Surgical instrument with charging station and wireless communication
Contents
1. 480 is operable to monitor the operation of surgical instru ment 400 during use and write information regarding the use of surgical instrument 400 to memory unit 430 Such information may include technical specifications of surgical instrument 400 including number of times operated details of the last use specifications during use of the various com ponents making up surgical instrument 400 After usage and or diagnostic information regarding surgical instrument 400 is written to memory unit 430 memory unit 430 information may be downloaded to be sent to the manufac turer As a result in the event that any errors occur during use of surgical instrument 400 the manufacturer or any other suitable party may be able to use information collected from memory unit 430 to diagnose any potential issues In yet other exemplary versions the entire memory unit 430 could be shipped to the manufacturer for diagnosis purposes As a result it will be appreciated that in either of these scenarios the manufacturer or any other suitable support group may be able to diagnose surgical instrument 400 without the entire surgical instrument 400 being sent back to the manufac turer It should be understood that surgical instrument 400 may be fully outfitted with sensors to facilitate operation of surgical instrument 400 being written to memory unit 430 Asaresult memory unit 430 may serve as a black box for operations of2. 912 may be con nected to a network e g the Internet etc such that infor mation stored on any memory units associated with recharg ing unit 912 transmitted over the network Such information may include information regarding batteries 924 surgical instrument 900 the network etc and may be sent to the user a hospital or the manufacturer etc Recharging unit May 10 2012 912 may also comprise a keyboard and or other suitable input device such that the user may use to provide instructions to recharging unit 912 for charging batteries 924 and or to command the transmission of information to and from recharging unit 912 It should be understood that generator 932 need not necessarily be included in such communica tions 0060 It will be appreciated that recharging container 912 is operable to transmit information to generator 932 including battery charge level information and identification information of generator 932 or any suitable information as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the teachings herein Generator panel 920 is operable to display information transferred from recharging container 912 and or any other suitable information as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the teachings herein In the event that an ultrasonic instrument or an RF based instrument is connected directly to generator 932 the ultrasonic and or RF based instrume
3. will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the teachings herein 0053 Recharging container 912 comprises a battery compartment 922 operable to hold a plurality of batteries 924 Recharging container 912 further comprises a lid 914 to selectively cover battery compartment 922 Battery compartment 922 comprises a rectangular receptacle oper able to hold batteries 924 though it should be understood that any other suitable shape may be used While recharging container 912 of the present example has just a single tier battery compartment 922 it should be understood that recharging container may include a plurality of tiers of battery compartments 922 The base of battery compartment 922 comprises a plurality of battery slots 938 where each slot 938 is operable to receive battery 924 Slots 938 may be constructed such that slots 938 provide a snapping sound or other form of feedback once battery 924 is sufficiently plugged into a slot 938 Slots 938 are spaced out such that batteries 924 may be individually grasped and removed from slots 938 without causing stress or undesirable forces being applied to adjacent batteries 924 from the user remov ing battery 924 0054 Slots 938 may be used with a light 940 such as an LED light operable to light up in different colors based on the charge status of batteries 924 In some exemplary versions light 940 may be positioned adjac
4. Sheet 1 of 10 US 2012 0116381 AI Patent Application Publication May 10 2012 Sheet 2 of 10 US 2012 0116381 AI Patent Application Publication May 10 2012 Sheet 3 of 10 US 2012 0116381 AI Fig 5 Patent Application Publication May 10 2012 Sheet 4 of 10 US 2012 0116381 AI Patent Application Publication May 10 2012 Sheet 5 of 10 US 2012 0116381 AI Sh 4 Figo Patent Application Publication May 10 2012 Sheet 6 of 10 US 2012 0116381 AI Patent Application Publication May 10 2012 Sheet 7 of 10 US 2012 0116381 AI Fig 8 Q N 00 Pa Patent Application Publication May 10 2012 Sheet 8 of 10 US 2012 0116381 AI 814 818 822 Fig 10 Patent Application Publication May 10 2012 Sheet 9 of 10 US 2012 0116381 AI Fig 11 Patent Application Publication May 10 2012 Sheet 10 of 10 US 2012 0116381 AI O 930 Fig 15 0O N US 2012 0116381 AI SURGICAL INSTRUMENT WITH CHARGING STATION AND WIRELESS COMMUNICATION PRIORITY 0001 This application claims priority to U S Provisional Application Ser No 61 410 603 filed Nov 5 2010 entitled Energy Based Surgical Instruments the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein This application also claims priority to U S Provisional Application Ser No 61 487 846 filed May 19 2011 entitled Energy Based Sur gical Instruments the disclosure of which is incorporated by refer
