Endoscope, circuit board, and endoscope system

Abstract

The invention provides an endoscope, a circuit substrate and an endoscope system.The hard portion of the endoscope comprises the circuit substrate and an image sensor, the circuit substrate is provided with a front face and a back face which are oppositely arranged, the image sensor is fixed and electrically connected to the front face of the circuit substrate, and the side wall of the circuit substrate is provided with a cable channel; the cable channel allows the cable to pass through or allows the cable to be welded. According to the endoscope, the circuit substrate and the endoscope system provided by the invention, the cable of the electric driving structure can penetrate through the cable channel to reach the lens assembly or be welded in the cable channel, so that the number of bonding pads on the circuit substrate can be reduced, the size of the circuit substrate is further reduced, and the size of the circuit substrate is more miniaturized.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention belongs to the technical field of medical devices, and more specifically, relates to an endoscope, a circuit substrate and an endoscope system. Background Art

[0002] A flexible endoscope (hereinafter referred to as endoscope) is a medical device that enters the human body through the natural cavity of the human body to observe the internal conditions of the natural cavity of the human body, such as common colonoscopes, gastroscopes and bronchoscopes. The endoscope has an insertion part for inserting into the natural cavity of the patient, and the insertion part includes an insertion tube, a bending part and a hard part, wherein the hard part is sequentially provided with: a circuit substrate, an image sensor for imaging the natural cavity, and an optical lens assembly for transmitting the reflected light of the natural cavity to the image sensor assembly.

[0003] The image sensor and the circuit substrate together form the sensor assembly. Depending on the type of endoscope, the diameter of the hard part is generally between several millimeters and tens of millimeters. Therefore, the size of the sensor assembly has a great impact on the size of the hard part. Generally, the size of the sensor assembly is minimized as much as possible to reduce the load on the size of the hard part and reduce the discomfort of the patient during the endoscopic examination.

[0004] A zoom endoscope is an endoscope with adjustable imaging focal length, such as a bifocal endoscope and a magnifying endoscope. In order to achieve the zoom function, an electric drive structure needs to be set on the optical lens assembly side, and connected to the electric drive structure at the front end through a multi-core cable on the back of the circuit substrate to drive the moving lens group on the optical lens assembly side to achieve zoom. In order to power the electric drive structure, the image sensor drive circuit design will be compatible with the electrical interface design of the electric drive structure. The multi-core cable needs to be welded to the circuit substrate, and more pads need to be set on the circuit substrate. This leads to an increase in the cross-sectional size required at the circuit substrate, which is not conducive to the miniaturization of the hard part of the endoscope. Summary of the invention

[0005] The purpose of the embodiments of the present invention is to provide an endoscope, a circuit substrate and an endoscope system, which can effectively reduce the size of the circuit substrate to reduce the size of the sensor component, which is conducive to the miniaturization of the hard part of the endoscope.

[0006] To achieve the above object, the technical solution adopted by the present invention is: to provide a circuit structure of an endoscope insertion part, comprising:

[0007] Insertion part, operation part, hose and connection part;

[0008] The insertion portion has a hard portion, a curved portion and an insertion tube in order from the front end side;

[0009] The operating part is connected to the insertion tube;

[0010] One end of the hose is connected to the operating part, and the other end is connected to the connecting part;

[0011] The hard part includes a circuit substrate, an image sensor, an electric drive structure and an optical lens assembly, wherein the electric drive structure and the optical lens assembly are arranged on the same side of the image sensor, and the circuit substrate is arranged on the other side of the image sensor; the electric drive structure is used to drive the optical lens assembly to move so as to change the imaging focal length of the optical lens assembly;

[0012] The circuit substrate has a front side and a back side that are arranged opposite to each other, and the image sensor is fixed to the front side and electrically connected to the front side;

[0013] The circuit substrate is provided with a cable channel, the cable channel is used for the first cable to pass through, or the cable channel is used for welding the first cable and the second cable;

[0014] When the cable channel is used for the first cable to pass through, one end of the first cable is electrically connected to the electric drive structure;

[0015] When the cable channel is used for welding the first cable and the second cable, one end of the second cable away from the cable channel is electrically connected to the electric drive structure.

[0016] Optionally, the cable channel includes a groove or a hole structure, and the side wall of the circuit substrate is provided with the groove, or the circuit substrate is provided with the hole structure near the side wall thereof.

[0017] Optionally, the side wall of the circuit substrate is provided with the groove, and the groove penetrates the side wall of the circuit substrate.

[0018] Optionally, the groove is arranged to penetrate the side wall of the circuit substrate in a straight line; or,

[0019] The groove is arranged to penetrate the side wall of the circuit substrate along a preset non-linear manner.

[0020] Optionally, part of the grooves in the circuit substrate are used for welding preset cables passing through the bending portion, or part of the grooves in the circuit substrate and extended pads connected to the grooves are used for welding preset cables passing through the bending portion.

[0021] Optionally, the circuit substrate has a thickness of 0.8 mm to 1.2 mm.

[0022] Optionally, electronic components in the image sensor driving circuit are arranged in the operating portion and / or the connecting portion.

[0023] Optionally, the electronic components provided in the operating portion and / or the connecting portion include a second electronic component, the second electronic component is electrically connected to the back surface via a third cable, and the second electronic component is an active component in the image sensor driving circuit.

[0024] Optionally, some electronic components in the image sensor driving circuit are arranged on the back side.

[0025] Optionally, some of the electronic components disposed on the back side are first electronic components, and the first electronic components are passive components in the image sensor driving circuit.

[0026] Optionally, the circuit substrate has a first side wall along a first direction and a second side wall along a second direction, and the first direction is not parallel to the second direction;

[0027] The back side of the circuit substrate is provided with a plurality of welding areas, each of the welding areas includes a plurality of welding pads, and the boundary of each welding area is the minimum circumscribed rectangular boundary of all the welding pads included therein;

[0028] The groove is located on the second side wall, and in the projection along the first direction, the projection of the groove does not overlap with the projection of the welding area outside the target area; in the projection along the second direction, the target area is the area with the smallest projection width in the welding area.

[0029] Optionally, the welding area includes the target area and other areas outside the target area, the other areas include a first welding pad, and the target area includes a second welding pad; the first welding pad is used to weld objects other than the first electronic component in the image sensor driving circuit, and the second welding pad is used to weld the first electronic component, and the first electronic component is an electronic component in the image sensor driving circuit;

[0030] The other areas are arranged on two opposite sides of the second direction, and the target area is arranged in the middle of the second direction, or the other areas and the target area are arranged on two opposite sides of the second direction respectively.

[0031] Optionally, the back side of the circuit substrate has an extended pad, the extended pad is arranged on the back side close to the second side wall, and the extended pad is connected to the metal layer in the groove;

[0032] In the projection in the first direction, the projection of the extended pad does not overlap with the projection of the first pad.

[0033] Optionally, part or all of the first cable is welded to the extension pad, and the second cable is welded to the groove wall of the groove.

[0034] Optionally, at least one of the second side walls is provided with the grooves, the number of the grooves corresponds to the number of the first cables, and the total number of the grooves is 2, 4, 6 or 8.

[0035] Optionally, when the second electronic component is disposed in the operating portion, an electromagnetic shielding structure is disposed in the operating portion and the insertion portion, and part or all of the first cable is passed through the electromagnetic shielding structure;

[0036] When the second electronic component is arranged in the connecting portion, the electromagnetic shielding structure is arranged in the connecting portion, the hose, the operating portion and the inserting portion, and the first cable is partially or completely inserted into the electromagnetic shielding structure.

[0037] Optionally, the orthographic projection of the groove in the thickness direction of the circuit substrate is an arc.

[0038] Optionally, an orthographic projection of the image sensor along the thickness direction of the circuit substrate is a reference area, and an orthographic projection of the groove along the thickness direction of the circuit substrate is at least partially located within the reference area.

[0039] Optionally, the orthographic projection of the image sensor along the thickness direction of the circuit substrate is a reference area, and the orthographic projection of the groove along the thickness direction of the circuit substrate is all located outside the reference area.

[0040] Optionally, the depth of the groove is 0.1 mm to 0.15 mm.

[0041] Optionally, the circuit substrate has a first side wall parallel to the first direction and a second side wall parallel to the second direction.

[0042] The first direction is not parallel to the second direction, and both the first direction and the second direction are perpendicular to the thickness direction;

[0043] The length of the first side wall is smaller than the length of the second side wall.

[0044] Optionally, the side length of the image sensor is 3 mm×3 mm, the length of the first side wall is 3 mm to 3.5 mm, and the length of the second side wall is 3.3 mm to 3.8 mm; or,

[0045] The side length of the image sensor is 2 mm×2 mm, the length of the first side wall is 2 mm to 2.8 mm, and the length of the second side wall is 2.5 mm to 3.2 mm.

