Olympus Optical Company, Ltd.

Olympus Corporation

Yasuhiro Yoshizawa

Kazutaka Tsuji

Akira Taniguchi

Takeshi Kawabata

Sumihiro Uchimura

Chieko Aizawa

Masanao Hara

Hiroshi Ishii

Jun Hasegawa

Hiroki Moriyama

Fumiyuki Onoda

Yasuo Hirata

Yoshinao Oaki

Katsuyoshi Sasagawa

Takayasu Miyagi

Tsugio Okazaki

Seiki Toriyama

Tetsuo Nonami

A shape of endoscope detecting apparatus in accordance with the present invention consists mainly of a shape detection unit, a marker, a location information of marker acquisition unit, and a display control unit. The shape detection unit detects the shape of a portion of an insertion unit of an endoscope inserted into a subject, and produces graphic data expressing the shape thereof. The marker is placed near a position on the subject at which the endoscope is inserted. The location information of marker acquisition unit acquires the location information of the marker. The display control unit graphically indicates on a display device the shape of the portion inserted into a body cavity, which is detected by the shape detection unit, using as a reference the location information of the marker acquired by the location information of marker acquisition unit.

Apparatus and method using it for detecting and displaying form of insertion part of endoscope inserted into body cavity

A shape-of-endoscope detecting apparatus generally includes a shape detection unit, a marker, a marker locator unit, and a display control unit. The shape detection unit detects the shape of a portion of an insertion unit of an endoscope inserted into a subject, and produces graphic data expressing the shape thereof. The marker is placed near a position on the subject at which the endoscope is inserted. The marker locator unit acquires the location information of the marker. The display control unit graphically indicates on a display device the shape of the portion inserted into a body cavity, which is detected by the shape detection unit, using as a reference point the location information of the marker acquired by the marker locator. A shape-of-endoscope detecting method generally includes the steps of placing a marker, locating the marker, detecting the shape of the position of an endoscope inserted into a subject, and controlling the display of the detected shape.

Apparatus and method for detecting and displaying form of insertion part of endoscope

An endoscope shape detection system has a CPU included in a control unit. The CPU performs frequency sampling of digital data to calculate coordinates indicating the spatial positions of source coils incorporated in an insertion unit of an endoscope received in a patient and of marker coils placed on a patient. An inserted state of the insertion unit of the endoscope is estimated based on the calculated coordinate data indicating the positions of the source coils. Display data based on the shape of the endoscope is produced from the calculated coordinate data indicating the positions of the source coils, and output to a video RAM. Display data of the marker coils is produced from the calculated coordinate data indicating the positions of the marker coils, and output to the video RAM. Consequently, the positions of the markers are depicted together with the shape of the endoscope. The positional relationship between the insertion unit of the endoscope and a patient's body can therefore be ascertained.

System for detecting the shape of an endoscope using source coils and sense coils

An endoscope shape detection system has a CPU included in a control unit. The CPU performs frequency sampling on digital data to calculate coordinates indicating the spatial positions of source coils incorporated in an insertion unit of an endoscope and of marker coils. An inserted state of the insertion unit of the endoscope is estimated based on the calculated coordinate data indicating the positions of the source coils. Display data based on which shape of the endoscope depicted is produced from the calculated coordinate data indicating the positions of the source coils, and output to a video RAM. Display data based on which marker coils are depicted is produced from the calculated coordinate data indicating the positions of the marker coils, and output to the video RAM. Consequently, the positions of the markers are depicted together with the shape of the endoscope. The positional relationship between the insertion unit of the endoscope and a patient's body can therefore be ascertained.

A source coil line-break/short-circuit detecting circuit and a probe connection detecting circuit are provided to the source coil driving circuit unit of an endoscope shape detecting apparatus. The source coil line-break/short-circuit detecting circuit detects line-breaks and short-circuits of the source coils. The probe connection detecting circuit detects whether a connection exists with a probe. A marker coil line-break/short-circuit detecting circuit detects line-breaks and short-circuits of the marker coils. A marker connection detecting circuit detects whether a connection exists with a marker. Accordingly, using the apparatus without being connected to a probe or markers can be avoided by detecting the connection of the probe and markers by the probe connection detecting circuit and marker connection detecting circuit, respectively, when the system is energized, thereby avoiding detecting noise and consequently displaying a random image on the monitor.

Endoscope shape detecting apparatus wherein form detecting processing is controlled according to connection state of magnetic field generating means

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Hachioji, Japan

Yasuhiro Yoshizawa