Endoscope Exposure Control Using Mucous Membrane Brightness
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing endoscope systems experience fluctuations in image brightness due to changes in the relative distance or angle between the endoscope and the observation target, leading to inaccurate exposure adjustments, resulting in flickering of the observation image.
Innovation Solution
An endoscope system with a processor device that includes a light source control unit and image sensor, which acquires and processes three-color images (R, G, and B images) to calculate an optimal exposure amount by selecting the image with the smallest pixel value change when the angle of view changes, ensuring consistent brightness across imaging frames.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the exposure amount is automatically adjusted based on the brightness of the observation image, then the brightness of the observation image is stabilized, but flickering still occurs due to variations in blood vessel appearance and the exposure amount is not adjusted with sufficient accuracy
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the blood vessel components from the observation image and excludes them from the brightness calculation. By separating the blood vessel regions (which cause variable darkness) from the mucous membrane regions, the system calculates exposure amount based only on the mucous membrane brightness, thereby eliminating the flickering effect caused by blood vessel appearance variations and achieving precise exposure adjustment.
2Measurement precision
If the exposure amount is adjusted using observation images with blood vessels appearing darkly, then the exposure amount becomes too large, but if adjusted using images without blood vessels, then the exposure amount becomes too small
Solution Approach 1:
The invention applies local quality by differentiating between different regions of the observation image. It identifies and separates blood vessel regions (which should be excluded) from mucous membrane regions (which should be used for exposure calculation). This localized approach ensures that exposure amount is determined based on the appropriate tissue type, achieving both precise measurement and consistent brightness across different imaging conditions.
3Ease of operation
If the amount of illumination light is set to be constant, then the system is simple to operate, but the brightness of the observation image changes with distance and angle variations
Solution Approach 1:
The invention implements feedback control by continuously monitoring the brightness of the mucous membrane region in the observation image and automatically adjusting the amount of illumination light accordingly. The light source control unit receives brightness information and modulates the illumination intensity to maintain constant exposure amount, eliminating the need for manual adjustment while ensuring brightness stability despite variations in distance or angle.
Data Source
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AI summary
Provided are an endoscope system, a processor device, and an endoscope system operation method capable of adjusting an exposure amount with higher accuracy than in the related art. An endoscope system (10) includes a light source unit (20) that emits illumination light, an image sensor (48) that images an observation target by using the illumination light, an image acquisition unit (54) that acquires plural-color images obtained by imaging the observation target by using the image sensor (48), and an exposure amount control portion (73) that controls an exposure amount in a case where the image acquisition unit (54) obtains the plural-color images, by using some-color images among the plural-color images.