JPH0363047B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a shutter release device for an endoscope camera that performs a shutter release operation when the endoscope camera is used by being attached to an endoscope.

When using an endoscope camera attached to the eyepiece of a medical endoscope, the user, such as a doctor, generally holds the operating section of the endoscope with his left hand and uses his index finger to He operates the suction button on the endoscope, and uses his middle finger to operate the air/water supply buttons on the endoscope.
In addition, the right hand can be used to grasp an appropriate part of the endoscope's body cavity insertion part to guide the tip of the insertion part to the target site in the patient's body cavity, or to use the endoscope's curved knob. to guide the distal end of the insertion section to the desired patient. The affected part of the patient's body cavity is then observed through the viewfinder of the endoscope camera, and photographs are taken. , as mentioned above, move your right hand, which is guiding the tip of the endoscope to the imaging site by operating the curved knob or grasping the insertion section, away from the curved knob or insertion section, and move the camera. You have to move to the shutter button and press it, which has the following disadvantages. In other words, because the inside of the human body cavity is constantly moving due to the heartbeat and the peristaltic movement of the lumen, it is necessary to move the right hand away from the curved knob or insertion section of the endoscope each time, as mentioned above. If you press the shutter button from the beginning, the affected area of the subject will move during this time, causing you to miss the shutter start, and even if you take the effort to guide the tip to the optimal position with your right hand, you will not be able to quickly turn off the shutter. In addition to this, the disadvantage was that the operation was complicated.

Therefore, in order to eliminate such drawbacks, a release lever is pivoted on the outer peripheral surface of the endoscope attachment part on the endoscope camera side, and the release operation is performed via this release lever. A method has been proposed that allows the release operation of an endoscope without removing the hand from the operation section.

However, in this method, the finger rest of the release lever is arranged so that it can be operated with either the thumb or forefinger of the left hand that grips the operation part of the endoscope, but in reality, it depends on the individual user and the usage situation. It was sometimes difficult to operate. Normally, it is designed to be operated with the thumb, but in this case it cannot be operated at all with the index finger of the left hand, and when combined with an endoscope with a focus mechanism, it is very convenient to operate it with the index finger of the right hand. However, it was not possible to meet these demands.

The present invention has been made focusing on the above circumstances,
The purpose of this is to easily operate the shutter release of the camera in optimal conditions, whether the camera is attached to an endoscope and the endoscope is inserted, angled, focused, etc. An object of the present invention is to provide a release device for an endoscope camera that can perform the following functions.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

1 and 2 show one embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 1 is an endoscope, and 2 is an endoscope camera that is attached to the endoscope 1. The endoscope 1 has an operating section 4 connected to the proximal end of a flexible insertion section 3 that is inserted into a patient's body cavity.
is provided on the end surface of the insertion portion 3 opposite to the end surface to which the insertion portion 3 is connected. On the upper side of the main body 5 of the operating section, there are an air/water supply button 7 used to send air or water into the body cavity, and a suction button 8 used to suction and drain dirty fluids from the body cavity. It is provided. Furthermore, an insertion opening 9 and a protrusion for inserting a treatment tool such as forceps are provided at a position closer to the eyepiece 6 than the buttons 7 and 8. Further, on the left side surface of the operation section main body 5, a bending knob 1 for remotely operating a bending section (not shown) provided near the tip of the insertion section 3 is provided.
0 is set.

On the other hand, the endoscope camera 2 is provided with a tapered cylindrical endoscope attachment part 12 on the front side of the camera body 11, and this endoscope attachment part 12 includes an eyepiece part of the endoscope 1. A mounting hole 13 for inserting and mounting 6 is formed. The eyepiece section 6 of the endoscope 1 is tightly fitted into the mounting hole 13 of the endoscope mounting section 12 so that the two are coaxially connected. A shutter button 14 and a film frame count display section 15 are provided on the upper side of the camera body 11, respectively. In addition, the camera body 11
A finder 16 is disposed on the rear side surface of the vehicle.

