Patent ID: 8992423
Filing Date: 2015-03-31
Classification: A61B,G02B

Abstract:
1. An endoscope, comprising: a wide angle lens system that comprises an optical axis that is angularly offset from a longitudinal axis of the endoscope where the optical axis resides at an angle greater than zero degrees to the longitudinal axis; said wide angle lens system simultaneously gathering an image field spanning the longitudinal axis and an angle greater than ninety degrees to the longitudinal axis; an imager having an imaging surface area, said imager receiving at least a portion of the image field and producing an output signal related to the image field; image forming circuitry that receives the output signal and produces an image signal; image selecting circuitry that receives the image signal and produces a region of interest signal that corresponds to a region of interest field that is less than the endoscopic image field; an interface that enables a user to input an adjustment to the region of interest and produces an adjustment signal that alters the region of interest, the adjustment signal incrementally expands the region of interest by incorporating pixels that reside about the original area of the region of interest and incorporating these pixels into the region of the interest signal; and an image transmission system positioned in the transmission path between the wide angle lens system and the imager, said image transmission system redistributing the image field to even out an information density across the imaging surface area.