[0046] Optionally, the side length of the image sensor is 3 mm×3 mm, the length of the first side wall is 3 mm to 3.4 mm, and the length of the second side wall is 3.4 mm to 3.7 mm; or,

[0047] The side length of the image sensor is 2 mm×2 mm, the length of the first side wall is 2.3 mm to 2.8 mm, and the length of the second side wall is 2.8 mm to 3.1 mm.

[0048] Optionally, the endoscope is an ultrasonic endoscope, and the ultrasonic endoscope further includes an ultrasonic connector, and the ultrasonic connector is connected to the connecting part through an ultrasonic hose.

[0049] The present invention also provides a circuit substrate, which is applied to an insertion portion of an endoscope;

[0050] The circuit substrate has a front side and a back side that are arranged opposite to each other, and the front side is used to fix and electrically connect the image sensor;

[0051] The circuit substrate is provided with a cable channel, the cable channel is used for the first cable to pass through, or the cable channel is used for welding the first cable and the second cable;

[0052] When the cable channel is used for threading the first cable, one end of the first cable is used to be electrically connected to the electric drive structure; when the cable channel is used for welding the first cable and the second cable, one end of the second cable away from the cable channel is used to be electrically connected to the electric drive structure; the electric drive structure is used to drive the optical lens assembly in the endoscope to move so as to change the imaging focal length of the optical lens assembly.

[0053] Optionally, the cable channel includes a groove, and the side wall of the circuit substrate is provided with the groove;

[0054] The groove is arranged to penetrate the side wall of the circuit substrate in a straight line; or

[0055] The groove is arranged to penetrate the side wall of the circuit substrate along a preset non-linear manner.

[0056] Optionally, the back side is provided with a first electronic component in the image sensor driving circuit, and the first electronic component is a passive component in the image sensor driving circuit;

[0057] The electronic components arranged in the operating portion and / or the connecting portion include a second electronic component, the second electronic component is electrically connected to the back surface via a third cable, and the second electronic component is an active component in the image sensor driving circuit.

[0058] The present invention also provides an endoscope system, comprising the above-mentioned endoscope or the above-mentioned circuit substrate, and also comprising a light source device and an image processing device.

[0059] The beneficial effects of the endoscope, circuit substrate and endoscope system provided by the present invention are as follows: compared with the prior art, the hard part of the endoscope of the present invention includes a circuit substrate, an image sensor, an electric drive structure and an optical lens assembly, the image sensor is fixed on the front of the circuit substrate, and the side wall of the circuit substrate has a cable channel, which can be used for cables to pass through or for welding. The cable of the electric drive structure can pass through the cable channel or be welded inside the cable channel, so that the number of pads on the circuit substrate can be reduced, the utilization rate of the substrate space can be improved, and the size of the circuit substrate can be reduced, making the size of the circuit substrate more miniaturized. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0060] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying creative work.

[0061] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the structure of an endoscope provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0062] Figure 2 A three-dimensional structural diagram of a circuit substrate provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0063] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of the front structure of a circuit substrate provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0064] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of the rear structure of a circuit substrate provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0065] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of the structure of an optical lens assembly provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0066] Figure 6 A schematic diagram of the principle of an optical lens assembly provided by an embodiment of the present invention.

[0067] Among them, the reference numerals in the figure are:

[0068] 100-insertion part; 101-hard part; 102-bend part; 103-insertion tube; 200-operation part; 300-hose; 400-connection part;

[0069] 10-circuit substrate; 11-front; 12-back; 131-first solder pad; 132-second solder pad; 14-first electronic component; 15-first side wall; 16-second side wall; 17-groove; 18-extension solder pad; 20-image sensor; 30-optical lens assembly; 41-first cable; 43-third cable; 50-electric drive structure; 61-power chip; 62-clock chip; 63-motor drive chip. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0070] In order to make the technical problems, technical solutions and beneficial effects to be solved by the present invention more clearly understood, the present invention is further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are only used to explain the present invention and are not intended to limit the present invention.

[0071] It should be noted that when an element is referred to as being "fixed to" or "disposed on" another element, it can be directly on the other element or indirectly on the other element. When an element is referred to as being "connected to" another element, it can be directly connected to the other element or indirectly connected to the other element.

[0072] It should be understood that the orientation or position relationship indicated by terms such as "length", "width", "up", "down", "front", "back", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inside" and "outside" are based on the orientation or position relationship shown in the drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing the present invention and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operate in a specific orientation, and therefore cannot be understood as a limitation on the present invention.

[0073] In addition, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of the indicated technical features. Therefore, the features defined as "first" and "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the features. In the description of the present invention, the meaning of "plurality" is two or more, unless otherwise clearly and specifically defined.

[0074] A flexible endoscope (hereinafter referred to as endoscope) is a medical device that enters the human body through the natural cavity of the human body to observe the internal conditions of the natural cavity of the human body, such as common colonoscopes, gastroscopes and bronchoscopes. The endoscope has an insertion part for inserting into the natural cavity of the patient, and the insertion part includes an insertion tube, a bending part and a hard part, wherein the hard part is sequentially provided with: a circuit substrate, an image sensor for imaging the natural cavity, and an optical lens assembly for transmitting the reflected light of the natural cavity to the image sensor assembly.

[0075] The image sensor and the circuit substrate together form the sensor assembly. Depending on the type of endoscope, the diameter of the hard part is generally between several millimeters and tens of millimeters, and the axial length is between ten to twenty millimeters. Therefore, the size of the sensor assembly has a great impact on the size of the hard part. Generally, the size of the sensor assembly is reduced as much as possible to reduce the load on the size of the hard part and reduce the discomfort of the patient during the endoscopic examination. At the same time, the flexibility of the bending of the head end is improved to improve the flexibility of the endoscope's field of view, so that doctors can better view more details of the digestive tract, which is conducive to improving the endoscopic examination and treatment effect.

[0076] A zoom endoscope is an endoscope with adjustable imaging focal length, such as a bifocal endoscope and a magnifying endoscope. In order to achieve the zoom function, an electric drive structure needs to be set on the optical lens assembly side, and connected to the electric drive structure at the front end through a multi-core cable on the back of the circuit substrate to drive the moving lens group on the optical lens assembly side to achieve zoom. In order to power the electric drive structure, the image sensor drive circuit design will be compatible with the electrical interface design of the electric drive structure. The multi-core cable needs to be welded to the circuit substrate, and more pads need to be set on the circuit substrate. This leads to an increase in the cross-sectional size required at the circuit substrate, which is not conducive to the miniaturization of the hard part of the endoscope.

[0077] In order to alleviate or solve the above problems, the present invention provides an endoscope, wherein a hard part 101 of the endoscope includes a circuit substrate 10 and an image sensor 20 fixed on the front side 11 of the circuit substrate 10, and the side wall of the circuit substrate 10 has a cable channel 17. Through the provision of the cable channel 17, the cables of the electric drive structure 50 can pass through or be welded to the cable channel 17, and there is no need to provide pads for welding the above cables on the back side 12 of the circuit substrate 10. The size of the circuit substrate 10 can be designed to be smaller, approaching the size of the image sensor 20, which is conducive to the miniaturization of the cross-sectional size of the endoscope.

[0078] The endoscope provided in the embodiment of the present invention is now described.

[0079] Please also read Figures 1 to 6 , the endoscope includes an insertion portion 100, an operation portion 200, a hose 300 and a connection portion 400;

[0080] The insertion portion 100 has a hard portion 101, a bending portion 102, and an insertion tube 103 in order from the front end side;

[0081] The operation part 200 is connected to the insertion tube 103;

[0082] One end of the hose 300 is connected to the operating part 200, and the other end is connected to the connecting part 400;

[0083] The hard part 101 includes a circuit substrate 10, an image sensor 20, an electric drive structure 50 and an optical lens assembly 30. The electric drive structure 50 and the optical lens assembly 30 are arranged on the same side of the image sensor 20, and the circuit substrate 10 is arranged on the other side of the image sensor 20; the electric drive structure 50 is used to drive the optical lens assembly 30 to move, so as to change the imaging focal length of the optical lens assembly 30;

[0084] The circuit substrate 10 has a front side 11 and a back side 12 which are arranged opposite to each other. The image sensor 20 is fixed to the front side 11 and is electrically connected to the front side 11.

[0085] The circuit substrate 10 is provided with a cable channel 17, and the cable channel 17 is used for the first cable 41 to pass through, or the cable channel 17 is used for the first cable 41 and the second cable to be welded;

[0086] When the cable channel 17 is used for the first cable 41 to pass through, one end of the first cable 41 is electrically connected to the electric drive structure 50;

[0087] When the cable channel 17 is used for welding the first cable 41 and the second cable, one end of the second cable away from the cable channel 17 is electrically connected to the electric drive structure 50 .

