Patent ID: 7283247

Claim:
An optical probe system comprising: an optical probe to be inserted into a body cavity; a light source that generates lights which is irradiated to an object; a high-magnification observation unit incorporated in the distal section of the optical probe; an image digtization unit that digitizes a luminance signal produced by the high-magnification observation unit; an image parameter sampling unit that samples an image parameter from an image; an optimization parameter calculation unit that calculates an optimization parameter on the basis of the image parameter; an image optimization unit that optimizes an image according to the optimization parameter; an image display device on which an optimized image is displayed; a digital image preservation unit in which a digital image is preserved; a display/preservation selection device that is used to select or designate display/reservation parameters, which determine displaying and preserving an image, on the image display device, and wherein the display/preservation parameters include at least one of: a parameter concerning display/preservation mode in which at least a specific image is displayed and/or preserved; a parameter concerning a reference for selection based on which an image to be displayed on the image device, that is, an object of display and/or preservation is specified; a parameter concerning simultaneously preserved data, that is, data other than an image that should be preserved together with an image displayed on the image display device; a parameter concerning timing of preservation, that is, at what timing an image displayed on the image display device should be preserved; and a parameter concerning blur correction, that is, whether a blur in an image displayed on the image display device should be corrected; and a control device that controls any one of the light source, image display device, and digital image preservation unit on the basis of the display/preservation parameters, and executed display and preservation; wherein the display/preservation selection device is used to select or designate the reference for selection from among: a luminance value represented by a luminance signal sampled by the high-magnification observation unit; an area that is defined within an image range produced by the high-magnification observation unit; a frame image that specifies a certain number of frame images from among time-sequentially consecutive frame images; and a time during which a specific frame image out of time-sequentially consecutive frame images is displayed or preserved.