JP2006015117A - Endoscope apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an endoscope apparatus for carrying out the sampling of data by imaging a subject at a prescribed pixel intervals to make its original image, and conducting the measurement by assigning feature points on the original image, which is capable of easily assigning the positions of those feature points in a short time in particular. <P>SOLUTION: This endoscope apparatus for measurement is designed to efficiently perform the assignment of points to be measured in performing image enlargement processing on the original image obtained from pickup images of a subject to be measured. When it assigns the measurement points on the enlarged image, it uses the same pixel interval as that of the original image when the distance between the measurement points is far away, while it uses a shorter pixel interval when it is close to make a more accurate and delicate movement. Furthermore, since the above setting is switchable, the assignment of the measurement points can be made more easily in a shorter time. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an endoscope apparatus that images a subject, samples data at a predetermined pixel interval to obtain an original image, and performs measurement by specifying a feature point on the original image.

  Today, endoscope apparatuses are used in various industries. For example, endoscope apparatuses for measurement that measure scratches and defects of mechanical parts are also used. In such an endoscope apparatus, as a technique that allows a user to easily specify a feature point on an original image, a method of enlarging the original image and specifying a feature point on the enlarged image has been proposed. .

  Patent Document 1 proposes a method for enlarging an original image and designating measurement points on the enlarged image as a technique for designating measurement points on the original image. In this method, a pixel corresponding to a measurement point is selected and designated from among pixels on the enlarged image, and measurement is performed based on the position of the original pixel corresponding to the designated pixel. Furthermore, the position of the designated measurement point on the original image can be calculated in units of reciprocal magnification. Therefore, based on the position calculated in this way, it is possible to measure in units smaller than the pixel interval of the original image.

For example, FIG. 12 shows an original image of a subject. In the original image, two black lines having a white background and a thickness of 2 pixels intersect at right angles. The feature point is the center of the intersection of the two lines, and an area including this point is an enlarged area. FIG. 13 shows an enlarged image in which the enlarged area is enlarged. Then, a + mark indicating the designated point is displayed on the enlarged image, and a feature point is designated on the enlarged image as shown in FIG. 13, and the pixel on the original image corresponding to the pixel on the designated enlarged image is displayed. Calculation is performed based on the position.
JP-A-4-332523

  In the conventional method described above, the unit for specifying the position of the feature point can be specified as a pixel interval of the original image or finer. Here, when the unit for specifying the position of the feature point is the pixel interval of the original image, the accuracy of specifying the feature point position is lower than that of the finer position specification. On the other hand, when the feature point position designation unit is set finely, the designated point is moved in the reciprocal unit of the enlargement magnification. For example, when the designated point is moved largely on the screen, the movement distance increases by the enlargement magnification, and the time It takes.

In addition, when an image is played back when the designated point is moved, it takes time to regenerate, so that the frame rate is lowered and it takes more time to move.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an endoscope apparatus that can easily specify the position of a feature point in a short time.

  According to the present invention, there is provided a first image generation means for generating a first image by sampling data at a predetermined pixel interval, and a second image obtained by performing a predetermined calculation on the first image. Position designation for designating a desired position on the second image in an endoscope apparatus comprising a second image generation means for generating the image and an image display means for displaying the first and second images Means, a first designated position moving means for moving the position of the point designated by the position designation means in units of a pixel interval of the first image, and a position of the point designated by the position designation means. Second designated position moving means for moving in units smaller than the pixel interval of one image, switching means for switching the operating states of the first designated position moving means and the second designated position moving means, and the position designation The desired calculation using the position of the point specified by the means It can be achieved by providing an endoscope apparatus and an arithmetic means for performing.

  With this configuration, when a feature point is designated, if the designated point is to be moved largely on the screen, the feature point is moved at the pixel interval of the original image, and if the feature point is designated in more detail, the original point is designated. It can move at finer intervals than the pixel interval of the image, and can be operated efficiently and in a short time. Further, the designation can be switched by the switching means, and efficient and highly accurate measurement can be performed in a short time.

  In addition, the endoscope apparatus includes a measurement unit that performs measurement by the calculation unit, for example. Further, for example, a luminance value / color difference value display means for displaying luminance values or color difference values of the first image and the second image is provided.

