Patent ID: 8317680

Claim:
An endoscope apparatus comprising: an endoscope apparatus body portion which includes a first connector, and which is connectable to an insertion portion having an image pickup device disposed at a distal end portion thereof; and a connection unit which includes: a second connector which is removably connectable to the endoscope apparatus body portion by communicating the second connector with the first connector; a non-volatile memory which stores a program for processing image data inputted from the image pickup device via the second connector; a CPU which controls the processing of the image data in accordance with the stored program to produce processed data; a cryptographic processing section which encrypts the image data from the image pickup device and which decrypts the encrypted image data under control of the CPU; and a display data output section configured to output the image data, which is decrypted by the cryptographic processing section, to the endoscope apparatus body portion.