Electrical isolation of endoscopic video camera
First Claim
1. An electrical isolation circuit for endoscopic video cameras comprising;
- a video camera head having a CCD sensor;
an electronic video processing circuit including a plurality of signal lines interposed between said video camera head and said electronic video processing circuit, wherein at least some of said signal lines transmit a shutter pulse and a video signal;
electrical isolation circuit means interposed between said electronic video processing circuit and said video camera head for isolating said electronic video processing circuit;
wherein said electrical isolation circuit means comprises a separate pulse transformer in each signal line; and
interference preventing means to prevent interference from shutter pulse signals comprising switch means for interrupting said video signal when said shutter pulse is received.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A video camera isolation circuit for use with video cameras that are coupled to endoscopes utilizes simple pulse transformer technology to isolate the video camera head from the video processing circuitry allowing the processing circuitry to be referenced to ground. The video signal from the CCD sensor in the camera head is specially processed to prevent shutter pulses from interfering with the isolated video signal. Special circuitry blanks the shutter pulse from the pulse transformer. Open collector data circuitry is also specially processed by dual channel detecting and amplifying circuits which are transistor switched through the pulse transformers before being delivered to and from the camera head. Timing pulses are processed through logic buffering conditioning circuitry and pulse transformers for reconstruction on the secondary of the pulse transformer by hysteresis buffers. The circuits described allow simple pulse transformer technology to affectively isolate the video camera head connected to an endoscope from the electronic circuitry.
162 Citations
25 Claims
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1. An electrical isolation circuit for endoscopic video cameras comprising;
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a video camera head having a CCD sensor; an electronic video processing circuit including a plurality of signal lines interposed between said video camera head and said electronic video processing circuit, wherein at least some of said signal lines transmit a shutter pulse and a video signal; electrical isolation circuit means interposed between said electronic video processing circuit and said video camera head for isolating said electronic video processing circuit;
wherein said electrical isolation circuit means comprises a separate pulse transformer in each signal line; andinterference preventing means to prevent interference from shutter pulse signals comprising switch means for interrupting said video signal when said shutter pulse is received.
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2. An electrical isolation circuit for endoscopic video cameras comprising;
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a video camera having a CCD sensor; an electronic video processing circuit including a plurality of signal lines, at least some of which transmit bidirectional signals between said electronic video processing circuit and said video camera; and electrical isolation circuit means interposed between said electronic video processing circuit and said video camera for isolating said electronic video processing circuit; said electrical isolation circuit means including open collector bidirectional signal isolation means for sensing direction and maintaining the speed of said bidirectional signals. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification