Endoscope and endoscope assembly
AssigneeSchölly Fiberoptic GmbH
InventorsStefan Schröer, Matthias Kühn, Johannes Bourbon, Lutz Labusch, Michael Schwärzle
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An endoscope assembly has an endoscope, having an optical waveguide and having an image guide, wherein the image guide is configured to be uninterrupted up to its proximal end and has an image guide interface at its proximal end for optical connection to an image capturing unit, an illumination unit having a light source and having an optical waveguide interface for optical connection of the light source to an optical waveguide, and an image capturing unit having an image sensor and having an image guide interface for optical connection of the image sensor to an image guide.
Claims16
An endoscope (2), comprising:
- an optical light guide (14);
- and
- an image guide (13) configured to run uninterrupted and without couplings up to the endoscope tip its proximal end, the image guide (13) having only a single image guide interface (10, 19) at its proximal end for optical connection to an external image capturing device (15);
- wherein no image sensor is arranged in the endoscope (2);
- wherein the endoscope (2) has a handle (7) and the image guide (13) passes through the handle (7), and extends outward from the handle (7), in particular at the proximal end of the handle (7), without interruption;
- and,
- wherein the only image guide interface (10, 19) is arranged distant from the handle (7) within a non-sterile area (9) of the endoscope (1), such that the handle (7) is free of an optical interface.
An endoscope (2), comprising:
- an optical light guide (14);
- and
- an image guide (13) configured to run uninterrupted and without couplings up to the endoscope tip, the image guide (13) having only a single image guide interface (10, 19) at its proximal end for optical connection to an external image capturing device (15);
- wherein no image sensor is arranged in the endoscope (2);
- wherein the endoscope (2) has a handle (7) and the image guide (13) passes through the handle (land extends outward from the handle (7), in particular at the proximal end of the handle (7), without interruption;
- wherein the only image guide interface (10, 19) is arranged distant from the handle (7) within a non-sterile area (9) of the endoscope (1), such that the handle (7) is free of an optical interface;
- and,
- wherein during a surgical procedure an endoscope (2) may be disconnected from the image guide interface (10, 19) and replaced with at least one additional endoscope (2) without the need for the performance of any sterilization steps.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.