JPS6130697B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The present invention displays infrared images on a cathode ray tube,
The present invention relates to an infrared image display device capable of specifying an arbitrary area of the image and displaying the average temperature within the specified area numerically on the screen.

Infrared imaging devices are generally used for purposes such as observing the surface temperature distribution of an object to be measured, but the time required to scan one frame, that is, the surface of an object once, is 1 to 4. It is difficult to form a complete still image on a normal cathode ray tube because of the long time (seconds). For this reason, conventionally, the main method has been to take a photograph of an infrared image displayed on a persistent cathode ray tube and indirectly observe the infrared image from the photograph. Therefore, various types of processing are performed while directly observing infrared images. Alternatively, it has been difficult or impossible to adjust each part so as to obtain an optimal image. Furthermore, the temperature of each part of the infrared image (thermal image) is visually observed and estimated by referring to the grayscale shade provided outside the image area, so the temperature of any point can be accurately determined in a short time. It is not easy to measure, and it is nearly impossible to accurately determine the average temperature of a certain area.

The present invention aims to improve these points.
The infrared video signal for one screen is digitized and stored in a memory, and the infrared video signal for one screen stored in the memory is repeatedly read out and displayed on a cathode ray tube display to obtain a still infrared video, and then a photograph is taken. In addition, by specifying a partial region (area) of the displayed infrared image, the average temperature within that specified area can be displayed numerically outside the infrared image area of the display section. The present invention provides an infrared image display device that enables instantaneous accurate temperature determination.

That is, to explain the basic configuration of the infrared image display device according to the present invention with reference to FIG. 1, it stores one screen worth of digitized infrared image signals,
A storage means 100 for repeatedly reading out this information and realizing a still infrared image on the cathode ray tube display section.
, a means 200 for arbitrarily specifying a desired area of the image, and counting results indicating the position in the image at each point in time by counting in synchronization with the horizontal and vertical synchronization signals of the image. A position for displaying the desired partial area in the video image of the cathode ray tube display section using the output counting means 300, the partial area specifying means 200, and the output from the counting means 300. an area designation unit 4 that generates information; an average temperature storage unit 400 that calculates and stores the average temperature within the desired partial area based on the corresponding infrared video signal from the storage unit 100; The average temperature storage means 400
and a signal processing means 500 for displaying the characters generated by the character generating means 17 together with the infrared video signal. The above-mentioned infrared image display device is configured as follows.

The shape of the designated area is basically a rectangle, and one point in the four corners (hereinafter referred to as the reference point) is designated by the X and Y coordinates, and the widths ΔX and ΔY in the X and Y directions from the reference point are added. the area is specified. The average temperature within such a designated area is important for recognizing the disease state of the affected area, but if both ΔX and ΔY are set to zero or close to zero, the temperature at the point designated by the X and Y coordinates will be numerically accurate as well. will be displayed.
Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail with reference to the drawings.