Furthermore, a rotating ring 17 that can be rotated around its axis is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the endoscope mounting portion 12, and a shutter release operation button 18 is provided in a part of this rotating ring 17. It is designed to form the shutter release operation button. This will be explained in detail with reference to FIG. That is,
The outer circumferential surface of the front end of the mounting portion main body 19 is formed in the shape of two steps that are sequentially tapered on the front side. The rotating ring 17 is provided on the circumferential surface portion formed in a step-like manner.
It is designed to fit. In other words, rotating ring 1
The rear end edge 20 of the rotating ring 17 is tightly fitted to the circumferential surface of the intermediate platform 21, and the front end edge of the rotating ring 17 is tightly fitted to the circumferential surface 22 having the smallest diameter. There is. Furthermore, the front end of the rotating ring 17 abuts against the retaining ring 23 that is fitted and fixed to the front edge of the mounting portion main body 19,
Further, the rear end of the rotation ring 17 abuts against the rising wall 24 of the stepped portion, and is thereby positioned in the axial direction so that it can rotate around the axis on the peripheral surface of the endoscope mounting portion 12. It's summery.
A plurality of engagement holes 24 are formed at equal intervals along the circumferential direction of the rear edge 20 of the rotation ring 17, and the platform 2 into which the rear edge 20 fits is formed.
1 is provided with click balls 25 for engaging with the engagement holes 24. This click ball 25 is provided in a hole 26, and the click ball 25 is provided in a hole 26.
It is biased to protrude by a spring 27 installed in 6. And this click ball 2
5 is adapted to temporarily fix the rotation ring 17 in that position by engaging with any one of the engagement holes 24. The rear end edge 20 of the rotating ring 17 provided with the engagement holes 24 is covered by the front end edge of a cover 19a fixedly attached to the mounting body 19.

On the other hand, the rotating ring 1 attached as described above
A gap 28 is formed inside the mounting section 7 between the mounting section main body 19 and the peripheral surface section 22 . A through hole 29 is formed in a part of the rotary ring 17 corresponding to the cavity 28, and the shutter release operation button 18 is inserted into the through hole 29.
Further, the shutter release operation button 18 is attached to a rubber cover 30 attached to the inner peripheral wall of the rotating ring 17 so as to close the through hole 29 thereof. In other words, the shutter release operation button 1
8 is supported by the cover 30 and is normally installed so as to protrude outward from the through hole 29. Furthermore, a conductive rubber 31 is attached and fixed to the inner wall of the cover 30. In addition, this conductive rubber 31
A pair of annular electrodes 32, 32 are arranged on the circumferential surface portion 22 in parallel across the entire circumference thereof.
is provided. When the shutter release operation button 18 is pushed in, the conductive rubber 31 pushed together with the cover 30 comes into contact with the pair of electrodes 32, 32, and by reducing the electrical resistance of the conductive rubber 31, the electrodes 32, 32 are connected to each other. It has become conductive. The electrodes 32, 32 are formed on a circuit board 33. In addition, the above electrode 3
2 and 32 are the circuit board 33 and the lead wire 3
3 and 33 to the endoscope camera 2 side, and when the conductive rubber 31 is closed, a shutter release signal is sent to the endoscope camera 2. .

Next, a case where the above configuration is used will be explained. First, the eyepiece part 6 of the endoscope 1 is tightly fitted into the mounting hole 13 of the endoscope mounting part 12 of the endoscope camera 2, as shown in FIG. After this, the user grasps the operating section main body 5 of the endoscope 1 with the left hand L. Then, the user operates the air/water supply button 7 with the middle finger of this left hand L, and operates the suction button 8 with the index finger. In addition, with the right hand R, operate the bending knob 10 and insert the insertion portion 3.
Select the orientation. While performing these operations, observe the affected area in the body cavity through the viewfinder 16 of the endoscope camera 2, and when you find the desired imaging area, use the index finger of your right hand to touch the endoscope attachment part 1 near it.
2, press and operate the shutter release operation button 18. Therefore, as described above, the conductive rubber 31 pushed in by this operation is pressed between the electrodes 32, 32, and the conductive rubber 31 is compressed, thereby reducing the electrical resistance and causing a gap between the electrodes 32, 32. Conduct. This conduction signal is then transmitted to the endoscope camera 2 side, and the shutter of the endoscope camera 2 is released.

