Patents by Inventor Kazuo Banju

Kazuo Banju has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20080021499
    Abstract: A surgical instrument of the present invention comprises an insertion unit; an operating unit provided on one end of the insertion unit; a treatment unit provided so as to protrude from the other end of the insertion unit; a first shaft member for transmitting turning force to the treatment unit in conjunction with the turning operation of a turning operation member provided on the operating unit; and a second shaft member for transmitting opening/closing force to the treatment unit in conjunction with the opening/closing operation of an opening/closing member provided on the operating unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 14, 2006
    Publication date: January 24, 2008
    Applicant: Olympus Corporation
    Inventors: Manabu Miyamoto, Takumi Dejima, Kazuo Banju, Shuhei Iizuka
  • Patent number: 7273450
    Abstract: A stereoscopic observation system includes a stereoscopic optical unit and stereoscopic camera. The optical unit is provided with a pair of objectives for stereoscopic observation and optical devices corresponding to the respective objectives. The stereoscopic camera is connected to the stereoscopic optical unit and used to pick up optical images formed by the optical devices. At least one of the stereoscopic camera and the optical unit serves as an instrument to be supported. A support unit supports the instrument. A rotation mechanism is incorporated in the support unit, and has a rotary shaft substantially parallel to an optical axis of the objectives. The rotation mechanism supports the instrument such that the instrument can rotate about the axis of the rotary shaft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2004
    Date of Patent: September 25, 2007
    Assignee: Olympus Corporation
    Inventor: Kazuo Banju
  • Publication number: 20060292917
    Abstract: A surgical instrument comprises: a treatment unit provided at one end of the insertion unit, capable of turning about one axis, and comprising a clamping section capable of opening and closing action; an operation unit provided at the other end of the insertion unit; a turn force transmission mechanism and transmitting a turn force as a force to turn the treatment unit; an opening and closing force transmission mechanism and transmitting an opening and closing force as a force to open and close the clamping section; and a common operation mechanism, provided in the operation unit, which can generate the turn force transmitted by the turn force transmission mechanism and which can also generate the opening and closing force transmitted by the opening and closing transmission mechanism.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 27, 2006
    Publication date: December 28, 2006
    Applicant: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Manabu Miyamoto, Kazuo Banju, Nobuaki Akui, Shuhei Iizuka
  • Publication number: 20060259073
    Abstract: A surgical instrument of the present invention comprises: an insertion unit, an operation unit provided at the proximal end side of the insertion unit, and a treatment unit provided at the other end of the insertion unit and having a clamping unit that can rotate about one axis and can perform an opening and closing action and a bending action. The operation unit comprises: an opening and closing lever for performing the operation of opening and closing the treatment unit, an angle variation dial for performing the operation of bending the treatment unit, and a rotation dial for performing the operation of rotating the treatment unit. The angle variation dial and rotation dial are provided within the operation range of the same operation finger.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 20, 2006
    Publication date: November 16, 2006
    Inventors: Manabu Miyamoto, Kazuo Banju, Nobuaki Akui, Shuhei Iizuka
  • Patent number: 7125378
    Abstract: An imaging system includes: an optical-system holding member for holding an optical system to form an optical image of a subject; an imaging-device holding member for holding an imaging device to obtain the optical image formed by the optical system; a case for hermetically enclosing the optical-system holding member and the imaging-device holding member; a hermetic connector for hermetically sealing the case, the hermetic connector being electrically connected to the imaging device; a power generator for generating a driving force to move either of the optical-system holding member and the imaging-device holding member; and a driving-force transfer member for connecting the power generator and either the optical-system holding member or the imaging-device holding member to transfer the driving force of the power generator to either the optical-system holding member or the imaging-device holding member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2003
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2006
    Assignee: Olympus Corporation
    Inventors: Masami Shimizu, Masahiro Hagihara, Masaki Takayama, Satoshi Takekoshi, Nobuaki Akui, Kazuo Banju, Ichiro Ikari, Hiroyuki Kuroda
  • Publication number: 20060199998
    Abstract: An endoscope system includes a rigid endoscope including an optical system in a rigid insert section thereof, and a wiper sheath. The wiper sheath includes a wiper insert section receiving the insert section of the rigid endoscope, a wiper arranged on a distal end portion of the wiper insert section and enabled to be placed in contact with a distal-end face of the rigid endoscope received in the wiper insert section, and an operation unit, arranged at a proximal end portion of the wiper insert section, for switching the wiper between a contact state with the wiper placed to be in contact with the distal-end face of the rigid endoscope and a detached state with the wiper spaced apart from the distal-end face of the rigid endoscope, and for moving the wiper on and along the distal-end face of the rigid endoscope when the wiper is in the contact state.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 14, 2006
    Publication date: September 7, 2006
    Applicant: Olympus Medical Systems Corp.
