Capsule propulsion device and propulsion method
AssigneeOlympus Medical Systems Corp.
InventorsMasaki Takahashi, Hironao Kawano, Hironobu Takizawa
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A capsule propulsion device has: at least one acoustic streaming generator for generating acoustic streaming as a flow of the a medium in a space; a control unit for driving and controlling the acoustic streaming generator; and a distance obtaining unit for obtaining an object distance between the acoustic streaming generator and an object existing in the space. The control unit drives and controls the acoustic streaming generator on the basis of the distance information obtained by the distance obtaining unit.
Claims13
A capsule propulsion device which is introduced in a space in which a medium for transmitting a sound wave exists, the capsule propulsion device comprising:
- at least one acoustic streaming generator that generates acoustic streaming as a flow of the medium in the space;
- a control unit that drives and controls the at least one acoustic streaming generator;
- a distance obtaining unit that obtains an object distance between one of the at least one acoustic streaming generator and an object existing in the space;
- and
- an input receiving unit that receives an input in a travel direction of the capsule propulsion device in the space in accordance with an operation instruction input by an operation instruction input unit that is separated from the capsule propulsion device,
- wherein the control unit drives and controls the at least one acoustic streaming generator on the basis of the distance information obtained by the distance obtaining unit, and
- the control unit specifies one or more acoustic streaming generator to be driven for travel in the travel direction in accordance with an operation signal transmitted corresponding to the operation instruction input by the operation instruction input unit and, when an object distance obtained by the distance obtaining unit is less than a predetermined threshold that is defined in advance to be a distance required for generating the acoustic streaming between the specified one or more acoustic streaming generator and the object, the control unit stops driving of the specified specified one or more acoustic streaming generator.
A method of operating a capsule propulsion device to propel the capsule propulsion device in a medium that transmits a sound wave, the propulsion method comprising:
- an operation instructing step of receiving, by an input receiving unit, an input of operation for instructing a travel direction of the capsule propulsion device;
- a distance measuring step of measuring distance from the capsule propulsion device to an object existing in the medium;
- a determining step of determining, by a control unit, on the basis of the distance to the object measured at the distance measuring step whether the capsule propulsion device can move in a direction instructed in the operation instructing step on the basis of whether the distance to the object measured at the distance measuring step is less than a predetermined threshold that is defined in advance to be a distance required for generating an acoustic streaming between an acoustic streaming generator and the object;
- and
- an acoustic streaming generating step of causing, by the control unit, at least one acoustic streaming generator in which the distance to the object measured at the distance measuring step is equal to or more than the predetermined threshold to generate acoustic streaming for propelling the capsule propulsion device if it is determined that the capsule propulsion device can move at the determining step.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.