Patent ID: 7583876

Claim:
An illuminable image-conducting optical assembly comprising: (a) an illuminable image-transporting optical fiber bundle having (i) an inner image-conducting bundle including first and second image-bundle ends and a plurality of light-conductive imaging conduits extending between the first and second ends, each imaging conduit including first and second ends and having the capacity to conduct light between the first and second ends by total internal reflection, the first ends of the imaging conduits terminating at and defining an image-input face at the first image-bundle end and the second ends of the imaging conduits terminating at and defining an image-output face at the second image-bundle end; and (ii) a plurality of illumination conduits disposed peripherally about the image-conducting bundle, each illumination conduit including a light-collection end and a light-emission end opposite the light-collection end, the plural light-emission ends combining to define a light-output face more proximate the image-input face than the image-output face of the image-conducting bundle; (b) an optics housing including a housing wall fabricated from a translucent material and having an outside surface and inside surface defining an interior optics channel configured for housing an optical element set, the optics housing extending between first and second housing ends and the housing wall including light-entrance and light-exit ends coinciding with, respectively, the first and second housing ends; and (c) an optical element set including at least one optical element housed within the optics channel of the optics housing; wherein the optics housing is cooperatively coupled with the illuminable image-transporting optical fiber bundle such that (i) at least one of the at least one optical elements housed by the optics housing is in optical communication with the image-input face of the image-conducting bundle in order to facilitate the projection of an image of an object of interest that is external to the optics channel onto the image-input face of the image-conducting bundle; and (ii) the light-output face defined by the plural light-emission ends is in optical communication with the light-entrance end of the optics housing such that light introduced into the light-collection end of an illumination conduit enters the light-entrance end of the housing wall for transmission to, and emission from, the light-exit end of the housing wall so as to facilitate illumination of the object to be imaged onto the image-input face.