1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an in-vivo image acquiring apparatus which is introduced into the internal body of a patient for acquiring an image of the internal body, a receiving apparatus and an in-vivo image acquiring system.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, in the field of endoscope, a capsule endoscope equipped with an imaging function and radio communication function inside of its capsule type casing has appeared as an in-vivo image acquiring apparatus for acquiring an image in the body. The capsule endoscope is swallowed through a mouth of the patient for observation (examination) and after that, moved by peristaltic motion and the like inside the internal organ such as the stomach and the small intestine in a period until it is naturally excreted from the body under examination in order to take images in the internal organ of the subject (hereinafter, sometimes referred to as in-vivo image) successively at a predetermined time interval. The capsule endoscope transmits the in-vivo image taken (acquired) in this way successively to outside by radio.
The in-vivo image transmitted by such a capsule endoscope by radio is received by a receiving apparatus carried by this subject successively. This receiving apparatus includes a recording medium mounted detachably thereon and records a series of the in-vivo images received from the capsule endoscope inside the subject. After that, the recording medium which records the series of the in-vivo images of this subject is removed from this receiving apparatus and mounted to an image display unit. The image display unit acquires the series of the in-vivo images of the subject through this recording medium and displays the series of the in-vivo images of the subject on a display. In an in-vivo image acquiring system provided with the capsule endoscope, receiving apparatus and image display unit, a user such as medical doctor or nurse displays the series of the in-vivo images taken by the capsule endoscope on the image display unit to observe (examine) the inside of the organ of the subject through such a series of the in-vivo images (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-19111).
On the other hand, some type of a system for transmitting/receiving plural image data includes a data transmitting unit for transmitting image data supplied with identification information different for each frame rate and a data receiving unit for receiving image data of plural frame rates corresponding to such identification information and transmits image data of plural frame rates to a plurality of terminals (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-112569).
The function of the aforementioned capsule endoscope is classified to plural types depending on a difference in the number of frames of the in-vivo images taken per unit time and a difference in the number of held imaging units for imaging a series of the in-vivo images. Such a capsule endoscope has unique identification information allocated preliminarily, attaches the identification information to a taken in-vivo image and transmits the in-vivo image supplied with such identification information to the receiving apparatus by radio. In this case, the receiving apparatus receives the identification information unique to the capsule endoscope together with the in-vivo images, identifies the in-vivo images depending on each function of the capsule endoscope specified by this identification information and records the in-vivo images of this subject in the recording medium. The image display unit acquires the in-vivo images identified depending on each function of the capsule endoscope through the recording medium and displays the images of the acquired in-vivo images by classifying by each function of the capsule endoscope (for example, by each imaging unit of the capsule endoscope). As a result, the in-vivo images of the subject are displayed in a display style which allows a medical doctor or nurse to observe easily.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds