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:
Mar. 30, 2021
Filed:
Oct. 15, 2018
Olympus Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Yuichi Ikeda, Tama, JP;
OLYMPUS CORPORATION, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A flexible tube insertion apparatus includes a flexible tube to be inserted into an insertion target body, a variable stiffness portion that changes a bending stiffness of the flexible tube, a state detection sensor that detects state information of the flexible tube. The apparatus also includes a shape calculator that calculates shape information regarding a shape of the flexible tube based on the state information, an external force calculator that calculates external force information including magnitude of an external force received by the flexible tube based on the state information, and a stiffness controller that controls the variable stiffness portion in accordance with the shape information so that the magnitude of the external force received by the flexible tube becomes smaller than a reference value.