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US 5,630,788 AGranted
Endoscope with curved end image guide
AssigneeImagyn Medical, Inc.
InventorsJohn F. Forkner, Gary M. Woker
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An endoscope comprising an elongated endoscope body having a distal end, an objective carried by the endoscope body adjacent the distal end and an elongated fiberoptic image guide in the endoscope body for transmitting an image proximally. The objective has a curved proximal surface and the image guide has a curved distal end surface which has a shape which generally conforms to the shape of the curved proximal surface of the objective. These surfaces are in close proximity to provide an interface and an index matching medium is in the interface. The objective provides a curved image plane substantially at the interface and the image plane has a shape which generally conforms to the shape of the curved proximal surface of the objective.
Claims18
An endoscope comprising:
- an elongated endoscope body having a distal end;
- an objective carried by the endoscope body adjacent said distal end, said objective including a gradient index rod having a curved proximal surface thereon;
- an elongated fiberoptic image guide in the endoscope body for transmitting an image proximally, said image guide having a curved distal end surface which has a shape which generally conforms to the shape of the curved proximal surface of the gradient index rod, said curved distal end surface being substantially in contact with the curved proximal surface of the gradient index rod to provide a distal interface;
- an index matching medium in the interface and contacting said curved surfaces to reduce refraction at the distal interface;
- said gradient index rod providing a curved image plane substantially at said distal interface, said image plane having a shape which generally conforms to the shape of the curved proximal surface of the gradient index rod whereby the image guide can transmit an image at the image plane proximally;
- said fiberoptic image guide further having a curved proximal end surface, the endoscope including eyepiece optics having a curved distal surface which has a shape generally conforming to the shape of the curved proximal and surface of the image guide, said curved distal surface of the eyepiece optics being in close proximity to the curved proximal end surface of the image guide to provide a proximal interface;
- an index matching medium in the proximal interface and contacting said curved proximal surface of the image guide and said curved distal surface of the eyepiece optics to reduce refraction at the proximal interface, said eyepiece optics providing a curved object plane substantially at said proximal interface, said curved object plane having a shape which generally conforms to the shape of the curved proximal end surface of the image guide whereby the eyepiece optics can transmit an image of an object at the object plane.
4 more elements
An endoscope comprising:
- an elongated endoscope body having a distal end;
- an objective carried by the endoscope body adjacent said distal end, said objective having a curved proximal surface;
- an elongated fiberoptic image guide in the endoscope body for transmitting an image proximally, said image guide having a convex curved distal end surface which has a shape which generally conforms to the shape of the curved proximal surface of the objective, said curved distal end surface being substantially in contact with the curved proximal surface of the objective to provide an interface;
- said objective providing a curved image plane substantially at said interface, said image plane having a shape which generally conforms to the shape of the curved proximal surface of the objective whereby the image guide can transmit an image at the image plane proximally;
- and
- the image guide including optical fibers terminating at said interface, said optical fibers at said interface being substantially parallel.
3 more elements
An endoscope comprising:
- an elongated endoscope body having a distal end;
- an objective carried by the endoscope body adjacent said distal end, said objective having an image plane;
- an elongated fiberoptic image guide in the endoscope body for transmitting an image from the image plane proximally, said image guide having a curved proximal end surface;
- eyepiece optics having a curved distal surface which has a shape which generally conforms to the shape of the curved proximal end surface of the image guide, said curved distal surface of the eyepiece optics being in close proximity to the curved proximal end surface of the image guide to provide a proximal interface;
- an index matching medium in the proximal interface and contacting said curved surfaces to reduce refraction at the proximal interface;
- and
- said eyepiece optics providing a curved object plane substantially at said proximal interface, said curved object plane having a shape which generally conforms to the shape of the curved proximal end surface of the image guide whereby the eyepiece optics can transmit an image of an object at the object plane.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.