Endoscope with Rotatable Camera and Related Methods

• US 20190328217A1
• Filed: 04/26/2019
• Published: 10/31/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/26/2018
• Status: Active Application

• Current Assignee: Deka Products Limited Partnership
• Original Assignee: Deka Products Limited Partnership
• Inventors: Moreau, Timothy D., Kulbacki, Alec W., Blumberg, JR., David, Adams, Paul L., Rivinius, Gregg W., Henning, Steven L.
• Application Number:
  US16/396,282
• Publication Number:
  US 20190328217A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/00006 of control signals
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/00009 of image signals during a use of endoscope
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/00045 Display arrangement
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/00091 Nozzles
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/00094 Suction openings
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/00096 Optical elements
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/00172 with means for scanning
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/00174 characterised by the viewing angles
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/00183 for variable viewing angles
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/015 Control of fluid supply or evacuation
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/045 Control thereof
• 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 1/0676 at distal tip of an endoscope
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/0684 using light emitting diodes [LED]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/126 provided with means for cleaning in-use
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/3445 used as instrument channel for multiple instruments catheters A61B2017/22072
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 23/2461 Illumination
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 23/2484 Arrangements in relation to a camera or imaging device processing or control of video signals generated by an endoscope H04N23/60, H04N23/70

Abstract

An endoscope comprises a handle and a shaft with an optical housing at the distal end of the shaft enclosing a camera sensor positioned so that its optical axis is at an angle with respect to a rotational axis of the shaft. The camera sensor is rotatable with the shaft relative to a proximal housing of the handle. A rotation sensor in the handle detects the rotational angle of the camera sensor with respect to the proximal housing. A processor can correct the angular orientation of an image from the image sensor, converting of a rotating variable field of view to a translating variable field of view. A processor can apply variable smoothing of the rotation of the displayed image so that smoothing during rotational deceleration is greater than smoothing during rotational acceleration. The shaft may be enclosed in a trocar that allows for a space between the shaft and trocar that can be used to carry irrigation fluid to or from a space at the end of the shaft.

Claims

1. An optical housing for a distal end of an endoscope shaft comprising:

a molded member configured to partially enclose a camera sensor and a light source, to fix an angular position of the camera sensor and light source with respect to a longitudinal axis of a distal end of the endoscope shaft, and to secure the camera sensor and light source within a distal end of a cylindrical sheath comprising the endoscope shaft;

the molded member having an outer diameter to provide a leak-free sealing engagement with at least a portion of the sheath of the endoscope shaft;

wherein

the molded member comprises a plurality of channels formed on an external surface of the molded member to provide one or more liquid flowpaths between a fluid channel in the endoscope shaft and an external surface of the endoscope shaft.

2. The optical housing of claim 1, wherein the camera sensor comprises a lens adjacent the sensor, and the optical housing includes an lens aperture through which the lens can receive light at the distal end of the endoscope shaft.

3. The optical housing of claim 2, wherein the light source comprises a light emitting diode positioned next to the lens, wherein the optical housing includes a LED aperture through which the LED projects light to an area outside the distal end of the endoscope shaft.

4. The optical housing of claim 1, wherein the camera sensor is mounted on a camera sensor printed circuit board, the camera sensor printed circuit board enclosed in the optical housing.

5. The optical housing of claim 1, wherein the light source is mounted on a light source printed circuit board, the light source printed circuit board enclosed in the optical housing.

6. The optical housing of claim 2, wherein the light source comprises a light emitting diode mounted on a light source printed circuit board, and wherein the light source printed circuit board includes an aperture through which a lens adjacent the camera sensor protrudes.

7. The optical housing of claim 1, wherein the sheath terminates at a location proximal to a termination of the optical housing, and wherein one or more channels on the external surface of the molded member communicate with one or more lateral apertures between the optical housing and the sheath at the termination of the sheath.

8. The optical housing of claim 1, wherein the sheath includes an irrigation aperture proximal to a termination of the sheath at the distal end of the endoscope shaft, the irrigation aperture in fluid communication with the one or more channels of the optical housing.

9. The optical housing of claim 8, wherein the sheath and optical housing are configured for insertion into a trocar, the trocar having a distal opening to permit light to reach the camera sensor and light to be emitted by the light source, and wherein the trocar includes trocar apertures that align with the irrigation apertures of the sheath.

10. An endoscope and processor, the endoscope having a camera located at a distal end of a shaft of the endoscope;

the shaft and camera rotatable together about a rotation axis of the shaft;

the camera having an optical axis that is at a non-zero angle with respect to the rotation axis of the shaft;

a rotation sensor configured to measure a rotational angle of the camera about the rotation axis from a starting angular orientation of a displayed image from the camera;

the processor configured to process image data from the camera to maintain the starting angular orientation of the displayed image;

wherein the displayed image translates from a first field of view to a second different field of view as the camera rotates about the rotation axis from the starting angular orientation to a second angular orientation.

