JP2006034560A - Endoscope light source device and endoscope system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To install a substitution light source while suppressing the enlargement of a device. <P>SOLUTION: To a light source device for an endoscope comprising a main light source for emitting illumination light, an optical fiber holding means for holding the incidence end face of an optical fiber of the endoscope on the optical path of the illumination light, a liquid crystal panel for displaying various kinds of information and a backlight for illuminating the liquid crystal panel, a backlight light incidence means for making backlight light emitted by the backlight be incident on the optical fiber is installed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an endoscope light source device including a light source that emits illumination light for illuminating a body cavity, and an endoscope system including the endoscope light source device.

  An endoscope system for observing the inside of a body cavity generally includes an endoscope in which a light guide for guiding light into the body cavity is inserted, and illumination light guided to the light guide. An endoscope light source device having a light source that emits illumination light for illuminating the interior is provided. As a light source provided in such an apparatus, for example, a metal halide lamp, a xenon lamp, a halogen lamp, or the like is employed (for example, Patent Document 1).

  Moreover, in such a light source device of an endoscope system, one provided with an auxiliary light source in addition to the main light source enumerated above has been proposed and put into practical use (for example, Patent Document 2). Such an auxiliary light source is provided as a substitute light source when the main light source cannot be turned on due to a failure, for example.

In the light source device of Patent Document 2, when the auxiliary light source is not used, the auxiliary light source is retracted to a position that does not interfere with the illumination light emitted from the main light source, and when the auxiliary light source is used, The auxiliary light source is moved from the retracted position to a position near the light guide incident end face.
JP 2003-38437 A JP 2004-167126 A

  However, in the light source device as shown in Patent Document 2, a space for installing a dedicated auxiliary light source as a substitute light source and a space for retracting the auxiliary light source are required, so that the size of the device itself is increased. There was a point.

  Therefore, in view of the above circumstances, the present invention provides an endoscope light source device in which a substitute light source can be installed while suppressing an increase in the size of the device, and an endoscope system including the endoscope light source device. The purpose is to provide.

  An endoscope light source device according to an aspect of the present invention that solves the above problems includes a main light source that emits illumination light, and light that holds an incident end face of an optical fiber of the endoscope on an optical path of the illumination light. Backlight incident that includes a fiber holding means, a liquid crystal panel that displays various information, and a backlight that illuminates the liquid crystal panel, and that causes the backlight emitted from the backlight to enter the optical fiber. Means are provided.

  In the above-described endoscope light source device, the backlight light incident means can move the backlight to a space between the main light source and the optical fiber holding means so as to face the optical fiber incident end face. The endoscope light source device may further include a light amount detection unit that detects the amount of illumination light.When the detected light amount is a predetermined threshold value or less, the backlight light incident unit is The backlight can be moved to the space.

  Further, when the power source of the endoscope light source device is turned off, the backlight light incident means can move the backlight to a position for illuminating the liquid crystal panel.

  In the endoscope light source device, the backlight light incident means includes a backlight light deflecting means for deflecting the backlight light so that the backlight light enters the optical fiber, and the backlight light deflecting means. It may have a moving means for moving on the optical path of the backlight light. The endoscope light source device may further include a light amount detection unit that detects the amount of illumination light.When the detected light amount is a predetermined threshold value or less, the backlight light incident unit is The backlight light deflection means can be moved on the optical path.

  Further, when the power source of the endoscope light source device is turned off, the backlight light incident means can retract the backlight light deflection means from the optical path.

  In addition, an endoscope system according to an aspect of the present invention that solves the above-described problems includes any one of the above-described endoscope light source devices and an optical fiber whose incident end face is held by the optical fiber holding means. And an endoscope.

