Patent · US Expired

Stereoendoscope having a folded sight line

US5825534A · kind A · utility

55Cited by
11References
11Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateSep 7, 1995
Grant dateOct 20, 1998
Priority date
Expiry dateSep 7, 2015

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC A)Human Necessities
  • CPC primaryA61B1/00195
  • WIPO fieldMedical technology
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

The invention relates to a stereoendoscope having a sight line folded relative to the tube axis. The endoscope includes a distal front optic having a deflecting prism 4b. The deflecting prism 4b is mounted between a component 4a having a negative refractive power and a proximal component 4c having a positive refractive power. The inlet pupils 11 of the viewing component are imaged demagnified in the reflecting prism 4b by field optics (7, 7', 13) and transmitting optics (8, 8', 14). In this way, the beam can be guided free of vignetting without field cropping for both stereo channels through the endoscope tube and through the reflecting prism 4b even for a large object field angles and without image cropping. The endoscope tube 2 and the viewing component 1 are rotatable with respect to each other about the optical axis 12 within the endoscope tube 2 so that the line of sight can be changed for a viewing component fixed in space. The stereo basis remains for a rotation of the endoscope tube 2 fixed in space.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.