bending operation of the bending section in the second perpendicular directions is input, and a drive controller controlling a drive state of a drive member in accordance with the positional change of the touched region.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 23, 2013
    Publication date: August 8, 2013
    Applicant: OLYMPUS MEDICAL SYSTEMS CORP.
    Inventor: Kazuhiko TAKAHASHI
  • Publication number: 20130201310
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a system for controlling an image data of an image sensor for a capsule endoscope, and more particularly, to a system for controlling an image data of an image sensor for a capsule endoscope, which controls the image data of a capsule endoscope system in which operations are changed using two image sensors of a capsule endoscope that are identically designed and manufactured in order to capture images of the inside of the human body.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 21, 2011
    Publication date: August 8, 2013
    Applicant: I3SYSTEM, INC.
    Inventors: Han Jung, Bong Ki Baek, Yong Woo Lee, Byung Hyuk Kim, Chul Cha, Sang Heun Park
  • Publication number: 20130194403
    Abstract: An endoscope apparatus includes an imaging section that captures a plurality of images in time series using an objective optical system, a range setting section that sets at least one of a search range and a non-search range to a reference image among the plurality of images, the search range including a center area, and the non-search range including a peripheral area, a motion detection section that performs a motion detection process that detects a motion between a processing target image and the reference image, and an image blending section that blends the processing target image and the reference image based on the motion detection process, the motion detection section setting a processing target area to the processing target image, and performing the motion detection process by searching an area that corresponds to the processing target area within a range based on the search range and/or the non-search range.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 10, 2013
    Publication date: August 1, 2013
    Applicant: Olympus Corporation
    Inventor: Olympus Corporation
  • Patent number: 8497898
    Abstract: An endoscope system includes an image pickup section, provided in an endoscope, which performs image pickup, a determining section that determines whether a specific observation object exists inside an image pickup region of the image pickup section, a recognizing section that determines whether the specific observation object can be recognized as an image from the picked-up image in the image pickup region picked up by the image pickup section, a low visibility determination output section that determines, when the determining section determines that the specific observation object exists inside the image pickup region and the recognizing section cannot recognize the specific observation object as an image, that the image pickup section is in a low visibility condition and outputs a low visibility determination result, and an obstacle estimation section that estimates an obstacle or a type of obstacle which causes the low visibility according to the low visibility determination result.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 30, 2013
    Assignee: Olympus Medical Systems Corp.
    Inventors: Hiroki Moriyama, Yoshitaka Umemoto
  • Publication number: 20130188029
    Abstract: An endoscope system includes a focus control section that performs a focus control process on an optical system of an endoscopic scope, an operation information acquisition section that acquires operation information about at least one operation among a discharge operation, a suction operation, and a tissue treatment operation based on sensor information from an operation detection sensor, and a switch control section that determines whether or not to cause the focus control section to perform the focus control process based on the operation information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 7, 2013
    Publication date: July 25, 2013
    Applicant: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
    Inventor: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
  • Publication number: 20130188030
    Abstract: A lens holder that holds a lens in an inner portion thereof, an image pickup device including a light-receiving section, the image pickup device being positioned at a rear in an optical axis direction L of the lens, a cover glass attached to a facing surface of the image pickup device, and a fitting portion formed in at least an outer circumferential face of the cover glass, the fitting portion allowing a rear end-side part of the lens holder to be fitted thereon are included, and the lens holder and the image pickup device are each formed to have a size allowing the lens holder and the image pickup device to have a same width in a width direction when the rear end-side part is fitted on the fitting portion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 8, 2013
    Publication date: July 25, 2013
    Applicant: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
    Inventor: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
  • Publication number: 20130182169
    Abstract: According to an illustrative embodiment an imaging system is provided. The system includes a lens tube; a first polarizing filter; and a second polarizing filter; wherein the first polarizing filter and the second polarizing filter are adjacent each other, and wherein a polarizing imparted by the first polarizing filter is different from a polarizing imparted by the second polarizing filter.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 7, 2012
    Publication date: July 18, 2013
    Applicant: Sony Corporation
    Inventor: Sony Corporation
  • Publication number: 20130182090
    Abstract: An image pickup device includes, but is not limited to: an image pickup unit; a first selector; and an output unit. The image pickup unit includes a plurality of pixels arranged in a matrix. Each of the pixels is configured to generate, store, and output a pixel signal. The first selector is configured to select a column of the matrix and control the pixels arranged in the column selected. The output unit is configured to convert into a voltage signal, the pixel signal output from each of the pixels.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 16, 2013
    Publication date: July 18, 2013
    Applicant: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
    Inventor: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
  • Patent number: 8487986
    Abstract: An impedance matching apparatus includes: a cable that transmits a rectangular wave outputted from a solid image pickup device; a correlated double sampling circuit that performs scanning of the rectangular wave by sampling the rectangular wave with a timing of a signal clamp pulse being changed, based on a timing of the feed-through sampling pulse fixed at a timing at which the rectangular wave by the cable indicates a high value; a variable resistance provided at a tail end side of the cable; and a resistance value varying unit that, that performs the scanning with a resistance value of the variable resistance being changed, based on a signal outputted from the correlated double sampling circuit, changes a resistance value of the variable resistance so as to match a characteristic impedance of the cable.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 16, 2013
    Assignee: Olympus Medical Systems Corp.
