Endoscope system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016007833-A1
Application number	US-201514729664-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 3, 2015
Priority date	Jul 10, 2014
Publication date	Jan 14, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

An endoscope system includes an endoscope, a display device, and a cable interconnecting the endoscope and the display device. The endoscope includes an elongated body extending distally from a handle. An image sensor is disposed within a distal portion of the elongated body, a lens is disposed at a distal end of the elongated body, and a light source including one or more light emitting elements is integrated into the distal end of the elongated body and positioned radially outward of the lens. An integrated processor is disposed within the handle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An endoscope comprising:
a handle; and an elongated body extending distally from the handle, the elongated body including a distal portion terminating at a distal end; an image sensor disposed within the distal portion of the elongated body; a lens disposed at the distal end of the elongated body; and a light source including one or more light emitting elements integrated into the distal end of the elongated body and positioned radially outward of the lens.

2 . The endoscope of claim 1 , wherein the light emitting elements are LEDs.

3 . The endoscope of claim 1 , wherein the light emitting elements are disposed in a crescent shape around a portion of the lens.

4 . The endoscope of claim 1 , further comprising a thermally conductive substrate affixed to the light source.

5 . The endoscope of claim 4 , further comprising a heat sink in contact with the thermally conductive substrate.

6 . The endoscope of claim 5 , wherein a thermally conductive adhesive is disposed between the heat sink and the thermally conductive substrate.

7 . The endoscope of claim 5 , wherein the heat sink is cylindrical in shape and is in full contact with a cylindrical wall of the elongated body.

8 . The endoscope of claim 1 , wherein the image sensor is a backside illuminated sensor.

9 . The endoscope of claim 1 , wherein the image sensor is a BSI CMOS sensor.

10 . The endoscope of claim 1 , wherein the lens is a focus free lens.

11 . The endoscope of claim 1 , further comprising an integrated processor disposed within the handle.

12 . The endoscope of claim 11 , wherein the processor includes a system controller, an imaging subsystem, a video processing subsystem, and peripheral controllers for transmitting data to and from the image sensor and the light source.

13 . The endoscope of claim 11 , wherein the processor is a system-on-chip.

14 . An endoscope including:
a handle including a handle housing including a grip portion and a control portion, the handle housing defining an inner chamber containing:
a main board including a processor and memory for system control, data capture, image processing, and video output;
a power board including an integrated power chip to manage system power;
a button board to enable/disable user controls; and
a switch board to power the endoscope on and off.

15 . The endoscope of claim 14 , wherein the button board is positioned in the control portion of the handle and the main board is positioned in the grip portion of the handle.

16 . The endoscope of claim 15 , wherein the power board is disposed in the grip portion of the handle.

17 . The endoscope of claim 16 , wherein the switch board is positioned in the grip portion of the handle.

18 . The endoscope of claim 15 , further comprising:
an elongated body extending distally from the handle, the elongated body including:
a camera including an image sensor disposed in a distal portion of the elongated body and a lens disposed at the distal end of the elongated body; and
a light source disposed at a distal end of the elongated body,
wherein the processor includes a peripheral controller for controlling the transmission of data between the processor and the camera and a peripheral controller for controlling the transmission of data between the processor and the light source.

Assignees

• Covidien Lp

Inventors

• Huang Desheng
• Sun Ruoxi
• Zhang Wei

Classifications

• A61B1/0676

  at distal tip of an endoscope · CPC title

• G02B23/243

  Objectives for endoscopes · CPC title

• A61B1/0684

  using light emitting diodes [LED] · CPC title

• A61B1/00066 Primary

  Proximal part of endoscope body, e.g. handles (A61B1/0052 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G02B23/2423

  of the distal end · CPC title