Patent ID: 7511733

Claim:
A capsule-type medical apparatus, comprising: an imaging device for imaging and an illuminating device for illumination, cylindrical body for containing the imaging device and illuminating device, the cylindrical body having a spiral projection formed on an exterior of the cylindrical body, and a magnet in the cylindrical body, the magnet being magnetized in one predetermined direction perpendicular to a cylinder axis of the cylindrical body, wherein by an application of a revolving magnetic field generated from a magnetic field generating device arranged external to a patient's body into which the capsule-type medical apparatus is inserted, the entirety of the magnet, which is placed in the cylindrical body and magnetized only in one predetermined direction perpendicular to the cylinder axis, generates a rotating force which rotates the cylindrical body with a rotation axis thereof in a longitudinal direction of the cylindrical body in such a manner as to follow rotation of the revolving magnetic field; the rotating force serves as a propelling force to move the capsule-type medical apparatus in one or the other direction in the longitudinal direction of the cylindrical body depending on a spiral direction of the spiral projection; and the imaging device and the illuminating device are provided in the direction of a cylinder axis of the exterior.