Method and apparatus for fiberscope employing single fiber bundle for co-propagation of image and illumination

An endoscope, comprising:

• an elongated coherent fiber bundle including a distal end and a proximal end having an end face that is circular, wherein the coherent fiber bundle includes a plurality of different fibers that are surrounded by a common cladding and the coherent fiber bundle is configured to transfer light between the distal and proximal ends through the fibers;
• a working assembly including an elongated probe having a distal end for insertion into a viewing area and a proximal end for manipulating the distal end of the probe, and wherein the distal end of the elongated coherent fiber bundle is positioned at the distal end of the probe;
• an imaging assembly including a viewing device for receiving and modifying image light for viewing, and wherein the end face of the proximal end of the coherent fiber bundle is positioned at the imaging assembly and the imaging assembly is configured to transfer image light from the end face of the proximal end of the coherent fiber bundle to the viewing device;
• an illumination light source, forming part of the imaging assembly, for generating illumination light and inserting the illumination light into an annular shaped area of said end face corresponding to a first portion of the fibers at the proximal end of the coherent fiber bundle which transfers the illumination light to the distal end of the coherent fiber bundle, the illumination light source arranged such that the illumination light is inserted into the annular shaped area of said end face of the proximal end of the coherent fiber bundle at least essentially without the illumination light interacting with the image light between the proximal end of the coherent fiber bundle and the viewing device and the imaging assembly is configured to receive image light from a circular area corresponding to a second, different portion of the fibers inside the annularly shaped area and to transfer the image light to the viewing device, the illumination source including illumination light generating elements that are annularly arranged around an aperture for illuminating the annular shaped region on said end face and an illumination lens that is arranged to receive the illumination light and to focus the illumination light into said annular shaped area on the end face of the proximal end of the coherent fiber bundle;
• an imaging lens in the imaging assembly that images the circular area within the annular area on the proximal end of the coherent fiber bundle to collect image light from the circular area for transfer to the viewing device;
• a lens arrangement forming part of the working assembly and positioned at the distal end of the elongated probe, the lens arrangement including an illumination portion arranged to receive the illumination light from the first portion of fibers at the distal end of the coherent fiber bundle and to disperse the illumination light into the viewing area, the lens arrangement also including an imaging portion that is different than the illumination portion and that is arranged to receive image light from the viewing area including illumination light reflected from the viewing area and to insert the image light into the second portion of fibers at the distal end of the coherent fiber bundle for transfer to the circular area at the proximal end of the coherent fiber bundle where the image light is then transferred to the imaging assembly;
• and
• a mechanical stage, forming part of the imaging assembly, that supports the illumination lens and the imaging lens for selective movement to resize the annular shaped area and to resize the circular area to accommodate different sizes of coherent fiber bundles.