[0088] The insertion part 100 is the key structure of the endoscope. The insertion part 100 is a slender structure, which is mainly used to extend into the natural cavity of the human body (such as the digestive tract, respiratory tract, etc.). The front end side of the insertion part 100 refers to the side away from the operating part 200. The insertion part 100 has a hard part 101, a curved part 102 and an insertion tube 103 from the front end side: the hard part 101 is the front end of the insertion part 100, which is generally equipped with an imaging module for imaging; the curved part 102 connects the hard part 101 and the insertion tube 103, and the curved part 102 can bend and deform, and the bending angle can be controlled by the internal traction system, which is convenient for the doctor to flexibly adjust the observation direction during the examination; the insertion tube 103 is used to connect the operating part 200 and the curved part 102. During the insertion process, the insertion tube 103 can well adapt to the natural physiological curvature of the human body, making the insertion process smoother.

[0089] The imaging module of the hard part 101 includes, starting from the front end side, an optical lens assembly 30 , an electric drive structure 50 (partially or completely overlapping with the optical lens assembly 30 in the axial direction), an image sensor 20 and a circuit substrate 10 .

[0090] The image sensor 20 is a device that converts an optical image into an electronic signal. Its working principle is to convert information such as light intensity into an electrical signal that is easy to process through the photoelectric effect, and then convert it into a digital image through analog-to-digital conversion and other principles. The embodiment of the present invention does not impose too many restrictions on the type of the image sensor 20. For example, it can be a CMOS image sensor, etc. The image sensor 20 is fixed and electrically connected to the front surface 11 of the circuit substrate 10.

[0091] The circuit substrate 10 has a front side 11 and a back side 12 which are arranged opposite to each other. The front side 11 and the back side 12 of the circuit substrate 10 are both the two surfaces with larger areas of the circuit substrate 10. The connecting wall connecting the front side 11 and the back side 12 is the side wall of the circuit substrate 10. The side wall of the circuit substrate 10 has a cable channel 17.

[0092] In the first solution: the cable channel 17 is used for the first cable 41 to pass through, that is, the first cable 41 passes through the cable channel 17 of the circuit substrate 10, and the first cable 41 can be a cable connected to the electric drive structure 50. Specifically, one or more core wires inside the first cable 41 can be bundled and then passed through the cable channel 17 to connect with the electric drive structure 50. The advantage is that the exposure of the welding section of the first cable 41 can be reduced. The first cable 41 needs to be welded to one end of the electric drive structure 50 or to one end of the operating part 200 first, and then pass through the cable channel 17, so the length of the first cable 41 is longer and thinner. During the welding and passing process, the first cable 41 is easy to shake, which may cause desoldering, etc. Therefore, a fixing fixture is needed to fix the first cable 41 to assist welding during welding.

[0093] In the second solution: the cable channel 17 is also used for welding the first cable 41 and the second cable, one end of the second cable is connected to the electric drive structure 50, the other end of the second cable is welded to the metal layer in the cable channel 17, one end of the first cable 41 is welded to the metal layer in the cable channel 17 or the metal layer adjacent to the cable channel 17, and the other end of the first cable 41 can be connected to the motor drive chip 63, and the electric drive structure 50 and the motor drive chip 63 are connected through the joint action of the first cable 41 and the second cable. The advantage of welding the first cable 41 and the second cable in the cable channel 17 separately is that a section of the cable can be welded to the cable channel 17 first, so as to fix one end first, and then another section of the cable can be welded to the cable channel 17 on this basis, so as to shorten the length of a single section of the cable, greatly reduce the difficulty of welding, and thus improve assembly efficiency. It should be understood that the optical lens assembly 30 includes a plurality of lenses, and when zooming, it is mainly to drive some lenses in the optical lens assembly 30 to move, so as to achieve focal length adjustment. Among them, the embodiment of the present application does not impose too many restrictions on the specific metal material of the metal layer, and any metal material that can be welded can be used, such as copper, solder, etc.

[0094] The structural type of the electric drive structure 50 that drives the optical lens assembly 30 to zoom is not described here, for example, it can be a common motor drive or a voice coil motor (VCM) drive. The electric drive structure 50 can also be called a drive motor. The first cable 41 can pass through the cable channel 17 to connect with the drive motor, or the first cable 41 on the front side 11 of the circuit substrate 10 is welded to the cable channel 17, and the second cable connected to the drive motor is also welded to the cable channel 17, so as to realize the electrical connection between the first cable 41 and the second cable. There is no need to design a large pad for welding with the cable on the back side 12 of the circuit substrate 10, so as to reduce the number of pads and the occupied area as much as possible, improve the utilization rate of the circuit substrate 10, and reduce the size of the circuit substrate 10.

[0095] The operating unit 200 is a key structure for controlling the operation of the endoscope. It can accurately control the degree and direction of bending of the bending portion 102, and can also control water supply, air supply, etc. It also has functions such as controlling image freezing, taking pictures, and recording videos.

[0096] In the endoscope in the above embodiment, the hard part 101 includes a circuit substrate 10, an image sensor 20, an electric drive structure 50 and an optical lens assembly 30. The image sensor 20 is fixed to the front 11 of the circuit substrate 10. The side wall of the circuit substrate 10 has a cable channel 17, and the cable channel 17 can be used for cables to pass through or for welding. The cables of the electric drive structure 50 can pass through the cable channel 17 or be welded inside the cable channel 17, so that the number of pads on the circuit substrate 10 can be reduced, the utilization rate of the substrate space can be improved, and the size of the circuit substrate 10 can be reduced, making the size of the circuit substrate 10 more miniaturized.

[0097] In some embodiments of the present invention, the cable channel 17 includes a groove or a hole structure, the side wall of the circuit substrate 10 is provided with a groove, or the circuit substrate 10 is provided with a hole structure near its side wall. In an embodiment of the present invention, the cable channel 17 can be realized by digging a groove in the side wall of the circuit substrate 10 or drilling a hole near the side wall, so as to allow the cable of the electric drive structure 50 to pass through the line. The diameter of the cable of the electric drive structure 50 passing through the circuit substrate 10 is less than 1mm, and some are even less than 0.5mm. When assembling the hard part 101, this part is extremely difficult to assemble and prone to errors. Therefore, compared with the planar structure, the cable channel 17 is also conducive to fixing the cable. When assembling the head end hard part 101, it can effectively reduce the difficulty of assembling and welding the cable, thereby improving the assembly efficiency and reducing the probability of error. Among them, for the hole structure, when used to pass the first cable 41, its size only needs to be larger than the size of the first cable 41, so the size requirement is less than the area requirement when the traditional pad is set. However, when the hole structure is used to weld the first cable 41 and the second cable, since a metal layer can be arranged inside the hole structure for cable welding, the space occupied on the front and back sides of the circuit substrate 10 will also be smaller than the area required when the traditional pad is arranged. Therefore, the hole structure can reduce the area requirement of the circuit substrate 10 to a certain extent, improve the area utilization rate of the circuit substrate 10, and thus facilitate the miniaturization of the size of the circuit substrate 10.

[0098] In some embodiments, the cable channel 17 is a groove. As for the groove, it can be opened at the side wall to greatly reduce the area occupied by the circuit substrate 10 for setting the cable channel 17. Whether it is for penetration or welding, the groove requires much less substrate area than the hole structure (generally only half of the hole structure or even less). In addition, compared with the hole structure, the process implementation difficulty of the groove is also lower, the feasibility is stronger, and the cost is lower. Therefore, by setting the groove for the use of the drive motor cable, the area requirement for the circuit substrate 10 can be greatly reduced, so that the space utilization rate of the circuit substrate 10 is higher, and the miniaturization of the circuit substrate 10 is more advantageous. Among them, the groove can be set through the circuit substrate 10, or it can be set not completely through.

[0099] As an embodiment of the present invention, the side wall of the circuit substrate 10 is provided with a groove, and the groove is set through the side wall of the circuit substrate 10. In the embodiment of the present invention, the groove is set through the side wall, which can facilitate the cable to be passed through, or provide a larger area for welding, and the groove set through the side wall is also convenient for the cable to be received in the groove during the process of reaching the electric drive structure 50, thereby reducing the load on the hard part 101 in the radial dimension, which is conducive to the miniaturization of the hard part 101.

[0100] The following description is made by taking the cable channel 17 as a groove as an example. Meanwhile, for the convenience of description in combination with the accompanying drawings, the number of the cable channel 17 is retained in the groove 17 .

[0101] As an embodiment of the present invention, the groove 17 is provided to penetrate the side wall of the circuit substrate 10 in a straight line; or the groove 17 is provided to penetrate the side wall of the circuit substrate 10 in a preset non-straight line.

[0102] In the embodiment of the present invention, there are at least two penetration methods for the groove 17: directly penetrating the side wall in a straight line, for example, vertically penetrating the side wall along the thickness direction of the circuit substrate 10, or linearly penetrating in a manner at a certain angle to the thickness direction, such as directly penetrating the side wall in a direction between the length direction of the side wall and the vertical direction (i.e., a direction at a 45-degree angle to the vertical direction). The side wall can also be penetrated in a non-straight line direction, such as the groove 17 on the side wall penetrating the side wall along a curve (such as an S-shaped curve or other shaped curves), a Z-shaped, an L-shaped, etc. As a result, the technician can select the penetration method of the groove 17 according to actual needs. In some embodiments, the groove 17 can penetrate the side wall vertically along the thickness direction of the side wall. The thickness direction of the circuit substrate 10 is the direction of its smallest size. At this time, the two ends of the groove 17 in the thickness direction of the circuit substrate 10 can extend to the front 11 and the back 12 of the circuit substrate 10 respectively.

