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:
Apr. 11, 2023
Filed:
May. 28, 2020
Canon U.s.a., Inc., Melville, NY (US);
Matthew Michael Kincaid, Medford, MA (US);
Takahisa Kato, Brookline, MA (US);
Canon U.S.A., Inc., Melville, NY (US);
Abstract
An apparatus, method, and system for a steerable medical instrument, configured to be used in conjunction with guided tools and devices under robotically controller medical procedures, including endoscopes, cameras, cutting tools and catheters. In one embodiment, the steerable instrument includes an elongate body (), a control wire () arranged in a channel () of the elongate body and displaceable along the channel to bend the elongate body; and a controller () to selectively control drive forces applied to the control wire () under an actively controlled mode and a passively controlled mode. In the actively controlled mode, the controller actively bends at least part of the elongate body. In the passively controlled mode, the controller () decreases an amount of strain or an amount of displacement of the control wire, so that the control wire becomes compliant to external forces.