In other words, this release operation is very simple, and can be performed immediately without removing either the right hand R or the left hand L from the operation section 4 of the endoscope 1. Therefore, it is possible to take pictures without missing an accurate shutter start. Note that since the suction operation of the endoscope 1 is not performed during photographing, the shutter release operation button 18 may of course be operated with the index finger of the left hand L.

Further, the position of the shutter release operation button portion in which the shutter release operation button 18 is located can be arbitrarily selected by rotating the rotary ring 17. In other words, the user selects and operates the most convenient position according to the shape and size of the user's hand, as well as the shape of the operating section 4 and the position and shape of the operating members in various types of endoscopes 1. can do.

Note that the shutter release operation of the endoscope camera 2 can also be performed by operating the shutter button 14 on the camera body 11 side.

Next, other embodiments of the present invention will be described.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, an operating lever 42 is pivotally attached to a shaft support 41 provided on the rotation ring 17 in the above embodiment, and the shutter release operating button 18 is operated by the intermediate portion of this operating lever 42. This is what I did. That is, the shaft support 41 that supports the operating lever 42 is provided on the rear edge side of the rotating ring 17, so that the operating lever 42 can be tilted forward. Therefore, in this embodiment, the operating lever 42 is pushed down and extended toward the operating section 4 of the endoscope 1 as needed, and the shutter release operating button 18 can be operated via this operating lever 42. Therefore, the shutter release operation can be performed at a position closer to the operating section 4. However, this operation lever 4
In a usage situation where the shutter release button 2 becomes a hindrance, the shutter release button 18 can be moved backward and moved away, and the shutter release operation button 18 can be operated directly with a finger, as in the previous embodiment.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the operating lever 43 is supported so as to be rotatable in a tangential direction to the side surface of the endoscope mounting portion 12. That is, it is pivoted so that it can rotate in a direction perpendicular to the rotation direction of the operating lever 42 shown in FIG. Further, click balls 44, 44 are provided at the base end of the operating lever 43 on the shaft side, and are configured to engage with engaging holes 45, 45 provided in the rotation ring 17 in opposition to the click balls 44, 44. There is. Furthermore, the operating lever 43 is formed so that its base end 43a can be elastically deformed, and can be pushed and bent around the base end 43a. Therefore, in this embodiment, when the operating lever 43 is not in use, the operating lever 44 is retracted to the side.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, a part of the rotating ring 17 has a
A release hole 46 is provided, and the shutter release operation is performed by inserting a fingertip into the release hole 46 and pushing the conductive rubber 31. The conductive rubber 31 in this embodiment
is formed in an annular shape around the entire circumference of the mounting portion main body 19 in the cavity 28 . However, rotating ring 1
By rotating it seven times, the position of the release hole 46 changes. In other words, the position of the shutter release operation button can be selected.

In addition, in the present invention, the endoscope mounting part may not only be provided integrally with the endoscope camera, but also may be a connection adapter.

As explained above, according to the present invention, it is possible to easily and immediately perform the shutter release operation of the endoscope camera without taking your hand off the endoscope while operating the endoscope. . Therefore, you can easily take pictures with simple operations without missing a shot. Further, since the position of the shutter release operation button can be selected depending on the size and shape of the operator's hand and various types of endoscopes, the operability can be further improved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view of the part along the line - in Figure 1;
FIGS. 3 to 5 are sectional views of the same portions as FIG. 2, respectively, showing different embodiments. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Endoscope, 2... Endoscope camera, 4... Operating unit, 6... Eyepiece unit, 11... Camera body, 12... Endoscope attachment part, 13... Attachment hole, 14... Shutter button, 1
7...Rotating ring, 18...Shutter release operation button, 1
9... Mounting part main body, 31... Conductive rubber, 32... Electrode,
42...operation lever, 46...release hole.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An endoscope mounting part for removably mounting an endoscope camera on the eyepiece part of the endoscope, and an endoscope mounting part attached to the endoscope mounting part so as to be rotatable around its axis. It consists of a rotating ring, a click mechanism that determines the rotating position of this rotating ring, a shutter release button that can be pushed down, and a switch that is operated by this button. A shutter release operation button section, and by rotating the rotation ring, the position of the shutter release operation button section can be selected on the outer periphery of the endoscope mounting section. Shutter release device for endoscopic camera.