[0103] It should be noted that in the embodiment of the present invention, the side wall also includes the intersection between different side walls, such as the intersection of adjacent side walls. Based on this, the groove 17 can also be set at the intersection of the side walls, such as when the circuit substrate 10 is a quadrilateral, the groove 17 can be set at one or more of the four corners of the circuit substrate 10.

[0104] In some embodiments of the present invention, the circuit substrate 10 is a single substrate, that is, the circuit substrate 10 only includes a single circuit board, rather than a T-shaped board, L-shaped board, stacked board, parallel board, or other special-shaped combined substrate (hereinafter referred to as a special-shaped board) formed by multiple circuit boards through bridging, spatial overlap, and interlocking, so the size of the circuit substrate 10 is very small. In some embodiments, the circuit substrate 10 is a hard circuit board (hereinafter referred to as a hard board), that is, a circuit board with a certain rigidity, rather than a foldable flexible circuit board (hereinafter referred to as a soft board).

[0105] In some embodiments of the present invention, the thickness of the circuit substrate 10 is 0.8 mm to 1.2 mm, which is relatively thin. In this embodiment, the thickness of the circuit substrate 10 is much smaller than that of structures such as a soft board and a special-shaped board, so the axial dimension occupied by the circuit substrate 10 is only the sum of the thickness of the image sensor 20 and the thickness of the circuit substrate 10, which is significantly smaller than the prior art solution.

[0106] In some embodiments of the present invention, see Figure 6The operating portion 200 and / or the connecting portion 400 are provided with electronic components in the image sensor 20 driving circuit.

[0107] In order to further reduce the size of the circuit substrate 10, in an embodiment of the present invention, some or all of the electronic components in the image sensor 20 driving circuit are selected to be rear-mounted to the operating portion 200 or the connecting portion 400 of the endoscope, or are dispersed and rear-mounted to the operating portion 200 and the connecting portion 400. As a result, the number of electronic components required to be arranged on the circuit substrate 10 is reduced, so that its size can be further reduced. For example, it is possible to select to place some of the electronic components in the driving circuit to the operating portion 200 or the connecting portion 400, or it is also possible to select to place all the electronic components in the driving circuit to the operating portion 200 or the connecting portion 400. Correspondingly, at this time, active devices and / or passive devices may be placed on the circuit substrate 10, or even no electronic components may be placed, that is, the pads on the back of the circuit substrate 10 are all welded with cables, and are connected to the electronic components in the operating portion 200 and / or the connecting portion 400 through cables. Among them, the rear-mounted electronic components may be active devices, passive devices, or both active devices and passive devices.

[0108] It should be particularly noted that in the embodiments of the present invention, active devices specifically refer to electronic components that require power to achieve their specific functions. When some products in a certain category of electronic components require power to achieve their specific functions, and some products can achieve their functions in the circuit without power, that is, it is difficult to directly distinguish whether they are active devices, they can be divided into active devices or passive devices based on their actual power requirements in the image sensor 20 driving circuit of the present invention. For example, for ESD components, if the image sensor 20 driving circuit contains ESD components, then for each ESD component, it can be divided into active devices or passive devices based on whether it needs power to achieve a specific function, rather than simply directly dividing it into active or passive devices.

[0109] As an embodiment of the present invention, the electronic components arranged in the operating part 200 and / or the connecting part 400 include a second electronic component, which is electrically connected to the back side 12 via a third cable 43, and the second electronic component is an active device in the image sensor 20 driving circuit.

[0110] In the embodiment of the present invention, considering that the active devices are generally large in size, the area required for placement is often large. Based on this, in the embodiment of the present invention, some or all of the active devices are selected to be placed at the rear, thereby greatly reducing the area requirement for the layout of electronic components on the circuit substrate 10, thereby greatly reducing the radial size of the circuit substrate 10. As an optional embodiment of the present invention, all active devices can be selected to be placed at the rear in the operating part 200 and / or the connecting part 400, at which time only passive devices need to be placed on the back of the circuit substrate 10, thereby greatly reducing the radial size of the circuit substrate 10. It should be understood that on the basis of placing all active devices at the rear, some passive devices can still be selected to be placed at the rear in the operating part 200 and / or the connecting part 400, or all passive devices can be selected to be placed on the circuit substrate 10. For example, in some embodiments, all active circuits can be placed at the rear in the operating part 200 and / or the connecting part 400, at which time, each active circuit contains at least one active device, and also contains passive devices in the peripheral circuit of the active device.

[0111] As an optional embodiment of the present invention, active devices may be disposed only at the connection portion 400 , thereby reducing circuit relays, improving anti-interference capability, and further enhancing the imaging quality of the image sensor.

[0112] As an embodiment of the present invention, some electronic components in the image sensor 20 driving circuit are disposed on the back surface 12 of the circuit substrate 10 .

[0113] In an embodiment of the present invention, some electronic components are selected to be placed on the back side 12 of the circuit substrate 10, that is, to avoid placing all the electronic components in the driving circuit at the rear. The advantage of this is that the impact of the reduced anti-electromagnetic interference capability of the imaging module caused by the rear placement of the electronic components can be reduced, that is, relative to placing all the electronic components at the rear, the imaging module of the embodiment of the present invention has a stronger anti-electromagnetic interference capability, so that the imaging quality is better. It should be understood that on the basis of the embodiment of the present invention, it can be implemented in combination with the aforementioned embodiments of the rear placement of some electronic components, for example, it can be implemented in combination with the embodiment of the rear placement of some active devices and / or passive devices to the operating part 200 and / or the connecting part 400. At this time, some electronic components in the driving circuit are arranged in the back side 12 of the circuit substrate 10 and the rear parts (operating part 200 and / or connecting part 400).

[0114] As an embodiment of the present invention, some of the electronic components disposed on the back side 12 are first electronic components 14, and the first electronic components 14 are passive components in the driving circuit of the image sensor 20. In the embodiment of the present invention, some or all of the passive components are placed in front of the back side 12 of the circuit substrate 10, and all active components are placed in the back, so that the circuit substrate 10 can complete the arrangement of the electronic components without exceeding the size of the image sensor 20, that is, without considering the groove 17, the size of the circuit substrate 10 can be designed to be as small as possible (less than or equal to the size of the image sensor 20). Based on this, even if there is a need to set up a cable, in combination with the setting of the groove 17, the size of the circuit substrate 10 can be designed to be as small as possible, thereby greatly reducing the radial size of the circuit substrate 10.

[0115] The active components on the circuit substrate 10 are transferred to the operating part 200 and / or the connecting part 400, which can reduce the space occupied on the circuit substrate 10 and further reduce the size of the circuit substrate 10 in the first direction and the second direction. The size of the circuit substrate 10 can be made closer to the size of the image sensor 20 by arranging the driving cable and the active components in the groove 17, so as to minimize the size of the circuit substrate 10 of the zoom endoscope, thereby realizing the limit of the size of the entire sensor assembly (image sensor 20 + circuit substrate 10), that is, the size of the circuit substrate 10 in the radial direction is very close to or even the same as that of the image sensor 20. At the same time, since the circuit substrate 10 only needs to place passive components, the electronic components can be placed on the back area thereof, so there is no need to make too many other complex designs on the circuit substrate 10 to increase the placement space of the electronic components. Compared with the complex designs of increasing the total circuit substrate area by increasing the number of circuit substrates 10, increasing the single circuit substrate area by designing special-shaped circuit boards, and increasing the layout space of electronic components by setting pads for installing electronic components on the circuit substrate 10, the groove 17 is provided with a driving cable and an active component, and the cooperation of the two can also effectively simplify the design difficulty of the circuit substrate itself and reduce the axial length of the imaging module, that is, a single hard circuit board can meet the design requirements. Compared with the prior art, the diameter of the end of the zoom endoscope lens is about 10mm, and the length of the hard part in the head end is about 20mm, the embodiment of the present invention can save about 2-3mm of the size of the entire imaging module in the radial direction, and can save about 3-5mm of the size of the entire imaging module in the axial direction, so that the miniaturization design advantage of the end of the zoom endoscope lens can be significantly improved.

[0116] In some embodiments of the present invention, see Figure 2 and Figure 5, the back side 12 is provided with a plurality of second pads 132, on which the first electronic component 14 is welded; one end of the third cable 43 is electrically connected to the second electronic component, and the other end is welded to a pad other than the second pad 132. The second pad 132 is used to weld the first electronic component 14, and the third cable 43 is used to connect the second electronic component to the pads on the back side 12 of the circuit substrate 10 (the pads other than the second pad 132 may be the first pad 131 or other pads). The back side 12 of the circuit substrate 10 needs to be provided with the first pad 131, the second pad 132, etc., and the number of pads is relatively large. The size of the circuit substrate 10 is relatively small, so the layout is very crowded.

[0117] In some embodiments of the present invention, see Figure 6 When the operating part 200 is provided with a second electronic component, an electromagnetic shielding structure is provided in the operating part 200 and the insertion part 100, and the first cable 41 is partially or completely passed through the electromagnetic shielding structure. When the active device is located in the operating part 200, its performance will be affected to a certain extent due to electromagnetic interference and the like. By providing the above-mentioned electromagnetic shielding structure, the performance can be improved to ensure the normal operation of the active device.

[0118] In some embodiments of the present invention, see Figure 6 When the second electronic component is disposed in the connection part 400, an electromagnetic shielding structure is disposed in the connection part 400, the hose 300, the operation part 200 and the insertion part 100, and the first cable 41 is partially or completely inserted into the electromagnetic shielding structure. When the active device is located in the connection part 400, its performance will be affected to a certain extent due to electromagnetic interference and the like. By setting the above-mentioned electromagnetic shielding structure, the performance can be improved to ensure the normal operation of the active device.

[0119] As an embodiment of the present invention, reference may be made to Figure 2 and Figure 3 In actual applications, the size of the back side 12 of the circuit substrate 10 is extremely small, generally with a side length of only 1-5 mm. On the basis of the extremely small size, a large number of pads need to be arranged, so the space on the back side 12 of the circuit substrate 10 is extremely compact. On this basis, in order to reuse the space on the back side 12 as much as possible, improve space utilization, and thus reduce the size of the circuit substrate 10, in the embodiment of the present invention:

[0120] The circuit substrate 10 has a first side wall 15 along a first direction and a second side wall 16 along a second direction, and the first direction is not parallel to the second direction;

[0121] The back side 12 of the circuit substrate 10 is provided with a plurality of welding areas, each welding area includes a plurality of welding pads, and the boundary of each welding area is the minimum circumscribed rectangular boundary of all the welding pads included therein;

[0122] The groove is located on the second side wall 16, and in the projection along the first direction, the projection of the groove does not overlap with the projection of the welding area outside the target area; in the projection along the second direction, the target area is the area with the smallest projection width in the welding area.

[0123] The first direction and the second direction are both perpendicular to the thickness direction, and the first direction and the second direction can be perpendicular to each other, at an obtuse angle or at an acute angle. In this way, the circuit substrate 10 can be a plate-shaped structure such as a parallelogram (such as a rectangle), a trapezoid, a polygon (such as a pentagon, a hexagon, a hexagon and an octagon, etc.).

[0124] In an embodiment of the present invention, the area of ​​the circuit substrate containing the pads is divided into a plurality of different welding areas according to the layout of the pads, and each area is the minimum circumscribed rectangle of all the pads contained therein. On this basis, the welding area (i.e., the target area) with the smallest projection width in the projection along the second direction can be determined, and the groove 17 is arranged on both sides of the target area on the second side wall 16, thereby achieving full utilization of the remaining space of the narrowest welding area. At the same time, the groove 17 is staggered from the welding area outside the target area, that is, in the projection along the first direction, the projection of the groove does not overlap with the projection of the welding area outside the target area, so that the setting of the groove 17 does not squeeze the space of the non-target area. As a result, the embodiment of the present invention can achieve full utilization of the space of the back side 12, improve the space utilization rate, greatly reduce the size load caused by the setting of the groove 17 to the circuit substrate 10, and thus facilitate the miniaturization of the size of the circuit substrate 10.

[0125] As an embodiment of the present invention, the welding area includes a target area and other areas outside the target area, the other areas include a first welding pad 131, and the target area includes a second welding pad 132; the first welding pad 131 is used to weld objects other than the first electronic component 14 in the image sensor 20 driving circuit, and the second welding pad 132 is used to weld the first electronic component 14, which is an electronic component in the image sensor 20 driving circuit.

[0126] The other areas are arranged on opposite sides of the second direction, and the target area is arranged in the middle of the second direction. It can be understood that in the second direction, part of the first pad 131, the first electronic component 14 (the second pad 132), and another part of the first pad 131 are arranged in sequence. Or the other areas and the target area are respectively arranged on opposite sides of the second direction. It can be understood that in the second direction, the first pad 131 and the first electronic component 14 (the second pad 132) are arranged in sequence.

[0127] In the embodiment of the present invention, a large number of electronic components are placed at the rear, so that the electronic components in the back 12 only need to occupy less space, and can be arranged in a narrow target area, while pads for welding cables or other objects are arranged in other areas. On this basis, the target area and the rest are arranged on both sides or staggered, so that the electronic components and pads on the back can be arranged in an orderly manner, which is conducive to the assembly of the imaging module and subsequent maintenance operations, improves the yield of the imaging module and reduces the difficulty of maintenance.

[0128] As an embodiment of the present invention, the first cable 41 and the second cable are both welded to the groove wall of the groove 17 .

[0129] As an optional embodiment of the present invention, in order to reduce the risk that the groove 17 may be exposed to the outside, in the embodiment of the present invention, when the first cable 41 and the second cable are welded to the groove 17, the groove 17 also includes an insulating layer. The insulating layer can be glue or other materials, which is not limited here.

[0130] As an embodiment of the present invention,

[0131] The back surface 12 of the circuit substrate 10 has an extended pad 18 . The extended pad 18 is disposed on the back surface 12 close to the second side wall 16 . The extended pad 18 is connected to the metal layer in the groove.

[0132] In the projection in the first direction, the extended pad 18 does not overlap with the projection of the welding area outside the target area.

[0133] The extended pad 18 is connected to the metal layer in the groove 17 to form a conductor, part or all of the first cable 41 is welded to the extended pad 18, and the second cable is welded to the groove wall of the groove 17, so as to realize the welding of the first cable 41 and the second cable. Moreover, the projection of the extended pad 18 along the first direction and the projection of the first pad 131 along the first direction are spaced apart from each other and do not overlap. Among them, when part of the first cable 41 is welded to the extended pad 18 and the second cable is welded to the groove wall of the groove 17, the remaining first cable 41 is still welded to the groove wall of the groove 17.

[0134] Part or all of the first cable 41 is welded to the extension pad 18, and the second cable is welded to the groove wall of the groove 17, which can reduce the welding difficulty and improve the protrusion of the solder joints in the groove 17 caused by the welding of the cable, thereby reducing the risk of an increase in the overall size of the sensor module caused by the protrusion of the solder joints. Moreover, in the projection of the first direction, the projection of the extension pad 18 and the first pad 131 do not overlap, so that the extension pad 18 can be recessed to a certain depth along the first direction, and will not affect the space occupied by the first pad 131, nor will it affect the layout of the first pad 131, which can effectively improve the pad space utilization. In addition, as an embodiment of the present invention, since the extension pad 18 only needs to weld a single-sided cable instead of a double-sided cable, the area of ​​the pad can be set relatively small, that is, the extension pad 18 can be a narrow-edge pad, thereby reducing the space occupied by the back side 12.

[0135] As an optional embodiment of the present invention, a portion of the groove 17 in the circuit substrate 10 is used for welding a preset cable passing through the bent portion 102, or a portion of the groove 17 in the circuit substrate 10 and the connected extended pad 18 are used for welding a preset cable passing through the bent portion 102. The preset cable may be a ground wire or a cable shielding layer (i.e., a shielding wire).

[0136] In actual clinical applications, the endoscope often controls the bending portion 102 to bend, which causes the cable to be stretched multiple times. At this time, if the welding strength between the cable and the circuit substrate 10 is insufficient, the cable and the circuit substrate 10 may be disconnected and the cable may fall off. In order to cope with this situation, in an embodiment of the present invention, some grooves 17 are used as reinforced welding points. By welding some preset cables to the grooves 17, a larger area welding in the thickness direction can be achieved, which can effectively increase the welding area, thereby improving the welding strength between the entire cable and the circuit substrate 10, and thus making it difficult for the cable to fall off the circuit substrate 10, and better cope with the risk of cable falling off caused by multiple bending of the head end. In addition, when an extension pad 18 corresponding to the groove 17 is provided on the back, it is also possible to choose to weld the preset cable on the extension pad 18 and the groove 17 at the same time, thereby further improving the welding strength.

[0137] In some embodiments of the present invention, the operating unit 200 includes a motor drive chip 63, which is electrically connected to one end of the first cable 41 and is used to control the electric drive structure 50. The motor drive chip 63 is used to control the start and stop, speed, etc. of the electric drive structure 50, so as to adjust the focal length of the optical lens assembly 30. The motor drive chip 63, the first cable 41, the circuit substrate 10 (the inner wall of the groove 17 or the extended pad 18), the second cable and the electric drive structure 50 are connected in sequence to realize the electrical connection between the motor drive chip 63 and the electric drive structure 50, thereby realizing the control of the electric drive structure 50.

