ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 12 -- United States Patent no. 12,295,550, issued on May 13, was assigned to Neptune Medical Inc. (Burlingame, Calif.).
"Dynamically rigidizing overtube" was invented by Alexander Q. Tilson (Burlingame, Calif.), Garrett J. Gomes (San Mateo, Calif.), Stephen J. Morris (Sunnyvale, Calif.), Eugene F. Duval (Menlo Park, Calif.), Adam S. Wigginton (Sunnyvale, Calif.) and Mark C. Scheeff (San Francisco).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A rigidizing overtube includes an elongate flexible tube, one or more mounting elements attached to the flexible tube, and a plurality of engagers connected to the one or more mounting elements. The rigidizing overtube has a flexible configuration ...