    Inventors: Nobuaki Akui, Kazuo Banju, Takumi Dejima
  • Publication number: 20060195140
    Abstract: A surgical gripper includes a gripping section opened/closed to grip an object to be gripped and an operation section which opens/closes the gripping section, wherein the gripping section is configured to be opened/closed by the operation section to take a gripping mode of gripping the object to be gripped so that treatment is performed by the object to be gripped, an adjusting mode of gripping the object to be gripped by a gripping force lower than that of the gripping mode so that an arrangement of the object to be gripped is adjusted while the object to be gripped is held, and a releasing mode of releasing the object to be gripped.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 28, 2006
    Publication date: August 31, 2006
    Inventors: Kazuo Banju, Shuhei Iizuka, Manabu Miyamoto, Nobuaki Akui
  • Publication number: 20060126176
    Abstract: The present invention provides a system including a stereoscopic endoscope having left and right image pickup units for picking up parallactic images of an object through objective lenses laterally arranged at a distance from each other and CCDs laterally arranged at a distance from each other. In the stereoscopic endoscope, the focal distance is variable by moving focusing lenses. A display control unit is constructed so as to mask image pickup areas in left and right images display in left and right display elements on the basis of information regarding the distance to an object, the image pickup areas being picked up-only by one of the left and right image pickup units. Thus, images corresponding to an area that is picked up in common by both the left and right image pickup units are displayed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 6, 2006
    Publication date: June 15, 2006
    Applicant: Olympus Corporation
    Inventors: Shingo Nogami, Masahiro Kudo, Takahiro Kogasaka, Kazuo Morita, Kazuo Banju, Masayuki Irie
  • Patent number: 6985765
    Abstract: A three-dimensional observation apparatus is provided which includes an optical reflection member which reflects a light beam and converges the light beam after the reflection, and image projectors for right and left eyes which project a medical image for the right and left eyes on the optical reflection member and forms an exit pupil for the right and left eyes at a position apart from the optical reflection member by a predetermined distance. The apparatus also includes a holding member which keeps a positional relationship of the image projector for the right eye to the optical reflection member and a positional relationship of the image projector for the left eye to the optical reflection member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 2003
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2006
    Assignee: Olympus Corporation
    Inventors: Kazuo Morita, Susumu Takahashi, Masahiro Kudo, Nobuaki Akui, Hiroyuki Kuroda, Kazuo Banju, Shingo Nogami, Takahiro Kogasaka, Takechiyo Nakamitsu, Takeaki Nakamura
  • Publication number: 20050283139
    Abstract: According to the present invention, a surgical therapeutic instrument includes an insertion unit, a treating unit that is arranged at one end of the insertion unit to be extended in the extending direction at a predetermined angle to the axial direction of the insertion unit, and an operation unit that is arranged at the other end of the insertion unit. The operation unit includes a rotating operation unit to rotate the treating unit, and an opening/closing operation unit to open/close the treating unit. The treating unit includes two pinching members having planar portions, is rotatable in accordance with the rotating operation, and can move at least one of the two pinching members in the direction substantially orthogonal to the plane of the planar portion in accordance with the opening/closing operation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 22, 2005
    Publication date: December 22, 2005
    Applicant: Olympus Corporation
    Inventors: Shuhei Iizuka, Takahiro Kogasaka, Kazunori Taniguchi, Toru Nagase, Nobuyoshi Yazawa, Hideyuki Kasahara, Seiji Maeda, Kazuo Banju, Akira Murata
  • Patent number: 6902529
    Abstract: Endoscopes comprise image pickup elements for picking up images and transmission circuits and the like for transmitting the picked up images with radio waves of different frequencies. In addition, bar codes to code the frequencies used for transmission are provided to the respective endoscopes, the bar code provided to the endoscope used in endoscope inspection is read on a receiver side, and a reception frequency of a station selection unit is set to the read frequency, so that a signal obtained by a desired endoscope can be easily received and imaged even in case a plurality of endoscopes are used.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2003