[0138] As an optional embodiment of the present invention, considering that the size of the circuit substrate 10 is extremely small (generally the side length is between 1-5 mm) and the processing accuracy is high and difficult, in order to improve the yield rate in the manufacturing process of the circuit substrate 10, the circuit substrate 10 can be designed as a rectangle or a quadrilateral that is similar to a rectangle as a whole, such as a trapezoid. On this basis, one of the first side wall 15 and the second side wall 16 is parallel to the length direction of the circuit substrate 10, and the other is parallel to the width direction of the circuit substrate 10. The first side wall 15 and the second side wall 16 are both parallel to the thickness direction. Among them, the number of the first side walls 15 is two and they are arranged oppositely, such as being arranged in parallel or nearly parallel to each other, and the number of the second side walls 16 is two and they are arranged oppositely, such as being arranged in parallel or nearly parallel to each other.

[0139] In some embodiments of the present invention, see Figure 2 and Figure 3 , the orthographic projection of the groove 17 in the thickness direction of the circuit substrate 10 is an arc. The groove 17 is a line after being orthographically projected in the thickness direction of the circuit substrate 10, and the line is an arc. The arc can be understood as a part of a perfect circle or an ellipse, such as a 1 / 2 arc, a 1 / 4 arc, a 1 / 6 arc, etc.

[0140] Since the groove 17 is generally formed by rotary processing of a drill, it is more convenient to rotary process the groove 17 when the orthographic projection of the groove 17 in the thickness direction of the circuit substrate 10 is an arc.

[0141] In some embodiments of the present invention, the orthographic projection of the groove 17 in the thickness direction of the circuit substrate 10 is a parabola or the like.

[0142] In some embodiments of the present invention, see Figure 3 The depth of the groove 17 is 0.1 mm to 0.15 mm. The side wall of the groove 17 is the second side wall 16, and the distance between the second side wall 16 and the bottom of the groove 17 (the deepest part of the groove) is the depth of the groove 17, which can also be understood as the dimension of the deepest part of the groove 17 in the first direction.

[0143] When the depth of the groove 17 is too large, the groove 17 will penetrate into the image sensor 20, that is, the edge of the image sensor 20 will be exposed inside and outside the groove 17, so that the image sensor 20 will be easily broken when the cable is welded or passes through the groove 17. When the depth of the groove 17 is too small, the thickness of the solder joint when the cable is welded to the groove wall may be greater than the depth of the groove 17, causing the cable solder joint to protrude from the second side wall 16. When the cable passes through the groove 17, it is also possible that the core wire is exposed outside the second side wall 16 in the groove 17. That is, when the depth of the groove 17 is too small, the actual size occupied by the cross section of the circuit substrate will increase (greater than the actual size of the side length of the circuit substrate), which is not conducive to the miniaturization of the cross section of the insertion part 100. Therefore, setting the depth of the groove 17 to 0.1mm to 0.15mm will not cause the image sensor 20 to be exposed, and can make the cable completely sink into the groove 17 when passing through or welding in the groove 17, avoiding the increase of the actual size occupied by the cross section of the circuit substrate 10.

[0144] In some embodiments, the depth of the groove 17 is 0.1 mm, 0.12 mm, 0.14 mm, 0.15 mm, etc.

[0145] In some embodiments of the present invention, the orthographic projection of the image sensor 20 along the thickness direction of the circuit substrate 10 is the reference area, and the orthographic projection of the groove 17 along the thickness direction of the circuit substrate 10 is at least partially located in the reference area, or is completely located outside the reference area. This embodiment includes two cases:

[0146] First, the orthographic projection of the groove 17 along the thickness direction of the circuit substrate 10 is partially or entirely located within the reference area, that is, in the rear view of the circuit substrate 10, the arrangement of the groove 17 exposes the edge of the image sensor 20;

[0147] Second, the orthographic projection of the groove 17 along the thickness direction of the circuit substrate 10 is entirely located outside the reference area, that is, in the rear view of the inner circuit substrate, the arrangement of the groove 17 does not expose the edge of the image sensor 20 (see Figure 3 ), welding or passing of cables will not affect the image sensor 20.

[0148] It should be noted that the side walls of the circuit substrate 10 other than the side walls provided with the grooves 17 in the orthographic projection along the thickness direction thereof can be referred to as flat side walls, and the flat side walls can be located outside or inside the reference area. In other words, the size of the circuit substrate 10 in the first direction can be greater than, equal to, or smaller than the size of the image sensor 20 in the first direction, and the size of the circuit substrate 10 in the second direction can be greater than, equal to, or smaller than the size of the image sensor 20 in the second direction.

[0149] In some embodiments of the present invention, the circuit substrate 10 has a first side wall 15 parallel to the first direction and a second side wall 16 parallel to the second direction, the first direction is not parallel to the second direction, and the first direction and the second direction are both perpendicular to the thickness direction; the length of the first side wall 15 is less than the length of the second side wall 16. The circuit substrate 10 is not a square structure, and the length of one side wall is less than the length of the other side wall.

[0150] When processing the circuit substrate 10, multiple circuit substrates 10 are arranged in a rectangular array on a large plate. The first side wall 15 of the circuit substrate 10 has a pre-cut line. The second side wall 16 of the circuit substrate 10 is cascaded with the second side wall 16 of the adjacent circuit substrate 10. After the image sensor 20 is mounted to the corresponding circuit substrate 10, each circuit substrate 10 is cut. Due to the influence of the cascade at the second side wall 16 of the circuit substrate 10, in order to improve the yield of the circuit substrate 10, the cutting accuracy will not be set too high, so the length of the second side wall 16 is slightly longer to facilitate the cutting of the circuit substrate 10.

[0151] Optionally, the length of the first side wall 15 is greater than the length of the image sensor 20 in the first direction, and the length of the second side wall 16 is greater than the length of the image sensor 20 in the second direction. In this way, when the circuit substrate 10 is cut, the image sensor 20 will not be hit, thereby preventing the image sensor 20 from being broken.

[0152] As an embodiment of the present invention, by setting the groove 17 on the long side with larger available space: the second side wall 16, more design space can be provided for the groove 17, which is beneficial to improving the space utilization of the circuit substrate 10 and reducing the design and processing difficulty of the groove 17.

[0153] In some embodiments of the present invention, see Figure 3 and Figure 4 , the side length of the image sensor 20 is 3mm×3mm, the length of the first side wall 15 is 3mm to 3.5mm, and the length of the second side wall 16 is 3.3mm to 3.8mm. The projection of the image sensor 20 in its thickness direction is a square, so the dimension of the image sensor 20 parallel to the first direction and the dimension parallel to the second direction are both 3mm. The length of the first side wall 15 is the dimension of the first side wall 15 in the first direction, and the length of the second side wall 16 is the dimension of the second side wall 16 in the second direction.

[0154] When the length of the first side wall 15 is too long, the length of the circuit substrate 10 in the first direction will be too large, affecting the miniaturization of the size of the endoscope insertion part 100 in the first direction. When the length of the first side wall 15 is too small, especially when it is smaller than the side length of the image sensor 20, it may cause the image sensor 20 to be damaged when the circuit substrate 10 is cut. Therefore, the length of the first side wall 15 is set to 3 mm to 3.5 mm. When the length of the second side wall 16 is too long, the length of the circuit substrate 10 in the second direction will be too large, affecting the miniaturization of the size of the endoscope insertion part 100 in the second direction. When the length of the second side wall 16 is too small, especially when it is smaller than the side length of the image sensor 20, it may cause the image sensor 20 to be damaged when the circuit substrate 10 is cut, or the cutting accuracy requirement is too high, making it difficult to meet the reliability and yield of production. Therefore, the length of the second side wall 16 is set to 3.3 mm to 3.8 mm. On the basis of maintaining the production reliability and a certain production yield of the circuit substrate 10, the size of the circuit substrate 10 is as small as possible and as close to the size of the image sensor 20 as possible.

[0155] In some embodiments, the side length of the image sensor 20 is 3 mm×3 mm, the length of the first side wall 15 is 3 mm to 3.4 mm, and the length of the second side wall 16 is 3.4 mm to 3.7 mm. In this embodiment, the circuit substrate 10 is easier to process, the production reliability is higher, and the size of the circuit substrate 10 in the first direction and the second direction is not excessively increased.

[0156] Optionally, the length of the first side wall 15 is 3.1 mm, 3.2 mm, 3.3 mm, 3.4 mm, etc., and the length of the second side wall 16 is 3.4 mm, 3.5 mm, 3.6 mm, 3.7 mm, etc.

[0157] In some embodiments of the present invention, see Figure 3 and Figure 4 , the side length of the image sensor 20 is 2mm×2mm, the length of the first side wall 15 is 2mm to 2.8mm, and the length of the second side wall 16 is 2.5mm to 3.2mm. The projection of the image sensor 20 in its thickness direction is a square, so the dimension of the image sensor 20 parallel to the first direction and the dimension parallel to the second direction are both 2mm. The length of the first side wall 15 is the dimension of the first side wall 15 in the first direction, and the length of the second side wall 16 is the dimension of the second side wall 16 in the second direction.

