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. 03, 2021
Filed:
Jun. 21, 2019
Olympus Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
OLYMPUS CORPORATION, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A flexible tube insertion apparatus including a flexible tube to be inserted into an insertion target is provided. The apparatus includes a variable stiffness section disposed in the tube and configured to change a bending stiffness of the tube, a variable stiffness drive section configured to drive the variable stiffness section, a rotation sensor configured to detect rotation of the tube about a central axis, and an insertion shape sensor configured to detect a curved shape of the tube. A variable stiffness controller drives the drive section so that a bending stiffness of the variable stiffness section is increased based on information detected by the rotation sensor and detected by the insertion shape sensor, when the tube forms a loop and rotates about the axis.