Endoscope system and operating method thereof

1. An endoscope system comprising:

an image information obtaining section for obtaining image information by imaging an observation object;

a biological function information calculating section for calculating biological function information of said observation object based on said image information;

a first image generating section for producing a biological function information image that images said biological function information with artificial colors, said biological function information image composed of luminance information and color difference information;

an emphasized image generating section for producing an emphasized image, in said emphasized image, a low reliability area which represents a calculation result of said biological function information calculating section has low reliability in said biological function information image because of too large luminance being further brightened for emphasis without changing color of said biological function information image, said emphasized image indicating reliability of said biological function information by brightness;

a second image generating section for producing based on said image information a normal light image that images said observation object irradiated with white light, wherein

said emphasized image generating section produces said emphasized image by superimposing luminance of said normal light image on said biological function information image; and

a display section for displaying said emphasized image,

wherein said image information includes first image information, and second image information, said first image information being obtained by imaging said observation object under irradiation with first illumination light having a first wavelength range in which a light absorption coefficient varies with a variation in said oxygen saturation level, said second image information being obtained by imaging said observation object under irradiation with white light,

wherein said biological function information calculating section calculates said biological function information based on said first image information and said second image information, and

wherein said luminance information of said biological function information image is obtained from said second image information, and said color difference information of said biological function information image is obtained by inputting said biological function information into a color table previously stored in a memory.

2. The endoscope system according to claim 1 , wherein

said emphasized image generating section applies no information process to said color difference information of said biological function information image, and applies an information process to said luminance information of said biological function information image so as to further brighten said bright part within said abnormal area.

3. The endoscope system according to claim 1 , wherein said emphasized image generating section adjusts a pixel value of said biological function information image so as to further brighten said bright part within said abnormal area.

4. The endoscope system according to claim 1 further comprising:

a halation detecting section for detecting whether or not a halation area exists in said biological function information image, in said halation area a pixel value exceeds a halation value being a certain value or more; and

a display control section for displaying said biological function information image on said display section in a case where said halation area is detected, and for displaying said emphasized image on said display section in a case where no halation area is detected.

5. The endoscope system according to claim 1 , wherein said biological function information includes a blood volume being an amount of hemoglobin in blood and an oxygen saturation level of said hemoglobin in said blood.

6. The endoscope system according to claim 5 , wherein said biological function information calculating section isolates information on said blood volume and information on said oxygen saturation level from a plurality of types of said biological function information included in said image information.

7. An operating method of an endoscope system comprising the steps of:

obtaining image information by an image information obtaining section by imaging an observation object;

calculating biological function information of said observation object based on said image information by a biological function information calculating section;

producing, by a first image generating section, a biological function information image that images said biological function information with artificial colors, said biological function information image composed of luminance information and color difference information;

producing an emphasized image by an emphasized image generating section, in said emphasized image, an abnormal area in which a calculation result of said biological function information calculating section is likely to be abnormal in said biological function information image because of too large luminance being further brightened for emphasis without changing color of said biological function information image, said emphasized image indicating reliability of said biological function information by brightness; and

displaying said emphasized image on a display section,

wherein said image information includes first image information and second image information, said first image information being obtained by imaging said observation object under irradiation with first illumination light having a first wavelength range in which a light absorption coefficient varies with a variation in said oxygen saturation level, said second image information being obtained by imaging said observation object under irradiation with white light,

wherein said biological function information is calculated based on said first image information and said second image information, and

wherein said luminance information of said biological function information image is obtained from said second image information, and said color difference information of said biological function information image is obtained by inputting said biological function information into a color table previously stored in a memory.

8. An endoscope system comprising:

an image information obtaining section for obtaining image information by imaging an observation object;

a biological function information calculating section for calculating biological function information of said observation object based on said image information;

a first image generating section for producing a biological function information image that images said biological function information with artificial colors, said biological function information image composed of luminance information and color difference information;

an emphasized image generating section for producing an emphasized image, in said emphasized image, a bright part within a low reliability area which represents a calculation result of said biological function information calculating section has low reliability n said biological function information image being further brightened for emphasis without changing color of said biological function information image, said emphasized image indicating reliability of said biological function information by brightness; and

a display section for displaying said emphasized image,

wherein said emphasized image generating section produces said emphasized image in which luminance of said abnormal area is further increased by performing gain processing on said abnormal area having luminance more than a certain upper limit value in said emphasized image,

wherein said image information includes first image information and second image information, said first image information being obtained by imaging said observation object under irradiation with first illumination light having a first wavelength range in which a light absorption coefficient varies with a variation in said oxygen saturation level, said second image information being obtained by imaging said observation object under irradiation with white light,

wherein said biological function information calculating section calculates said biological function information based on said first image information and said second image information, and

wherein said luminance information of said biological function information image is obtained from said second image information, and said color difference information of said biological function information image is obtained by inputting said biological function information into a color table previously stored in a memory.

9. The endoscope system of claim 1 , further comprising:

a signal ratio calculator for calculating a ratio of intensity of each pixel between an image signal of a first frame period and an image signal of a second frame period,

wherein the biological function information image is produced based on the ratio of intensity of each pixel that is calculated.