  According to the present invention, when specifying a feature point, when the specified point is to be moved largely on the screen, the specified point is moved at the pixel interval of the original image, and when specifying the feature point in more detail, the pixel interval of the original image is moved. They can be moved at finer intervals and can be switched alternately, so that processing can be performed in a short time and with high accuracy.

  Further, when moving the same distance as in the conventional method, if the designated point is moved at the pixel interval of the original image, the process of regenerating the image is reduced, and an increase in the movement time can be suppressed.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
In the description of the present embodiment, a measurement endoscope apparatus capable of stereo measurement is cited as the endoscope apparatus, and the designated point is a measurement point that is a target of stereo measurement.

  1 to 11 relate to the present embodiment, FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a measurement endoscope apparatus, FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the measurement endoscope apparatus, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a configuration in which a direct-viewing stereo optical adapter is attached to the distal end portion of a measurement endoscope, and FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a method for obtaining the three-dimensional coordinates of the measurement point by stereo measurement, FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining the flow of measurement by the endoscope apparatus for measurement, and FIG. 8 is the measurement of FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing a stereo measurement execution screen of the endoscope apparatus, FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an enlarged image of the pseudo-sampling image, and FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating the principle of generating the sampling point moving image and the enlarged image Figure 11 shows the original image. It is a diagram illustrating a sampling point that is moved to the sampling point.

  First, as shown in FIG. 1, the endoscope apparatus for measurement 10 stores an endoscope insertion portion 11 configured to be detachably mountable with an optical adapter including one capable of stereo measurement, and the endoscope insertion portion 11. Control unit 12, remote controller 13 for performing various operations control for the entire system of the measurement endoscope apparatus 10, endoscope images, operation control contents (for example, processing menu), etc. A liquid crystal monitor (hereinafter referred to as LCD) 14 that performs display, and a normal endoscopic image or a face-mounted display (hereinafter referred to as FMD) 17 that can stereoscopically view the endoscopic image as a pseudo stereo image. And an FMD adapter 18 for supplying image data to the FMD 17.

  Next, the system configuration of the measurement endoscope apparatus 10 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the endoscope insertion portion 11 is connected to an endoscope unit 24. The endoscope unit 24 is mounted, for example, in the control unit 12 shown in FIG. The endoscope unit 24 includes a light source device for obtaining illumination light necessary for photographing and an electric bending device for electrically bending the endoscope insertion portion 11. ing. An imaging signal from the solid-state imaging device 43 (see FIG. 5) at the distal end of the endoscope insertion portion 11 is input to a camera control unit (hereinafter referred to as CCU) 25. The CCU 25 converts the supplied imaging signal into a video signal such as an NTSC signal and supplies it to a main processing circuit group in the control unit 12.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the main circuit group mounted in the control unit 12 includes a CPU 26, a ROM 27, a RAM 28, and a PC card interface (hereinafter, referred to as a CPU card) that controls various functions based on the main program. PC card I / F) 30, USB interface (hereinafter referred to as USB I / F) 31, RS-232C interface (hereinafter referred to as RS-232C I / F) 29, audio signal processing circuit 32, and video And a signal processing circuit 33. The CPU 26 executes a program stored in the ROM 27 and controls various circuit units so as to perform processing according to the purpose, thereby controlling the operation of the entire system.

  The RS-232C I / F 29 is connected to the CCU 25, the endoscope unit 24, and the remote controller 13, respectively. The remote controller 13 is for performing control and operation instructions of the CCU 25 and the endoscope unit 24. The RS-232C I / F 29 is configured to perform communication necessary for controlling the operation of the CCU 25 and the endoscope unit 24 based on an operation by the remote controller 13.

  The USB I / F 31 is an interface for electrically connecting the control unit 12 and the personal computer 21. When the control unit 12 and the personal computer 21 are connected via the USB I / F 31, various kinds of instructions such as an endoscopic image display instruction in the control unit 12 and image processing during measurement are performed on the personal computer 21 side. Instruction control can be performed, and control information and data necessary for various processes can be input and output between the control unit 12 and the personal computer 21.

