# US 2021/0330286 A1 · Catheter system > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2021/0330286 A1 - Document ID: US20210330286A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 17/045,451 - Filed: 2019-04-05 - Published: 2021-10-28 - Earliest claimed: 2018-04-06 - Assignees: KYOCERA Corporation - Applicants: KYOCERA Corporation - Inventors: Seungmok LEE - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20210330286A1 ## CPC - A61B 8/0891: {for diagnosis of blood vessels} - A61B 8/12: in body cavities or body tracts, e.g. by using catheters - A61B 1/00: Instruments for performing medical examinations of the interior of cavities or tubes of the body by visual or photographical inspection, e.g. endoscopes (examination of body cavities or body tracts using ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves A61B8/12; endoscopic instruments for taking cell samples or for biopsy A61B10/04); Illuminating arrangements therefor (for the eyes A61B3/00) - A61B 5/0066: {Optical coherence imaging} - A61B 5/0084: {for introduction into the body, e.g. by catheters (A61B5/1459 takes precedence)} - A61B 8/4263: {using sensors not mounted on the probe, e.g. mounted on an external reference frame} - A61B 8/445: {Details of catheter construction} - A61B 8/4488: {the transducer being a phased array} - A61B 8/466: {adapted to display 3D data} - A61B 8/467: {characterised by special input means} - A61B 8/483: {involving the acquisition of a 3D volume of data} - A61M 2025/09083: {having a coil around a core} - A61B: DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION (usefulness limited to only animals A61D) - A61M: DEVICES FOR INTRODUCING MEDIA INTO, OR ONTO, THE BODY (introducing media into or onto the bodies of animals A61D7/00; means for inserting tampons A61F13/26; devices for administering food or medicines orally A61J; containers for collecting, storing or administering blood or medical fluids A61J1/05); DEVICES FOR TRANSDUCING BODY MEDIA OR FOR TAKING MEDIA FROM THE BODY (surgery A61B; chemical aspects of surgical articles A61L); DEVICES FOR PRODUCING OR ENDING SLEEP OR STUPOR {(Electrotherapy, e.g. producing anaesthesia by the use of alternating or intermittent currents A61N1/36021)} ## Abstract One aspect of a catheter system includes a reference portion and a moving portion. The moving portion is movable along the reference portion in a longitudinal direction of the reference portion. The moving portion includes a wave transceiver unit that transmits/receives one or more types of waves. The wave transceiver unit transmits a first type of waves among the one or more types of waves in a direction intersecting with the longitudinal direction in a space inside a target object and receives the first type of waves reflected from the target object. The reference portion includes a reference region. In the reference region, one or more types of elements are located in the longitudinal direction based on a predetermined rule so that the state of reflection of a second type of waves included in the one or more types of waves varies in the longitudinal direction. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A catheter system comprising: a reference portion including a reference region having one or more types of elements; and a moving portion movable along the reference portion in a longitudinal direction of the reference portion, the moving portion including a wave transceiver unit that transmits and receives one or more types of waves; wherein the wave transceiver unit transmits a first type of waves of the one or more types of waves in a space inside a target object, and receives the first type of waves reflected from the target object, and the one or more types of elements are located in the longitudinal direction of the reference region based on a predetermined rule so that a state of reflection of a second type of waves of the one or more types of waves varies in the longitudinal direction. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The catheter system according to claim 1 further comprising a calculation unit that calculates a movement amount of the wave transceiver unit, relative to the reference portion in the longitudinal direction, based on variation of the state of reflection of the second type of waves reflected from the reference region and received by the wave transceiver unit over time, and based on the predetermined rule, in a period between a first timing and a second timing during which the wave transceiver unit receives the first type of waves reflected from the target object. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The catheter system according to claim 2, wherein the calculation unit generates three-dimensional data on a three-dimensional structure of the target object, based on a signal related to a state of the first type of waves reflected from the target object and received by the wave transceiver unit at each of the first timing and the second timing, and based on the movement amount. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The catheter system according to claim 3 further comprising an input unit that inputs a first signal in response to a first action made by a user, and inputs a second signal in response to a second action made by the user, wherein the calculation unit causes the wave transceiver unit to start transmitting and receiving the one or more types of waves in response to the first signal input through the input unit, and causes the wave transceiver unit to stop transmitting and receiving the one or more types of waves in response to the second signal input through the input unit, and generates the three-dimensional data. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The catheter system according to claim 1, wherein the first type of waves includes ultrasonic waves. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The catheter system according to claim 1, wherein the first type of waves includes near-infrared rays. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The catheter system according to claim 1, wherein the wave transceiver unit includes a first wave transceiver that transmits the first type of waves toward the target object and receives the first type of waves reflected from the target object, and a second wave transceiver that transmits the second type of waves toward the reference region and receives the second type of waves reflected from the reference region. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The catheter system according to claim 7, wherein the reference portion includes a linear guide portion including the reference region, and the moving portion includes a tubular moving portion including the wave transceiver unit and located around the linear guide portion. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The catheter system according to claim 8, wherein the first wave transceiver includes a plurality of wave transceiver sections arranged in an annular shape along a circumferential direction around the linear guide portion, each wave transceiver section of the plurality of wave transceiver sections transmits the first type of waves and receives the first type of waves reflected from the target object, and the plurality of transceiver sections transmits and receives the first type of waves in time sequence. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The catheter system according to claim 9, wherein at least one of shape and light reflectance in an outer circumferential portion of the reference region is set to change in the longitudinal direction, based on the predetermined rule. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The catheter system according to claim 10, wherein the reference region includes a coil-shaped portion having a cylindrical shape, the coil-shaped portion including a wire material that spirally winds around a virtual axis along the longitudinal direction, and the outer circumferential portion includes a plurality of curved portions arranged in the longitudinal direction in the coil-shaped portion, based on the predetermined rule. ### Claim 12 (depends on 10) The catheter system according to claim 10, wherein the outer circumferential portion includes a plurality of thin film portions located in the longitudinal direction, based on the predetermined rule. ### Claim 13 (depends on 7) The catheter system according to claim 7, wherein the reference portion includes a tubular reference portion including the reference region and located around the moving portion. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The catheter system according to claim 13, wherein at least one of shape and light reflectance in at least one of an inner circumferential portion and an outer circumferential portion of the reference region is set to change in the longitudinal direction, based on the predetermined rule. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The catheter system according to claim 14, wherein at least one of the inner circumferential portion and the outer circumferential portion includes a plurality of curved portions arranged in the longitudinal direction, based on the predetermined rule. ### Claim 16 (depends on 14) The catheter system according to claim 14, wherein at least one of the inner circumferential portion and the outer circumferential portion includes a plurality of thin film portions located in the longitudinal direction, based on the predetermined rule. ### Claim 17 (depends on 7) The catheter system according to claim 7, wherein the second wave transceiver includes a light emitter that emits light toward the reference region, and a light receiver that receives light reflected from the reference region. ### Claim 18 (depends on 1) The catheter system according to claim 1, wherein the wave transceiver unit includes a first wave transceiver that transmits the first type of waves and the second type of waves toward an object, and receives the first type of waves and the second type of waves reflected from the object. ### Claim 19 (depends on 18) The catheter system according to claim 18, wherein the reference portion includes a tubular reference portion located around the moving portion, the tubular reference portion includes the reference region, and the reference region includes a plurality of foreign portions in one or more portions on an inner circumferential portion, an internal portion, and an outer circumferential portion of the tubular reference portion, the plurality of foreign portions located in the longitudinal direction based on the predetermined rule, and a material that forms the plurality of foreign portions is different from a material that forms portions of the tubular reference portion around the plurality of foreign portions.