ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 3 -- United States Patent no. 12,564,742, issued on March 3, was assigned to RAS Technology Sarl (Lignieres, Switzerland).

"Inflatable bag, avalanche backpack and method of deflating an inflatable bag" was invented by Marc-Antoine Schaer (Lignieres, Switzerland).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "The invention relates to an inflatable bag (60) with an inflation device (20), wherein the inflation device (20) comprises a first opening (22) adapted to allow the intake of a gas and a second opening (9) connected to the inflatable bag (60). The inflation device (20) further comprises a control (6) and an actuable valve (8) with an inlet opening (13) and an outlet opening (14), wh...