  The PC card I / F 30 has a configuration in which a PCMCIA memory card 23 and a compact flash (registered trademark) memory card 22 are detachably connected. That is, when one of the memory cards is inserted, the control unit 12 reproduces data such as control processing information and image information stored in the memory card as a recording medium under the control of the CPU 26, and the PC card Data such as control processing information and image information can be stored in the memory card via the PC card I / F 30 and recorded in the control unit 12 via the I / F 30.

  The video signal processing circuit 33 displays the video signal from the CCU 25 and the operation menu generated by the control of the CPU 26 so as to display a composite image obtained by combining the endoscopic image supplied from the CCU 25 and the graphic operation menu. The display signal based on the image is synthesized, and further, necessary processing for displaying on the screen of the LCD 14 is performed and supplied to the LCD 14. As a result, a composite image of the endoscope image and the operation menu is displayed on the LCD 14. In the video signal processing circuit 33, it is also possible to simply perform processing for displaying an endoscopic image or an image such as an operation menu alone.

  Further, the control unit 12 shown in FIG. 1 is provided with an external video input terminal 70 for inputting video to the video signal processing circuit 33 without going through the CCU 25. When a video signal is input to the external video input terminal 70, the video signal processing circuit 33 outputs the composite image in preference to the endoscopic image from the CCU 25.

  The audio signal processing circuit 32 is generated by being collected by the microphone 20 and recorded on a recording medium such as a memory card, or an audio signal obtained by reproducing a recording medium such as a memory card, or generated by the CPU 26. The audio signal is supplied. The audio signal processing circuit 32 performs processing (amplification processing or the like) necessary for reproducing the supplied audio signal and outputs the processed signal to the speaker 19. Thereby, an audio signal is reproduced by the speaker 19.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the remote controller 13 includes a joystick 61, a lever switch 62, a freeze switch 63, a store switch 64, a measurement execution switch 65, an enlarged display switching WIDE switch 66, and a TELE switch 67. ing.

  In the remote controller 13, the joystick 61 is a switch for performing a bending operation of the distal end portion of the endoscope. The bending operation can be finely adjusted by giving an operation instruction freely in any direction of 360 degrees or by pressing down directly below. It is possible to give instructions. The joystick 61 is also used to specify a measurement point in stereo measurement described later. The lever switch 62 is a switch for performing selection operation of a selection item by moving a pointer and pressing down directly when performing various menu operations displayed in graphics and measurement, and has substantially the same shape as the joystick switch 61. It is composed of.

  The freeze switch 63 is a switch related to the LCD 14 display. The store switch 64 is a switch used when recording a still image on the PCMCIA memory card 23 (see FIG. 2) when a still image is displayed by pressing the freeze switch 63. The measurement execution switch 65 is a switch used when executing measurement software. The enlarged display switching WIDE switch 66 and the TELE switch 67 are used for enlarging and reducing the endoscopic image. The freeze switch 63, the store switch 64, and the measurement execution switch 65 are configured to employ, for example, an on / off pressing type.

  The endoscopic image captured by the endoscope insertion unit 11 is enlarged or reduced as necessary by the video signal processing circuit 33 and is output to the LCD 14 or the external video input terminal 70. In this case, enlargement or reduction magnification is controlled by the WIDE switch 66 and the TELE switch 67. The WIDE switch 66 and the TELE switch 67 also control the magnification when displaying an enlarged image during measurement execution.

Next, the configuration of a stereo optical adapter which is a kind of optical adapter used in the measurement endoscope apparatus 10 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.
4 and 5 show a state in which the stereo optical adapter 37 is attached to the endoscope distal end portion 39. The stereo optical adapter 37 is connected to the male screw 54 of the endoscope distal end portion 39 by the female screw 53 of the fixing ring 38. It is the structure fixed by screwing.

  In addition, a pair of illumination lenses 36 and two objective lens systems 34 and 35 are provided at the tip of the stereo optical adapter 37. The two objective lens systems 34 and 35 form two images on the image sensor 43 provided in the endoscope distal end 39. The image pickup signal obtained by the image pickup device 43 is supplied to the CCU 25 via the electrically connected signal line 43a and the endoscope unit 24 shown in FIG. 2, and converted into a video signal by the CCU 25. It is supplied to the video signal processing circuit 33 later. The video signal includes a luminance value or a luminance value and a color difference value. An image generated by the imaging signal supplied to the CCU 25 is called an original image.

