Patents Examined by Anhtuan T. Nguyen
  • Patent number: 9675233
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a medical device. The medical device may include an elongate member, having a proximal end and a distal end and at least two lumens extending therebetween. At least one of the lumens may be an imaging lumen configured to hold an imaging device, and an imaging device may be disposed inside the imaging lumen. A signal transmitting device may extend longitudinally through the imaging lumen. A distal end of the signal transmitting device may be operably coupled to the imaging device and a proximal end may be operably coupled to a processor. The processor may be located outside of the imaging lumen. The signal transmitting device may transmit signals between the imaging device and the processor. A grounded, braided catheter may be disposed within and extend the length of the elongate member, surrounding the imaging lumen.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2017
    Assignee: Boston Scientific Scimed, Inc.
    Inventor: Russell Dresher
  • Patent number: 9675238
    Abstract: An endoscopic device that irradiates a plurality of illuminating lights having different spectrums from each other onto a subject at a front edge of an endoscope inserting module and captures the subject to obtain an observation image, includes an illuminating module that generates the plurality of illuminating lights, an imaging module that captures the subject and outputs an image signal of the observation image, a light intensity ratio control module that controls the illuminating module to irradiate the plurality of illuminating lights onto the subject with a set light intensity ratio by setting the light intensity ratio of the plurality of illuminating lights for every observation image, and a color tone correcting module that corrects the color tone of the image signal so as to obtain the observation image with substantially a same color tone even though the light intensity ratio is changed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2017
    Assignee: FUJIFILM CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takayuki Iida, Toshihiko Kaku, Hiroshi Yamaguchi, Takaaki Saito
  • Patent number: 9655502
    Abstract: There is provided herein, an endoscope comprising an elongated shaft terminating with a tip section wherein said tip section comprises a permanent section connected to the elongated shaft and a removable section securely connectable to the permanent section, wherein the removable section comprises at least one capture device and at least one light source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2017
    Assignee: EndoChoice Innovation Center, Ltd.
    Inventors: Avi Levy, Moshe Levi, Amram Aizenfeld
  • Patent number: 9636005
    Abstract: An endoscope system includes an optical transmission section that is provided in an endoscope inserted into an interior of a subject and transmits illuminating light to a distal end, a light source section that generates light, a first lens section that receives the light, from the light source section and emits the light with characteristics of different spatial intensity distributions, a second lens section that causes the light emitted from the first lens section to enter the proximal end of the optical transmission section, a distance adjusting section that can adjust a distance, and a control section that controls the distance adjusting section that adjusts the distance between the first lens section and the second lens section so that amounts of the light of a first and second wavelength bands have a predetermined ratio of amount of light.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
    Inventor: Masahiro Yoshino
  • Patent number: 9635999
    Abstract: An endoscope including an operation portion, an insertion portion pivotable relative to the operation portion, and a rotation knob to pivot the insertion portion about an axis of the insertion portion, includes: an insertion portion neutral position indicating portion, provided on an outer circumferential face of the rotation knob, configured to indicate a neutral position; and an indication ring, provided at the operation portion configured to include an operation portion neutral position indicating portion linearly aligned with the insertion portion neutral position indicating portion in an axis direction and indicating that the insertion portion is positioned at a neutral position, and two rotational angle indicating portions provided so as to be apart from the operation portion neutral position indicating portion in a circumferential direction, each of the two rotational angle indicating portions indicating rotation of the insertion portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kiwamu Fujitani, Keigo Takeshima, Motohiro Kuroda, Yasuo Takeuchi
  • Patent number: 9636092
    Abstract: The present invention provides systems and methods for minimally invasive endoscopic surgical procedures. In certain embodiments, the surgical procedures include harvesting of a deep basilic or cephalic vein for creation of a brachial-basilic or brachial-cephalic AV fistula, with simultaneous transpositioning, harvesting of a deep basilic or cephalic vein for transposition of an existing brachial-basilic or brachial-cephalic AV fistula, and ligating and excising an aneurysmal radial-cephalic, brachial-cephalic, or brachial-basilic AV fistula from the upper or lower arm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Inventor: Debra A. King