[0158] When the length of the first side wall 15 is too long, the length of the circuit substrate 10 in the first direction will be too large, affecting the miniaturization of the size of the endoscope insertion part 100 in the first direction. When the length of the first side wall 15 is too small, especially when it is smaller than the side length of the image sensor 20, it may cause the image sensor 20 to be damaged when the circuit substrate 10 is cut. Therefore, the length of the first side wall 15 is set to 2 mm to 2.8 mm. When the length of the second side wall 16 is too long, the length of the circuit substrate 10 in the second direction will be too large, affecting the miniaturization of the size of the endoscope insertion part 100 in the second direction. When the length of the second side wall 16 is too small, especially when it is smaller than the side length of the image sensor 20, it may cause the image sensor 20 to be damaged when the circuit substrate 10 is cut, or the cutting accuracy requirement is too high, making it difficult to meet the reliability and yield of production. Therefore, the length of the second side wall 16 is set to 2.5 mm to 3.2 mm. On the basis of maintaining the production reliability and a certain production yield of the circuit substrate 10, the size of the circuit substrate 10 is as small as possible and as close to the size of the image sensor 20 as possible.

[0159] In some embodiments, the side length of the image sensor 20 is 2 mm×2 mm, the length of the first side wall 15 is 2.3 mm to 2.8 mm, and the length of the second side wall 16 is 2.8 mm to 3.1 mm. In this embodiment, the circuit substrate 10 is easier to process, the production reliability is higher, and the size of the circuit substrate 10 in the first direction and the second direction is not excessively increased.

[0160] Optionally, the length of the first side wall 15 is 2.4 mm, 2.6 mm, 2.7 mm, 2.8 mm, etc., and the length of the second side wall 16 is 2.8 mm, 2.9 mm, 3 mm, 3.1 mm, etc.

[0161] In some embodiments of the present invention, see Figure 3 At least one second side wall 16 is provided with a groove 17, and the number of the grooves 17 corresponds to the number of the first cables 41, and the total number of the grooves 17 is 2, 4, 6 or 8. Each first cable 41 passes through a corresponding groove 17 or is welded to a corresponding groove 17. The total number of the grooves 17 may also be other numbers, which is not specifically limited here.

[0162] In some embodiments, all the grooves 17 are distributed on one of the second side walls 16 , so that the space occupied by the circuit substrate 10 in the first direction can be reduced, and the size burden caused by the setting of the grooves 17 can be reduced, thereby further reducing the size of the circuit substrate 10 .

[0163] In some embodiments, part of the grooves 17 are located on one of the second side walls 16, and another part of the grooves 17 are located on the other second side wall 16. The number of grooves 17 on the two second side walls 16 is the same and symmetrically distributed; or, the number of grooves 17 on the two second side walls 16 can be the same and asymmetrically distributed; or, the number of grooves 17 on the two second side walls 16 is different.

[0164] For example, two grooves 17 are disposed on each of the two second side walls 16 and are symmetrically distributed.

[0165] In some embodiments of the present invention, the endoscope is an ultrasonic endoscope, which further includes an ultrasonic connector, and the ultrasonic connector is connected to the connecting part 400 through an ultrasonic hose 300. The ultrasonic endoscope can directly observe the surface of the mucosa inside the body cavity like a common endoscope, and can also use the ultrasonic function to perform ultrasonic scanning inside human tissues.

[0166] See also Figures 2 to 4 The present invention further provides a circuit substrate 10, which is applied to an insertion portion 100 of an endoscope.

[0167] The circuit substrate 10 has a front side 11 and a back side 12 which are arranged opposite to each other, and the front side 11 is used to fix and electrically connect the image sensor 20;

[0168] The circuit substrate 10 is provided with a cable channel 17, and the cable channel 17 is used for the first cable 41 to pass through, or the cable channel 17 is used for the first cable 41 and the second cable to be welded;

[0169] When the cable channel 17 is used for the threading of the first cable 41, one end of the first cable 41 is used to be electrically connected to the electric drive structure 50; when the cable channel 17 is used for welding the first cable 41 and the second cable, one end of the second cable away from the cable channel 17 is used to be electrically connected to the electric drive structure 50; the electric drive structure 50 is used to drive the optical lens assembly 30 in the endoscope to move so as to change the imaging focal length of the optical lens assembly 30.

[0170] In the endoscope in the above embodiment, the side wall of the circuit substrate 10 has a cable channel 17, and the cable channel 17 can be used for cables to pass through or for welding. The cables of the electric drive structure 50 can pass through the cable channel 17 or be welded inside the cable channel 17, so that the number of pads on the circuit substrate 10 can be reduced, thereby reducing the size of the circuit substrate 10 and making the size of the circuit substrate 10 more miniaturized.

[0171] In some embodiments of the present invention, the cable channel 17 includes a groove, and the side wall of the circuit substrate 10 is provided with a groove;

[0172] The groove is provided in a straight line through the side wall of the circuit substrate 10; or

[0173] The groove is disposed along a predetermined non-linear manner and penetrates the side wall of the circuit substrate 10 .

[0174] In an embodiment of the present invention, there are at least two ways for the groove to penetrate: directly penetrate the side wall in a straight line, such as vertically penetrate the side wall along the thickness direction of the circuit substrate 10, or penetrate in a straight line in a manner at a certain angle to the thickness direction, such as directly penetrate the side wall in a direction between the length direction of the side wall and the vertical direction (i.e., a direction at a 45-degree angle to the vertical direction). The side wall can also be penetrated in a non-linear direction, such as the groove on the side wall penetrates the side wall along a curve (such as an S-shaped curve or other shaped curves), a Z-shaped, an L-shaped, etc. Therefore, the technician can select the groove penetration method according to actual needs. In some embodiments, the groove can penetrate the side wall vertically along the thickness direction of the side wall. The thickness direction of the circuit substrate 10 is the direction of its smallest size. At this time, the two ends of the groove in the thickness direction of the circuit substrate 10 can extend to the front 11 and the back 12 of the circuit substrate 10 respectively.

[0175] It should be noted that in the embodiment of the present invention, the side wall also includes the intersection between different side walls, such as the intersection of adjacent side walls. Based on this, the groove 17 can also be set at the intersection of the side walls, such as when the circuit substrate 10 is a quadrilateral, the groove 17 can be set at one or more of the four corners of the circuit substrate 10.

[0176] In some embodiments of the present invention, see Figure 2 and Figure 3 The back side 12 is provided with a first electronic component 14 in the image sensor 20 driving circuit, and the first electronic component 14 is a passive component in the image sensor 20 driving circuit; the electronic components arranged in the operating part 200 and / or the connecting part 400 include a second electronic component, and the second electronic component is electrically connected to the back side 12 through a third cable 43, and the second electronic component is an active component in the image sensor 20 driving circuit.

[0177] The back surface 12 is provided with the first electronic component 14, which means that the first electronic component 14 is fixed and electrically connected to the back surface 12 of the circuit substrate 10. The image sensor 20 is fixed and electrically connected to the front surface 11 of the circuit substrate 10, but the driving circuit for driving the image sensor 20 is located in the operating portion 200 and / or the connecting portion 400, specifically in the circuit board of the operating portion 200 and / or the connecting portion 400. Passive devices refer to devices without power supply, such as capacitors, inductors, resistors, etc., and active devices refer to devices with power supply, such as power chip 61, clock chip 62, etc.

[0178] By transferring the active devices on the circuit substrate 10 to the operating portion 200 and / or the connecting portion 400, the space occupied on the circuit substrate 10 can be reduced, and the size of the circuit substrate 10 in the first direction and the second direction can be further reduced, so that the size of the circuit substrate 10 can be closer to the size of the image sensor 20. As an optional embodiment of the present invention, the active devices can be arranged on the connecting portion 400, thereby reducing circuit relays, improving anti-interference capabilities, and further improving the imaging quality of the image sensor 20.

[0179] In some embodiments of the present invention, see Figure 2 and Figure 3 The circuit substrate 10 has a first side wall 15 parallel to the first direction and a second side wall 16 parallel to the second direction, the first direction is not parallel to the second direction, and the first direction and the second direction are both perpendicular to the thickness direction; the back surface 12 of the circuit substrate 10 is provided with a first soldering pad 131, the first soldering pad 131 is arranged on opposite sides of the second direction, the first electronic component 14 is arranged in the middle of the second direction, or the first soldering pad 131 and the first electronic component 14 are arranged on opposite sides of the second direction respectively. The groove 17 is located on the second side wall 16, the first soldering pad 131 is used to solder objects other than the first electronic component 14 in the image sensor 20 driving circuit, and in the projection of the first direction, the projection of the groove 17 and the first soldering pad 131 do not overlap.