First, the detailed structure and operation of the basic structure of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 will be explained. In the figure, XR and YR are variable resistors that respectively designate the X and Y coordinates of the reference point of the designated area, and the resistance values are set in conjunction with, for example, the two-dimensional movement of the joystick. XAR and YAR are variable resistors that specify widths ΔX and ΔY in the X and Y directions from the reference point, respectively, and the resistance values are set by knobs provided individually. Variable resistance XR, YR,
X position specified voltage, Y according to the setting values of XAR and YAR
The position designation voltage, the X width designation voltage, and the Y width designation voltage are switched by the switch circuit 1 and are sequentially analog
The signal is guided to a digital (A/D) converter 2. The switching of the switch circuit 1 and the conversion timing of the A/D converter 2 are controlled by the control circuit 3. In particular, the A/D conversion of the A/D converter 2 is controlled by the output video signal.
This is done during the OUT vertical blanking period.
The A/D converter 2 converts the input analog voltage into, for example, an 8-bit digital signal, and supplies this to the area specifying section 4. In the area specifying unit 4, the output digital signals X, Y, ΔX, ΔY of the A/D converter 2 for the variable resistors XR, YR, XAR, YAR are input to the X register 5a, Y register 5b, to be memorized. The content X of the X register 5a is compared with the content of the horizontal scanning counter 7 by a comparator 6a, and is also
It is added to the contents ΔX of the XA register. and,
The output (X+ΔX) of the adder 8a and the contents of the counter 7 are compared by a comparator 6b. Further, the content Y of the Y register 5b is input to the vertical scanning counter 9 by the comparator 6c.
The adder 8b adds the content ΔY of the XA register 5d. Then, the output (Y+ΔY) of the adder 8b and the contents of the counter 9 are compared by a comparator 6d. Here, the horizontal scanning counter 7 is a binary counter that counts up at a clock interval of 1 pixel in synchronization with the horizontal synchronizing signal HD generated by the synchronizing signal generating section 10, and the count contents are horizontal in the horizontal direction at each point in time. (X direction) position (X
address). Similarly, the vertical scanning counter 9 receives a vertical synchronizing signal from the synchronizing signal generator 10.
It is a binary counter that counts up the clock at the horizontal scanning interval in synchronization with VD, and the count indicates the position (Y address) in the vertical direction (Y direction) at each point in time. Therefore, the coincidence outputs X-ON and X-OFF of the comparators 6a and 6b indicate the start point and end point of the specified area in the X direction, respectively, and
The matching outputs Y-ON and Y-OFF of c and 6d indicate the starting point and ending point of the area in the Y direction, respectively. These signals X-ON, X-OFF, Y-ON, and Y-OFF are led to the arithmetic control circuit 11.

On the other hand, the digitized infrared video signal VDO for one screen is stored in the image memory 12, and is repeatedly read out by the control circuit 3 in response to scanning of the display section (not shown). For example, if the display is normal
If it is an NTSC type cathode ray tube display device,
Read at a rate of 60 times. And memory 12
The digital signal VDO from is temporarily stored in the buffer register 13, and transferred to the digital/analog (D/A) converter 15 through the switching unit 14 at the timing from the control circuit 3, where it is converted into an analog infrared video signal. After that, it is guided from the output section 16 to the display section. At this time, the output section 16
Horizontal and vertical synchronization signals HD, VD, etc. are added at , and the output OUT becomes an infrared video signal compatible with the NTSC system.

FIG. 2 shows the screen of the display unit that reproduces the composite video signal OUT as an image. In other words, an area 31 shown by a solid line on the outermost side is the television monitor screen, and an area 32 inside thereof shown by a dashed line is an infrared image (thermal image) area. A grayscale area 33 is provided on the left side of the video area 32.
Furthermore, a maximum temperature display area 34 and a minimum temperature display area 35 are provided at the upper and lower portions, respectively. Area 34 displays the highest temperature (35.0° C. in this example) of the thermal image 36 within image area 32, and area 35 similarly displays the lowest temperature (5.0° C. in this example). Then, in the area 33, a gray scale is displayed in which the lowest temperature side is "black" (in the case of a monochrome image) and the highest temperature side is "white", and the brightness continuously changes during that time. Although this gray scale is not necessarily necessary in the present invention, it is effective for roughly estimating the temperature of each part of the thermal image 36 by comparing the brightness with each part. An area 37 on the right side of the video area 32 is an average temperature display area, and the average temperature AT (in this example, 31.5° C.) within the aforementioned specified area 38 that is arbitrarily designated within the video area 32 is displayed here. .

In the designated area 38, the upper left corner of the screen 31 is the origin 0 of the X and Y axes, and the variable resistor XR,
The position X in the X direction and the width ΔX are specified by XAR, and the position Y and width ΔY in the Y direction are specified by variable resistors YR and YAR, and the comparators 6a, 6b, 6c,
Coincidence signal from 6d X-ON, X-OFF, Y-
It is displayed at the timing shown in FIG. 3 based on ON and Y-OFF. The display of this designated area 38 is the four corner points A ₁ (X, Y), A ₂ (X + ΔX, Y), A ₃
(X, Y+ΔY), A ₄ (X+ΔX, Y+ΔY) is a white frame connecting it, and therefore the thermal image 36 portion inside it remains within the white frame. Then, the calculated average temperature within the designated area 38 is displayed in the average temperature display area 37 by operating a switch (described later).

