Patent ID: 6224542
Filing Date: 2001-05-01
Classification: A61B

Abstract:
A control unit for an endoscopic camera system, the control unit comprising:voice input means for receiving voice commands from a user;image input means for receiving image data from an endoscopic camera;image output means for outputting images to a display device; andprocessing means for processing the image data to generate images of internal features of a body, the processing means including zoom means for non-mechanically zooming the images, the zoom means includingmeans for defining, in response to a set of voice commands from a user, zoomed views of a plurality of non-overlapping subsets of a field of view of the endoscopic camera for a particular position and orientation of the endoscopic camera,means for maintaining data identifying all of the zoomed views,means for using said data to select an appropriate one of said zoomed views in response to a first voice command specifying said zoomed view and for causing said zoomed view to be displayed on the display device in response to the first voice command, without requiring movement of the endoscopic camera, andmeans for switching between one of the zoomed views displayed on the display device to another one of the zoomed views displayed on the display device in response to a second voice command from the user, without requiring movement of the endoscopic camera.