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. 21, 2015
Filed:
Dec. 06, 2013
Olympus Medical Systems Corp., Tokyo, JP;
Masahiro Katakura, Chofu, JP;
Takeshi Suga, Hino, JP;
Olympus Medical Systems Corp., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A fiber unit has an illumination fiber and detection fibers. The illumination fiber and the detection fiber comprise a soft portion that is bendable, a distal end hard portion provided at an end thereof and having a greater hardness than the soft portion, and a pitch conversion portion that connects the soft portion and the distal end hard portion and changes a distance between adjacent fibers at the distal end hard portion with respect to a distance between the adjacent fibers at the soft portion, by bending and extending. 1.0 degree<Deg_max<6.0 degrees, where Deg_max is a most inclined angle of angles each formed by a central axis of the distal end hard portion and a line segment connecting an end portion of the pitch conversion portion closer to the soft portion and an end portion of the pitch conversion portion closer the distal end hard portion.