The above-mentioned display control of the specified area 38 and calculation control of the average temperature are performed by the calculation control circuit 11. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing details of this arithmetic control circuit 11, and FIG. 5 is a diagram of each signal waveform. The signals X-ON and Y-ON are compared by an AND gate 40, and a signal A is generated when a logical product is established.
On the other hand, the signals X-ON and Y-OFF are the AND gate 4
1 and a signal B is generated when it is a logical product component. Signals A and B are led through an OR gate 42 to a clock terminal CK of a flip-flop 43. This flip-flop 43 has a reset terminal R.
It is reset by the signal X-OFF to. Therefore,
The Q output is as shown in waveform C in FIG. The flip-flop 44 is a flip-flop driven by the signal B and reset by a signal obtained by inverting the vertical synchronizing signal VD by an inverter 45, and its output becomes the reset signal RST. Flip-flop 46 is driven by the output of flip-flop 43 and reset by the output of flip-flop 44. Therefore, its Q output becomes waveform D in FIG. This signal D is the AND gate 47,4
8 gate open signal, and the signal X-ON, X-
The signals F and G whose passage through OFF is restricted are guided to the OR gate 49. Since the signal C from the flip-flop 43 is also led to the OR gate 49, the OR output E is as shown in FIG.

The signal E obtained in this way is used as the first signal indicating the timing to make the rectangular frame of the designated area 38 white.
The signal C portion that constitutes the signal E corresponds to the white line between A ₁ and _{A 2} and the white line between A ₃ and A ₄ in FIG. corresponds to the white line between A ₁ and A ₃ , and the signal G portion corresponds to the white line between A ₂ and A ₄ . On the other hand, the signal F,
G is led to adder 18 of FIG. 1, signal F instructs to start addition, and signal G instructs to end addition.

The data (digitized infrared video signal) VDO stored in the memory 12 in FIG. read out serially. Since the output of the register 13 is led to the switching section 14 and the adder 18, the adder 18 performs a predetermined operation within the period defined by the signals F and G from the operation control circuit 11. This operation will be explained with reference to FIG. Signals F and G are both defined by clock CK.
Although the pulse width corresponds to the pixel, the signal F
Addition is performed to _ST1 between the falling edge of the signal G and the rising edge of the signal G. This addition firstly concerns the data from the buffer register 13, and secondly concerns the number of times the data is added. The latter is performed by a number counter (not shown) in adder 18. CT is a pulse that drives the number counter, and is generated as many times as the data is added. Signal B corresponds to FIG. 5, and signal RST corresponds to FIG. 4, but the former is used to transfer the addition result (data and number of times) of adder 8 to register 19, and the latter is 18.

The series of additions by the adder 18 is repeated as long as the signals F and G are generated, so if you want the divider 20 to calculate the average temperature in the designated area 38, turn on the switch 21 of the area designator 4. After performing a series of additions within the designated area 38, the signals F and G are prevented from being generated for each vertical synchronization signal VD. Then, as shown in FIG. 7, a signal _ST2 is generated to start the division at the timing of the next signal VD. In the divider 20, the signal
When ST ₂ occurs, an operation is performed to divide the "added value" of the data by the "number of times" in the register 19. Therefore, the result of the division becomes a value indicating the average temperature within the designated area 38, and is transferred to the register 22.