  In the endoscope light source device according to the present invention, the backlight which is the illumination optical system of the liquid crystal panel is used as a substitute light source, so that it is not necessary to install a dedicated substitute light source in the device. In the backlight of the present invention, the position corresponding to the retracted position of the conventional substitute light source is a position for illuminating the liquid crystal panel, and is a position where the backlight should be originally installed. For this reason, it is not necessary to secure a special space inside the apparatus for retracting the substitute light source. Therefore, the apparatus does not increase in size while having a substitute light source.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically illustrating an electronic endoscope system 10 according to a first embodiment of the present invention. Below, with reference to FIG. 1, the structure and effect | action of the electronic endoscope system 10 of the present Example 1 are demonstrated.

  The electronic endoscope system 10 according to the first embodiment is inserted into a body cavity and includes an electronic endoscope 100 that images a living tissue that is an observation target in the body cavity. Further, a processor 200 having both a signal processing unit that processes a signal output from the electronic endoscope 100 and converts the signal into a monitor-displayable signal and a light source unit that emits illumination light for illuminating the inside of the body cavity is provided. Have. Furthermore, it has the monitor 300 which displays the signal which this processor 200 output as an image | video.

  The electronic endoscope 100 according to the first embodiment includes a connector unit 110 that performs connection with the processor 200. The connector unit 110 holds one end of an electric cable 111 having a plurality of signal lines for transmitting each signal and a light guide 162 that is a fiber bundle that guides illumination light. The light guide 162 and the electrical cable 111 are inserted into the electronic endoscope 100 from the connector unit 110 to a distal end portion 160 described later. The light guide 162 and the other end of the electric cable 111 are held by the tip portion 160.

  In addition, the electronic endoscope 100 includes an operation unit 130 for an operator to operate the endoscope 100. The connector unit 110 and the operation unit 130 are connected by a universal cord 140 having flexibility. Furthermore, this electronic endoscope 100 includes a flexible insertion portion flexible tube 150 as a portion to be inserted into a body cavity, and a distal end portion 160 formed at the distal end portion of the insertion portion flexible tube 150. It has.

  The processor 200 has an electrical connector 210 and a light guide connector 220 at a front portion thereof. The electrical connector 210 is an input / output terminal of the signal processing unit. The light guide connector 220 is an emitting unit that emits illumination light emitted from the light source unit. The electronic endoscope 100 and the processor 200 are electrically connected by an electric cable 111 and an electric connector 210. The light guide 162 and the light guide connector 220 are optically connected.

  In addition, the processor 200 has an operation unit 240 for executing operations and settings of each component included in the electronic endoscope system 10 and a liquid crystal panel 241 for displaying various types of information at a front portion thereof. Yes. By operating the operation unit 240, for example, the brightness and color balance of the display screen can be adjusted.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the electronic endoscope system 10 according to the first embodiment. Referring to FIG. 2, the processor 200 includes, as the light source unit, a main lamp 221 that is a light source of illumination light (white light) that illuminates the body cavity, a condensing lens 222 installed in front of the main lamp 221, and A main lamp control circuit 223 that controls light emission of the main lamp 221 is provided. As the main lamp 221, for example, a metal halide lamp, a xenon lamp, a halogen lamp, or the like is assumed.

  When a light on / off switch (not shown) for turning on / off the main lamp 221 provided in the operation unit 240 is operated and turned on, the control unit 230 that controls the entire processor 200 is turned on. Input signal. The control unit 230 transmits a control signal to the main lamp control circuit 223 based on this input signal. When the main lamp control circuit 223 controls the main lamp 221 to emit light based on this control signal, the main lamp 221 is turned on. Here, when the light guide 162 and the light guide connector 220 are connected, the incident end surface, which is one end of the light guide 162, is held by the light guide connector 220 and in the vicinity of the imaging position of the condenser lens 222. To position. Therefore, the white light emitted from the main lamp 221 forms an image by the power of the condenser lens 222, enters the light guide 162 from the incident end surface, and is transmitted toward the tip portion 160 through the inside.

  The exit end surface, which is the other end of the light guide 162, is held by the distal end portion 160. A light distribution lens 163 is installed in front of the emission end face and in front of the front end portion 160. The white light transmitted by the light guide 162 is emitted from the light distribution lens 163, illuminates the living tissue that is the observation target in the body cavity, and is reflected by the tissue. The reflected white light is incident on the objective lens 164 installed on the front surface of the distal end portion 160.

  The reflected light incident on the objective lens 164 is combined as an optical image of a living tissue on the light receiving surface (a surface on which a plurality of light receiving elements are arranged in a matrix) of the solid-state image sensor 171 by the power of the objective lens 164. Imaged. The optical image of the living tissue imaged on the light receiving surface is accumulated as a charge corresponding to the amount of light in each light receiving element and converted into an image signal of the living tissue.

  A drive circuit 181 that drives and controls the solid-state image sensor 171 is installed behind the solid-state image sensor 171. The image signal generated by the solid-state image sensor 171 is output by drive control of the drive circuit 181, transmitted through the signal line included in the electric cable 111, and input to the processor 200.

  Next, signal processing in the processor 200 will be described. The processor 200 according to the first embodiment includes an image processing signal circuit 251, an amplifier 252, a memory 253, and a video signal processing circuit 254 as the signal processing unit.

  The image signal output from the solid-state image sensor 171 is input to the image processing signal circuit 251 via the electrical connector 210. The image processing signal circuit 251 performs sampling / hold processing and A / D conversion, and further performs color separation processing on the signals of the R component, G component, and B component, and outputs them to the amplifier 252.

  The amplifier 252 includes an amplifier 252R that amplifies the R component signal, an amplifier 252G that amplifies the G component signal, and an amplifier 252B that amplifies the B component signal. The signal of each color component output from the image signal processing circuit 251 is input to the corresponding amplifier, and the intensity (signal level) is amplified and output to the memory 253.

  The memory 253 includes a memory 253R that stores an R component signal, a memory 253G that stores a G component signal, and a memory 253B that stores a B component signal. Each color component signal output from the amplifier 252 is stored in a corresponding memory. The signals of the color components stored in the memories are simultaneously read out from the memories 253R, 253G, and 253B at a predetermined timing under the control of the control unit 230, and output to the video signal processing circuit 254. The video signal processing circuit 254 converts the video signal into a video signal that can be displayed on the monitor (for example, a composite video signal, an S video signal, or an RGB video signal). When the converted video signal is output to the monitor 300, the image in the body cavity currently being observed is displayed on the monitor 300.

  When the operation unit 240 is operated to adjust the brightness, color balance, etc. of the video displayed on the monitor 300, the brightness and color of the video are adjusted, and information indicating the adjustment level is displayed on the liquid crystal panel 241. Is displayed. The liquid crystal panel 241 is a transmissive liquid crystal panel that can display various types of information when illuminated by the backlight 242. The backlight 242 is controlled to emit light by a backlight control circuit 243.

  Here, in the electronic endoscope system 10 of the first embodiment, the backlight 242 can be used as a substitute light source for the main lamp 221. FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram showing the internal configuration of the processor 200 according to the first embodiment, in which only the configuration related to the substitute light source is extracted and shown. The configuration and operation of the substitute light source of the processor 200 according to the first embodiment will be described below with reference to FIG.

  First, the main light source provided in the processor 200 will be described in detail. As described above, the main light source provided in the processor 200 of the first embodiment is the main lamp 221. The main lamp 221 has a lamp 221 a that emits white light by light emission control of the main lamp control circuit 223. Moreover, it has the parabolic reflector 221b which condenses the white light radiated | emitted from the lamp | ramp 221a and advances it ahead. Furthermore, it has a collimating lens 221c that converts white light traveling forward to parallel light.

  The white light emitted from the main lamp 221 as parallel light forms an image by the power of the condenser lens 222 as described above and enters the light guide 162 from the incident end face. Thereby, the inside of the body cavity is illuminated by the white light of the main lamp 221. A light amount detection sensor 224 that detects the light amount of the main lamp 221 is installed in the vicinity of the main lamp 221 in order to execute a substitute light source switching process to be described later.

