Patent ID: 7488285

Claim:
A switch control apparatus comprising: an image reception unit for receiving an image signal from an image pickup device for picking up the image of an object; a medical instrument; an operation switch for operating the medical instrument; a selection switch for changing the allocation state of the medical instrument and the operation switch; a changing-over signal reception unit for receiving a changing-over signal from the selection switch; an image synthesis unit for synthesizing an image signal for displaying, in the image reception unit, the object image based on the image signal superimposed with information relating to the operation switch based on the changing-over signal received by the changing-over signal reception unit; a display toggle switch for turning on or off the superimposing of information related to the operation switch displayed in the image reception unit; and a synthesis cancellation unit for canceling the synthesis processing of the image synthesis unit after the changing-over signal has been received and a prescribed time has elapsed.