ENDOSCOPE INSERTION DIRECTION DETECTING DEVICE

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an endoscope insertion direction detecting device capable of surely detecting the direction of a lumen in a simple structure.

SOLUTION: This endoscope insertion direction detecting device comprises a pixel extraction means extracting a pixel of a prescribed concentration value for every region of an endoscopic image to be inputted from an image input/output control circuit 22, a region shape estimating means finding the shape of the region of the endoscopic image based on the continuity of the distribution of the pixel of the prescribed concentration value and an insertion direction determining means determining the insertion direction of the endoscope to the celom from the found shape. The insertion direction is displayed along with the endoscopic image.

COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO