Patent ID: 6997871

Claim:
An endoscope comprising: a single continuous shaft including, a sheath, an articulation section attached to a distal end of said sheath and, a distal tip attached to a distal end of said articulation section, and two or more separate optical channels that produce two or more distinct views, each of said optical channels comprising an objective lens, located at a distal end of said respective optical channel and a means of capturing and/or viewing the image; wherein the objective lens of the separate optical channel, which produces the first of said distinct views is located at a first location, said first location located on said distal tip, and the objective lens of the optical channel, which produces the second of said distinct views is located at a second location, said second location located either on a proximal end of said articulation section or on the sheath of said endoscope; wherein the distance between said first location and said second location, measured along the longitudinal axis of said endoscope, is fixed.