    Inventors: Hidenori Hashimoto, Yasuhiro Tanaka, Hideaki Ishihara
  • Patent number: 8487985
    Abstract: An imaging apparatus includes a noise reduction circuit which eliminates a random noise generated in an analogue signal processing by equalizing, via an averaging processing, image data of correlated multiple images within one frame period which is captured by an image sensor and to which the analogue signal processing is performed in an AFE block, and the imaging apparatus in itself deals with the image data of the correlated multiple images within the one frame period and outputs the data to a wireless module after eliminating the random noise generated in the analogue signal processing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 16, 2013
    Assignee: Olympus Medical Systems Corp.
    Inventor: Kei Mitsuhashi
  • Publication number: 20130176410
    Abstract: An endoscope system has an image pickup section and a processor. The image pickup section has a control register section which controls a sensor section, a nonvolatile memory which stores first setup data, a control signal interface section which sets the first setup data in the control register section, and an initialization check register which senses an abnormality in the control register section. When an abnormality is sensed, the control signal interface section reads out the setup data from the nonvolatile memory and performs control so as to reset the setup data in the control register section. The control signal interface section further has a memory which stores reset occurrence information upon occurrence of reset. The processor includes a control section which reads out the reset occurrence information from the memory, and, when reset is detected, transmits second setup information held by the processor to the image pickup section.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 7, 2013
    Publication date: July 11, 2013
    Applicant: OLYMPUS MEDICAL SYSTEMS CORP.
    Inventor: OLYMPUS MEDICAL SYSTEMS CORP.
  • Publication number: 20130176411
    Abstract: An endoscope system includes a light source device, a CCD, a video processor, and an observation monitor, wherein the video processor includes: a band decomposition processing section that performs a decomposition processing for decomposing into a plurality of spatial frequency bands on a signal of an image picked up by the CCD, to generate a plurality of band images; an enhancement processing section that performs an enhancement processing on selected band images based on an enhancement amount set for a region where an observation target in a subject is distributed in a feature space formed with wavelength bands or spatial frequency bands of the band images selected among the plurality of band images as axes; and an image generation section that integrates the plurality of band images subjected to the color conversion processing, for each wavelength image, to generate an image.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 1, 2013
    Publication date: July 11, 2013
    Applicants: OLYMPUS CORPORATION, OLYMPUS MEDICAL SYSTEMS CORP.
    Inventors: Olympus Medical Systems Corp., Olympus Corporation
  • Publication number: 20130176409
    Abstract: In the processor device connected to the endoscope, the imaging signal transmitted in serial from an imaging chip of the endoscope is converted by an S/P converter to parallel data, and is then decoded by an 8B10B decoder. In the imaging signal, word synchronous data is inserted at predetermined intervals. In the processor device, a process of determining the word synchronous data as appropriate word synchronous data if the word synchronous data has been detected a plurality of number of times and establishing word synchronization is performed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 28, 2012
    Publication date: July 11, 2013
    Applicant: Fujifilm Corporation
    Inventor: Fujifilm Corporation
  • Patent number: 8480563
    Abstract: An endoscope apparatus includes: an endoscope that generates an image of an object; a display portion that displays the image and a cursor that designates a position on an image based on the image; a characteristic quantity calculating portion that calculates, based on the image, a characteristic quantity of the image on the basis of the position designated by the cursor; and a control portion that controls movement of the cursor in accordance with the characteristic quantity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2013
    Assignee: Olympus Corporation
    Inventor: Sumito Nakano
  • Publication number: 20130169774
    Abstract: A processor for an electronic endoscope includes first and second image storing units; a motion detector obtains a difference of image data; and a controller executes control in one of a first mode where the image data is sequentially converted into the video signal, and the image data and the difference are sequentially stored in the first and second image storing units; a second mode where the image data stored in the first image storing unit is outputted, and the generated image data and the difference are sequentially stored in the second image storing unit; and a third mode where the image data stored in the second image storing unit is outputted, and the generated image data and the difference are sequentially stored in the first image storing unit, and in the second and the third modes, based on the difference.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 25, 2011
    Publication date: July 4, 2013
    Applicant: HOYA CORPORATION
    Inventor: Ryo Ozawa
  • Publication number: 20130169773
    Abstract: An endoscope apparatus has a transmission device of an endoscope and a reception device of a processor. The transmission device calculates a DC balance value of input data, compares the DC balance value and a cumulative value thereof, and compares the sign of the DC balance value and the sign of the cumulative value. When the signs are the same sign, the transmission device generates intermediate data by exchanging a first value and a second value with each other for all the bits of the input data, and generates predetermined information indicating that all the bits have been inverted. When the signs are different signs, the transmission device performs a process of setting the input data as the intermediate data and transmits the intermediate data by a serial signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 6, 2012
    Publication date: July 4, 2013
    Applicant: OLYMPUS MEDICAL SYSTEMS CORP.
