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:
Jun. 11, 2024
Filed:
Sep. 21, 2020
Olympus Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
OLYMPUS CORPORATION, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A flexible tube insertion apparatus includes: a flexible tube; a stiffness control system configured to control a stiffness of the tube; a buckling detection system configured to detect occurrence of a buckling in the tube; a pulling operation detection system configured to detect that a pulling operation of the tube is performed, after detection of the occurrence of the buckling; and a storage configured to store position information of a stiffness-to-be-enhanced portion of the tube neighboring a buckling portion of the tube and located on a distal side of the buckling portion. The stiffness control system is configured to enhance a stiffness of the stiffness-to-be-enhanced portion, based on the position information, at detection of the pulling operation.