Endoscopic device having ultrasonic positioning
First Claim
1. Endoscopic device comprising an articulation section and a system for measuring the distance between and the relative alignment of two objects located at two different locations along the length of said endoscopic device, said system comprising:
- one or more single ultrasonic transducers, used to both transmit and receive the ultrasonic signals, mounted on, or near, the first object and at least one reflector mounted on, or near, the second object, said reflector being suitable to reflect back a pattern that can be translated into the position and orientation of said objects relative to each other;
wherein,one of said objects is located on the proximal end or proximally of sald articulation section and the other of said objects is located distally of said articulation section.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An endoscopic device includes ultrasonic emitters, receivers, and reflectors for the precise alignment of parts of an endoscope relative to each other. The methods for determining the relative position of two parts of the endoscope are based on measuring the distance between them based on the use of one or more transducers or arrays of transducers functioning as transmitters of ultrasonic signals and one or more transducers or arrays of transducers functioning as receivers of the ultrasonic signals. In preferred embodiments of the invention, at least one of the receivers is replaced by a reflector and at least one of the transmitters also functions as a receiver.
35 Citations
56 Claims
-
1. Endoscopic device comprising an articulation section and a system for measuring the distance between and the relative alignment of two objects located at two different locations along the length of said endoscopic device, said system comprising:
- one or more single ultrasonic transducers, used to both transmit and receive the ultrasonic signals, mounted on, or near, the first object and at least one reflector mounted on, or near, the second object, said reflector being suitable to reflect back a pattern that can be translated into the position and orientation of said objects relative to each other;
wherein,one of said objects is located on the proximal end or proximally of sald articulation section and the other of said objects is located distally of said articulation section. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56)
- one or more single ultrasonic transducers, used to both transmit and receive the ultrasonic signals, mounted on, or near, the first object and at least one reflector mounted on, or near, the second object, said reflector being suitable to reflect back a pattern that can be translated into the position and orientation of said objects relative to each other;
Specification