Next, how to obtain the three-dimensional coordinates of the measurement point by stereo measurement will be described with reference to FIG. The coordinates of the measurement points on the original image captured by the left and right optical systems are (XL, YL) and (XR, YR), respectively, and the three-dimensional coordinates of the measurement points are (X, Y, Z). . However, the origins of (XL, YL) and (XR, YR) are the intersections of the optical axis in the left and right optical systems and the image sensor 43, respectively, and the origins of (X, Y, Z) are the left and right sides. Is the midpoint of the optical center. If the distance between the left and right optical centers is D and the focal length is F, the triangulation method
X = t × XR + D / 2
Y = t × YR
Z = t × F
However, t = D / (XL-XR).

  In this way, when the coordinates of the measurement point on the original image are determined, the three-dimensional coordinates of the measurement point are obtained using the known parameters D and F. By obtaining three-dimensional coordinates of several points, various measurements such as the distance between two points, the distance between two points and the distance between one point, area, depth, and surface shape are possible.

  In the measuring endoscope apparatus having the above configuration, the processing operation of this example will be described below with reference to FIGS. Here, FIG. 7 shows a flowchart of stereo measurement, and FIG. 8 shows a screen of stereo measurement. Further, the image of FIG. 8 shows an example in which a chip is generated in a turbine blade, which is an engine part of an aircraft, for example, and shows a measurement screen when measuring the outermost width of the chip.

  First, when the measurement execution switch 65 provided on the joystick 61 is pressed, an image sampled and read in units of pixels is acquired as an original image in step S001 of the measurement flow shown in FIG. In step S002, the image is displayed on the display device. FIG. 8A shows a measurement screen including two read left and right original images, an icon for instructing a measurement operation, and a pointer whose position is specified by the lever switch 62.

  Next, a measurement point is designated on the left image in step S003. This measurement point designation is executed according to the measurement point designation flow shown in FIG. First, in step S101, an enlargement area to be enlarged is set on the original image. This enlargement area setting is further executed according to the enlargement area setting flow shown in FIG. That is, when the lever switch 62 is operated in step S501, the position near the measurement point on the original image is designated, and when an enlarged image display instruction is given in step S502, the enlarged region is determined in step S503. In this example, the enlarged area is an area in a predetermined range centered on the position designated by the lever switch 62.

  Next, in step S102, an enlarged image is generated. The generation of this enlarged image is executed according to the flow shown in FIG. First, in step S601, an image is generated based on the position of the sampling point in the enlarged region. The position of the sampling point in the enlarged area is the sampling position at the time of original image acquisition, and is moved in step S107 described later.

  Here, when the position of the sampling point in the enlarged region is moved, the position is shifted from the sampling position at the time of acquiring the original image, and therefore an image is generated by interpolation from the pixels on the original image. The sampling point in this case is set as a pseudo sampling point, and the image generated in step S601 is set as a pseudo sampling image.

  Next, in step S602, an enlargement magnification is set based on the number of times the WIDE switch 66 or the TELE switch 67 is pressed, and in step S603, the number of pixels of the pseudo sampled image is increased by interpolation by the enlargement magnification to generate an enlarged image. . As the interpolation method, nearest neighbor interpolation, linear interpolation, bicubic interpolation, or the like is used.

  Next, in step S103, the enlarged image is determined in size and position and displayed. Note that the display position can be superimposed on the original image. In this case, the display position of the enlarged image is always at a predetermined distance or more away from the enlarged area of the original image, so that the enlarged area and its vicinity are Prevent it from disappearing.

  Next, in step S104, a pixel to be a designated point on the enlarged image is selected. Then, a cursor indicating the designated point is displayed on the selected pixel. Note that the pixel serving as the designated point may be a predetermined fixed position on the enlarged image.

  FIG. 8B shows a measurement screen when an enlarged image is displayed by pointing near the measurement point. On the measurement screen, an enlarged image and a cursor indicating the designated point are displayed at the center of the screen. Graphs indicating the luminance of the pixels in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction from the designated point are displayed on the right and bottom of the enlarged image, respectively, and the designated point and the surrounding luminance can be confirmed. In addition, “3x” indicating that the enlargement magnification is 3 times is displayed.

  Next, in step S105, it is determined whether a measurement point is designated by the designated point. If the measurement point is not specified, the process proceeds to step S106. If the measurement point is specified, the lever switch 62 is pressed and the process proceeds to step S108.

  In step S106, it is determined whether to move the sampling point. If there is a measurement point on the enlarged image and it is not necessary to move the sampling point because the sampling point coincides with the measurement point, the process moves to step S104, and the displayed measurement point is selected as the designated point. If there is a measurement point on the enlarged image but the sampling point does not match the measurement point and the sampling point needs to be moved, or if no measurement point exists on the enlarged image, the process proceeds to step S107. In step S107, the sampling point is moved so that the measurement point is designated by the designated point on the enlarged image. The sampling point is moved according to the flow shown in FIG. First, set the unit for moving the sampling point. In step S801, it is determined whether the joystick 61 is pressed. If not pressed, the unit of movement amount of the sampling point is set to the unit of the pixel interval of the original image in step S802. If pressed, the unit of the movement amount of the sampling points is set to a unit smaller than the pixel interval of the original image in step S803. In step S804, the position of the sampling point is moved by the lever switch 62 based on the set unit of movement amount, and the designated point is moved to the measurement point. When the unit of the moving amount of the sampling point is set finer than the pixel interval, an “F” icon is displayed (see FIG. 8C described later).

  The sampling point may be moved by the following procedure. That is, each time the joystick 61 or the freeze switch 63 is pressed, the unit of movement of the sampling point is switched between the unit of the pixel interval of the original image and the unit smaller than the pixel interval of the original image. Next, the specified point is moved closer to the measurement point by the lever switch 62. In this manner, the designated point moving interval can be easily switched in a short time by pressing down the joystick 61.

  Next, when the position of the sampling point is moved in step S107, the enlarged region is moved accordingly. After the sampling point is moved, the process proceeds to step S102, and an enlarged image is generated and displayed again. FIG. 8C shows a measurement screen including an enlarged image when the sampling point is moved. FIG. 4D shows a measurement screen when the enlargement magnification is changed to 6 times. Further, FIG. 9E shows a measurement screen when the unit of the moving amount of the sampling point is set to the pixel interval of the original image and the sampling point is moved from the state of FIG.

In this way, by switching the unit of the movement amount of the sampling point, rough movement and fine movement can be performed, and the measurement point can be designated in a short time.
Next, after the designated point has moved to the measurement point by the movement of the sampling point, the designated point is determined by pressing the lever switch 62 in step S105, and on the original image of the measurement point from the position of the designated point in step S108. The position of is calculated. At this time, the unit of the moving amount of the sampling point is set to a predetermined setting.

  Next, in step S004, the enlarged image at the time point designated in step S003 is displayed superimposed on the left image. In step S005, a corresponding point on the right image corresponding to the measurement point designated in step S003 is searched. This search is performed in a unit smaller than the pixel interval of the original image by the template matching method of the existing image. In step S006, the vicinity of the corresponding point on the searched right image is enlarged in the same manner as the enlargement of the left image, and is displayed superimposed on the right image.

  FIG. 8F shows the measurement screen at this time. By displaying these enlarged images on the original image, it is possible to check the previous measurement point correctly and the matching result of the corresponding point in the right image while specifying the next measurement point. It becomes possible to prevent errors.

  Next, in step S007, it is determined whether to correct the position of the measurement point on the left screen. Here, when correcting the position of the measurement point on the left screen, the lever switch 62 is operated to select the icon “←” on the measurement screen, the process returns to step S003, and the measurement point is designated again. On the other hand, when not correcting, it progresses to step S008.

  In step S008, it is determined whether to correct the position of the corresponding point on the right screen. In the case of correction, the lever switch 62 is operated to select the icon [→] on the measurement screen, the process proceeds to step S010, and the measurement point on the left image is designated on the right image in the same manner as described above. Specify the corresponding points. In step S011, the periphery of the corresponding point on the right image is displayed in the same manner as the processing in step S006 described above.

  In the determination at step S007 and step S008, enlarged images around the measurement point of the left image and the corresponding point of the right image are displayed large on the left screen and the right screen, respectively, and the measurement point and the corresponding point are correctly specified. You may make it confirm whether it is.