  Next, the backlight 242 used as a substitute light source and the configuration related thereto will be described. The backlight 242 includes a fluorescent lamp 242 a that emits light by light emission control of the backlight control circuit 243. Moreover, it has the reflective mirror 242b which reflects the light radiated | emitted from the fluorescent lamp 242a. Moreover, it has the light-guide plate 242c which makes the reflected light the uniform surface light source. Furthermore, a reflection film 242d that reflects light from the light guide plate 242c toward the liquid crystal panel 241 and a diffusion film 242e that diffuses light emitted from the light guide plate 242c toward the liquid crystal panel 241 are provided.

  The transmittance of each pixel in the liquid crystal panel 241 changes according to the state of each corresponding liquid crystal molecule. For this reason, when light emitted from the diffusion film 242e (hereinafter referred to as backlight light) illuminates the liquid crystal panel 241, a bright portion and a dark portion are formed on the screen of the liquid crystal panel 241 due to the difference in transmittance of each pixel. For example, a graphic or character information indicating the adjustment level appears on the screen due to the combination of the bright part and the dark part.

  Further, the processor 200 is provided with a backlight movement mechanism 244 that moves the backlight 242 so as to function as a substitute light source. The backlight moving mechanism 244 has a stepping motor 244a for moving the backlight 242. Further, it has an arm 244b in which the rotation axis A of the stepping motor 244a and the backlight 242 are relatively fixed. When the stepping motor 244a is driven to rotate, the arm 244b fixed to the rotation axis A and the backlight 242 held by the arm 244b rotate in a plane perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 3 (in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 3).

  Next, a substitute light source switching process for switching the backlight 242 to a substitute light source will be described. FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a substitute light source switching process executed by the control unit 230 according to the first embodiment.

  When the power of the processor 200 is turned on, the control unit 230 determines whether or not the lighting / extinguishing switch provided in the operation unit 240 is turned on (step 1, hereinafter, step is abbreviated as “S”). ). If it is determined that the on / off switch is not turned on (S1: NO), the control unit 230 executes the determination process of S1 again after a predetermined timing.

  When it is determined that the on / off switch is turned on (S1: YES), the control unit 230 detects the output value of the light amount detection sensor 224 and determines whether the value is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold. (S2).

  In the process of S2, when it is determined that the output value of the light amount detection sensor 224 is higher than a predetermined threshold (S2: NO), the main lamp 221 is illuminating the observation target with sufficient brightness, and This means that the person can clearly see the object. Therefore, it is not necessary to use a substitute light source. For this reason, the control part 230 performs the determination process of S2 again after a predetermined timing, without advancing this process.

  Moreover, in the process of S2, when it is determined that the output value of the light amount detection sensor 224 is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold (S2: YES), the main lamp 221 is not illuminating the observation target with sufficient brightness, This means that the surgeon may not be able to see the target clearly. Therefore, it is necessary to use a substitute light source. For this reason, the control unit 230 rotates the stepping motor 244a by 180 degrees (S3), and the space between the main lamp 221 and the condenser lens 222 (the position indicated by the one-dot chain line in FIG. The backlight 242 is moved to a position facing the lens 222.

  The backlight light radiated from the backlight 242 moved to a position facing the condenser lens 222 is imaged by the power of the condenser lens 222 and is incident as described above, similarly to the white light emitted from the main lamp 221. The light enters the light guide 162 from the end face, and is transmitted toward the front end portion 160 through the inside. As a result, the inside of the body cavity is illuminated by the backlight light of the backlight 242 instead of the white light of the main lamp 221.

  When the power of the processor 200 is turned off, the control unit 230 drives the stepping motor 244a to rotate 180 degrees, and returns the backlight 242 to a position for illuminating the liquid crystal panel 241.

