Patent ID: 7751866

Claim:
A detecting system of the direction of a capsule medical device, comprising: a magnet provided in a capsule medical device main body configured to be inserted in a body cavity; a first magnetic field generating device for generating a magnetic field in an arbitrary direction; a thrust generating mechanism for causing the capsule medical device main body to generate a thrust by an action between the magnetic field generated by the first magnetic field generating device and the magnet; a direction detecting device for detecting the direction of the capsule medical device main body, the direction detecting device further comprising: a coil provided in the capsule medical device main body and configuring a resonant circuit; a second magnetic field generating device including two or more sets of facing coils for generating an alternating magnetic field for oscillating the resonant circuit provided in the capsule medical device main body to cause the resonant circuit to generate an induced electromotive force; a magnetic field detecting device for detecting a strength of a magnetic field from the coil provided in the capsule medical device main body; and a calculating unit for calculating the direction of the capsule medical device main body in response to a detection value from the magnetic field detecting device; and a control device for controlling the magnetic field generated by the first magnetic field generating device, based on information on the direction of the capsule medical device main body detected by the direction detecting device.