Electronic endoscope

• US 20070118019A1
• Filed: 01/05/2007
• Published: 05/24/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/05/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Olympus Corporation
• Original Assignee: Olympus Corporation, Olympus Medical Systems Corporation (Olympus Corporation)
• Inventors: Kumei, Kazuhiro, Sakai, Seiji, Ichimura, Hironobu, Akiba, Kazuyoshi, Kawauchi, Masahiro, Mitani, Takahiko
• Granted Patent: US 9,007,449 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/176
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/00096 Optical elements
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/00098 Deflecting means for inserted tools
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/00101 the distal tip features being detachable
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/018 for receiving instruments
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/05 characterised by the image sensor, e.g. camera, being in the distal end portion
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/051 Details of CCD assembly
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/053 being detachable

Abstract

A tip portion main body provided on the tip of the insertion portion has an erecting device disposed in the vicinity of the channel tip opening, capable of changing the protruding direction of the treatment tool, a solid-state image-capturing device, an objective optical system, having a predetermined field of view angle for capturing an image within the body cavity including the treatment tool protruding from the tip opening with a first field of view angle equating to the upper field of view angle during observation, and forms this image at the solid-state image-capturing device; and a second field of view angle equating to the lower field of view angle during observation, with the tip side of the insertion portion as the field of vision range, and the first field of view angle is set to be the same or smaller than the second field of view angle.

Claims

1. An electronic endoscope comprising:

an insertion portion for being inserted into a body cavity, wherein a channel through which a treatment tool is inserted is provided;

a tip portion main body provided on the tip of the insertion portion;

an erecting device provided on the tip portion main body, disposed in the vicinity of the channel tip opening, and capable of changing the protruding direction of the treatment tool protruding from the tip opening;

a solid-state image-capturing device provided on the tip portion main body for image-capturing an image within the body cavity as an endoscope image;

an objective optical system provided on the tip portion main body, having a predetermined field of view angle in the field of vision direction at least 90 degrees from a line segment defined in the direction from the base end to the tip of the insertion portion, for capturing an image within the body cavity with a first field of view angle equating to the upper field of view angle during observation, wherein the base side of the insertion portion is the field of vision range including the treatment tool protruding from the tip opening as the center of the field of vision direction in the field of view angle, and forms this image at the solid-state image-capturing device; and

field of view angle setting device for setting a second field of view angle equating to the lower field of view angle during observation, wherein the tip side of the insertion portion of the field of vision range with the field of vision direction as the center of the field of view angle, and setting the first field of view angle to be the same or smaller than the second field of view angle.

2. The electronic endoscope according to claim 1, wherein the objective optical system is an optical system wherein all of the optical elements configuring the objective optical system are disposed along a linear axis;

and wherein in the event that the erecting device is erected to the maximum thereof so that the treatment tool protrudes 20 mm from the channel tip opening, the objective optical system and the erecting device are disposed on the tip portion main body in a positional relation for the tip side of the treatment tool to enter in the first field of view angle.

3. The electronic endoscope according to claim 1, wherein the field of view angle setting device form the thickness of the optical element disposed on the far tip side of the objective optical system as a wedge shape so that relative to the lengthwise direction of the insertion portion, the portion serving as the tip side of the insertion portion is thicker than the rear side.

4. The electronic endoscope according to claim 1, wherein the objective optical system is an objective optical system of a lateral view type with a lateral view as the field of vision direction, forming a 90 degree angle with a defined line segment from the base end of the insertion portion in the direction of the tip, or is an objective optical system of a rear perspective type with a rear perspective of an angle greater than 90 degrees as the field of vision angle.

5. The electronic endoscope according to claim 1, wherein the erecting device is disposed adjacent in the direction orthogonal to the lengthwise direction of the insertion portion with the objective optical system and the illumination optical system disposed adjacent in the lengthwise direction of the insertion portion in the objective optical system.