11. The endoscope and processor of claim 10, wherein the optical axis of the camera is fixed at an angle between 30 and 70 degrees with respect to the rotation axis.

12. The endoscope and processor of claim 10, wherein the processor is configured to smooth a rotation signal from the rotation sensor, so that greater smoothing is applied when the camera rotation is decelerating than when the camera rotation is accelerating.

13. An endoscope having a camera located at a distal end of a shaft of the endoscope;

the shaft connected to a distal housing of a handle of the endoscope;

a PCB connected to the distal housing and including a magnetic position sensor;

a proximal housing of the handle enclosing the PCB, with the distal housing, shaft and camera rotatable together relative to the proximal housing;

the proximal housing including one or more magnets located opposite the position sensor, the position sensor configured to rotate with respect to the one or more magnets to generate an angular position signal indicating a rotational angle of the distal housing, shaft and camera with respect to the proximal housing;

the camera positioned so that an optical axis of the camera is at a non-zero angle with respect to a rotation axis of the distal housing and shaft;

wherein the non-zero angle of the optical axis of the camera in combination with the angular position signal allows a visual display of an image from the camera to be converted from a rotating image of a variable field of view to a translating image of the variable field of view.

14. A system for correcting an angular orientation of a displayed image from a rotatable camera, the camera having an optical axis that is at a non-zero angle with respect to a rotational axis of the camera, the system comprising:

a rotation sensor configured to measure a rotational angle of the camera about the rotational axis from a starting angular orientation of the displayed image;

a processor configured to process image data from the camera to maintain the starting angular orientation of the displayed image;

wherein the displayed image translates from a first field of view to a second different field of view as the camera rotates about the rotational axis from the starting angular orientation to a second angular orientation.

15. An endoscope and processor, the endoscope having a camera located at a distal end of a shaft of the endoscope;

the shaft and camera rotatable together about a rotation axis of the shaft;

a rotation sensor configured to measure a rotational angle of the camera about the rotation axis;

the processor configured to filter rotation data from the rotation sensor to smooth a rotation of the displayed image;

wherein the filter is configured to provide greater smoothing when the camera rotation is decelerating than when the camera rotation is accelerating.

16. The endoscope and processor of claim 15, wherein the filter is a low-pass filter and the smoothing has an inverse relationship to a corner frequency of the low-pass filter.

17. The endoscope of claim 15, wherein the filter maintains a constant smoothing of the rotation of the displayed image if the camera is rotating at a constant speed.

18. A filter for processing rotation data of a rotatable camera sensor;

the filter configured to smooth a displayed rotation of an image from the camera sensor;

the rotation data derived from a rotation sensor configured to measure an angular orientation of the camera sensor;

wherein the filter is configured to provide greater smoothing when the camera sensor is decelerating than when the camera sensor is accelerating.

19. A method of processing an image from a camera sensor comprising:

assigning a hue, saturation, value (HSV) to a pixel of image data in an HSV color space, a saturation of the pixel residing within a pre-defined range of saturation numbers;

assigning a hue, saturation, lightness (HSL) to the pixel of image data in an HSL color space, a lightness of the pixel residing within a pre-defined range of lightness numbers;

computing a first factor comprising a fraction between 0 and 1, the first factor fraction being determined by a probability distribution centered around a number in a lower half of the pre-defined range of saturation numbers;

computing a second factor comprising a fraction between 0 and 1, the second factor fraction being determined by the probability distribution centered around a number in a middle of the pre-defined range of lightness numbers; and

adjusting the saturation of the pixel in the HSV color space by multiplying the assigned saturation of the pixel in the HSV color space by a value equal to 1 plus a product of a predetermined fixed fraction with the multiplication of the first factor by the second factor.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the predetermined fixed fraction is 0.5

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the probability distribution is a Gaussian distribution.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the probability distribution is centered around a number comprising approximately 25-40% of the pre-defined range of saturation numbers.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein the probability distribution is centered around a number comprising approximately 50% of the pre-defined range of lightness numbers.

24. An endoscope assembly comprising an endoscope and a trocar:

the endoscope having a proximal handle, a distal handle and a shaft;

The distal handle connected to the shaft and comprising an attached PCB;

the proximal handle enclosing the PCB; and

the shaft, distal handle and PCB rotatable together relative to the proximal handle;

the shaft including a single conduit configured for carrying irrigation fluid between a shaft port at a proximal portion of the shaft and irrigation ports of a distal portion of the shaft;

the shaft configured to be inserted into the trocar, the trocar having a distal opening to allow a distal end of the shaft to protrude through the opening;

a proximal portion of the trocar connected to a trocar fluid port, and a distal portion of the trocar including one or more side ports, allowing fluid to enter or leave a trocar space defined by an inner wall of the trocar and an outer wall of the shaft of the endoscope;

wherein the endoscope assembly is configured for simultaneous irrigation and suction using the trocar space for irrigation and the shaft conduit for suction, or using the trocar space for suction and the shaft conduit for irrigation.