JPH04246612A - Endoscope - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the reflection of illuminating light on a reflection mirror and the direct incidence of the light in an image guide relating to the endoscope for side viewing of an object for observation with the image guide by providing the reflection mirror inclined at 45 deg. on the front surface of the image guide and illuminates the object for observation with a light guide for illumination. CONSTITUTION:Polarizing filters 30, 32 are disposed on the front surfaces of the image guide 2 and the light guide 4 in such a manner that the planes of polarization intersect orthogonally with each other. Since only the observation light is made incident selectively on the image guide, the distinct side viewing of the object for observation is possible.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an endoscope, and is particularly suitable for side viewing.

0002

[Prior Art] Conventionally, in endoscopes, light emitted from an object to be observed is guided by an image guide, and the image guide can be inserted into a gap or the like to observe the desired object. There is.

That is, as shown in FIG. 3, in the endoscope 1, a light guide 4 is arranged coaxially around an image guide 2 formed of a self-occurring lens, and a protective film 6 is provided around the light guide 4. It is designed to protect. Here, the light guide 4 is formed of a bundle of optical fibers, guides illumination light emitted from a predetermined light source, and irradiates the object to be observed.

[0004] Thus, in the endoscope 1, an image of an object to be observed illuminated with the illumination light can be observed via the image guide 2.

[0005]

However, such an endoscope 1 has a feature in that it can only observe an object to be observed located in front of the image guide 2. Therefore, if it is possible to observe the side image of the image guide 2 (hereinafter referred to as side view), it is thought that the usability of the endoscope can be improved and the field of application can be expanded.

[0006] In this case, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 57-72622
As disclosed in the above publication, a method of arranging a predetermined reflective member on the front surface of the image guide 2 can be considered.

That is, as shown in FIG. 4, a mirror 10 is placed inside a predetermined connecting member 8 at an angle of 45 degrees, and the connecting member 8 is placed so as to cover the front surface of the image guide 2. As shown in FIG. This allows light from the observation object 12 located on the side to be guided to the image guide 2, allowing for side viewing.

However, in this method, the light guide 4
The illumination light emitted from the mirror 10 is reflected by the mirror 10 and directly enters the image guide 2. For this reason, in practice, when observing the observation object 12 from the side through the image guide 2, it can only be observed in a vague and hazy state, and there is still an unsatisfactory problem in terms of usability.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above points, and it is an object of the present invention to propose an endoscope that has a simple configuration and is capable of clearly viewing a desired observation target from the side.

0010

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the problems, the present invention provides an image guide 2 that receives observation light from the observation object 12 and guides an image of the observation object to a predetermined position; formed coaxially,
A light guide 4 that irradiates illumination light onto the observation target 12, a first light polarizing member 30 attached to the tip of the image guide 2, and a first light polarizing member 3 attached to the tip of the light guide 6.
A second light polarizing member 32 attached at a predetermined angle with respect to the polarization plane of 0, and first and second light polarizing members 3
Reflecting members 10 are provided at the ends of the observation objects 12 and 12 at an angle of a predetermined angle, and bend the observation light and guide it to the image guide 4, and also bend the illumination light and irradiate it to the observation object 12.

[0011]

[Operation] Image guide 2 and light guide 4 respectively
If the first and second light polarizing members 30 and 32 are arranged in front of the image guide 2 with the plane of polarization tilted by a predetermined angle, only the observation light coming from the observation object 12 can selectively enter the image guide 2, and the The observation object 12 can be clearly seen from the side.

0012

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1, in which parts corresponding to those in FIG. 4 are given the same reference numerals, 20 indicates an endoscope as a whole, and guides illumination light LH emitted from an illumination device 22 to a light guide 6. As shown in FIG. As a result, in the endoscope 20, the light guide 6
The illumination light LH of the illumination device 22 is irradiated onto the observation target via the illumination device 22.

Furthermore, the endoscope 20 captures the image of the observation target via the image guide 2 through lenses 22 and 24.
is guided to the solid-state image sensor 26 via. The solid-state image sensor 26 is driven by a camera control unit 28, so that the endoscope 20 can convert an image of an object to be observed into a video signal and output the video signal.

As shown in FIG. 2, in the endoscope 20, polarizing filters 30 and 32 are attached to the tips of the image guide 4 and the light guide 6, respectively.
The polarizing filters 30 and 32 are configured such that their polarization planes are perpendicular to each other. As a result, among the illumination light LH irradiated onto the observation target via the light guide 6, the mirror 10
The component that is reflected by and directly enters the image guide 4 is:
The light is blocked by a polarizing filter 32 attached to the tip of the image guide 4, thereby making it possible to prevent the illumination light LH from entering directly.

On the other hand, of the illumination light LH that is irradiated onto the observation object via the light guide 6, the polarization plane of the component that irradiates the observation object 12 changes when it is reflected by the observation object 12. The light passes through the polarizing filter 32 and enters the image guide 2. As a result, in the endoscope 20, only the light from the observation target 12 (hereinafter referred to as observation light) is selectively guided to the image guide 2, so that the desired observation target can be clearly seen from the side.

In the above configuration, the illumination light LH emitted from the illumination device 22 is guided to the light guide 6 and irradiated onto the desired observation object 12. At this time, the illumination light LH
is selectively emitted onto the mirror 10 via the polarization filter 32, and is reflected by the mirror 10 and irradiated onto the observation target 12.

On the other hand, the observation light reflected by the observation object 12 is guided to the image guide 2 after being bent by the mirror 10 . At this time, in the image guide 2, the observation light is passed through the polarizing filter 30 to the image guide 2.
By guiding the light to the image guide 2, the component reflected by the mirror 10 and directly incident on the image guide 2 is blocked, and only the observation light can be selectively incident.

This allows the observation light to be transmitted to the solid-state image sensor 26.
The observation target 12 can be clearly viewed from the side.

According to the above configuration, by arranging the polarizing filters 30 and 32 in front of the image guide 2 and the light guide 4, respectively, so that their polarization planes are perpendicular to each other, only the observation light coming from the observation object 12 is selected. The light beam can be incident on the image guide 2 in a straight line, so that the observation object 12 can be clearly seen from the side.

[0021] In the above-described embodiment, the present invention is applied to an endoscope using a self-occurring lens, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention is not limited to this. It can also be widely applied to endoscopes configured to form a shape.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, a case has been described in which a polarizing filter is disposed in front of the image guide and the light guide, but the present invention is not limited to this, and can be widely applied to various light polarizing members. .

Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, a case has been described in which the polarizing filters are arranged so that the planes of polarization are perpendicular to each other. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention is not limited to this. If it can be suppressed within a certain range, it can be arranged at various angles.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the case where the observation light and the illumination light are bent by the mirror is described;
The present invention is not limited to this, and various reflective members such as prisms can be widely applied.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the image of the object to be observed is converted into a video signal and outputted is described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and can also be applied to cases where the image of the object to be observed is directly observed. can do.

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention, by arranging a light polarizing member whose polarization plane is tilted by a predetermined angle in front of the image guide and the light guide, only the observation light coming from the observation object can be used. It is possible to obtain an endoscope that can selectively illuminate the image guide and, accordingly, can clearly view the observation target from the side.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an endoscope according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the tip portion thereof.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the distal end portion of a conventional endoscope.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view for explaining a side view.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 20... Endoscope, 2... Image guide, 4... Light guide, 10... Mirror, 30, 32... Polarizing filter.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An image guide that guides an image of the observation object to a predetermined position by receiving observation light from the observation object; and a light that is formed coaxially with the image guide and that irradiates illumination light to the observation object. a first light polarizing member attached to the tip of the image guide; and a first light polarizing member attached to the tip of the light guide at a predetermined angle with respect to the polarization plane of the first light polarizing member. The light polarizing member No. 2 is arranged at the tips of the first and second light polarizing members at an angle of a predetermined angle, and bends the observation light and guides it to the image guide, and bends the illumination light to direct the observation light to the observation target. What is claimed is: 1. An endoscope comprising: a reflective member for irradiating light;