Patent ID: 7588534
Filing Date: 2009-09-15
Classification: A61B

Abstract:
1. An endoscope system comprising: a voice input unit which inputs voice in a natural phrase; a voice and character converting means which recognizes the voice inputted and converts the inputted voice into character data; comparison data storing means for prestoring, as comparison data with a hierarchal structure, first command character trains for specifying each of a plurality of devices in a storage area corresponding to a first hierarchal tier in a memory in a system controller for controlling the plurality of devices, second command character trains related to respective functional commands of the plurality of devices in a storage area corresponding to a second hierarchal tier branching from the first hierarchal tier, and third command character trains related to respective operational commands of the functional commands in a storage area corresponding to a third hierarchal tier branching from the second hierarchal tier; a monitoring unit which monitors the first, second and third command character trains that are stored in the comparison data storing means and the character data that is converted by the voice and character converting means; an executing unit which executes an instruction previously allocated to the combination of the command character trains that correspond to the first, second and third command character command trains, upon detecting, in the converted character data, the command character train from the first, second and third command character trains for a predetermined time interval in accordance with the hierarchal structure of the preset comparison data; and a verification requesting means for issuing an audible verification request when the instruction is predetermined to require verification prior to execution.