Apparatus and method for increasing heat dissipation capacity of a medical instrument
Granted: March 25, 2025
Patent Number:
12256902
A method includes generating thermal energy at a distal end of an elongate member and transferring the thermal energy between the elongate member and a housing coupled to a proximal end of the elongate member by activating a heat pump device thermally coupled between the elongate member and the housing. The heat pump device is disposed at least partially outside the housing. In some examples, a plurality of heat pump devices each located at least partially outside the housing and along a…
Methods and apparatus for displaying three-dimensional orientation of a steerable distal tip of an endoscope
Granted: March 25, 2025
Patent Number:
12256891
A method for controlling an orientation of a steerable distal portion of an elongate instrument, said instrument comprising at least one tensioning member attached to said steerable distal portion may include receiving an input command at a controller for articulation of said steerable distal portion, the articulation correlating to an approximate y-bend and an approximate x-bend of said steerable distal portion; calculating an approximate overall bend from said approximate y-bend and…
Systems and methods for onscreen identification of instruments in a teleoperational medical system
Granted: March 18, 2025
Patent Number:
12251184
A method comprises obtaining, for one or more medical instruments coupled to a teleoperational medical system, one or more corresponding medical instrument positions relative to a field of view of at least one imaging instrument coupled to the teleoperation medical system. The method also comprises initiating, for a selected medical instrument of the one or more medical instruments, generation of a corresponding indicator to a user. The corresponding indicator may be based on a position…
Robotic surgery system including position sensors using fiber Bragg gratings
Granted: March 18, 2025
Patent Number:
12251181
A surgical instrument is provided, including: at least one articulatable arm having a distal end, a proximal end, and at least one joint region disposed between the distal and proximal ends; an optical fiber bend sensor provided in the at least one joint region of the at least one articulatable arm; a detection system coupled to the optical fiber bend sensor, said detection system comprising a light source and a light detector for detecting light reflected by or transmitted through the…
Configuration marker design and detection for instrument tracking
Granted: March 18, 2025
Patent Number:
12251170
A system may comprise a tool including at least one reference feature. a processor, and a memory having computer readable instructions stored thereon. The computer readable instructions, when executed by the processor, may cause the system to receive image data including an image of the tool and the at least one reference feature, determine a pose of the tool from the image data, and modify the image data to visually decrement a portion of the image data corresponding to the at least one…
Surgical instruments having mechanisms for identifying and/or deactivating stapler cartridges
Granted: March 18, 2025
Patent Number:
12251107
Surgical stapling instruments include mechanisms for identifying and/or deactivating stapler cartridges for use with the instruments. The stapling instrument includes a drive member for actuating a staple cartridge and a locking member movable from a disabled position permitting distal translation of the drive member through a staple firing stroke, to a locking position inhibiting distal translation of the drive member through the staple firing stroke. The staple cartridge may include a…
Low-friction, small profile medical tools having easy-to-assemble components
Granted: March 18, 2025
Patent Number:
12251088
A low-friction medical device includes a first link, a second link, and a tension member. The first link is coupled to an instrument shaft and a first guide path is defined in the first link. The second link is rotatable relative to the first link through an angular range. A distal end portion of the second link is rotatably coupled to a tool member. A curved guide path is defined within the second link between the tool member and the first guide path. A curved guide surface of the…
Systems and methods of continuous registration for image-guided surgery
Granted: March 11, 2025
Patent Number:
12245833
A method includes collecting a set of measured points with a flexible catheter as the flexible catheter is inserted into one or more anatomic passageways of a patient in which the measured points are based on a position of the flexible catheter in a patient space, assigning each measured point of the set of measured points to a respective subset of a plurality of subsets of measured points based upon a depth of each measured point within the one or more anatomic passageways, comparing…
Systems and methods for emulating far-range lighting for an operational scene illuminated by close-range light
Granted: March 4, 2025
Patent Number:
12243204
A system may access an image that is captured by an imaging device and that depicts an operational scene illuminated by close-range light. The system may also access a depth map of the operational scene. Based on the image and the depth map, the system may generate a processed image depicting the operational scene as being illuminated by a virtual light source that is to be simulated to be illuminating the operational scene and may provide the processed image for presentation on a…
Systems and methods for using registered fluoroscopic images in image-guided surgery
Granted: March 4, 2025
Patent Number:
12243233
A method performed by a computing system comprises receiving a fluoroscopic image of a patient anatomy while a portion of a medical instrument is positioned within the patient anatomy. The fluoroscopic image has a fluoroscopic frame of reference. The portion has a sensed position in an anatomic model frame of reference. The method further comprises identifying the portion in the fluoroscopic image and identifying an extracted position of the portion in the fluoroscopic frame of reference…
