Olympus Corporation

Olympus Medical Systems Corporation

Ayako Nagase

Toshiaki Shigemori

Kazutaka Nakatsuchi

Seiichiro Kimoto

Akira Matsui

Manabu Fujita

Hironao Kawano

Katsuya Suzuki

Takemitsu Honda

Katsuyoshi Sasagawa

Tatsuya Orihara

Tsutomu Nakamura

Noriyuki Fujimori

Hidetake Segawa

Tetsuo Minai

Masayuki Hashimoto

Hatsuo Shimizu

Hiroshi Suzushima

Masatoshi Homan

Katsumi Hirakawa

Junichi Uchida

Kei Mitsuhashi

Miho Katayama

The specific gravity of a capsule-type endoscope according to the invention is set to be lower than that of liquid in an organ, so that the capsule-type endoscope is floated on a liquid surface of the liquid. A center of gravity of the capsule-type endoscope is set to a position deviated from a center of a casing, so that the casing is maintained in a specific floating position while being floated on the liquid surface. A boundary between the casing and the liquid surface is formed within a projection plane, which is obtained by projecting the casing in the specific floating position perpendicularly to the liquid surface, at a position excluding an outer periphery of the projection plane Ka.

Capsule-type medical device and method of monitoring esophagus inside and stomach inside, method of monitoring stomach inside and method of washing stomach using the same

A receiving apparatus for receiving a radio signal through an antenna. The radio signal is transmitted by a moving transmitting apparatus and has a frame configuration which includes at least a main information portion that includes information main part based on an image signal and an added portion that includes synchronization information and parameter information specific to the transmitting apparatus. The receiving apparatus includes a detecting unit that is configured to detect, from the received radio signal, an arrangement position of the parameter information in a frame configuration in which an error-correcting code is added immediately after the parameter information to be transmitted in a predetermined arrangement position of the frame configuration. A parameter information error correcting unit is configured to perform error correction on the parameter information with the error-correcting code that is added immediately after the detected arrangement position of the parameter information. An image processing unit is configured to perform image processing on the image signal of the main information portion using the corrected parameter information.

Radio receiver with an error correction code detector and with a correction unit

An object of the invention is to receive, with a high sensitivity, a radio signal transmitted within a short time before a capsule endoscope reaches the stomach of a subject and acquire, in a satisfactory state, information on the interior of the subject such as image data picked up by the capsule endoscope. The receiving apparatus according to the invention includes a plurality of receiving antennas including a specified receiving antenna for receiving a radio signal from a capsule endoscope before the stomach is reached, a switching controller, an arrival determining unit and a mode switching unit. The switching controller performs a control operation for switching to and maintaining the receiving antenna in an initial mode or a control operation for switching to the receiving antennas in a normal mode. The arrival determining unit determines whether the capsule endoscope has reached the stomach or not. The mode switching unit instructs the switching controller to perform the control operation for switching to the initial mode, and upon determination that the stomach has been reached, gives the instruction to perform the control operation for switching to the normal mode.

Receiving apparatus and in-vivo information acquiring system using the same

The in-vivo image acquiring apparatus includes an imaging unit which captures an inside of a subject, a transmission processing unit which wirelessly transmits the image information captured by the imaging unit, a power supply unit which supplies driving power for each unit of the apparatus, and a switching unit which detects an external input and switches a supply state of the driving power from the power supply unit. The apparatus also includes a mode setting unit which sets predetermined operation modes based on information of the external input which is input to the switching unit, and a control unit which controls the operation of each unit of the apparatus according to the operation mode set by the mode setting unit.

In-vivo image acquiring apparatus and in-vivo image acquiring system

A capsule endoscope includes a capsule-shaped casing and an imaging unit for taking an image of an inside of an organ in a state where the capsule endoscope is floating in liquid introduced inside the organ of a subject. Specific gravity of the capsule endoscope to the introduced liquid is &#x3c1;; a plane divides the capsule endoscope such that a volume ratio is to be &#x3c1;:1&#x2212;&#x3c1;. A straight line that connects a center of volume of a portion whose volume ratio is &#x3c1; and a center of gravity of the capsule endoscope is substantially perpendicular to the plane. The center of gravity is present at a position farther distant from the plane than the center of volume. A surface of a boundary of a field of view that forms an angle of view of the imaging unit and the plane do not intersect outside the capsule endoscope.

Capsule endoscope

A capsule medical device includes a capsule casing that contains an illumination board, an imaging board, a transmission board, and a control board on which functional components are mounted, and a sheet-like battery that supplies power to the functional components. The sheet-like battery is rolled up to be a pole shape and located between cutout parts of the imaging board, the transmission board, and the control board and the inner wall of the capsule casing.

Capsule medical device

To acquire much accurate image information having no noise, without increasing load in the post-processing of the image information, a receiving apparatus 3 includes: a synchronization signal detector 34 that detects a horizontal synchronization signal and a vertical synchronization signal; an image processor 35 that performs an image generation process of each frame based on the horizontal synchronization signal and the vertical synchronization signal detected by the synchronization signal detector 34; and an image deletion controller 36a that controls to delete an image of the current frame, when a horizontal synchronization signal within one frame detected by the synchronization signal detector 34 is not continuously detected by a first predetermined number or more, or when a horizontal synchronization signal within one frame detected by the synchronization signal detector 34 is not continuously detected by a second predetermined number or more, or when a vertical synchronization signal detected by the synchronization signal detector 34 is not continuously detected by a third predetermined number or more.

