Back to results
US 5,519,532 AGranted
Disposable endoscope
AssigneeLinvatec Corporation
InventorBarry G. Broome
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Loading patent…
Loading patent…
AssigneeLinvatec Corporation
InventorBarry G. Broome
Estimating the term…
An endoscope includes a disposable probe and a non-disposable focusing ocular. The probe includes a transfer module assembly including one or more relay modules, and an objective element including a distal glass window, a molded plastic prism and three molded plastic lenses. Each of the relay modules contains an entry glass rod, an intermediate glass rod, and an exit rod, each having flat end surfaces and two identical molded plastic doublets. The elements of the ocular are all of glass and include an axially movable focusing doublet and two non-movable doublets. The disposable probe introduces certain aberrations into the image. The non-disposable focusing ocular corrects these aberrations. A single curved surface is formed on the distal glass window of the probe; all other curved optical surfaces of the disposable probe are formed on molded plastic members, thereby reducing the cost of the probe sufficiently to be cost-effective for single patient, disposable use.
A disposable probe adapted to be coupled to a predetermined focusing ocular and to therewith comprise an endoscope, said probe comprising an objective for forming a substantially uncorrected image and a transfer module assembly for presenting said uncorrected image to said predetermined focusing ocular, said objective and said transfer module each comprising a plurality of optical elements having optical power, wherein the optical elements of said objective include no more than one glass element having optical power, and the optical elements having optical power in said transfer module including only plastic elements, each of said optical elements being symmetric about an optical axis of the probe, said disposable probe introducing predetermined optical aberration into the uncorrected image presented to the focusing ocular, said predetermined aberration including at least field curvature and lateral chromatic aberration to a degree rendering the uncorrected image unusable in surgical procedures, and wherein said predetermined focusing ocular comprises lens means for correcting said predetermined aberration in said uncorrected image.
A method for providing a visible image of the interior of a body cavity to an observer in a surgical procedure, comprising the steps of:
A method of forming an image of the interior of a body cavity and providing a visible image corresponding thereto, comprising the steps of:
A method of fabricating a disposable probe for providing an optical image having predetermined optical aberration, for use in combination with a focusing ocular having predetermined optical aberration correction characteristics, the combination comprising a surgical endoscope for providing a visible image substantially free of aberration, said method including the step of intentionally designing said probe to comprise a plurality of axially symmetric optical elements having optical power, no more than one optical element having optical power in said probe being formed of glass, and the remaining optical elements of said probe having optical power being formed of plastic, and the step of intentionally designing said probe to form an optical image and transmit said image to said focusing ocular, said optical image formed and transmitted by said probe including predetermined optical aberration, said predetermined optical aberration in said optical image formed and transmitted by said probe including predetermined degrees of field curvature and lateral chromatic aberration sufficient to render the transmitted optical images unusable for surgical procedures, and said predetermined optical aberration being substantially entirely corrected by said predetermined optical aberration correction characteristics of said focusing ocular.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.