  If the position is not corrected in step S008, the process proceeds to step S012, and it is determined whether to specify another measurement point. If it is designated, the process returns to step S003, and if not designated, the process proceeds to S013. In this process, measurement is performed based on the position of the measurement point specified above. FIG. 8G shows a measurement screen including a measurement result when a distance between two points is measured.

  In the example of the measurement result shown in FIG. 8G, the measurement unit is mm, but the measurement unit can be switched by switching the selection of “mm” and “inch” in the screen. When the measurement unit is switched, the display of the measurement result is also changed to the set unit. As a result, the measurement unit can be switched at an arbitrary timing while continuing the measurement work. This is useful when the unit you normally use differs from the unit written in the inspection manual, or when the settings are incorrect. It is also possible to change the measurement unit by setting with the menu.

  Next, details of the measurement point designation will be described using the original image shown in FIG. 12 as an example. The enlarged area shown in FIG. 12 is first enlarged as shown in FIG. The nearest neighbor interpolation is used to increase the number of pixels for enlargement, and the unit of movement of the sampling point is set to 0.1 pixel so that the designated point moves to the center of the intersection of the two lines. Move the sampling point 0.5 pixels to the left and 0.5 pixels down. By this processing, a pseudo sampled image is generated by linear interpolation, and an enlarged image of this image is generated. FIG. 9 is an enlarged image at this time.

  Next, the principle of generating a pseudo sampling point moving image and its enlarged image will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 10A, the original image is an original image of 6 horizontal pixels × 1 vertical pixel, with the central two pixels being white and the other surrounding pixels being black. FIG. 4B shows the luminance at the sampling point of the original image.

  When this sampling point is moved to the right by 1/3 pixel of the original image, the luminance of the moved sampling point is calculated by interpolation from the pixel of the original image, and the luminance of the sampling point moving image is as shown in FIG. . When the number of pixels is increased for enlargement of the moving image at the sampling point, the luminance is as shown in FIG. From this luminance, an enlarged image shown in FIG.

  Next, the principle of generating the enlarged image shown in FIG. 9 will be described. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing sampling points and moved sampling points in the original image. In the above-described original image shown in FIG. 12, the black line extends over two sampling points. For example, on the enlarged image, the line of thickness 2 on the original image is simply enlarged. On the other hand, when the sampling position is moved, black is obtained at a position across two pixels in the black line, and gray is obtained at the boundary position between white and black by interpolation. Therefore, in the enlarged image, the position of the designated point is black, but the surrounding area is gray.

  As described above, in the enlarged image of the pseudo-sampled image, the color of the position of the designated point is clear, but a color separated from the designated point by one pixel in the original image is displayed around the designated point. , It becomes easy to distinguish the color of the designated point and the other points. Therefore, it is easy to specify a desired point in a unit smaller than the pixel interval of the original image.

As described above, according to this example, when specifying a feature point, if the specified point is to be moved largely on the screen, it is moved at the pixel interval of the original image, and when specifying the feature point in more detail, They can be moved at intervals smaller than the pixel interval, and can be switched alternately, so that operation can be performed in a short time and display with high accuracy can be performed. Further, when moving the same distance as in the conventional method, if the designated point is moved at the pixel interval of the original image, processing for regenerating the image is reduced, and an increase in the movement time can be suppressed.

(Supplementary Note 1) First image generation means for sampling data at a predetermined pixel interval to generate a first image, and a sampling point sampled by the first image generation means is moved by a distance smaller than the pixel interval. An endoscope apparatus comprising: a second image generation unit that re-samples a first image at a pseudo sampling point that has been performed; and an image display unit that displays the first and second images.
Position specifying means for specifying a desired position on the second image;
First designated position moving means for moving the position of the point designated by the position designation means in units of pixel intervals of the first image;
Second designated position moving means for moving the position of the point designated by the position designation means in units of the amount of movement of the sampling point in the second image generating means;
Switching means for switching operation states of the first designated position moving means and the second designated position moving means;
A calculation means for performing a desired calculation using the position of the point designated by the position designation means;
An endoscope apparatus comprising:

(Additional remark 2) The endoscope apparatus of Additional remark 1 provided with the measurement means to measure by the said calculating means.
(Supplementary note 3) The endoscope apparatus according to supplementary note 1, further comprising luminance value / color difference value display means for displaying luminance values or color difference values of the first image and the second image.

