Solid state variable direction of view endoscope
First Claim
1. An endoscope, comprising:
- a wide angle lens system that includes an optical axis that is angularly offset from a longitudinal axis of the endoscope such that the optical axis resides at an angle greater than zero degrees to the longitudinal axis, wherein the wide angle lens system simultaneously gathers an endoscopic image field at least spanning the longitudinal axis and an angle greater than ninety degrees to the longitudinal axis;
a solid state imager having an imaging surface area that receives at least a portion of endoscopic image transmitted by the wide angle lens system and produces output signals corresponding to the endoscopic image field;
image forming circuitry that receives the output signal and produces an image signal; and
an image transmission system resides in the transmission path between the wide angle lens system and the imager, the image transmission system having at least one lens that alters the distribution of the endoscopic image field to correspond to the imaging surface area such that the distribution of the endoscopic image field on the imaging surface area has a uniform information density,wherein the at least one lens distributes substantially the entire endoscopic image field in the longitudinal direction to correspond to the imaging surface area, andwherein the image transmission system includes an f-theta lens system.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An endoscope with a wide angle lens that comprises an optical axis that is angularly offset from a longitudinal axis of the endoscope such that the optical axis resides at an angle greater than zero degrees to the longitudinal axis. The wide angle lens system simultaneously gathers an endoscopic image field at least spanning the longitudinal axis and an angle greater than ninety degrees to the longitudinal axis. The endoscope further includes an imager comprising an imaging surface area that receives at least a portion of endoscopic image transmitted by the wide angle lens system and produces output signals corresponding to the endoscopic image field and image forming circuitry that receives the output signal and produces an image signal.
30 Citations
28 Claims
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1. An endoscope, comprising:
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a wide angle lens system that includes an optical axis that is angularly offset from a longitudinal axis of the endoscope such that the optical axis resides at an angle greater than zero degrees to the longitudinal axis, wherein the wide angle lens system simultaneously gathers an endoscopic image field at least spanning the longitudinal axis and an angle greater than ninety degrees to the longitudinal axis; a solid state imager having an imaging surface area that receives at least a portion of endoscopic image transmitted by the wide angle lens system and produces output signals corresponding to the endoscopic image field; image forming circuitry that receives the output signal and produces an image signal; and an image transmission system resides in the transmission path between the wide angle lens system and the imager, the image transmission system having at least one lens that alters the distribution of the endoscopic image field to correspond to the imaging surface area such that the distribution of the endoscopic image field on the imaging surface area has a uniform information density, wherein the at least one lens distributes substantially the entire endoscopic image field in the longitudinal direction to correspond to the imaging surface area, and wherein the image transmission system includes an f-theta lens system. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. An endoscope, comprising:
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a wide angle lens system that includes an optical axis that is angularly offset from a longitudinal axis of the endoscope such that the optical axis resides at an angle greater than zero degrees to the longitudinal axis, wherein the wide angle lens system simultaneously gathers an endoscopic image field at least spanning the longitudinal axis and an angle greater than ninety degrees to the longitudinal axis; an imager having an imaging surface area that receives at least a portion of endoscopic image transmitted by the wide angle lens system and produces output signals corresponding to the endoscopic image field; image forming circuitry that receives the output signal and produces an image signal; and an image transmission system resides in the transmission path between the wide angle lens system and the imager, wherein the image transmission system redistributes the image field to even out the information density across the imaging surface area. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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Specification