Structure of the distal end portion of an endoscope
AssigneeAsahi Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsKeiji Ito, Hiroshi Iwata
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The distal end body of an endoscope accommodates an objective optical system, and a solid-state image pick-up element having a light receiving surface is disposed axially in parallel with the center axis of the objective optical system. A prism is disposed such that the optical axis of the objective optical system is perpendicular to the center axis of the light receiving surface. An object is imaged on the light receiving surface of the solid-state image pick-up element, through the objective optical system. The prism is shaped like a trapezoid in cross-section to minimize the size of the endoscope.
Claims6
An electronic endoscope comprising:
- a distal end body;
- an objective optical system disposed within said distal end body and having a center axis;
- a solid state image pickup disposed in said distal end body and having a light receiving surface that is substantially parallel to said center axis;
- and
- a prism disposed in said distal end body and directing light received from said objective optical system onto said light receiving surface, said prism having a trapezoidal shape in cross section when viewed from said objective optical system, nonparallel sides of said trapezoidal shape being substantially parallel to diverging principle rays of the light travelling through said prism.
An electronic endoscope comprising:
- a distal end body;
- an objective optical system disposed within said distal end body and having a center axis;
- a solid state image pickup disposed in said distal end body and having a light receiving surface that is substantially parallel to said center axis;
- and
- a prism disposed in said distal end body and directing light received from said objective optical system onto said light receiving surface, said prism having a trapezoidal shape in cross section when viewed from said objective optical system, nonparallel sides of the trapezoidal shape substantially corresponding to diverging principle rays of the light travelling through said prism.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.