[0180] The first direction and the second direction are both perpendicular to the thickness direction, and the first direction and the second direction may be perpendicular to each other, be at an obtuse angle, or be arranged as legs and feet. In this way, the circuit substrate 10 may be a plate-like structure such as a parallelogram (such as a rectangle), a trapezoid, a polygon (such as a pentagon, a hexagon, a hexagon and an octagon, etc.). The first pad 131 is arranged on opposite sides of the second direction, and the first electronic component 14 is arranged in the middle of the second direction. It can be understood that in the second direction, part of the first pad 131, the first electronic component 14 (the second pad 132), and another part of the first pad 131 are arranged in sequence. The first pad 131 and the first electronic component 14 are respectively arranged on opposite sides of the second direction. It can be understood that in the second direction, the first pad 131 and the first electronic component 14 (the second pad 132) are arranged in sequence. The objects other than the first electronic component 14 in the image sensor 20 drive circuit refer to objects such as the third cable 43, grounding, and power connection in the image sensor 20 drive circuit. There is a gap between the projection of the groove 17 along the first direction and the projection of the first pad 131 along the first direction, and they do not overlap with each other.

[0181] Since there are a large number of first pads 131, they basically occupy all the space near the two first side walls 15, and there is no extra space to avoid the grooves 17. The grooves 17 are arranged on the second side wall 16, and the space on both sides of the electronic device 14 in the first direction can be used, and the design layout is more reasonable. Moreover, in the projection of the first direction, the grooves 17 do not overlap with the projection of the first pads 131, so that the grooves 17 can be recessed to a certain depth along the first direction, and will not affect the space occupied by the first pads 131, nor will it affect the layout of the first pads 131.

[0182] The features, principles and beneficial effects of the embodiments of the circuit substrate 10 of the present invention can also be referred to above. Figures 1 to 6 The description of each endoscope-related embodiment shown will not be repeated here.

[0183] The present invention also provides an endoscope system, which includes the endoscope in any of the above embodiments, or the circuit substrate in any of the above embodiments. The endoscope system may also include a light source device, an image processing device, and the like.

[0184] The endoscope system provided by the present invention adopts the above-mentioned endoscope, or adopts the above-mentioned circuit substrate. The cable of the electric drive structure 50 can pass through the groove 17 to the lens assembly 30 or be welded to the inside of the groove 17. This can reduce the number of pads on the circuit substrate 10, thereby reducing the size of the circuit substrate 10, making the size of the circuit substrate 10 more miniaturized.

[0185] The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the present invention. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions and improvements made within the spirit and principles of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. An endoscope, characterized in that: include: An insertion portion (100), an operating portion (200), a hose (300) and a connecting portion (400); The insertion portion (100) has a hard portion (101), a curved portion (102) and an insertion tube (103) in order from the front end side; The operating part (200) is connected to the insertion tube (103); One end of the hose (300) is connected to the operating portion (200), and the other end is connected to the connecting portion (400); The hard part (101) comprises a circuit substrate (10), an image sensor (20), an electric drive structure (50) and an optical lens assembly (30); the electric drive structure (50) and the optical lens assembly (30) are arranged on the same side of the image sensor (20), and the circuit substrate (10) is arranged on the other side of the image sensor (20); the electric drive structure (50) is used to drive the optical lens assembly (30) to move, so as to change the imaging focal length of the optical lens assembly (30); The circuit substrate (10) has a front side (11) and a back side (12) that are arranged opposite to each other, and the image sensor (20) is fixed to the front side (11) and is electrically connected to the front side (11); The circuit substrate (10) is provided with a cable channel (17), and the cable channel (17) is used for the first cable (41) to pass through, or the cable channel (17) is used for welding the first cable (41) and the second cable; When the cable channel (17) is used for the first cable (41) to pass through, one end of the first cable (41) is electrically connected to the electric drive structure (50); When the cable channel (17) is used for welding the first cable (41) and the second cable, one end of the second cable away from the cable channel (17) is electrically connected to the electric drive structure (50).

2. The endoscope according to claim 1, characterized in that: The cable channel (17) comprises a groove or a hole structure, and the side wall of the circuit substrate (10) is provided with the groove, or the circuit substrate (10) is provided with the hole structure near its side wall.

3. The endoscope according to claim 2, characterized in that: The side wall of the circuit substrate (10) is provided with the groove, and the groove is arranged through the side wall of the circuit substrate (10).

4. The endoscope according to claim 3, characterized in that: The groove is arranged to penetrate the side wall of the circuit substrate (10) in a straight line; or, The groove is arranged along a preset non-linear manner and penetrates the side wall of the circuit substrate (10).

5. The endoscope according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: The operating portion (200) and / or the connecting portion (400) are provided with electronic components in the image sensor (20) driving circuit.

6. The endoscope according to claim 5, characterized in that: The electronic components arranged in the operating portion (200) and / or the connecting portion (400) include a second electronic component, the second electronic component is electrically connected to the back surface (12) via a third cable (43), and the second electronic component is an active component in a driving circuit of the image sensor (20).

7. The endoscope according to claim 6, characterized in that: The back side (12) is provided with some electronic components in the image sensor (20) driving circuit.

8. The endoscope according to claim 7, characterized in that: Some of the electronic components arranged on the back side (12) are first electronic components (14), and the first electronic components (14) are passive components in the image sensor (20) drive circuit.

9. The endoscope according to claim 3, characterized in that: The circuit substrate (10) has a first side wall (15) along a first direction and a second side wall (16) along a second direction, wherein the first direction is not parallel to the second direction; The back side (12) of the circuit substrate (10) is provided with a plurality of welding areas, each of the welding areas contains a plurality of welding pads, and the boundary of each welding area is the minimum circumscribed rectangular boundary of all the welding pads contained therein; The groove is located on the second side wall (16), and in the projection along the first direction, the projection of the groove does not overlap with the projection of the welding area outside the target area; in the projection along the second direction, the target area is the area with the smallest projection width in the welding area.

10. The endoscope according to claim 9, characterized in that: The welding area comprises the target area and other areas outside the target area, the other areas contain a first welding pad (131), and the target area contains a second welding pad (132); the first welding pad (131) is used for welding objects other than the first electronic component (14) in the image sensor (20) drive circuit, and the second welding pad (132) is used for welding the first electronic component (14), and the first electronic component (14) is an electronic component in the image sensor (20) drive circuit; The other areas are arranged on two opposite sides of the second direction, and the target area is arranged in the middle of the second direction, or the other areas and the target area are arranged on two opposite sides of the second direction respectively.

11. The endoscope according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that: The back side (12) of the circuit substrate (10) has an extended pad (18), the extended pad (18) is arranged on the back side (12) close to the second side wall (16), and the extended pad (18) is connected to the metal layer in the groove; In the projection in the first direction, the extended pad (18) does not overlap with the projection of the welding area outside the target area.

12. The endoscope according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that: The orthographic projection of the image sensor (20) along the thickness direction of the circuit substrate (10) is a reference area, and the orthographic projection of the groove along the thickness direction of the circuit substrate (10) is at least partially located within the reference area.

13. The endoscope according to any one of claims 3 or 4, characterized in that: The orthographic projection of the image sensor (20) along the thickness direction of the circuit substrate (10) is a reference area, and the orthographic projections of the grooves along the thickness direction of the circuit substrate (10) are all located outside the reference area.

14. A circuit substrate, characterized in that: Applicable to an endoscope insertion portion (100); The circuit substrate (10) has a front side (11) and a back side (12) arranged opposite to each other, and the front side (11) is used for fixing and electrically connecting to the image sensor (20); The circuit substrate (10) is provided with a cable channel (17), and the cable channel (17) is used for the first cable (41) to pass through, or the cable channel (17) is used for welding the first cable (41) and the second cable; When the cable channel (17) is used for the first cable (41) to be threaded, one end of the first cable (41) is used to be electrically connected to an electric drive structure (50); when the cable channel (17) is used for welding the first cable (41) and the second cable, one end of the second cable away from the cable channel (17) is used to be electrically connected to the electric drive structure (50); the electric drive structure (50) is used to drive the optical lens assembly (30) in the endoscope to move, so as to change the imaging focal length of the optical lens assembly (30).

15. The circuit substrate according to claim 14, wherein: The cable channel (17) comprises a groove, and the side wall of the circuit substrate (10) is provided with the groove; The groove is arranged to penetrate the side wall of the circuit substrate (10) in a straight line; or The groove is arranged along a preset non-linear manner and penetrates the side wall of the circuit substrate (10).

16. The circuit substrate according to claim 14 or 15, characterized in that: The back side (12) is provided with a first electronic component (14) in the image sensor (20) driving circuit, and the first electronic component (14) is a passive component in the image sensor (20) driving circuit; The electronic components arranged in the operating portion (200) and / or the connecting portion (400) include a second electronic component, the second electronic component is electrically connected to the back surface (12) via a third cable (43), and the second electronic component is an active component in a driving circuit of the image sensor (20).

17. An endoscope system, characterized in that: It comprises the endoscope according to any one of claims 1 to 13 or the circuit substrate (10) according to any one of claims 14 to 16, and also comprises a light source device and an image processing device.

Images