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

Claim 7:
8. The flexible tube insertion support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
in a case where external force detectors are disposed on the flexible tube, the processor is configured to:
analyze an N-th force quantity (N is a natural number of one or more) from the maximum force quantity among the force quantities in a first direction around the central axis that are respectively detected by the external force detectors, and compare the N-th force quantity and the force quantity of the external force in a direction opposite to the first direction at an arrangement position of the external force detector that has calculated the N-th force quantity, with the reference value, respectively;
analyze a portion at which a difference between a force quantity before the twisting and a force quantity after the twisting is greatest among the force quantities in the first direction around the central axis respectively detected by the external force detectors, and compare the force quantity of the external force in the counterclockwise direction and the force quantity of the external force in the clockwise direction at the portion at which the difference is greatest, with the reference value, respectively;
compare each of the force quantity of the external force in the counterclockwise direction and the force quantity of the external force in the clockwise direction that are calculated by the external force detector that is disposed at the position where a reaction force is generated by the twisting, with the reference value; or
compare each of a total sum of the force quantities of the external forces in the counterclockwise direction respectively calculated by the external force detectors disposed within a desired range and a total sum of the force quantities of the external forces in the clockwise direction respectively calculated by the external force detectors disposed within the desired range, with the reference value.