Capsule medical apparatus

• US 20050154294A1
• Filed: 10/27/2004
• Published: 07/14/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Olympus Corporation
• Original Assignee: Olympus Corporation
• Inventors: Uchiyama, Akio, Takizawa, Hironobu, Homan, Masatoshi
• Granted Patent: US 7,604,591 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/420
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/00016 using wireless means
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/00029 externally powered, e.g. wireless
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/00158 using magnetic field
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/041 Capsule endoscopes for imaging
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/06 with illuminating arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/0676 at distal tip of an endoscope
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/0684 using light emitting diodes [LED]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0214 of power generation or supply
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0219 of externally powered implanted units
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/073 Intestinal transmitters
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7232 involving compression of the physiological signal, e.g. to extend the signal recording period

Abstract

A capsule casing is inserted into the living body, a thin-film substrate is cylindrically-shaped with approximately the same size of the inner surface of the casing and a coil for receiving an AC magnetic field is formed, and thus AC power is generated by the AC magnetic field from the outside of the living body with a small mounting space.

Claims

1. A capsule medical apparatus which generates power by radio using an AC magnetic field, the capsule medical apparatus comprising:

a capsule casing; and

a thin-film substrate which is arranged in the capsule casing,

wherein a wiring is formed on the thin-film substrate such that a spiral coil for receiving the AC magnetic field is constructed by cylindrically shaping the thin-film substrate.

2. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the thin-film substrate is cylindrically shaped, and the outer diameter of the cylindrical portion substantially matches the outer diameter of the capsule casing.

3. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the thin-film substrate is formed into a substantially polygonally-shaped-cylinder.

4. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the thin-film substrate is formed into a substantially square-shaped-cylinder.

5. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the wiring for spiral coil formed onto the thin-film substrate has multi-layers.

6. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a film containing a magnetic member is arranged to the inside of a coil wiring layer on the thin-film substrate that is cylindrically shaped.

7. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the magnetic member is iron.

8. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the magnetic member is permalloy.

9. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a stick- or pipe-shaped magnetic member is arranged to the inside of the thin-film substrate that is cylindrically shaped.

10. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the magnetic member is iron.

11. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the magnetic member is permalloy.

12. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the capsule casing comprises a sending antenna for sending data outwards, and

the wiring is formed on the thin-film substrate such that a spiral coil for receiving the AC magnetic field and the sending antenna are constructed by cylindrically shaping the thin-film substrate.

13. A capsule medical apparatus which generates power by radio using an AC magnetic field, the capsule medical apparatus comprising:

a capsule casing; and

a squarely-shaped thin-film substrate which is arranged to the capsule casing,

wherein a wiring is formed on the thin-film substrate such that a spiral coil for receiving the AC magnetic field is constructed by connecting and cylindrically shaping two facing sides forming a part of the square shape of the thin-film substrate.

14. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the thin-film substrate is formed into a substantially square-shaped-cylinder.

15. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the wirings on the two facing sides are electrically connected by soldering.

16. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the wirings on the two facing sides are electrically connected by an anisotropic conductive film.

17. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the shape of the thin-film substrate is substantially rectangular.

18. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the shape of the thin-film substrate is substantially parallelogram.

19. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the wirings for the spiral coil formed on the thin-film substrate have multi-layers.

20. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 13, wherein a film containing a ferromagnetic member is arranged in the cylindrical inner surface of the thin-film substrate that is cylindrically shaped.

21. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the two facing sides are wave-shaped like a rectangular wave, and the two sides are connected to be engaged with each other.

22. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 13, further comprising:

a sending antenna for sending data outwards in the capsule casing,

wherein the wirings are formed on the thin-film substrate such that the sending antenna for sending the data outwards and the spiral coil for receiving the AC magnetic field are constructed by connecting and cylindrically shaping two facing sides of a part of the square shape of the thin-film substrate.

23. A capsule medical apparatus which generates power by radio using an AC magnetic field, the capsule medical apparatus comprising:

a capsule casing; and

a square thin-film substrate which is arranged in the capsule casing,

wherein wirings are formed in the thin-film substrate such that a spiral coil for receiving the AC magnetic field is constructed by connecting and cylindrically shaping two facing sides of a part of the square of the thin-film substrate, and

the thin-film substrate comprises an electric part comprising at least one of the following;

an illuminating circuit for controlling illuminating means for illumination, an image pick-up circuit for controlling image pick-up means for picking-up an image of a portion illuminated by the illuminating means, a commutating circuit for commutating generated current, charging means for charging generated power, a sending circuit for sending the picked-up signal by radio, and a control circuit for controlling the illuminating means and the illuminating circuit.

24. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 23, wherein any of the circuits or a plurality of the circuits are mounted on the inner surface of the thin-film substrate that is cylindrically shaped.

25. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 23, wherein any of the circuits or a plurality of the circuits are mounted on the outer surface of the thin-film substrate that is cylindrically shaped.

26. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 23, wherein any of the circuits or a plurality of the circuits are mounted separately on the inner surface and the outer surface of the thin-film substrate that is cylindrically shaped.

27. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 23, wherein the charging means is a capacitor.

28. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 23, wherein the charging means is a ceramic capacitor.

29. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 23, wherein the charging means is an electric double-layer capacitor.

30. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 23, wherein the charging means is a secondary battery.

31. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 23, wherein the wirings are formed on the thin-film substrate such that a sending antenna for sending data by radio by using the sending circuit and a spiral coil for receiving the AC magnetic field are constructed by connecting and cylindrically shaping two facing sides of a part of the square of the thin-film substrate.

32. A capsule medical apparatus having a commutating circuit for generating AC power by an external AC magnetic field and converting the AC power into DC power, the capsule medical apparatus comprising:

a capsule casing;

a cylindrical thin-film substrate which is arranged in the capsule casing; and

a spiral coil for receiving the AC magnetic field which is formed on the thin-film substrate along the cylindrical surface.

33. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 32, wherein two pairs or more of the spiral coils are formed in different directions.

34. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 32, wherein an electromagnetic part is mounted on the thin-film substrate.

35. A capsule medical system comprising a capsule medical apparatus inserted into the living body and an extracorporeal device for supplying electric energy by radio to the capsule medical apparatus from the outside of the living body,

wherein the extracorporeal device comprises AC magnetic field generating means for generating an AC magnetic field, and the capsule medical apparatus comprises a capsule casing;

a cylindrical thin-film substrate which is arranged in the capsule casing; and

a spiral coil which is arranged onto the cylindrical thin-film substrate and receives the AC magnetic field.

36. The capsule medical system according to claim 35, wherein the AC magnetic field generating means generates the AC magnetic field with a frequency band with low attenuation in the living body.

37. The capsule medical system according to claim 35, wherein the AC magnetic field generating means generates the AC magnetic field with the frequency of 150 kHz or less.

38. A capsule medical apparatus for sending data to the outside and receiving power from the outside, comprising:

a sending antenna for sending the data; and

a power receiving antenna for receiving the supplied power,

wherein the sending antenna and the power receiving antenna contain the same coil member.

39. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 38, wherein sending means for sending a signal from the capsule medical apparatus and a power feed circuit for supplying power to the capsule medical apparatus are connected to the coil member.

40. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 38, wherein the coil member is formed onto a flexible substrate.

41. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 38, wherein the sending antenna and the receiving antenna are arranged onto the same substrate.

42. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 38, wherein the sending antenna and the receiving antenna are arranged onto the same flexible substrate, and the flexible substrate is substantially cylindrically shaped.

43. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 38, wherein the power receiving antenna is coil-shaped, a shielding layer containing a conductive member is formed to the outside of the power receiving antenna, and further the sending antenna is arranged to the outside of the shielding layer.

44. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 39, wherein the sending means and the power feed circuit are driven by different frequencies.

45. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 39, wherein the sending means and the power feed circuit are driven at different times.

46. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 39, wherein the coil member has an intermediate electrode, and the sending means is connected to the intermediate electrode.

47. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 39, wherein the coil member has an intermediate electrode, and the sending means and the power feed circuit are connected to the intermediate electrode.

48. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 39, wherein a filter for removing a signal of a frequency band from the power feed circuit is arranged between the sending means and the coil member.

49. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 39, further comprising:

means for monitoring the charged power in the power feed circuit.

50. A capsule medical apparatus inserted into the living body, having a sending antenna for sending living-body information to the outside of the body and a power receiving antenna for receiving power fed from the outside of the body, the capsule medical apparatus comprising:

converting means which converts AC power received by the power receiving antenna into DC power;

charging means which charges the converted DC power; and

monitoring means which monitors the charged power which is charged in the charging means.

51. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 50, further comprising:

sending means which sends detected information which is detected by the monitoring means.

52. The capsule medical apparatus according to claim 50, further comprising:

sending means which sends a signal for feeding power from the outside of the body based on the detected signal that is detected by the monitoring means.