Receiving apparatus and intra-subject information acquiring system

A capsule endoscopeis inserted into a subject and transmits a capsule ID, which is received by an RF receiving unitof a receiving apparatus. A capsule ID detecting circuitdetects the capsule ID. A control unit C recognizes a type of the capsule endoscopebased on the detected capsule ID, and changes over a threshold of received field strength of a receiving antenna. Thus, a content of processing for the capsule endoscopeis changed over, and a selection controller Cselects a receiving antenna for an image receiving period from receiving antennas Ato An.

Receiving apparatus

The present invention is intended to be able to ensure detecting whether an open-circuit occurs to a feeder within short time with simple configuration. A receiving apparatusaccording to the present invention receives image information transmitted from a capsule endoscopethrough a coaxial cable and a receiving antenna selected and switched to from among coaxial cablestoconnected to receiving antennasto, respectively by a changeover switch. The receiving apparatusincludes a changeover switch, an open-circuit detecting circuit, and a control unit. The changeover switchbranches the coaxial cablestonear the changeover switch, and selects and switches to one of the branched coaxial cables. The open-circuit detecting circuitapplies a direct-current voltage to the coaxial cable selected by the changeover switchthrough a constant-current source, and detects whether an open-circuit occurs to the coaxial cable by determining whether a voltage of the coaxial cable is grounded. The control unitcontrols the changeover switchto perform selection/switching, and controls the open-circuit detecting circuitto perform open-circuit detection synchronously with the selection/switching control over the changeover switch

An in-vivo image acquiring apparatus includes an imaging unit which is introduced inside a subject and picks up image information inside the subject, an illuminating unit which illuminates an imaging portion imaged by the imaging unit, a transmission processing unit which performs a process to wirelessly transmit the image information acquired by the imaging unit to an external apparatus. A light-control unit determines light-control amount information based on brightness of the image information acquired by the imaging unit, and performs a control of light control of the illuminating unit according to the light-control amount information. Further, the transmission processing unit performs a process to wirelessly transmit the image information acquired by the imaging unit along with the light-control amount information used for the control of light-control.

In-vivo image acquiring system capable of controlling illuminating unit and determining whether to wirelessly transmit image information based on estimated distance

A receiving apparatus () includes a radio unit () and a main receiving unit () detachably connected with each other, the radio unit () stores radio unit ID information () as identification information to identify the radio unit itself, the main receiving unit () stores a process condition table () in which process conditions corresponding to the radio units are stored, the main receiving unit () includes a setting controller (C) which serves as a setting controller that sets the process condition of the main receiving unit (), the setting controller (C) acquires the radio unit ID information () from the radio unit (), selects the process condition of the main receiving unit () corresponding to the acquired radio unit ID information () from the process condition table (), and sets the selected process condition as the process condition of the main receiving unit (), so that, when a replaceable unit detachably connected to a shared unit is replaced with another replaceable unit, a process condition of the shared unit can be securely set for each replaceable unit.

Receiving apparatus and receiving system

Each of detecting circuits, anddetects a key signal such as a horizontal synchronization signal, a vertical synchronization signal, a capsule ID, a WB coefficient, and error information, i.e., a key signal superposed on RF signals received by an RF receiving unit. Each of determining units, anddetermines whether an image is valid or invalid based on the result of detection. A recording deciding unitdecides whether to record the image information in a storage unitor not based on the result of determination. Thus, a receiving apparatuscan stop recording the image information received when a trouble occurs, thereby preventing defective images from mixing into the recorded image information, and preventing a recorded image size from becoming large, whereby necessary images can be recorded within a predetermined examination time.

An in-body information acquiring apparatus includes a function executing unit that realizes a predetermined function inside a body of a patient. A power-supply circuit includes a power unit that includes a cell and that outputs a first current and a first voltage; and a converter that converts the first current to a second current, which is a current required to operate the function executing unit for a predetermined time, and converts the first voltage to a second voltage, which is a voltage required to operate the function executing unit.

In-body information acquiring apparatus and power-supply circuit

A portable simplified image display apparatus and a receiving system are provided, which can sensuously know the state of received strength of radio signals transmitted from a body-insertable apparatus, in either case of before examination or during examination. A viewer () includes a detector that detects received strength of a radio signal transmitted from a capsule endoscope () and a notifying unit that notifies the detected state of received strength in a display pattern such as a picture display of a capsule (). Therefore, in either case of before examination or during examination, the state of received strength of radio signals transmitted from the capsule endoscope () can be sensuously known according to the notification result of the state of received strength. If it is during examination, supplementary observation can be performed based on an excellent received image by searching a site having strong received strength, thereby enabling contribution to satisfactory examination.

Portable simplified image display apparatus and receiving system

A condition for determining that an examination by a capsule endoscope(body insertable device) completes is set in advance. When a predetermined time period has passed since the examination starts, and when received electric-field strength of receiving antennas Ato An detected during a predetermined time period is not higher than a predetermined value, the examination is determined to have been completed. An examination completion determining unit Cdetermines whether the condition is satisfied or not. According to the result of determination, a notification controller Cmakes a notifying unitnotify that the examination completes, and a power supply controller Cstop power supply to a radio unit. Thus, unnecessary power consumption is prevented and the completion of the examination by the body insertable device is recognized.

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Hachioji, Japan

Ayako Nagase