1. An image pickup apparatus for use in measuring a distance from an observer to a target, the image pickup apparatus comprising:
a case; and
a plurality of cameras configured to capture images of the target, the cameras being fixed in the case,
wherein the distance from the observer to the target is measured based on the images of the target captured by altering baseline lengths for parallax computation obtained by combining any two of the cameras.
2. The image pickup apparatus as claimed in claim 1,
wherein each of the two cameras is a first compound-eye camera that includes a lens array having a plurality of lenses arranged in a plane and a sensor, and the baseline lengths for the parallax computation include a baseline length obtained by combining the plurality of lenses in the first compound-eye cameras.
3. The image pickup apparatus as claimed in claim 2,
wherein the plurality of cameras further include one of a second compound-eye camera and a noncompound camera that has a lens shape differing from a lens shape of the first compound-eye cameras.
4. The image pickup apparatus as claimed in claim 2,
wherein the sensor provided in the first compound-eye camera is formed by arranging plural sensors arranged on a substrate.
5. The image pickup apparatus as claimed in claim 1,
wherein the plurality of cameras include respective lenses and sensors to have different angles of view and different focus distances.
6. The image pickup apparatus as claimed in claim 5,
wherein at least one of the cameras is a compound-eye camera that includes a lens array having a plurality of the lenses arranged in a plane and the sensor, and the baseline lengths for the parallax computation include a baseline length obtained by combining the plurality lenses in the compound-eye camera.
7. The image pickup apparatus as claimed in claim 5, further comprising:
a pinhole image output unit configured to convert the images captured by the cameras having the respective lenses and the respective sensors into idealized pinhole images to output the idealized pinhole images.
8. The image pickup apparatus as claimed in claim 5, further comprising:
a logic unit configured to carry out enlargement or reduction processing on the images captured by the cameras having the respective lenses and the respective sensors to form the images having a uniform size.
9. The imaging module as claimed in claim 5, wherein
the distance from the observer to the target based on any one of the baseline lengths for the parallax computation obtained by the combination of the cameras is computed utilizing an algorithm.
10. The imaging module as claimed in claim 5,
wherein the baseline lengths for the parallax computation are sequentially computed and the distance from the observer to the target is determined when a desired one of distance ranges is obtained based on a corresponding one of the computed baseline lengths.
11. The imaging module as claimed in claim 5, further comprising:
a storage unit configured to store a plurality of the distances from the observer to the target computed based on the baseline lengths for the parallax computation, such that a desired one of the stored distances from the observer to the target is selected from the storage unit in a process subsequent to a storing process where the distances computed based on the baseline lengths are stored in the storage unit.
12. The imaging module as claimed in claim 5, further comprising:
a storage unit configured to store a plurality of the distances from the observer to the target computed based on the baseline lengths for the parallax computation, such that a desired distance from the observer to the target is computed by averaging the stored distances from the observer to the target computed based on the baseline lengths for the parallax computation stored in the storage unit.
13. The image pickup apparatus as claimed in claim 11,
wherein the desired one of the stored distances selected from the storage unit is a distance computed based on a longest baseline length for the parallax computation.
14. The image pickup apparatus as claimed in claim 5,
wherein the distance from the observer to the target that is urgently measured is obtained by increasing a number of distance computations.
15. The image pickup apparatus as claimed in claim 1,
wherein at least one of the plurality of cameras is arranged in a camera setting direction differing from camera setting directions of the other cameras.
16. The image pickup apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:
an image separation-integration circuit configured to separate the images or integrate the images; and a parallax process circuit configured to carry out the parallax computation,
wherein the parallax computation carried out on the images acquired by the cameras is performed by the image separation-integration circuit and the parallax process circuit.
17. A rangefinder comprising the image pickup apparatus as claimed in claim 1.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method for displaying medical information, which displays a medical image in combination with text information in a graphic display device, comprising:
providing text information as a voice presentation when an operator points the text information with a pointing device.
2. A method of displaying medical information according to claim 1, wherein:
the display of only said text information is disabled; and
text information is provided as the voice presentation when an operator points the display area of text information in a state in which the text information is not displayed.
3. A method of displaying medical information according to claim 1, wherein:
said medical image is an image taken by an X-ray CT apparatus.
4. A method of displaying medical information according to claim 1, wherein:
said medical image is an image taken by an MRI apparatus.
5. An apparatus for displaying medical information, which displays a medical image in combination with character information on a graphic display device, comprising:
a display device for providing text information as the voice presentation when an operator points the text information with a pointing device.
6. An apparatus for displaying medical information according to claim 5, further comprising:
a display disabling device for disabling the display of only said text information; and
a display device for providing said text information as the voice presentation when an operator points the display area of said text information with a pointing device in a state in which the text information is not displayed.
7. An apparatus for displaying medical information according to claim 5, wherein:
said medical image is an image taken by an X-ray CT apparatus.
8. An apparatus for displaying medical information according to claim 5, wherein:
said medical image is an image taken by an MRI apparatus.