ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 25 -- United States Patent no. 12,338,902, issued on June 24, was assigned to NANJING FOBRITE ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY Co. LTD (Jiangsu, China).

"Multi-way valve, water softener, and method for controlling water softener" was invented by Xuguang Ma (Jiangsu, China).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A multi-way valve, a water softener, and a method for controlling the water softener. The multi-way valve is provided with a main valve and a secondary valve. When each of the main valve and the secondary valve is at a bypass valve position, a water inlet passage, a first main valve passage, a first secondary valve passage, a second secondary valve passage, a second main valve pas...