ENDOSCOPE

• US 20090093681A1
• Filed: 12/12/2008
• Published: 04/09/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Olympus Corporation
• Original Assignee: Olympus Medical Systems Corporation (Olympus Corporation)
• Inventors: Ichimura, Hironobu
• Granted Patent: US 8,394,013 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/178
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/00096 Optical elements
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/00188 with focusing or zooming features
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/05 characterised by the image sensor, e.g. camera, being in the distal end portion
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/0623 for off-axis illumination
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/0661 Endoscope light sources

Abstract

The present invention has a configuration that an observing portion observing an area to be examined and first and second illumination portions performing irradiation of illumination light are disposed on a distal end face of an insertion portion to be inserted into the area to be examined, and a first lens which is a distal end observation lens of an observation window of the observation portion is disposed at a position projecting to a distal end side beyond the distal end face. With the abovementioned configuration, an endoscope provided with an observation optical system of an object contact type performing contact observation to a live body where a sharp observation image can be obtained is provided.

Claims

1. An endoscope comprising

a slender insertion portion having a distal end and a proximal end;

and

a distal end face disposed at the distal end of the insertion portion,

where an observation portion for observing an area to be examined and an illumination portion emitting illumination light are disposed on the distal end face, wherein

the observation portion has an observation window on which an observation image of the area to be examined is incident, and

at least a distal end observation face of the observation window is disposed at a position projecting to a distal end side of the insertion portion beyond the distal end face.

2. The endoscope according to claim 1, wherein

the distal end face of the insertion portion is formed from an inclination face deviated from a direction orthogonal to an axial line direction of the insertion portion.

3. The endoscope according to claim 1, wherein

the distal end face includes at least a first face and a second face disposed at a portion projecting to a distal end side of the insertion portion beyond the first face,

the observation portion and the illumination portion are disposed on the second face, and

at least the distal end observation face of the observation portion is disposed so as to project to the distal end side beyond the second face.

4. The endoscope according to claim 3, wherein

the observation portion includes a first observation portion observing the area to be examined in a non-contact state therewith and

a second observation portion observing the area to be examined in a contact state therewith, and

at least the second observation portion is disposed on the second face.

5. The endoscope according to claim 1, wherein

the distal end face includes at least a first face and a second face disposed at a position projecting to the distal end side beyond the first face,

the observing portion observing the area to be examined and the illumination portion emitting illumination light are disposed on the second face, and

a distal end observation face of the observation portion and a distal end face of an illumination window of the illumination portion are disposed at a position projecting to the distal end side beyond the second face.

6. The endoscope according to claim 5, wherein

the distal end observation face of the observation portion is set to be smaller in projection amount from the second face than the distal end face of the illumination window of the illumination portion.

7. The endoscope according to claim 5, wherein

the distal end observation face of the observation portion is set to be larger in projection amount from the second face than the distal end face of the illumination window of the illumination portion, and

the observation portion includes, around the observation window, light-shielding means for preventing illumination light from the illumination portion from directly entering the distal end observation face.

8. The endoscope according to claim 4, wherein

the second observation portion has an observation optical system with a magnification higher than that of the first observation portion.