Patent ID: 8814782
Filing Date: 2014-08-26
Classification: A61B,G02B

Abstract:
1. An endoscope, comprising: a wide angle lens system that includes an optical axis that is angularly offset from a longitudinal axis of the endoscope such that the optical axis resides at an angle greater than zero degrees to the longitudinal axis, wherein the wide angle lens system simultaneously gathers an endoscopic image field at least spanning the longitudinal axis and an angle greater than ninety degrees to the longitudinal axis; a solid state imager having an imaging surface area that receives at least a portion of endoscopic image transmitted by the wide angle lens system and produces output signals corresponding to the endoscopic image field; image forming circuitry that receives the output signal and produces an image signal; and an image transmission system resides in the transmission path between the wide angle lens system and the imager, the image transmission system having at least one lens that alters the distribution of the endoscopic image field to correspond to the imaging surface area such that the distribution of the endoscopic image field on the imaging surface area has a uniform information density, wherein the at least one lens distributes substantially the entire endoscopic image field in the longitudinal direction to correspond to the imaging surface area, and wherein the image transmission system includes an f-theta lens system.