(Additional remark 4) The endoscope apparatus of Additional remark 3 characterized by performing the display of the said luminance value or color difference value display means with a graph.

It is a figure explaining the endoscope apparatus for measurement of this embodiment. It is a block diagram explaining the structure of the endoscope apparatus for measurement. It is a figure explaining a remote controller. It is a perspective view which shows the structure which attached the direct-viewing type stereo optical adapter to the endoscope end part for measurement. It is AA sectional drawing of FIG. It is a figure which shows the method of calculating | requiring the three-dimensional coordinate of a measurement point by stereo measurement. (A) is a flowchart explaining the flow of measurement by the measuring endoscope apparatus, and (b) is a flowchart explaining measurement point designation. (C) is a flowchart for explaining setting of an enlarged region, (d) is a flowchart for explaining enlarged image generation processing, (e) is a flowchart for explaining movement of sampling points, ( f) is a flowchart illustrating setting of the movement amount unit of the sampling point. (A) is a figure which shows two right-and-left original images read, (b) is a figure which shows the measurement screen at the time of pointing near a measurement point and displaying an enlarged image, (c) These are figures which show the measurement screen containing the enlarged image at the time of moving a sampling point, (d) is a figure which shows the measurement screen when changing magnification to 6 times, (e) FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a measurement screen when the unit of the moving amount of the sampling point is set to the pixel interval of the original image and the enlargement magnification is changed to 6.times., (F) is a diagram showing the measurement screen; g) is a diagram showing a measurement screen including a measurement result when a distance between two points is measured. It is a figure which shows the enlarged image produced | generated by linear interpolation. (A) is a figure which shows the original image of 6 horizontal pixels x 1 vertical pixel, (b) is a figure which shows the brightness | luminance in the sampling point of an original image, (c) is the brightness | luminance of a sampling point moving image. (D) is a figure which shows the brightness | luminance in the sampling point of the original image at the time of increasing the number of pixels for expansion, (e) is an enlarged image from the brightness | luminance information of (d). FIG. It is a figure which shows the sampling point in the original image, and the moved sampling point. It is a figure which shows an example of the original image of a measuring object. It is a figure which shows the simple expansion image of the expansion area | region of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Endoscope for measurement 11 ... Endoscope insertion part 12 ... Control unit 13 ... Remote controller 14 ... Liquid crystal monitor (LCD)
17 ... Face Mount Display (FMD)
18 ... FMD adapter 19 ... speaker 20 ... microphone 21 ... personal computer 22 ... compact flash (registered trademark) memory card 23 ... PCMCIA memory card (PMCIA memory card)
24 ... Endoscope unit 25 ... Camera control unit (CCU)
26 ... CPU
27 ... ROM
28 ... RAM
29 ... RS-232c interface (RS-232C I / F)
30 ・ ・ ・ PC card interface (PC card I / F)
31 ... USB interface (USB I / F)
32 ... Audio signal processing circuit 33 ... Video signal processing circuit 34, 35 ... Objective lens system 36 ... Illumination lens 37 ... Stereo optical adapter 38 ... Fixing ring 39 ... Internal view Mirror tip 43 ... Individual imaging device 43a ... Signal line 53 ... Female screw 54 ... Male screw 61 ... Joystick 62 ... Lever switch 63 ... Freeze switch 64 ... Store switch 65 ... Measurement execution switch 66 ... WIDE switch for enlarged display switching 67 ... TELE switch 70 ... External video input terminal

Claims (3)

A first image generating means for generating a first image by sampling data at a predetermined pixel interval; and a second image generating means for generating a second image by performing a predetermined operation on the first image. And an endoscope apparatus comprising image display means for displaying the first and second images.
Position specifying means for specifying a desired position on the second image;
First designated position moving means for moving the position of the point designated by the position designation means in units of pixel intervals of the first image;
Second designated position movement means for moving the position of the point designated by the position designation means in units smaller than the pixel interval of the first image;
Switching means for switching operation states of the first designated position moving means and the second designated position moving means;
A calculation means for performing a desired calculation using the position of the point designated by the position designation means;
An endoscope apparatus comprising:   The endoscope apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising measurement means for measuring by the calculation means. The endoscope apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a luminance value / color difference value display means for displaying luminance values or color difference values of the first image and the second image.