Assembling method of capsule medical apparatus

• US 7,473,218 B2
• Filed: 08/04/2003
• Issued: 01/06/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/06/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Olympus Corporation
• Original Assignee: Olympus Corporation
• Inventors: Segawa, Hidetake, Yokoi, Takeshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Leubecker; John P
• Application Number:
  US10/634,044
• Publication Number:
  US 20040027459A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,982 Days
• Field of Search: 600/160, 600/109, 600/179, 600/176, 600/476, 600/920, 348/76, 348/340
• US Class Current: 600/109
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/00016 using wireless means
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/00029 externally powered, e.g. wireless
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/00032 internally powered
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/0011 Manufacturing of endoscope parts
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/041 Capsule endoscopes for imaging
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/051 Details of CCD assembly
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/0607 for annular illumination
• 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 1/3132 for laparoscopy
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0219 of externally powered implanted units
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/073 Intestinal transmitters
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/51 Housings
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/54 Mounting of pick-up tubes, electronic image sensors, deviation or focusing coils
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/555 for picking-up images in sites, inaccessible due to their dimensions or hazardous conditions, e.g. endoscopes or borescopes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/56 provided with illuminating means
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/62 Control of parameters via user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 600/92 Method of making endoscopes

Abstract

An assembling method of a capsule medical apparatus is provided. The capsule medical apparatus includes a sealed capsule container having an image pick-up unit which picks up an image of a portion illuminated by an illuminating unit, and an objective optical system which is arranged in front of the image pick-up unit. The assembling method includes a positioning step of positioning so that a relative position of a reference position of a fixing frame in the objective optical system matches a reference position of an image area of the image pick-up unit, and a fixing step of, after the positioning step, contacting a reference down-surface of the fixing frame with the top surface of the image pick-up unit and fixing the image pick-up unit and the fixing frame.

Claims

1. An assembling method of a capsule medical apparatus including a sealed capsule having a cylindrical casing with a central axis, an illuminating unit, an image pick-up unit for picking up an image of a portion illuminated by the illuminating unit, and an objective optical system for focusing an image on the image pick-up unit through an optical path of the objective optical system, wherein the objective optical system is attached to a fixing frame, the assembling method comprising:

displaying an image area of the image pick-up unit and establishing one or more reference positions thereon in order to locate a center position of said image area;

displaying an image of the fixing frame and overlapping the image of the fixing frame with the image area of the image pick-up unit;

positioning the fixing frame such that the center position of the image area of the image pick-up unit coincides with the center position of the image of the fixing frame, the optical path of the objective optical system, and the central axis of the cylindrical casing; and

a fixing step after the positioning step wherein the image pick-up unit and the fixing frame are attached and made to be fixed in position with respect to each other.

2. An assembling method of a capsule medical apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the reference position of the image area is on one of a corner portion around the image area and on at least a part of peripheral circuits of the image pick-up unit.

3. An assembling method of a capsule medical apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the fixing frame has a shape such that, when viewed along the optical path, after the fixing frame is positioned and fixed onto the image pick-up unit, at least a part of a corner portion around the image area and peripheral circuits of the image pick-up unit is outside the fixing frame.

4. An assembling method of a capsule medical apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the fixing frame has a leg portion for fixing, which is extended to a part of a side surface having no connecting terminals and the fixing frame fixes the leg portion for fixing to a fixing substrate of the image pick-up unit.

5. An assembling method of a capsule medical apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a first lens mounted to the fixing frame and covering the image pick-up unit, and a second lens for adjusting the focus of an image picked up by the image pick-un unit, the second lens being mounted to a movable frame that is interlocked with the fixing frame and movable, the method further comprising movably interlocking the movable frame with the fixing frame such that an image picked up by the image pick-up unit is properly focused, and adjusting a distance of the first lens to the second lens along the optical path by moving the movable frame relative to the fixing frame, thereafter fixing the position of the movable frame with respect to the fixing frame, and accordingly fixing the position of the second lens with respect to the first lens.

6. An assembling method of a capsule medical apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the fixing frame is fixed to the image pick-up unit, a part of one of a corner portion around the image area not covered by the fixing frame and peripheral circuits of the image pick-up unit is exposed on a surface of the image area of the image pick-up unit to which the fixing frame is fixed.