  When the substitute light source switching process described above is executed, the backlight 242 is turned off when the main lamp 221 fails and cannot be turned on, or when the amount of light decreases significantly and a clear observation image cannot be captured. It can be used as a substitute light source to illuminate the inside of the body cavity and continue the observation work.

  In the electronic endoscope system 10 according to the first embodiment, the backlight 242 that is an illumination optical system for the liquid crystal panel 241 is used as a substitute light source. Absent.

  Furthermore, in the backlight 242 of the first embodiment, the position corresponding to the retracted position of the conventional substitute light source is a position for illuminating the liquid crystal panel 241 and is a position where the backlight 242 should be originally installed. . For this reason, it is not necessary to secure a special space inside the processor 200 for retracting the substitute light source. Therefore, the processor 200 does not increase in size while having a substitute light source.

  FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating an internal configuration of the processor 200z provided in the endoscope system according to the second embodiment of the present invention, in which only the configuration related to the substitute light source is extracted and illustrated. In the processor 200z of the second embodiment, the same components as those of the processor 200 of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 3 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted here. The configuration and operation of the processor 200z according to the second embodiment will be described below with reference to FIG.

  In the processor 200z of the second embodiment, the backlight 242 itself is not moved and used as a substitute light source as in the processor 200 of the first embodiment, but the backlight emitted from the backlight 242 is used as the backlight light. The light is deflected using the deflection mechanism 245 and used as illumination light.

  The backlight light deflection mechanism 245 provided in the processor 200z of the second embodiment has a stepping motor 245a that can rotate in the forward and reverse directions. Moreover, it has the gear 245b attached to the rotating shaft B of the stepping motor 245a. When the stepping motor 245a is driven to rotate, the gear 245b attached to the rotation shaft B rotates in a plane orthogonal to the paper surface of FIG. 5 (in the direction of arrow R in FIG. 5). Hereinafter, the clockwise arrow R direction is referred to as a forward rotation direction, and the counterclockwise arrow R direction is referred to as a reverse rotation direction.

The backlight light deflection mechanism 245 further includes a caterpillar 245c that slides in the direction of arrow S following the rotation of the gear 245b, and deflection prisms 245d and 245e held in the vicinity of both ends of the caterpillar 245c. The deflection prism 245d is installed at the end of the caterpillar 245c located in the vicinity of the backlight 242. Further, the deflection prism 245e is installed at the end of the caterpillar 245c located in the vicinity of the condenser lens 222. Each of the deflection prisms 245d and 245e is formed by bonding two quadrangular pyramid optical members, and the bonded surface is a reflecting surface. Hereinafter, the reflection surface deflecting prism 245d has a _{M 1,} referred to the reflecting surface of the deflection prism 245e has a _{M 2.}

  When white light from the main lamp 221 is used as illumination light, the deflecting prism 245d is positioned away from the space between the liquid crystal panel 241 and the backlight 242, and the deflecting prism 245e is used for white light from the main lamp 221. It is retracted from the optical path (that is, disposed at the position indicated by the solid line in FIG. 5). Therefore, in a normal state, the deflection prism 245d does not block the backlight light traveling to the liquid crystal panel 241, and the deflection prism 245e does not block the white light of the main light 221 of the main lamp 221. .

  Here, in the processor 200z of the second embodiment, when the substitute light source switching process as described above is executed and it is determined that the output value of the light amount detection sensor 224 is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value, the control unit 230 causes the backlight 242 to return. The stepping motor 244a is driven to rotate in the forward direction in order to use the backlight emitted from the light as illumination light. As a result, the gear 245b rotates in the forward rotation direction, and the caterpillar 245c, the deflection prism 245d, and the deflection prism 245e slide in the arrow S direction so as to approach the condenser lens 222.

The deflection prism 245d slid in the arrow S direction is the position indicated by the one-dot chain line in FIG. 5 and is inserted into the space between the liquid crystal panel 241 and the backlight 242. Therefore, a portion of the backlight is incident on the deflecting prism 245 d, is deflected so as to go straight to the deflecting prism 245e by the reflecting surface M _1.

