Panoramic view attachment for colonoscopy systems
AssigneeArizona Board of Regents on Behalf of the University of Arizona
InventorRongguang Liang
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Single viewpoint panoramic imaging attachments for a colonoscope are disclosed that are compact in size and provide 360-degree side and rear-views in a single image. One panoramic attachment assembly includes a plurality of micro-imaging subsystems that are positioned around a central opening. Each micro-imaging subsystem includes a reflector to receive light that is reflected from a surrounding tissue, an imaging lens, and a detector to generate signals corresponding to one section of a panoramic image of the surrounding tissue. The micro-imaging subsystems are arranged to all have a common view point, and are configured to collectively form a full 360-degree image of the surrounding tissue.
Claims22
A panoramic attachment assembly for a colonoscope, comprising:
- a plurality of micro-imaging subsystems positioned around a central opening, each micro-imaging subsystem including:
- an imaging lens positioned to receive light that is reflected from a surrounding tissue, and
- a detector positioned to receive light from the imaging lens, and to generate electrical signals corresponding to one section of a panoramic image of the surrounding tissue, wherein,
- the plurality of micro-imaging subsystems are arranged such that each micro-imaging subsystem is configured to have an entrance pupil that coincides with an entrance pupil of all other micro-imaging subsystems, and
- the plurality of micro-imaging subsystems are configured to collectively form a full 360-degree image of the surrounding tissue.
A panoramic 360-degree view attachment assembly, comprising:
- three or more imaging subsystems positioned around a circular path;
- and
- a hollow opening to allow the attachment assembly to be secured onto a central shaft, wherein:
- the three or more imaging subsystems are arranged to such that each micro-imaging subsystem is configured to have an entrance pupil that coincides with an entrance pupil of all other micro-imaging subsystems, and
- the imaging subsystems are configured to each have a field of view that is 360°/M, where M is the number of the imaging subsystems.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.