Hand presence sensing at control input device
Granted: March 4, 2025
Patent Number:
12242662
Implementations relate to hand presence sensing at a control input device. In some implementations, a control input device includes a base member, a handle coupled to the base member and configured to be manually contacted at a grip portion of the handle and moved by a hand of a user in one or more degrees of freedom, one or more control input sensors configured to detect positions or orientations of the handle in the one or more degrees of freedom, and a presence sensor coupled to the…
Instrument flushing system
Granted: March 4, 2025
Patent Number:
12239497
A medical instrument includes an instrument shaft with exit holes near a distal end of the shaft, a tool coupled to the distal end of the shaft, and a backend. The backend may include a mechanism that manipulates a drive element that extends through the shaft and couples to the tool, a fluid inlet, and a fluid channel assembly providing fluid communication between the fluid inlet and the proximal end of the shaft. Cleaning fluid is directed into the fluid inlet, through the fluid channel…
Rotatable carriage for an instrument holder
Granted: March 4, 2025
Patent Number:
12239402
An instrument holder generally includes a carriage rotatable with respect to a carriage support, a light pipe extending axially through the carriage, and an electrical conductor extending through the carriage radially outward of the light pipe. The light pipe can transmit light energy and the electrical conductor can transmit electricity between a proximal end portion and a distal end portion of the carriage to a medical instrument. The rotatable carriage may include a sterile adapter…
Positioning indicator system for a remotely controllable arm and related methods
Granted: March 4, 2025
Patent Number:
12239401
A robotic system includes a base movable relative to a floor surface and a controllable arm extending from the base. The arm is configured to support and move a tool. The arm has a powered joint operable to position and/or orient the tool. The robotic system further includes a positioning indicator. A processor operates the positioning indicator to direct a manual repositioning of the base relative to the floor surface while the processor is operating the powered joint to maintain the…
Medical robotic system providing an auxiliary view including range of motion limitations for articulatable instruments extending out of a distal end of an entry guide
Granted: March 4, 2025
Patent Number:
12239396
A medical system comprises an entry guide, a display, and a processor. The processor may be configured to receive state information for an articulatable image capture device controllably extendable out of a distal end of the entry guide. The processor may be configured to generate a view including a graphical representation of a distal end portion of the articulatable image capture device as determined from the received state information and a graphical representation of a field of view…
Medical tool with length conservation mechanism for actuating tension bands
Granted: March 4, 2025
Patent Number:
12239394
An actuation assembly for a medical instrument connects four bands to three motorized degrees of freedom. The actuation assembly includes a first actuator, a second actuator and a third actuator. The first actuator is coupled to a first band and a second band, the first actuator being operable to pull in one of the first and second bands and feed out the other of the first and second bands. The third actuator is coupled to a third band and a fourth band, the third actuator being operable…
Hard stop that produces a reactive moment upon engagement for cantilever-based force sensing
Granted: March 4, 2025
Patent Number:
12239393
A medical device includes a shaft, a beam, a hard stop structure, and a link. A proximal end portion of the beam is coupled to the distal end portion of the shaft and a distal end portion of the beam is coupled to the link. A strain sensor is on the beam. A hard stop structure includes a proximal end portion, a distal end portion, and first opposing stop surfaces. The proximal end portion of the hard stop structure is coupled to a distal end portion of the shaft, and the distal end…
Illumination corrected near-infrared (nir) imaging for image guided surgery
Granted: March 4, 2025
Patent Number:
12239294
Technology described herein can be embodied in a method of displaying a visual representation of a portion of a surgical scene. The method includes receiving data representing information captured using a first sensor of a camera associated with a surgical device, the information being indicative of a first quantity representing an amount of fluorescence emitted from the portion of the surgical scene. The method also includes obtaining information indicative of a second quantity…
Rotating assistant port
Granted: February 25, 2025
Patent Number:
12232832
Embodiments of a rotating assistant port device are presented. The assistant port device can be utilized to provide for additional assistant instruments in single port robotic surgery. In some embodiments, the assistant port device can be utilized for skin retraction during single port teleoperated robotic surgery.
System and method for integrated surgical table
Granted: February 25, 2025
Patent Number:
12232834
Integrated table motion includes a computer-assisted device. The computer-assisted device includes articulating means; means for receiving, via a means for communicatively coupling the computer-assisted device with a table means, a table movement request from a table command means, the table means being separate from the computer-assisted device; means for determining whether the table movement request should be allowed; and means for allowing the table means to perform the table…