At this time, the deflecting prism 245e is at a position indicated by a one-dot chain line in FIG. 5 and is inserted into a space between the main lamp 221 and the condenser lens 222. Since the reflecting surface M ₂ of the deflecting prism 245 e is positioned so as to face the condenser lens 222, the backlight light deflected by the reflecting surface M ₁ is deflected 90 degrees by the reflecting surface M ₂ and enters the condenser lens 222. To do. Then, an image is formed by the power of the condenser lens 222, enters the light guide 162 from the incident end face, and is transmitted toward the tip portion 160 through the inside. Thereby, the inside of the body cavity is illuminated by the backlight light of the backlight 242 instead of the white light of the main lamp 221 as in the first embodiment.

  When the power of the processor 200z is turned off, the control unit 230 drives the stepping motor 244a to rotate in the reverse direction, and returns the deflecting prisms 245d and 245e to the retracted position.

  The above is the embodiment of the present invention. The present invention is not limited to these examples and can be modified in various ranges.

It is the figure which showed typically the electronic endoscope system of Example 1 of this invention. It is the block diagram which showed the structure of the electronic endoscope system of Example 1 of this invention. It is the schematic block diagram which extracted and showed only the internal structure of the processor of Example 1 of this invention regarding a substitute light source. It is the flowchart which showed the substitute light source switching process which the control part of Example 1 of this invention performs. It is a schematic block diagram which extracted and showed only the structure regarding the substitute light source which is an internal structure of the processor 200 with which the endoscope system of Example 2 of this invention was equipped.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Electronic endoscope system 100 Electronic endoscope 110 Connector unit 111 Electric cable 160 Front-end | tip part 162 Light guide 163 Light distribution lens 200, 200z Processor 220 Light guide connector 221 Main lamp 222 Condensing lens 223 Main lamp control circuit 224 Light quantity Detection sensor 230 Control unit 241 Liquid crystal panel 242 Backlight 243 Backlight control circuit 244 Backlight movement mechanism 245 Backlight light deflection mechanism

Claims (8)

A main light source that emits illumination light;
Optical fiber holding means for holding the incident end face of the optical fiber of the endoscope on the optical path of the illumination light;
A liquid crystal panel that displays various information,
In an endoscope light source device comprising a backlight for illuminating the liquid crystal panel,
An endoscope light source device, comprising: backlight light incident means for causing backlight light emitted from the backlight to enter the optical fiber.   The said backlight light incident means moves the said backlight to the space between the said main light source and the said optical fiber holding means so as to oppose the said incident end surface, The Claim 1 characterized by the above-mentioned. Endoscope light source device. Further comprising a light amount detection means for detecting the light amount of the illumination light,
The endoscope light source device according to claim 2, wherein when the detected light amount is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value, the backlight light incident means moves the backlight to the space.   4. The backlight unit according to claim 2, wherein when the power is turned off, the backlight light incident unit moves the backlight to a position for illuminating the liquid crystal panel. 5. Endoscope light source device.   The backlight light incident means includes a backlight light deflecting means for deflecting the backlight light so that the backlight light enters the optical fiber, and the backlight light deflecting means on the optical path of the backlight light. The endoscope light source device according to claim 1, further comprising a moving unit that moves the endoscope. Further comprising a light amount detection means for detecting the light amount of the illumination light,
6. The endoscope light source according to claim 5, wherein when the detected light amount is equal to or smaller than a predetermined threshold, the backlight light incident means moves the backlight light deflecting means on the optical path. apparatus.   7. The endoscope for an endoscope according to claim 5, wherein when the power is turned off, the backlight light incident means retracts the backlight light deflecting means from the optical path. Light source device. An endoscope light source device according to any one of claims 1 to 7,
An endoscope system having an optical fiber having an optical fiber whose incident end face is held by the optical fiber holding means.

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