US6697101B1
Expired / Lapsed
US
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Electronic endoscope
Assignee: Pentax Corp
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Filing: 2000-09-19
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Granted: 2004-02-24
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Expires: 2020-09-19
Abstract
Abstract An electronic endoscope has a video-scope having an image sensor and a video-processor. The video-scope is connected to the video-processor, to which a computer system, having a display unit and a digital recorder, is connected. The image-pixel signals corresponding to an object image, formed on the image sensor, are read from the image sensor and processed to obtain digital video signals. The digital video signals are generated in accordance with a square-pixel frequency, which is a sampling frequency for the computer system. The digital video signals are fed to the computer system to display the object image on the display unit, and/or record the object image in the digital recorder.
Inventors
- 👤 Akihiro Takahashi
- 👤 Kohei Iketani
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-23 12:33
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N7/00; H04N7/18; H04N7/183; A; A61; A61B; A61B1/00; A61B1/04
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 18
Claim 1
Independent Claim
129 words
A video-processor of an electronic endoscope, to which a video-scope, which includes an image sensor and a computer are connected respectively, an object image being formed on said image sensor, and said video-processor processing image-pixel signals corresponding to the object image that are read from said image sensor, said video-processor comprising: a video signal processor that generates digital video signals on a basis of the image-pixel signals and output the digital video signals to the computer; and a first pulse generator for said video signal processor that feeds clock pulses to said video signal processor in accordance with a sampling frequency, such that the digital video signals are generated and output in accordance with the sampling frequency; wherein the sampling frequency corresponds to a square-pixel frequency for the computer.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
129 words
A video-processor of an electronic endoscope, to which a video-scope, which includes an image sensor and a computer are connected respectively, an object image being formed on said image sensor, and said video-processor processing image-pixel signals corresponding to the object image that are read from said image sensor, said video-processor comprising: a video signal processor that generates digital video signals on a basis of the image-pixel signals and output the digital video signals to the computer; and a first pulse generator for said video signal processor that feeds clock pulses to said video signal processor in accordance with a sampling frequency, such that the digital video signals are generated and output in accordance with the sampling frequency; wherein the sampling frequency corresponds to a square-pixel frequency for the computer.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
30 words
The video-processor of claim 1 , wherein the sampling frequency is set to one of “n” times the square-pixel frequency and “1/n” times the square-pixel frequency, where “n” represents integers.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
88 words
The video-processor of claim 1 , wherein the image-pixel signals are transformed into digital R, G, B signals, corresponding to red, green and blue colors respectively, by applying a R, G, B sequential method, and said video signal processor includes: a matrix circuit that transforms the digital R, G, B signals to digital luminance signals and digital color difference signals; and a multiplexer that processes the digital luminance signals and the digital color difference signals so that multiple digital video signals are generated as the digital video signals.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
45 words
The video-processor of claim 3 , said multiplexer generates the multiple digital video signals such that a ratio of a sampling frequency of the digital luminance signals and a sampling frequency of the digital color difference signals in the multiplexed digital video signals becomes “4:2:2”.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
42 words
The video-processor of claim 4 , wherein the clock frequency of clock pulses fed to said matrix circuit is the same as the square-pixel frequency, and the clock frequency of clock pulses fed to said multiplexer is two times the square-pixel frequency.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
58 words
The video-processor of claim 1 , wherein a digital recorder for recording the object image as digital image data and a display unit for displaying the object image, which correspond to a computer video standard, are connected to the computer respectively, the digital video signals being fed to said digital recorder and said display unit via the computer.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
55 words
The video-processor of claim 3 , wherein said video signal processor further includes a parallel/serial converter that transforms the multiple digital video signals to digital serial video signal to feed digital serial video signals to the computer, said first pulse generator feeding the clock pulses to said parallel/serial converter in accordance with the square-pixel frequency.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
125 words
A decoder in combination with said video-processor in claim 7 , said decoder provided between said video-processor and the computer for feeding the digital R, G, B signals to the computer, said decoder comprising: a serial/parallel converter that transforms the digital serial video signals to the multiple digital video signals; a demultiplexer that processes the multiple digital video signals so as to restore the digital luminance signals and the digital color difference signals; an inverse matrix circuit that transforms the digital luminance signals and the digital color difference signals to the digital R, G, B signals; and a second pulse generator for said decoder that feeds clock pulses to said serial/parallel converter, said demultiplexer and said inverse matrix circuit in accordance with the square-pixel frequency.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
88 words
A video-processor of an electronic endoscope connected to an image sensor and a processor, said video-processor comprising: a video signal processor that generates digital video signals on a basis of image-pixel signals and outputs digital video signals to the processor; and a first pulse generator that feeds clock pulses to said video signal processor in accordance with a sampling frequency, such that the digital video signals are generated and output in accordance with the sampling frequency; wherein the sampling frequency corresponds to a square-pixel frequency of the processor.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
88 words
A video-processor of an electronic endoscope connected to an image sensor and a processor, said video-processor comprising: a video signal processor that generates digital video signals on a basis of image-pixel signals and outputs digital video signals to the processor; and a first pulse generator that feeds clock pulses to said video signal processor in accordance with a sampling frequency, such that the digital video signals are generated and output in accordance with the sampling frequency; wherein the sampling frequency corresponds to a square-pixel frequency of the processor.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
31 words
The video-processor of claim 9 , wherein the sampling frequency is set to one of “n” times the square-pixel frequency and “1/n” times the square-pixel frequency, where “n” is an integer.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
88 words
The video-processor of claim 9 , wherein the image-pixel signals are transformed into digital R, G, B signals, corresponding to red, green and blue colors respectively, by applying a R, G, B sequential method, and said video signal processor comprising: a matrix circuit that transforms the digital R, G, B signals to digital luminance signals and digital color difference signals; and a multiplexer that processes the digital luminance signals and the digital color difference signals so that multiple digital video signals are generated as the digital video signals.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
57 words
The video-processor of claim 9 , wherein a digital recorder for recording an object image as digital image data and a display unit for displaying the object image, which correspond to a computer video standard, are connected to the processor, the digital video signals being fed to said digital recorder and said display unit via the processor.
Claim 15
Independent Claim
82 words
A method of using a video-processor of an electronic endoscope connected to an image sensor and a processor, the method comprising: generating digital video signals on a basis of image-pixel signals and outputting digital video signals to the processor; and feeding clock pulses to a video signal processor in accordance with a sampling frequency, such that the digital video signals are generated and output in accordance with the sampling frequency; wherein the sampling frequency corresponds to a square-pixel frequency of the processor.
Claim 16
Independent Claim
82 words
A method of using a video-processor of an electronic endoscope connected to an image sensor and a processor, the method comprising: generating digital video signals on a basis of image-pixel signals and outputting digital video signals to the processor; and feeding clock pulses to a video signal processor in accordance with a sampling frequency, such that the digital video signals are generated and output in accordance with the sampling frequency; wherein the sampling frequency corresponds to a square-pixel frequency of the processor.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
31 words
The method of claim 13 , wherein the sampling frequency is set to one of “n” times the square-pixel frequency and “1/n” times the square-pixel frequency, where “n” is an integer.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
80 words
The method of claim 13 , wherein the image-pixel signals are transformed into digital R, G, B signals, corresponding to red, green and blue colors respectively, by applying a R, G, B sequential method, and the method further includes: transforming the digital R, G, B signals to digital luminance signals and digital color difference signals; and processing the digital luminance signals and the digital color difference signals so that multiple digital video signals are generated as the digital video signals.
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