Medical diagnostic instrument with highly efficient, tunable light emitting diode light source
OwnerWilliam Thrailkillinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A medical diagnostic instrument, such as a colposcope for examining cervical tissue, includes a light source comprising an annular array of high intensity light emitting diodes (LEDs). The LED array includes a central access opening which provides viewing access for the colposcope optical components to the illumination site. The array includes a plurality of sets of LEDs, with each set including a red, blue and green emitting LED. The intensities of the red, blue and green LEDs, respectively, are controllable with a controller to continuously vary or tune the spectral characteristics of the illumination from the light source. Selected color mixes can be stored in a memory for later retrieval.
Claims40
Apparatus for use in examining a selected region of a body for medical diagnostic purposes, said apparatus comprising:
- a housing,
- an optical component mounted relative to said housing for enabling viewing of the selected body region along an optical axis,
- a light source mounted relative to said housing for illuminating the selected body region,
- said light source comprising an annular array of light emitting diodes surrounding an access opening,
- said optical component being disposed so that its optical axis passes through the access opening of said array.
Apparatus for use in examining a selected region of a body for medical diagnostic purposes, said apparatus comprising:
- a housing,
- an optical component mounted relative to said housing for enabling viewing of the selected body region,
- a light source mounted relative to said housing for illuminating the selected body region,
- said light source comprising a plurality of sets of red, blue and green light emitting diodes, and
- a controller for controlling the intensities of said red, blue and green light emitting diodes, respectively, in said sets to vary the spectral characteristics of the illumination from said light source.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.