  • Patent number: 9629530
    Abstract: An endoscope apparatus includes a CCD disposed at a distal end portion of an endoscope insertion section, a first LED and a second LED functioning as illumination-light emitting unit, a region setting section that sets a first region where illumination by the first LED is predominant on an endoscopic image and a second region where illumination by the second LED is predominant on the endoscopic image, and a white balance circuit that respectively calculates color balance values corresponding to the first and second regions and applies correction processing to a color balance value of a video signal of the entire endoscopic image on the basis of results of the respective calculations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2017
    Assignee: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Koichi Niida, Atsuhiko Kushida
  • Patent number: 9622708
    Abstract: A device to detect a state of a human being is provided. The device determines a time-series waveform of a frequency from a time-series waveform of a biological signal acquired from an upper body of a human being, and determines time-series waveforms of a frequency slope and frequency variation to analyze these frequencies. Upon analyzing the frequencies, it determines power spectrums of frequencies corresponding to a preset functional adjustment signal, fatigue reception signal, and activity adjustment signal, and then determines a state of the human being from a time-series change in each power spectrum. Dominant degrees of the functional adjustment signal and activity adjustment signal are compared as distribution rates thereof, in addition to a degree of progress of fatigue, to determine a state of the human being, for example a relaxed state, fatigued state, prominent state of sympathetic nervous, prominent state of parasympathetic nervous.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2017
    Assignee: Delta Tooling Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Etsunori Fujita, Yumi Ogura, Yoshika Nobuhiro
  • Patent number: 9615772
    Abstract: A graphical model provides a dynamic representation of the endoscopic view and viewing direction relative to a virtual world. The model can be oriented and adjusted to approximate a real world situation. Angular image navigation coordinates are also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2017
    Assignee: Karl Storz Imaging, Inc.
    Inventors: Eric Lawrence Hale, Nathan Jon Schara, Hans David Hoeg
  • Patent number: 9615886
    Abstract: A robot guiding system employs a robot unit (10) and a control unit (20). The robot unit (10) includes an endoscope (12) for generating an intra-operative endoscopic image (14) of a blood vessel tree within an anatomical region, and a robot (11) for moving the endoscope (12) within the anatomical region. The control unit (20) includes an endoscope controller (22) for generating an endoscopic path within the anatomical region, wherein the endoscopic path is derived from a matching of a graphical representation of the intra-operative endoscopic image (14) of the blood vessel tree to a graphical representation of a pre-operative three-dimensional image (44) of the blood vessel tree. The control unit (20) further includes a robot controller (21) for commanding the robot (11) to move the endoscope (12) within the anatomical region in accordance with the endoscopic path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2017
    Assignee: KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V.
    Inventor: Aleksandra Popovic
  • Patent number: 9603511
    Abstract: The specific gravity of a capsule-type endoscope according to the invention is set to be lower than that of liquid in an organ, so that the capsule-type endoscope is floated on a liquid surface of the liquid. A center of gravity of the capsule-type endoscope is set to a position deviated from a center of a casing, so that the casing is maintained in a specific floating position while being floated on the liquid surface. A boundary between the casing and the liquid surface is formed within a projection plane, which is obtained by projecting the casing in the specific floating position perpendicularly to the liquid surface, at a position excluding an outer periphery of the projection plane Ka.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2017
    Assignee: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Miho Katayama, Hironao Kawano, Ayako Nagase
  • Patent number: 9603508
    Abstract: A method for capturing and displaying endoscopic maps is disclosed generally comprising providing an endoscope with a view vector that pivots relative to the longitudinal axis of the endoscope, programming a scan trajectory along which the view vector moves relative to the longitudinal axis of the endoscope to provide a predefined sequence of views of a surface, and capturing a sequence of images corresponding to the predefined sequence of views as the view vector moves along that scan trajectory. A set of configuration coordinates is associated with each of the captured images, and the images and the coordinates associated therewith are used to create a map of the interior surface that is larger than the view attending the view vector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 16, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2017
    Assignee: Karl Storz Imaging, Inc.