If the image is displayed based only on the output of the buffer register 13, only the thermal image 36 will be displayed on the monitor screen 31 in FIG.
By taking in the output of the character generating section 17, the display in the specified area 38 and the average temperature in the average temperature display area 37 are simultaneously performed. Next, this operation will be explained. FIG. 8 is a block diagram specifically showing a stage subsequent to the switching section 14 in FIG. 1, and 23 is a monochrome monitor television. The switching unit 14 has a data selector 14a as its main part, and is configured to switch between video data VDO and gray scale data.
Data GSD is transferred to the D/A converter 15 at video timing T _V and gray scale timing T _G. The grayscale data GSD is displayed within the grayscale area 33 in FIG. 2, and the video data VDO is displayed within the video area 32. On the other hand, if the character signal S _C from the character generator 17 indicates the specified area 38, the corresponding part in the video area 32 will be turned white, that is, the character signal S C from the character generator 17 will turn the corresponding part in the video area 32 white, regardless of the video data VDO Set the output (one pixel is represented by 6 bits) to all “1” level with +5V power supply.
In the average temperature display area 37 where the video timing T _V and the gray scale timing T _G are "0", the average temperature is displayed on a "black" background according to the character signal S _C from the character generation section 17 based on the contents of the register 22. A numerical value indicating this is displayed as a set of "white" pixels. For this “white”, the character signal S _C is “1”
In this case, the output of the data selector 14a (6 bits per pixel as described above) is displayed by setting all "1"s based on the +5V input.

An example of this is shown in FIG. One character is displayed using an area 51 of 5x7 dots within an area 50 of 8x8 dots including the character spacing. 52 is a pixel forming a character, and 53 is a pixel representing a decimal point. Such a character pattern is created using a programmable character generator in the character generator 17, as shown in FIG.
Read-on memory (hereinafter abbreviated as P-ROM)
60 is stored in advance. Divider 20 in FIG.
register 22 storing average temperature information from
Since the output is a binary code, the character generator 17 has a binary/BCD converter 61 in the first stage to convert the average temperature information into 10 in binary code with 4 bits for each digit.
It is converted to a format that is displayed in decimal format. Therefore, if the average temperature is 31.5°C, 12 bits representing 3, 1, and 5 are output. The output of converter 61 is P-ROM6
0 address, but in order to specify the display position of each character, the digit designation section 62 uses the horizontal (H) character timing HT _C (Fig. 11) and the vertical (V) character timing VT _C (Fig. 11). Addressing is performed in order from the highest number. For example, when displaying the contents of the register 22 in the average temperature area 37 of FIG. 11, H character timing and V character timing
The address is specified so that "3" is displayed at the intersection of VH, "1" is similarly displayed at the intersection of HH and VH, and "5" is displayed at the intersection of Hi and VH. This means that
The same applies to the maximum temperature display area 34 and the minimum temperature display area 35, and the data in the maximum temperature register 24 is based on the H character timing HB, HC, HD.
3, 5, 0 are displayed at each intersection of V character timing VA and the data of the lowest temperature register 25 is displayed as 2, 5, 0 at each intersection of H character timing HB, HC, HD and V character timing VZ. be done. In addition, in the average temperature display area 37, the letters "AT" are displayed above the average temperature, but this "A"
Addresses to the P-ROM 60 are designated for "T" by the A character designation section 63 activated at the HG and VG timings, and by the T character designation section 64 activated at the HH and VG timings for "T". Further, "°C" displayed in each display area 34, 35, 37 is addressed by activating the °C character designation section 65 at different suitable timings.

The address for the P-ROM 60 specifies the 8×8 dot storage area shown in FIG.
The bits are sliced and output in parallel, and converted into serial data by a P/S converter 66 at the subsequent stage. The output of the P/S converter 66 is the OR gate 6
7 to the switching unit 14 in FIG. 1, that is, the data selector 14a in FIG. 8. The output (character signal) S _C of the character generator 17 is not only the output of the P/S converter 66 but also the above-mentioned arithmetic control circuit 1.
1 (FIG. 5) are synthesized on the time axis by an OR gate 67. However, since the signal E is not transformed by the character generator 17, the signal E among the outputs of the arithmetic control circuit 11 may be directly led to the data selector 14a. Since the signal E forces the output of the data selector 14a to be all "1" regardless of the video data VDO from the buffer register 13, according to the signal E having the waveform shown in FIG. Designated area within 38
is displayed with a white frame.

This designated area 38 can be moved to any position by the operator while looking at the screen 31 by moving the aforementioned joystick, and the widths ΔX and ΔY in the X and Y directions can be set arbitrarily. Then, move the specified area 3 to the desired position.
8 and then turn on the switch 21 shown in FIG. Therefore, while observing an infrared image (thermal image) directly on a television monitor screen, the average temperature of a localized area of the affected area can be immediately and accurately measured without referring to a gray scale.

