Patent ID: 7918790

Claim:
An electric bending endoscope, comprising: an elongated insertion unit; a bending section formed adjacent to a distal section of the insertion unit; a bending drive unit for driving the bending section to bend; a bending operation unit for outputting a bending instruction signal for driving the bending drive unit in response to an operation by an operator; an operation state detection unit for detecting an operation speed of the bending operation unit; a record unit in which a first threshold value and a second threshold value to be compared with the operation speed are recorded, the second threshold value being larger than the first threshold value; a comparison unit for comparing the operation speed with the first threshold value and the second threshold value; and a control unit for notifying the operator of a driving state when the operation speed has reached the first threshold value, and restricting a bending operation of the bending section based on the bending instruction signal outputted by the bending operation unit when the operation speed has further reached the second threshold value.