    Inventors: Eric Lawrence Hale, Hans David Hoeg, Nathan Jon Schara
  • Patent number: 9603510
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a surgical apparatus that includes a surgical instrument including an elongated shaft extending along a longitudinal axis from a proximal end to a distal end, a working element coupled to the distal end of the elongated shaft for manipulating tissue; an endoscope having a tubular body including an image fiber, an endoscopic lens coupled to a distal end of the tubular body and operably coupled to the image fiber, the endoscopic lens defining a viewing field about a central axis; and the endoscope mounted to the elongated shaft of the surgical instrument, the endoscopic lens protruding from an outer longitudinal surface of the elongated shaft, the central axis of the viewing field being oblique to the longitudinal axis of the elongated shaft and intersecting the outer longitudinal surface, the working element located within the viewing field and separated from the central axis by a distance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2017
    Inventor: Mario Ammirati
  • Patent number: 9597104
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a surgical device including an adapter assembly for selectively interconnecting an end effector and the device housing. The adapter assembly includes at least one drive converter assembly that converts and transmits a rotation of the rotatable drive shaft to an axial translation of at least one axially translatable drive member of the end effector. A first drive converter assembly includes a first drive element, a nut, an articulation sleeve, an articulation bearing, and an articulation link. Rotation of the rotatable drive shaft results in rotation of the first drive element. Rotation of the first drive element results in axial translation of the nut, the articulation sleeve, the articulation bearing, the articulation link, and the at least one axially translatable drive member of the end effector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2017
    Assignee: Covidien LP
    Inventors: David Nicholas, John Beardsley, Russell Pribanic, Michael Zemlok
  • Patent number: 9597113
    Abstract: An endoscope and shaft system include an access shaft and an endoscope which can be inserted into the access shaft, the proximal end of the access shaft has a grip part, and the endoscope is held in a connecting piece. The connecting piece can be detachably connected to the grip part, and the connecting piece can be rotated about the longitudinal axis of the endoscope relative to the grip part when the connecting piece is connected to the grip part.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2017
    Assignee: Richard Wolf GmbH
    Inventors: Eberhard Koerner, Mark Freier
  • Patent number: 9596978
    Abstract: The medical device guidance system include a magnetic guidance device which generates a guidance field in an arbitrary direction to guide a capsular medical device and carry out movement and posture control, a position detection device which detects the present position by a magnetic field generated by the capsular medical device and a position calculating and correcting section which forms an estimation equation of an undesired magnetic field generated from a guidance coil and subtracts an estimation equation result from the detection result of the magnetic field detecting section, according to the present position of the capsular medical device that controls the position and posture by a guidance field relative to the position detection device, and corrects the present position by excluding a desired magnetic field generated from a guidance coil.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2017
    Assignee: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Atsushi Kimura, Akio Uchiyama
  • Patent number: 9591962
    Abstract: A flexible variable direction of view endoscope with a pivotable view vector and a rotatable distal section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2017
    Assignee: Karl Storz Imaging, Inc.
    Inventors: Hans David Hoeg, Eric Lawrence Hale, Nathan Jon Schara
  • Patent number: 9585543
    Abstract: A device and system for monitoring the status of a battery in an in-vivo imaging device, prior to use of the in-vivo imaging device. The device may include a frame counter for counting the number of frames captured and may include monitoring the voltage of the battery. A warning signal is generated if it is determined that the battery is faulty prior to use. The warning signal can be generated by the device and/or by a receiver which receives data from the in-vivo imaging device and/or a by workstation which receives the data from the receiver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2017
    Assignee: GIVEN IMAGING LTD.
    Inventors: Semion Khait, Ido Bettesh
  • Patent number: 9585813
    Abstract: A catheter with an imaging assembly is disclosed. The catheter is used with a console for viewing and/or storing images obtained from the catheter. The catheter may be a feeding tube assembly. The imaging assembly on the feeding tube assembly allows a user to confirm placement of the feeding tube assembly in the patient's alimentary canal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2017
    Assignee: Covidien LP
    Inventors: Michael C. Dorsey, Robert Allyn, William J. Byrd, Thomas G. Lewis, Robert B. Gaines, Michael D. Hudspeth, Glen Branconier
  • Patent number: 9572482
    Abstract: An endoscope with a flexible circuit board comprises: a base mounting frame, a flexible circuit, a photosensitive element, a plurality of light emitting elements and a camera. The flexible circuit board, the photosensitive element, the light emitting elements and the camera can be mounted on the mounting frame, and then the mounting frame can be assembled in a pipe to form the endoscope, which greatly improves the ease of assembly, and consequently reducing the labor cost required for assembly. Furthermore, the flexibility of the circuit board reduces the volume of the endoscope and improves applicability.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2017
    Assignee: AMBU A/S
    Inventor: Rung-De Lin