    Inventor: OLYMPUS MEDICAL SYSTEMS CORP.
  • Patent number: 8477183
    Abstract: Under usual conditions, a first computation unit computes/outputs a first light adjustment signal in accordance with a photometric signal, and a second computation unit performs control of at least part of the endoscope system. The second computation unit computes/outputs the second light adjustment signal in accordance with the photometric signal together with the at least partial control while suppressing an increase in a processing load when an abnormality has occurred in the first computation unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 2, 2013
    Assignee: Olympus Medical Systems Corp.
    Inventors: Yugo Koizumi, Susumu Kawata, Takahiro Tanabe, Toru Shinoda, Akira Sambongi
  • Patent number: 8477182
    Abstract: An endoscope apparatus includes: a region dividing portion that divides an image; a brightness mean calculation portion that has a peripheral brightness mean calculation portion that calculates a peripheral brightness mean value, and a center brightness mean calculation portion that calculates a center brightness mean; a first weighting factor calculation portion that calculates a first weighting factor ?; a first photometric value calculation portion that calculates a first photometric value based on a sum total of a value obtained by multiplying a center brightness mean by the first weighting factor ? and a value obtained by multiplying the peripheral brightness mean by (1??); and a brightness adjustment control portion that generates a brightness adjustment control signal for adjusting the brightness of the image based on the first photometric value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 24, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 2, 2013
    Assignee: Olympus Medical Systems Corp.
    Inventor: Kotaro Ogasawara
  • Publication number: 20130162767
    Abstract: An endoscope, tied-in a display device, including a tube, a distal section and a handling section is provided. The distal section, coupled to a distal end of the tube, includes a first wafer-level image sensor which is disposed to capture at least one first image. The handling section, coupled to a proximal end of the tube, includes a transmitter which transmits the first image to the display device via a wireless connection.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 22, 2011
    Publication date: June 27, 2013
    Applicant: HIMAX IMAGING LIMITED
    Inventors: Yi-Chen Chou, Yung-Che Chung
  • Publication number: 20130155212
    Abstract: An optical unit includes: a plurality of lenses that form an object image on an image plane that is a light-receiving surface of a CCD; an aperture diaphragm; and an infrared absorption filter disposed on the image plane side relative to the aperture diaphragm, the infrared absorption filter including coating surfaces resulting from a YAG laser cut-off film and an LD laser cut-off film that each cut off predetermined laser light being formed respectively, and an F number FNO, a maximum image height IH, and a distance ?d between a paraxial image formation position in a ghost optical path on which a light beam emitted from the aperture diaphragm BI is reflected by the image plane and further reflected by the coating surface and reaches the image plane again and the image plane satisfy (Expression 1): 0.75<|FNO·IH/?d|<2.0 ??(Expression 1).
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 27, 2012
    Publication date: June 20, 2013
    Applicant: OLYMPUS MEDICAL SYSTEMS CORP.
    Inventor: Olympus Medical Systems Corp.
  • Publication number: 20130155214
    Abstract: An electronic endoscope includes a lens holder that has a tube-shaped part, a wide-angle lens that is mounted on the lens holder and that is arranged on one-end side of the tube-shaped part in a state that an optical axis is aligned to a center axis of the tube-shaped part so that an observational field of view extends to a sideward region of the tube-shaped part, an imaging device that receives light acquired through the wide-angle lens and that converts the light into an electric signal, a transparent cover that covers one-end side of the tube-shaped part and whose part facing the observational field of view of the wide-angle lens has transparency, a tube-shaped body part that is connected to the transparent cover on the-other-end side of the tube-shaped part, and a driving section that causes the lens holder to advance or retreat in the center axis direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 8, 2013
    Publication date: June 20, 2013
    Applicant: FUJIFILM CORPORATION
    Inventor: FUJIFILM CORPORATION
  • Publication number: 20130155213
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a system for use in surgical procedures. The system includes an endoscope; an imaging device coupled to the endoscope; an imaging processor coupled to the imaging device; and at least one management system coupled to the imaging processor, wherein a function of the management system is automatically adjusted upon receipt of a communication from the imaging processor. A method of adjusting an image of a surgical site during a surgical procedure is also disclosed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 5, 2013
    Publication date: June 20, 2013
    Inventor: Cemal Shener
  • Patent number: 8466957
    Abstract: An endoscope includes: a CCD that picks up an image of a subject; an FPGA that is controlled by a main body portion 3 to output a drive signal for driving the CCD and transmits an image pickup signal outputted from the CCD to the main body; rewritable flash memory in which at least one of program data and setting data that relate to an operation of the FPGA is stored; and a switch group that, based on a rewriting instruction signal SW to the data in the flash memory, switches so that the data received by using all or a part of signal lines for the CCD, the lines being associated with observation of the subject, is inputted to the flash memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 2, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 18, 2013
    Assignee: Olympus Medical Systems Corp.
    Inventor: Hidenori Hashimoto