FIG. 11 shows FIG. 2 in more detail and also displays each timing. In each timing above the screen 31 in the figure, HD is the horizontal synchronization signal, HT _C is the H character timing mentioned above,
HT _G is H grayscale timing, HT _V is H
The video timing, HT _B , is the H black level timing. Further, each timing on the right side of the screen 31 is related to the vertical scanning counter 9, where VD is the vertical synchronization signal, VT _V is the V video timing, VT _C is the V character timing, VT _B is the V black level timing,
VT _G is V gray scale timing. Furthermore, each timing at the bottom of the screen 31 is related to the horizontal scanning counter 7, H _M is the H memory counter (9 bits), H S1 is the first H sweep counter (10 bits), and H _S1 is the first H sweep counter (10
H _S2 indicates each operating period of the second H sweep counter (7 bits).

As is clear from the above description, the memory in the claims is the memory 12, and the means for arbitrarily specifying a partial area is the variable resistors XR, YR, XAR,
YAR, the means for displaying the area on the image of the display section is the area specifying section 4, the character generating section 17, and the switching section 14, and the average temperature storage means is the adder 18, the register 19, the divider 20, and the register 22. To,
The character generating means and the display means for displaying characters on the display section correspond to the character generating section 17 and the switching section 14, respectively, but each component is not limited to these embodiments.

With the average temperature display method of the present invention as described above, it is possible to directly observe infrared images with a long frame period on a display unit such as a cathode ray tube without taking a photograph, so you can immediately adjust the temperature while looking at the display unit to find the best temperature. You can get infrared images of. Also,
Since the normal temperature within the area arbitrarily designated by the infrared image is immediately displayed numerically on the display, information useful for diagnosing the disease state of the affected area can be accurately grasped.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing the basic configuration of the present invention and the internal details of each component, Fig. 2 is an explanatory drawing showing the screen of the display section, Fig. 3 is an explanatory drawing showing the display timing of the specified area, and Fig. 4 The figure is a block diagram showing the details of the arithmetic control circuit, FIG. 5 is a signal waveform diagram of each part of FIG. 4, FIG. 6 is a time chart showing the operation timing in the adder of FIG. 1, and FIG. 8 is a block diagram specifically showing the stage after the switching section in FIG. 1, and FIG. 9 shows a character pattern generated from the character generating section in FIG. 1. Explanatory diagram, 1st
Figure 0 is a block diagram showing details of the character generation section.
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing FIG. 2 in detail. In the figure, 100 is a storage means, 200 is a partial area specifying means, 300 is a counting means, 4 is an area specifying section,
400 is an average temperature storage means, 17 is a character generation section,
500 is a signal processing means for displaying the signal from the character generating section 17 together with the video signal, 11 is an arithmetic control circuit, 12 is a memory, 14 is a switching section, 18
is an adder, 20 is a divider, 21 is a register, 23
31 is a screen, 32 is an image area, 36 is an infrared image, and 37 is a black and white monitor television (display part).
is an average temperature display area, and 38 is a designated area.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. Storage means 100 for storing digitized infrared video signals for one screen and repeatedly reading out the same to realize a still infrared video on a cathode ray tube display, and a desired part of the video. Means 200 for arbitrarily specifying an area; Counting means 300 for outputting a counting result indicating a position in a video image at each point in time by counting in synchronization with the horizontal synchronization signal and vertical synchronization signal of the video image; Area specifying unit 4 that uses outputs from the partial area specifying means 200 and the counting means 300 to generate position information for displaying the desired partial area in the video image of the cathode ray tube display unit.
and an average temperature storage means 400 for calculating and storing the average temperature in the desired partial area based on the corresponding infrared image signal from the storage means 100, and the average temperature stored in the average temperature storage means 400. Character generation unit 17 that generates characters corresponding to information
An infrared image display device comprising: and a signal processing means 500 for displaying the characters generated by the character generating means 17 together with the infrared image signal.