Stone removing apparatus and stone size measuring method

A stone removing apparatus comprising:

• an insertion tube having an inner space;
• a guide tube inserted into the inner space of the insertion tube and movable along the insertion tube;
• a wire inserted into an inner space of the guide tube and movable along the guide tube;
• a basket disposed at a front of the wire and configured to grasp a stone;
• an image capture disposed at a front end of the guide tube and configured to take an image of the stone grasped by the basket;
• a controller configured to be electrically connected with the image capture and analyze the image taken by the imaging capture,
• wherein the controller is configured to calculate a first distance between the image capture and the basket and measure an actual size of the stone using the calculated first distance, and
• wherein the wire is made in a form that a spring steel wire is spirally wound on a core and a semicircular steel wire with flexibility and resilience is welded at ends thereof.

A stone size measuring method comprising the steps of:

• mounting an insertion tube in an inner surface of an object:
• moving a guide tube through an inside of the insertion tube into the object and grasping a stone by a basket;
• taking an image of an outer circumference of the stone using an image capture while stopping or rotating the basket grasping the stone;
• transferring, by the image capture, the image taken by the image capture to a controller electrically connected to the image capture;
• determining, by the controller, a first distance between the image capture and the basket;
• setting, by the controller, a point of an outer circumference of the stone, the point being farthest from a center based on the image, and determining a second distance between the point and an outer contour point which is positioned on an outer counter of the image and farthest from the point, and determining an actual size of the stone using the first distance and the second distance;
• and
• displaying data of the actual size of the stone on a display.