Endoscopic terminal processor

Abstract

An endoscopic terminal processor for an electronic endoscope, which accommodates within its casing an illumination light source along with a video signal processor for an electronic endoscope. A circuit board of the video signal processor is supported compactly in an upright position within the casing, and fixedly connected at one end to an inner surface of a side panel of the casing, and loosely supported at the other free end on a damper member adapted to restrict flapping movements of the circuit board about the fixed end and to permit movements in other directions to some extent to evade collisional impacts or shocks which might be transmitted from the casing.

Description

[0001] 1. Field of the Art[0002] This invention relates generally to electronic endoscopes which are in use in medical fields, and more particularly to an endoscopic terminal processor which contains within its casing an illumination light source along with a video signal processor for an electronic endoscope.[0003] 2. Prior Art[0004] Electronic endoscopes which are currently in wide use for medical purposes are generally provided with an illumination window and an observation window side by side at the distal end of an insertion instrument to be inserted into a patient's body cavity, permitting observation of an intracavitary site of interest under illuminated conditions. An electronic endoscope differs from an optical endoscope in that the endoscopic observation system employs an electronic image sensor means such as CCD camera or the like for an image pickup to be fitted in the observation window. Therefore, in the case of an electronic endoscope, a signal cable from the image se...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0012] In accordance with the present invention, the above-stated objective is achieved by the provision of an endoscopic terminal processor, which comprises: a casing accommodating therein an illumination light source along with a video signal processor for an electronic endoscope, and having optical and electrical coupling portions thereon, the illumination light source including an illumination lamp unit to be optically connected to an illumination light guide from the endoscope through the optical coupling portion for transmission of illumination light, and the video signal processor including a video signal processing circuit board to be connected with a signal cable from the endoscope through the electrical coupling portion; the video signal processing circuit board being supported in an upright position within the casing, and being fixedly connected at one end thereof to a side panel of the casing and loosely supported at the other free end on a damper member adapted to restrict flapping movements of the circuit board about the fixed end.

Problems solved by technology

The illumination lamp which is normally constituted by a high intensity lamp has a relatively short service life.

However, the use of such stackable circuit boards could result in complication of wiring patterns and of connections between the individual boards.

In such a case, however, it may become necessary to form the video processor circuit board in a complicate shape other than a simple rectangular shape to evade other component parts which differ largely in height from each other, standing to different heights from the bottom panel of the casing.

Therefore, this approach will invite a substantial increase in production cost of the circuit board due to complications of the production process.

However, if the video signal processor circuit board is fixed to only one wall of the casing, it can be destabilized when vibrating movement is transmitted thereto.

For this purpose, endoscopic terminal processor are usually reduced in thickness of side, top and bottom walls, and therefore are very susceptible to deformations when an impact is applied thereto, for example, by collisional contact with other object.

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