Patent ID: 8913819

Claim:
An observation apparatus which comprises: a timer for counting time information; a plurality of image information acquisition devices which are different from each other and which acquire different types of image information; a memory configured to store image information acquired by the image information acquisition devices by respectively relating each type of the acquired image information to the time information counted by the timer, the image information being acquired in parallel and at respective different image acquiring intervals by the image information acquisition devices; a controller which is configured to accept an input from a user of a display standard indicating a manner of displaying the image information acquired in parallel at the respective different image acquiring intervals by the image information acquisition devices, and to mutually associate the image information acquired in parallel at the respective different image acquiring intervals by the image information acquisition devices in accordance with the display standard using the time information related to the image information in the memory; and a display which displays the image information acquired in parallel at the respective different image acquiring intervals by the image information acquisition devices in accordance with the mutual association of the image information by the controller; wherein the controller is configured to accept, as the input from the user of the display standard, one of (i) a time interval set by the user, and (ii) a time interval selected by the user from among the respective different image acquiring intervals of the image information acquisition devices; wherein the controller is configured to mutually associate the image information acquired in parallel at the respective different image acquiring intervals by the image information acquisition devices, such that a series of images in a first image group acquired by a first one of the image information acquisition devices at a first time interval and a series of images in a second image group acquired by a second one of the image information acquisition devices at a second time interval that is different from the first time interval are associated with each other in accordance with the display standard that is set by the user; and wherein the display is configured to display the first image group and the second image group in alignment with each other in accordance with the mutual association performed by the controller.