Patent ID: 6295368
Filing Date: 2001-09-25
Classification: A61B

Abstract:
An endoscopic image processing system, comprising:an imaging device which produces endoscopic images of a subject through an objective;an image memory which stores a plurality of images produced by the imaging device;a relative shape estimator which estimates relative shapes depicted by the plurality of images according to image signals representing the plurality of images stored in the memory;a first coil located near the objective;a position information detector, having a second coil disposed at a predetermined position, which detects the positions of the first coil by utilizing magnetic fields;a position information acquiring unit which obtains position information of the positions detected by the position information detector in association with the respective images stored in the image information memory; anda subject shape estimator which estimates the shape of the subject according to the relative shape information of the relative shapes estimated by the relative shape estimator and the position information acquired by the position information acquiring unit.