Patent ID: 9375147
Filing Date: 2016-06-28
CPC Classification: A61B

Claim Text:
1. A minimally invasive imaging probe comprising: a hollow shaft; an imaging conduit at least partially residing within said hollow shaft; an imaging assembly mechanically coupled to said imaging conduit at a location remote from a proximal portion of said imaging conduit, said imaging conduit being configured to deliver energy to said imaging assembly, said imaging assembly including a tiltable member for delivering an energy beam along an energy beam path from said tiltable member out of said hollow shaft, wherein said tiltable member is configured to tilt relative to said imaging conduit at a tilt angle that varies with respect to a longitudinal axis of said imaging probe; an optical imaging angle encoder coupled to said imaging assembly, wherein said optical imaging angle encoder is configured to produce a signal that varies with the tilt angle of said tiltable member; and a signal delivery channel coupled to said optical imaging angle encoder and extending through said hollow shaft for delivering the signal representative of the tilt angle to a proximal portion of said hollow shaft; wherein said imaging angle encoder is further configured to direct an incident optical energy beam onto a surface associated with said tiltable member and to receive a reflected optical energy beam from said surface, such that a change in the tilt angle of said tiltable member produces a corresponding change in the reflected optical energy beam.