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:
Jan. 09, 1996
Filed:
Jun. 24, 1993
Applicant:
Inventors:
Tadashi Sekiguchi, Saitamaken, JP;
Hiroshi Fujita, Tochigiken, JP;
Megumi Yoshinaga, Tochigiken, JP;
Masashi Honda, Tochigiken, JP;
Izumi Watanabe, Tochigiken, JP;
Assignee:
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Kawasaki, JP;
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
A61B / ; A61B / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
600109 ; 604280 ; 604281 ; 600118 ; 600143 ; 600146 ;
Abstract
An endoscope system includes an endoscope section having a flexible pipe insertable into a body cavity. The flexible pipe is divided into a plurality of segments. Each segment has a mechanism, e.g. shape memory alloy, for varying the flexibility of that segment. A main frame unit has a flexibility control section for controlling the flexibility variation mechanisms to correspond to one of a plurality of flexibility control patterns stored in a database.