The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 04, 2020
Filed:
Aug. 24, 2017
Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Carolyn M. Fenech, San Jose, CA (US);
Hans F. Valencia, Santa Clara, CA (US);
INTUITIVE SURGICAL OPERATIONS, INC., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abstract
An axial support structure for a flexible elongate device includes a plurality of rigid links. each link comprises a shaft, a pair of male joint connectors comprising a male tab coplanar with the shaft extending from a first end, and a pair of female joint connectors comprising a female tab coplanar with the shaft extending from a second end. Each of the male joint connectors includes a pin extending from the male tab in a direction perpendicular to an axial direction of the shaft and each female tab defines an aperture. Each of the plurality of rigid links is rotated bydegrees with respect to neighboring links among the plurality of rigid links, thereby aligning each pair of male joint connectors with a neighboring pair of female joint connectors to form pin joints in which each aperture encircles a corresponding pin.