Patent ID: 9456735
Filing Date: 2016-10-04
CPC Classification: A61B

Claim Text:
1. An endoscope, comprising: a rigid section having first and second ends, and a cavity situated between the first and second ends, the rigid section having a longitudinal length and defining a longitudinal axis (LAR); a flexible section having proximal and distal ends, the proximal end coupled to the second end of the rigid section; an imaging unit having first and second ends and a cavity situated between the first and second ends of the imaging unit, the second end of the imaging unit coupled to the distal end of the flexible section; an objective lens assembly comprising a complementary multiband bandpass filter (CMBF) pair situated within the cavity of the imaging unit for filtering right and left image rays passing therethrough to output filtered right and left image rays; and a camera which receives the filtered right and left image rays and forms corresponding video information for stereoscopic imaging, wherein the imaging unit provides a front view when an imager axis of the imaging unit is along a longitudinal axis of the rigid section, and wherein the flexible section includes at least two links that are configured to rotate so that the imager axis points in a direction different from the longitudinal axis of the rigid section, wherein the CMBF pair includes two filters having different passbands that do not overlap and is formed on a single dual aperture lens that receives both the right and left image rays for filtering and providing the filtered right and left image rays to the camera, wherein the single dual aperture lens including the CMBF pair is situated between a first lens group near an object of interest and a second lens group away from the object of interest, the first lens group providing the right and left image rays to the CMBF pair and the second lens group focusing the filtered right and left image rays on an imaging plane of the camera, and wherein the single dual aperture lens including the CMBF pair is formed upon a surface of a lens of the second lens group facing the first lens group, the first lens group directly receiving right and left image rays from the object of interest and the second lens group directly focusing the filtered right and left image rays on the imaging plane, wherein the first lens group includes a plano-concave lens for receiving rays from the object of interest, a plano-convex lens and a further lens located between the plano-concave lens and the single dual aperture lens, and wherein the second lens group includes achromatic doublet lens for receiving the filtered right and left image rays from the single dual aperture lens and a further doublet lens located between the achromatic doublet lens and the camera, the further doublet lens haying a focal length which is less than a focal length of the achromatic doublet lens.