6. The electronic endoscope according to claim 1, wherein the erecting device, which is disposed adjacent in the direction orthogonal to the lengthwise direction of the insertion portion with the objective optical system and the illumination optical system disposed adjacent in the lengthwise direction of the insertion portion in the objective optical system, has an erecting block rotatably supported for changing the protruding direction of the treatment tool protruding from the channel tip opening, turning around the axis orthogonal to the lengthwise direction of the insertion portion.

7. The electronic endoscope according to claim 1, wherein the erecting device, which is disposed adjacent in the direction orthogonal to the lengthwise direction of the insertion portion with the objective optical system and the illumination optical system disposed adjacent in the lengthwise direction of the insertion portion in the objective optical system, has an erecting block rotatably supported for changing the protruding direction of the treatment tool protruding from the channel tip opening, turning around the axis orthogonal to the lengthwise direction of the insertion portion;

and wherein an arrangement is made so in the event that the treatment tool is protruded from the channel tip opening with the erecting block in a state of erecting at the widest angle, the relative position relation of the erecting device and the objective optical system is set so that the tip side of the treatment tool is captured within the first field of view angle.

8. The electronic endoscope according to claim 1, wherein the field of view angle setting device are formed by disposing the axis of a portion of the optical system in the objective optical system so as to be shifted relative to the lengthwise direction of the insertion portion from the center axis on the image-capturing screen of the solid-state image-capturing device.

9. The electronic endoscope according to claim 1, wherein the image-capturing screen of the solid-state image-capturing device disposed at the image forming position of the objective optical system, which is disposed perpendicular to the axis of the objective optical system is divided into a first image region serving as the tip side of the insertion portion, and a second image-capturing region serving as the base side of the insertion portion at a line passing through the axis.

10. The electronic endoscope according to claim 1, wherein an illuminating lens for emitting illumination light is disposed adjacent to the image-capturing device configured with the objective optical system and the solid-state image-capturing device, on the tip portion main body,

and wherein the image-capturing device is disposed as to the illumination lens in such a position that at least a portion of the image-capturing device enters a region whereby the surface of such illumination lens projects in the direction perpendicular to the lengthwise direction of the insertion portion.

11. The electronic endoscope according to claim 1, wherein a TAB (Tape Automated Bonding) tape is disposed on the tip portion main body so as to cover the back face of the solid-state image-capturing device and so as to extend in the lengthwise direction of the insertion portion;

and wherein such TAB tape has provided thereupon a patterned exposure portion wherein resin configuring the TAB tape has been removed, and this TAB is bent with the patterned exposure portion.

12. An electronic endoscope comprising:

an insertion portion for being inserted into a body cavity, wherein a channel through which a treatment tool is inserted is provided;

a tip portion main body provided on the tip of the insertion portion;

an erecting device provided on the tip portion main body, disposed in the vicinity of the channel tip opening, and capable of changing the protruding direction of the treatment tool protruding from the tip opening;

image-capturing device provided on the tip portion main body, having an image-capturing optical axis at least 90 degrees from a line segment defined in the direction from the base end to the tip of the insertion portion, for capturing an image within the body cavity including the treatment tool protruding from the tip opening with a first field of view angle, wherein the base side of the insertion portion is the field of vision range, and a second field of view angle, wherein the tip side of the insertion portion is the field of vision range as the center of the image-capturing optical axis, and forms this image at an image-capturing region of the image-capturing device;

wherein the first field of view angle is set to be equal to or smaller than the second field of view angle.

13. The electronic endoscope according to claim 12, wherein the image-capturing device are configured to include the image-capturing device and the objective optical system;

and wherein with the objecting optical system, the thickness of the optical device disposed on the far tip side is formed in a wedge shape so that the portion on the tip side of the insertion portion is thicker than the rear side, relative to the line segment defined in the direction from the base end to the tip of the insertion portion.

