An observation device and method its operation is disclosed. The device includes an instrument with a shaft having a proximal end and a distal end; objective optics disposed at the shaft and having a field of view; an imaging sensor arranged to capture image data, the imaging sensor having a sensor array of evenly distributed elements; and an image processing unit. The objective optics is arranged to capture a scene in the field of view on the imaging sensor. The objective optics define at least a central imaging region and a peripheral imaging region, where the differing focal lengths of the objective optics result in the central imaging region having a higher digital resolution than that of the peripheral region, resulting in more pixels dedicated to the region of interest, while the peripheral regions have adequate resolution to monitor the introduction of surgical tools and other valuable information.

For the purpose of performing illumination with which vignetting of illumination light caused by a structure is alleviated, thus making the difference between a bright part and a dark part on an object less noticeable, an illumination device according to the present invention is provided with: a light-emitting part that has an emission end from which illumination light is emitted; a diffusion optical member that is disposed around a predetermined axis in the circumferential direction, that is provided with an incident end disposed so as to be opposed to the emission end, that guides the illumination light entering from the incident end while diffusing the illumination light, and that emits the illumination light from a surface thereof; and a reflective layer that is disposed adjacent to a radially inward surface of the diffusion optical member and that reflects the illumination light radially outward, wherein an angle, around the axis, of an emission region for the illumination light in the diffusion optical member is reduced as the distance from the incident end is increased in the axial direction.

A medical-endoscopic instrument includes a distal elongate insertion section (1), for the minimal-invasive introduction into a human or animal body, with a first LED (5), a second LED (7) and a picture sensor (9). The first LED includes a first light spectrum (19), suitable for fluorescence endoscopy. The second LED includes a second light spectrum (21), suitable for white light endoscopy. A light filter (23), arranged in front of the second LED in the viewing direction (x), has a transmission spectrum (25). The second LED is configured to irradiate according to the second light spectrum on average more intensively in a first wavelength region (K) than in a second wavelength region (L). The light filter is configured to let through light, which is emitted by the second LED, according to the transmission spectrum, on average less in the second wavelength region than in the first wavelength region.

An objective optical system for an endoscope forms an intermediate image at a position conjugate to an object surface and forms the intermediate image on an imaging plane again, and is adapted to satisfy Conditional expressions (1) to (3) in a case in which a maximum effective image height on the imaging plane is denoted by HI, a focal length of the entire system is denoted by f, an effective luminous flux diameter on a lens surface closest to an object is denoted by FD, an F-Number of the entire system is denoted by FNo, and a paraxial relay magnification of the intermediate image on the imaging plane is denoted by R.
0.7<HI/|f|(1)
FDFNo/|f|6(2)
2<R<0.8(3).

An endoscope includes a detachable wireless imaging device and an insertion tube having a distal end region. The attachment of the detachable wireless imaging device detachably attaches the detachable wireless imaging device to the distal end region of the insertion tube.

The present invention relates to an endoscope system and an integrated design method for an endoscope camera optical system. The endoscope system comprises an object lens module, relay module, eye lens module, optical interface light path module and digital ultra-high definition camera successively arranged along the light path direction, wherein an image formed by the object lens module is projected to the optical interface light path module in a non-parallel light manner/divergent light manner after passing through the relay module and the eye lens module. According to the present invention, integrated ultra-high resolution of the optical endoscope and endoscope camera system is achieved by means of improving the resolution of the system. The resolution is limited by an image-side aperture angle which may be obtained by the formula: 2 tan u=D/f, and the relative aperture and entrance pupil diameter of the system must be increased, wherein the relative aperture of the system comprises the relative aperture of the object lens module, the relative aperture of an eye lens, and the relative aperture of an optical interface; the relative apertures mentioned by the present application are all relative apertures of the system, and meanwhile, the entrance pupil diameter and the exit pupil diameter are required to simultaneously increase. For example, the entrance pupil diameter of an existing laparoscopic product is generally 0.2 mm to 0.4 mm, the exit pupil diameter is 1 mm to 2 mm, and the relative aperture is 1:10; in the present solution, the system is taken into consideration as a whole, such that the entrance pupil diameter is 0.6 mm, the exit pupil diameter is 3 mm to 6 mm, and the relative aperture is 1:4 to 1:6; and the resolution of the modulation transfer function (MTF)>0.2@120 lp/mm (or in other words, a resolution of 120 line pairs per millimeter) in a full view field range of different products at a field-of-view angle of 50 degrees to 120 degrees may be achieved.

The disclosed subject matter includes devices and systems for extending the imaging capability of swept, confocally aligned planar excitation (SCAPE) microscopes to in vivo applications. In embodiments, the SCAPE microscope can be implemented as an endoscopic or laparoscopic inspection instrument.

An endoscope system includes: an endoscope including a side-viewing observation unit that includes a field of view in a lateral direction of an insertion part to be inserted into an object to be observed and a second protruding portion that protrudes from the insertion part and forms a blind spot in the field of view of the side-viewing observation unit; an image acquisition unit that acquires a side-viewing observation image by using the side-viewing observation unit; a monitor that displays the side-viewing observation image; and a display control section that allows at least a part of the blind spot of the side-viewing observation image in which the second protruding portion is shown up not to be displayed, and displays the side-viewing observation image on the monitor.

The objective optical system for an endoscope consists of, in order from an object side, a negative front group, an aperture stop, and a positive rear group. A lens closest to the object side in the front group is a negative lens concave toward an image side, and a lens positioned second from the object side in the front group is a negative lens concave toward the object side. The rear group includes a cemented lens in which a positive lens and a negative lens are cemented in order from the object side. The objective optical system for an endoscope satisfies predetermined conditional expressions relating to a focal length of a whole system, a focal length of the front group, and a distance from a lens surface closest to the object side to a lens surface closest to the image side.

A system for holding an image display apparatus (60) for displaying an image captured by means of an image capturing apparatus (20) comprises a movable holding apparatus (70) for an alterable hold of the image display apparatus (60), a controllable drive device (72) for moving the holding apparatus (70), comprising a control signal input (74) for receiving a control signal, and a controller (40) comprising a signal input (42) for receiving a signal that represents an orientation or a change in the orientation of the viewing direction (28) of the image capturing apparatus (20) in space or that facilitates a determination of the orientation or the change in the orientation of the viewing direction (28) of the image capturing apparatus (20), and comprising a control signal output (47), couplable to the control signal input (74) of the controllable drive device (72), for providing a control signal for controlling the controllable drive device (72). The controller (40) is embodied and provided to control the controllable drive device (72) in such a way that, within a predetermined range of possible orientations of the viewing direction (28) of the image capturing apparatus (20) in space, the orientation of the image display apparatus (60) in space is a predetermined function of the orientation of the viewing direction (28) of the image capturing apparatus (20) in space.