ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 10 -- United States Patent no. 12,408,820, issued on Sept. 9, was assigned to Olympus Medical Systems Corp. (Tokyo).
"Endoscope and endoscope system" was invented by Seiji Iwasaki (Hachioji, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An endoscope comprising an insertion section including a distal end portion, a distal end opening in a distal end surface of a distal end portion, a side opening in a side surface of the distal end portion, a suction channel located in the insertion section and extending proximally from the distal end portion, and a valve switchable between an open state and a closed state. When a first suctioning flow through the distal end opening is less than ...