14. An electronic endoscope device comprising:

an electronic endoscope having

an insertion portion for being inserted into a body cavity, wherein a channel through which a treatment tool is inserted is provided,

a tip portion main body provided on the tip of the insertion portion,

an erecting device provided on the tip portion main body, disposed in the vicinity of the channel tip opening, and capable of changing the protruding direction of the treatment tool protruding from the tip opening,

a solid-state image-capturing device provided on the tip portion main body for image-capturing an image within the body cavity as an endoscope image,

an objective optical system provided on the tip portion main body, having a predetermined field of view angle in the field of vision direction at least 90 degrees from a line segment defined in the direction from the base end to the tip of the insertion portion, for capturing an image within the body cavity with a first field of view angle, wherein the base side of the insertion portion is the field of vision range with the treatment tool protruding from the tip opening as the center of the field of vision direction in the field of view angle, and forms this image at an image-capturing region of the solid-state image-capturing device,

field of view angle setting device for setting a second field of view angle, wherein the tip side of the insertion portion of the field of vision range with the field of vision direction as the center of the field of view angle, and setting the first field of view angle to be the same or smaller than the second field of view angle, and

signal processing circuit for displaying an image within a body cavity formed at the image-capturing region on a display screen of display device as an endoscope image, by performing signal processing as to the solid-state image-capturing device and outputting a video signal to the display device.

15. The electronic endoscope device according to claim 14, wherein the video signal is generated corresponding to the endoscope image, whereby the signal processing circuit displays a first image captured in the first field of view angle on the upper side of the display screen, and displays a second image captured in the second field of view angle on the lower side of the display screen.

16. The electronic endoscope device according to claim 15, wherein the first image displayed on the upper side of the display screen is displayed at generally the same magnification as the second image displayed on the lower side of the display screen.

17. The electronic endoscope device according to claim 16, wherein the first image displayed on the upper side of the display screen is displayed at generally a greater magnification than the second image displayed on the lower side of the display screen.

18. An electronic endoscope system comprising:

a first electronic endoscope having

a first erecting device for erecting a treatment tool, wherein a side view direction through a rear perspective direction of at least 90 degrees from a line segment defined in the direction from the base end to the tip of an insertion portion as a field of vision direction;

a first image-capturing device with a first field of view angle for forming a first image to be in the upper side in the endoscope image displayed with display device and a second field of view angle for forming a second image to be in the lower side thereof, having a first solid-state image-capturing device and a first objective optical system for forming an image within a body cavity at the first solid-state image-capturing device;

wherein the first field of view angle is greater than the second field of view angle, and in the event that the first erecting device is erected to the maximum thereof, the tip side of the treatment tool can be captured within the first field of view angle; and

a second electronic endoscope having

a second erecting device for erecting a treatment tool, wherein a side view direction through a rear perspective direction of at least 90 degrees from a line segment defined in the direction from the base end to the tip of the insertion portion as a field of vision direction;

a second image-capturing device with a third field of view angle for forming a third image to be in the upper side in the endoscope image displayed with the display device and a fourth field of view angle for forming a fourth image to be in the lower side thereof, having a second solid-state image-capturing device and a second objective optical system for forming an image within a body cavity at the second solid-state image-capturing device;

wherein the third field of view angle is equal to or less than the fourth field of view angle, and in the event that the second erecting device is erected to the maximum thereof, the tip side of the treatment tool can be captured within the third field of view angle.

19. The electronic endoscope system according to claim 18, wherein in the event that the first erecting device is erected to the maximum thereof and the treatment tool is captured in the first field of view angle, if the same treatment tool is erected to the maximum with the second erecting device, the position of a second rotation axis whereby the second erecting device is rotatably supported to be captured within the third field of view angle is provided in a position shifted farther toward the tip side of the insertion portion than a first rotation axis which rotatably supports the first erecting device.

20. The electronic endoscope system according to claim 18, wherein

regarding the distance of the first erecting device between the image-capturing optical axis of the first image-capturing device and a first rotational axis supporting the first erecting device so as to be erectable;

the distance between the image-capturing optical axis of the second image-capturing device and a second rotational axis supporting the second erecting device so as to be erectable in the second electronic endoscope is increased/decreased at least the amount of ratio of the third field of view angle and fourth field of view angle according to the ratio of the first and second field of view angles.