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. 05, 2013
Filed:
Jul. 25, 2008
Pablo Garcia, Menlo Park, CA (US);
Thomas Low, Belmont, CA (US);
Bryan Chavez, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Harsha Prahlad, Cupertino, CA (US);
Natalia Isaza, Menlo Park, CA (US);
Sanjeev Dutta, Los Altos, CA (US);
Pablo Garcia, Menlo Park, CA (US);
Thomas Low, Belmont, CA (US);
Bryan Chavez, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Harsha Prahlad, Cupertino, CA (US);
Natalia Isaza, Menlo Park, CA (US);
Sanjeev Dutta, Los Altos, CA (US);
SRI International, Menlo Park, CA (US);
The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
A selectively rigidizable endoscopic device is described. In one aspect, an endoscopic medical device is described that includes a flexible inner tube having a first lumen, a flexible outer tube that receives the inner tube, and a multiplicity of overlapping, rigidizable scale-like strips. Each scale-like strip is coupled with the inner tube and positioned between the inner and outer tubes. Of particular note, the overlapping strips are actuatable between a non-rigidized state in which overlapping strips are slideable relative to one another and a rigidized state in which overlapping strips are not slideable relative to one another.