Back to results
US 6,547,723 B1Granted
Fully-swallowable endoscopic system
AssigneePENTAX Corporation
InventorTeruo Ouchi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A fully-swallowable endoscopic system includes a rod-shaped endoscope body which can be swallowed entirely by a patient to be examined so as to be placed in a body cavity, the rod-shaped endoscope body including at least one bendable portion which is bendable along a curve of the body cavity; and an external device provided separately from the rod-shaped endoscope body having no mechanical connection with the rod-shaped endoscope body. The rod-shaped endoscope body is provided therein with at least two light emitters; at least two observing systems; a transmitter for transmitting a radio wave which carries an image formed by the observing system; and a power supplying device. The external device includes a receiver for receiving the radio wave which carries the image.
Claims22
An endoscopic system comprising:
- a rod-shaped endoscope body which can be entirely swallowed by a patient to be examined so as to be located in a body cavity, said rod-shaped endoscope body including at least one bendable portion which is bendable along a curve of said body cavity;
- and
- an external device provided separately from said rod-shaped endoscope body without a mechanical connection with said rod-shaped endoscope body;
- said rod-shaped endoscope body comprising:
- at least two light emitters;
- at least two observing systems;
- a transmitter that transmits a radio wave which carries an image formed by said observing systems;
- and
- a power supplying device,
- said external device comprising a receiver that receives said radio wave which carries said image,
- said bendable portion comprising a bending portion that is configured to be bent by radio control from the external device so as to orient at least one of said two light emitters and at least one of said two observing systems in a predetermined direction, and a flexible portion that is configured to be bent by an external force along a curve of the body cavity, said bending portion being configured to be more flexible than said flexible portion.
8 more elements
An endoscopic system comprising:
- a rod-shaped endoscope body comprising at least one bending portion, at least one flexible portion connected to said at least one bending portion;
- at least two light emitters corresponding to at least two image pick-up devices, each image pick-up device taking an image of a target inner part illuminated by a corresponding one of said at least two light emitters;
- and a transmitter that transmits a radio wave which carries said image taken by each of said at least two image pick-up devices;
- and
- a radio controller that controls said at least one bending portion to bend by radio-control,
- said bending portion being configured to be bent by radio control from the radio controller so as to orient at least one of said two light emitters and at least one of said two observing systems in a predetermined direction, said flexible portion being configured to be bent by an external force along a curve of the body cavity, said bending portion being configured to be more flexible than said flexible portion.
3 more elements
An endoscopic system comprising:
- a rod-shaped endoscope body which can be swallowed by a patient to be examined so as to be in a body cavity, said rod-shaped endoscope body including at least one bendable portion which is bendable along a curve of said body cavity;
- and
- an external device provided separately from said rod-shaped endoscope body and without a mechanical connection to said rod-shaped endoscope body;
- said rod-shaped endoscope body comprising at least two light emitters, at least two observing systems, a transmitter that transmits a radio wave which carries an image formed by said at least two observing systems and a power supply device;
- said external device comprising a receiver that receives said radio wave which carries said image;
- one of said at least two light emitters and one of said at least two observing systems being provided in one of the opposite ends of said rod-shaped endoscope body, and
- another one of said at least two light emitters and another one of said at least two observing systems being positioned in the other of said opposite ends of said rod-shaped endoscope body,
- one of said at least two observing systems comprising a front-view observing system that observes from a front of a corresponding end of said rod-shaped endoscope body, and another of said at least two observing systems comprising a side-view observing system that observes from a side of said rod-shaped endoscope body.
5 more elements
An endoscopic system comprising:
- a rod-shaped endoscope body which can be swallowed by a patient to be examined so as to be in a body cavity, said rod-shaped endoscope body including at least one bendable portion which is bendable along a curve of said body cavity;
- and
- an external device provided separately from said rod-shaped endoscope body and without a mechanical connection to said rod-shaped endoscope body;
- said rod-shaped endoscope body comprising at least two light emitters, at least two observing systems, a transmitter that transmits a radio wave which carries an image formed by said at least two observing systems and a power supply device;
- said external device comprising a receiver that receives said radio wave which carries said image;
- one of said at least two observing systems comprising a front-view observing system that observes from a front of an end of said rod-shaped endoscope body, and another of said at least two observing systems comprising a side-view observing system that observes from a side of said rod-shaped endoscope body.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.