ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 26 -- United States Patent no. 12,257,850, issued on March 25, was assigned to KYOCERA Corp. (Kyoto, Japan).

"Circulation device" was invented by Daisuke Hozumi (Kirishima, Japan) and Hiroyuki Sugimoto (Kirishima, Japan).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A circulation device according to an aspect includes a storage unit for storing liquid and a liquid droplet discharge unit for discharging liquid, and controls circulation of liquid flowing through a channel communicating the storage unit and the liquid droplet discharge unit with each other. Such a circulation device includes a robotic portion, a first pressure portion, a second pressure portion, a first valve portion, and...