Patent ID: 11857157
Assignee: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC A | IPC A

Claim 18:
19. A flexible tube insertion support method of supporting insertion of a flexible tube to be inserted into a subject, the method comprising, when the flexible tube is twisted in a counterclockwise direction or a clockwise direction around a central axis of the flexible tube:
detecting an external force applied to the flexible tube;
generating propriety information regarding a propriety of a twisting operation of the flexible tube in accordance with a force quantity of the external force;
outputting the generated propriety information; and
compare the force quantities of the external force in the counterclockwise direction and the external force in the clockwise direction with a reference value to analyze relations with the reference value, the force quantities being calculated by the at least one external force detector that is configured to detect the external force applied to the flexible tube to calculate the force quantity of the detected external force;
wherein the propriety information is generated regarding the propriety of the twisting operation of the flexible tube in accordance with the comparison.