Electronic endoscope apparatus
US6489987B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jan 4, 1999 |
| Grant date | Dec 3, 2002 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 4, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04N23/555
- WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
This electronic endoscope apparatus is capable of forming a still image with high image quality by reading out all pixels obtained through an image-pickup device by one exposure and faithfully reproducing the movement concerning moving images. A switch between a pixel mix reading system, which mixes pixels accumulated on the image pickup device having a plurality of color filters arranged in units of pixels between upper and lower horizontal lines to read out from the image-pickup device, and an all-pixel reading system, which reads out signals of all pixels accumulated on the image-pickup device by one exposure uses a light shielding period set by a light shielded. This all-pixel reading system forms a still image, and the other pixel mix reading system forms a moving image. Also, moving image data are delayed using a delay memory, and still image data are prevented from being written in a memory as moving image data, whereby display of any incomplete image is prevented on switching the moving image to the still image. Further, black level voltage in a moving image signal will always be used even when the still image is selected.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.