Panoramic endoscope based on convex parabolic mirrors

We propose a parabolic mirror-based catadioptric imager for the panoramic imaging endoscope. The main difference of the structure is the use of a parabolic mirror in endoscope design. The manufacturing cost and/or size of the proposed panoramic design is lower than the previous designs. The designs by Katman and Liu use customized lens and thus cost more than the proposed in mass production. The design by Sahli uses more mirrors/lenses than the proposed. The size of the previous design by Yu, 20 mm in diameter, is larger than the standard-Angle Olympus video colonoscope (9.5 mm in diameter). Our proposed design is 5.5 mm in diameter, so it is feasible to be integrated into an endoscope while the previous design by Yu is not feasible to be integrated into an endoscope.