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2005
    Assignee: Olympus Corporation
    Inventors: Junichi Onishi, Keisuke Miura, Kazuo Banju, Koji Yamauchi, Hiroyuki Ushifusa, Kazuhiro Gono, Taro Miyazawa, Tomoyasu Kawai, Katsumi Sasaki, Takeaki Nakamura
  • Patent number: 6840901
    Abstract: Endoscopes comprise image pickup elements for picking up images and transmission circuits and the like for transmitting the picked up images with radio waves of different frequencies. In addition, bar codes to code the frequencies used for transmission are provided to the respective endoscopes, the bar code provided to the endoscope used in endoscope inspection is read on a receiver side, and a reception frequency of a station selection unit is set to the read frequency, so that a signal obtained by a desired endoscope can be easily received and imaged even in case a plurality of endoscopes are used.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2003
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2005
    Assignee: Olympus Corporation
    Inventors: Junichi Onishi, Keisuke Miura, Kazuo Banju, Koji Yamauchi, Hiroyuki Ushifusa, Kazuhiro Gono, Taro Miyazawa, Tomoyasu Kawai, Katsumi Sasaki, Takeaki Nakamura
  • Publication number: 20050001899
    Abstract: The three-dimensional observation system of the present invention comprises an image picking-up part which has a parallax with respect to the object of observation and captures two images of the object of observation, an image display part which respectively displays the two images of the object of observation captured by the image picking-up part, and an optical system which is used to guide the two images of the object of observation displayed by the image display part to respective position in front of the left and right eyes of the observer facing the object of observation, such that the parallax direction of the image picking-up part and the parallax direction of the observer coincide, thus causing a three-dimensional image to be displayed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 11, 2004
    Publication date: January 6, 2005
    Applicant: Olympus Corporation
    Inventors: Kazuo Banju, Masahiro Kudo, Shingo Nogami, Takahiro Kogasaka, Kazuo Morita, Masayuki Irie
  • Publication number: 20040263614
    Abstract: A stereoscopic image observing apparatus includes a right-eye projector 1 and a left-eye projector 2 which illuminate projected light for right and left eyes with the parallax generated based on an image pick-up signal obtained from a stereoscopic endoscope 8, a Fresnel lens 17 which applies and reflects the lens operation with the positive polarity to the projected light of the illuminated images for the right and left eyes, and an optical shift element layer 16 having liquid crystal 20 and a double refraction plate 19 for changing and diffusing on time series the reflecting position of the reflected light of the images for the right and left eyes from the Fresnel lens 17.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 14, 2004
    Publication date: December 30, 2004
    Applicant: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kazuo Banju, Masahiro Kudo, Shingo Nogami, Takahiro Kogasaka, Kazuo Morita, Masayuki Irie
  • Publication number: 20040210108
    Abstract: An imaging system includes: an optical-system holding member for holding an optical system to form an optical image of a subject; an imaging-device holding member for holding an imaging device to obtain the optical image formed by the optical system; a case for hermetically enclosing the optical-system holding member and the imaging-device holding member; a hermetic connector for hermetically sealing the case, the hermetic connector being electrically connected to the imaging device; a power generator for generating a driving force to move either of the optical-system holding member and the imaging-device holding member; and a driving-force transfer member for connecting the power generator and either the optical-system holding member or the imaging-device holding member to transfer the driving force of the power generator to either the optical-system holding member or the imaging-device holding member.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 18, 2003
    Publication date: October 21, 2004
    Applicant: OLYMPUS OPTICAL CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Masami Shimizu, Masahiro Hagihara, Masaki Takayama, Satoshi Takekoshi, Nobuaki Akui, Kazuo Banju, Ichiro Ikari, Hiroyuki Kuroda
  • Publication number: 20040210106
    Abstract: A stereoscopic observation system includes a stereoscopic optical unit and stereoscopic camera. The optical unit is provided with a pair of objectives for stereoscopic observation and optical devices corresponding to the respective objectives. The stereoscopic camera is connected to the stereoscopic optical unit and used to pick up optical images formed by the optical devices. At least one of the stereoscopic camera and the optical unit serves as an instrument to be supported. A support unit supports the instrument. A rotation mechanism is incorporated in the support unit, and has a rotary shaft substantially parallel to an optical axis of the objectives. The rotation mechanism supports the instrument such that the instrument can rotate about the axis of the rotary shaft.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 31, 2004
    Publication date: October 21, 2004
    Applicant: Olympus Corporation
    Inventor: Kazuo Banju
  • Publication number: 20040196553
    Abstract: An observation apparatus includes a housing, a pair of display devices capable of correspondingly displaying a pair of different images for stereoscopic observation obtained from a stereoscopic observation mechanism, an eyepiece portion having a pair of observation windows, a window portion formed having an opening through which an external area around the housing can be observed by means of the eyepiece portion, and a shutter which opens and closes the window portion. The display devices is located in the housing so as to be connected to the stereoscopic observation mechanism, through which an observation target region can be observed stereoscopically. The pair of observation windows of the eyepiece portion is attached to the housing, and images displayed individually on the display devices can be observed by left and right eyes through the observation windows, individually. The window portion and the shutter are attached to the housing.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 5, 2004
    Publication date: October 7, 2004
    Applicant: Olympus Corporation
    Inventors: Kazuo Banju, Masahiro Kudo, Shingo Nogami, Takahiro Kogasaka, Kazuo Morita, Masayuki Irie
  • Publication number: 20040085441
    Abstract: Endoscopes comprise image pickup elements for picking up images and transmission circuits and the like for transmitting the picked up images with radio waves of different frequencies. In addition, bar codes to code the frequencies used for transmission are provided to the respective endoscopes, the bar code provided to the endoscope used in endoscope inspection is read on a receiver side, and a reception frequency of a station selection unit is set to the read frequency, so that a signal obtained by a desired endoscope can be easily received and imaged even in case a plurality of endoscopes are used.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 20, 2003
    Publication date: May 6, 2004
    Applicant: OLYMPUS OPTICAL, CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Junichi Onishi, Keisuke Miura, Kazuo Banju, Koji Yamauchi, Hiroyuki Ushifusa, Kazuhiro Gono, Taro Miyazawa, Tomoyasu Kawai, Katsumi Sasaki, Takeaki Nakamura
  • Publication number: 20040082834
    Abstract: Endoscopes comprise image pickup elements for picking up images and transmission circuits and the like for transmitting the picked up images with radio waves of different frequencies. In addition, bar codes to code the frequencies used for transmission are provided to the respective endoscopes, the bar code provided to the endoscope used in endoscope inspection is read on a receiver side, and a reception frequency of a station selection unit is set to the read frequency, so that a signal obtained by a desired endoscope can be easily received and imaged even in case a plurality of endoscopes are used.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 20, 2003
    Publication date: April 29, 2004
    Applicant: OLYMPUS OPTICAL CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Junichi Onishi, Keisuke Miura, Kazuo Banju, Koji Yamauchi, Hiroyuki Ushifusa, Kazuhiro Gono, Taro Miyazawa, Tomoyasu Kawai, Katsumi Sasaki, Takeaki Nakamura
  • Publication number: 20030218720
    Abstract: A three-dimensional observation apparatus is provided which includes an optical reflection member which reflects a light beam and converges the light beam after the reflection, and image projectors for right and left eyes which project a medical image for the right and left eyes on the optical reflection member and forms an exit pupil for the right and left eyes at a position apart from the optical reflection member by a predetermined distance. The apparatus also includes a holding member which keeps a positional relationship of the image projector for the right eye to the optical reflection member and a positional relationship of the image projector for the left eye to the optical reflection member.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 6, 2003
    Publication date: November 27, 2003
    Applicant: OLYMPUS OPTICAL CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kazuo Morita, Susumu Takahashi, Masahiro Kudo, Nobuaki Akui, Hiroyuki Kuroda, Kazuo Banju, Shingo Nogami, Takahiro Kogasaka, Takechiyo Nakamitsu, Takeaki Nakamura