Patent · US Expired

Electronic endoscope apparatus which superimposes signals on power supply

US7248281B2 · kind B2 · utility

67Cited by
4References
4Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateJul 15, 2003
Grant dateJul 24, 2007
Priority date
Expiry dateNov 10, 2025

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04N23/555
  • WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

An electronic endoscope apparatus has a single coaxial cable installed between a scope A and a processor unit B. Waveform superimposing circuits superimpose a video signal on power transmitted through the coaxial cable and sequentially superimpose scope-side reference pulses and processor-side reference pulses alternately on horizontal scanning blanking periods in one field of the video signal. At the same time, the scope A and processor unit B generate reference signals and various timing signals synchronized with the reference pulses of the counterpart and perform video processing based on them. This enables accurate sampling even when scopes with different pixel counts are used. Also, a scope information signal and electronic shutter control signal may be superimposed on a predetermined blanking period in the video signal. Alternatively, an electromagnetic coupler may be installed instead of the coaxial cable and the video signal and reference pulses may be superimposed on AC power supplied electromagnetically.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.