Patent · US Active

Electronic endoscope system

US8231522B2 · kind B2 · utility

50Cited by
12References
13Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateSep 16, 2009
Grant dateJul 31, 2012
Priority date
Expiry dateApr 7, 2030

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04N25/76
  • WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

An electronic endoscope system includes an electronic endoscope having a CMOS image sensor on the tip of an insertion section, a light source device for illuminating the interior of a patient's body, and a processing device for reading out image signals from the CMOS image sensor. The electronic endoscope system can operate with a standard imaging mode and a special imaging mode. When the time taken to read out the image signals from all the pixels in the standard mode is defined as T, the light source device in the special imaging mode emits illumination light in every first half period T/2 while switching a wavelength of the illumination light between two different wavebands. In every second half period T/2, the processing device reads out the image signals from the half of the pixels.

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