Endoscope with optical filter arrangement and use
AssigneeOlympus Winter & Ibe GmbH
InventorJianxin Zhao
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An endoscope including: an optical filter arrangement having: a holder; and an optical filter having one of different filter properties in different directions or multiple optical filters with different filter properties, the optical filter being arranged in the holder to rotate about an axis of rotation in at least one beam path of the endoscope in a direction of light incidence in or behind an objective of the endoscope and in front of an image capturing unit or an eyepiece; wherein the optical filter arrangement is configured to change from a first filter property to a second filter property when the optical filter is rotated by 90° about the axis of rotation from a first target rotational position to a second target rotational position.
Claims10
An endoscope comprising:
- one or more optical lenses disposed along an optical axis, a beam path through the one or more lenses extending from an objective to an image capturing unit or an eyepiece;
- and
- an optical filter arrangement comprising:
- a holder disposed in an interior of the endoscope in the at least one beam path and outside of the image capturing unit or the eyepiece, the holder being rotatable about an axis of rotation perpendicular to the optical axis;
- and
- an optical filter arranged in the holder, the optical filter having one of different filter properties in different directions or multiple optical filters with different filter properties, the optical filter having a plurality of external faces rotated by 90° in relation to each other about the axis of rotation of the holder, each of the different filter properties corresponding to a different external face of the optical filter,
- an adjusting device configured to rotate the optical filter arrangement, wherein the adjusting device comprises an electric motor and a control unit for the motor control as well as an operating unit;
- wherein the optical filter arrangement is configured to change from a first filter property to a second filter property when the optical filter is rotated by 90° about the axis of rotation from a first target rotational position to a second target rotational position;
- and
- light is incident on a first external face of the plurality of external faces in the first target rotational position and the light is incident on a second external face of the external plurality of faces, different from the first external face, in the second target rotational position.
A method of using an endoscope, wherein the endoscope comprising:
- one or more optical lenses disposed along an optical axis, a beam path through the one or more lenses extending from an objective to an image capturing unit or an eyepiece;
- and
- an optical filter arrangement comprising:
- a holder disposed in an interior of the endoscope in the at least one beam path and outside of the image capturing unit or the eyepiece, the holder being rotatable about an axis of rotation perpendicular to the optical axis;
- and
- an optical filter arranged in the holder, the optical filter having one of different filter properties in different directions or multiple optical filters with different filter properties, the optical filter having a plurality of external faces rotated by 90° in relation to each other about the axis of rotation of the holder, each of the different filter properties corresponding to a different external face of the optical filter,
- an adjusting device configured to rotate the optical filter arrangement, wherein the adjusting device comprises an electric motor and a control unit for the motor control as well as an operating unit;
- wherein the optical filter arrangement is configured to change from a first filter property to a second filter property when the optical filter is rotated by 90° about the axis of rotation from a first target rotational position to a second target rotational position;
- the method comprising:
- changing from the first filter property to the second filter property when the optical filter is rotated by 90° about the axis of rotation from the first target rotational position to the second target rotational position, and
- light is incident on a first external face of the plurality of external faces in the first target rotational position and the light is incident on a second external face of the plurality of external faces, different from the first external face, in the second target rotational position;
- wherein the changing comprises rotating the optical filter arrangement by 90° about the axis of rotation by activating the electric motor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.