ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 17 -- United States Patent no. 12,576,290, issued on March 17, was assigned to FLEXSYS INC. (Ann Arbor, Mich.).

"Respiratory pump arrangement for personal respiratory isolation and method of use" was invented by Shalini Sarala Kota (Ann Arbor, Mich.), Sridhar Kota (Ann Arbor, Mich.), Kevin Ward (Superior Township, Mich.), David C. Hornick (Ann Arbor, Mich.), Robert Schartow (Ann Arbor, Mich.), James D. Ervin (Ann Arbor, Mich.) and Gregory F. Ervin (Ann Arbor, Mich.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A personal respiratory isolation assembly includes a manifold-filter assembly configured to be attached to a suction port of a respiratory pump. The manifold-filter assembly has...