5. batteries etc Ni Cad batteries or any other type of power source as may be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in light of the teachings herein Control module 12 may com prise a microprocessor an application specific integrated cir cuit ASIC memory a printed circuit board PCB a storage device such as a solid state drive or hard disk firmware software or any other suitable control module components as will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in light of the teachings herein Control module 12 and power source 14 are coupled by an electrical connection 22 such as a cable and or traces in a circuit board etc to transfer power from power source 14 to control module 12 Alternatively power source 14 may be selectively coupled to control module 12 This allows power source 14 to be detached and removed from medical device 10 which may further allow power source 14 to be readily recharged or reclaimed for resterilization and reuse such as in accordance with the various teachings herein In addition or in the alternative control module 12 may be removed for servicing testing replacement or any other purpose as will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the teachings herein 0024 End effector 16 is coupled to control module 12 by another electrical connection 22 End effector 16 is configured to perform a desired function of medical device 10 By way o
6. external device is config ured to receive and process information from the com munication device wherein the external device is con figured to provide an output viewable to a user 2 The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the information sent to the external device comprises identification information regarding the surgical instrument 3 The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the information sent to the external device comprises status information regarding the surgical instrument 4 The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the external device is further configured to transmit information to the communi cation device 5 The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the external device is configured to send updated software to the communication device 6 The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the external device is configured to send user preferences to the communication device 7 The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the external device is configured to send instructions to the communication device operable to modify the functionality of the electrically pow ered surgical instrument 8 The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the communication device and the external device are in communication through RF communication 9 The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the handle assembly comprises a removable memory unit 10 The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the external device comprises a charger unit operable to hold a rechargeable battery 11 The apparatus of claim 10 whe
7. herein Further end effector 140 may also be removable from medical device 100 for servicing testing replacement or any other purpose as will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the teachings herein While certain configurations of an exem plary medical device 100 have been described various other ways in which medical device 100 may be configured will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art in view of the teachings herein US 2012 0116381 AI 0028 By way of example only medical devices 10 100 and or any other medical device referred to herein may be constructed in accordance with at least some of the teachings of U S Pat No 5 980 510 U S Pat No 6 500 176 U S Pat No 6 783 524 U S Pat No 7 112 201 U S Pat No 7 125 409 U S Pat No 7 169 146 U S Pat No 7 186 253 U S Pat No 7 189 233 U S Pat No 7 220 951 U S Pat No 7 309 849 U S Pat No 7 311 709 U S Pat No 7 354 440 U S Pat No 7 381 209 U S Pat No 7 416 101 U S Pat No 7 738 971 U S Pub No 2006 0079874 U S Pub No 2007 0191713 U S Pub No 2007 0282333 U S Pub No 2008 0200940 U S Pub No 2009 0143797 U S Pub No 2009 0209990 U S Pub No 2010 0069940 U S Pub No 2011 0015660 U S Pat Pub No 2011 0087218 U S patent application Ser No 13 151 181 and or U S Provisional Application Ser No 61 410 603 The disclosures of each of those documents are incorporated
8. medical facility A device may also be sterilized using any other technique known in the art including but not limited to beta or gamma radiation ethylene oxide or steam 0067 Having shown and described various embodiments of the present invention further adaptations of the methods and systems described herein may be accomplished by appro priate modifications by one of ordinary skill in the art without May 10 2012 departing from the scope of the present invention Several of such potential modifications have been mentioned and others will be apparent to those skilled in the art For instance the examples embodiments geometrics materials dimensions ratios steps and the like discussed above are illustrative and are not required Accordingly the scope of the present inven tion should be considered in terms of the following claims and is understood not to be limited to the details of structure and operation shown and described in the specification and draw ings I We Claim 1 An apparatus comprising a an electrically powered surgical instrument comprising a handle assembly b a communication device positioned within the handle assembly wherein the communication device is config ured to communicate with at least a portion of the elec trically powered surgical instrument and c an external device wherein the communication device is configured to wirelessly transmit information to the external device wherein the
9. or replacement of particular pieces and subsequent reassembly In particular embodiments of the device may be disas sembled and any number of the particular pieces or parts of the device may be selectively replaced or removed in any combination Upon cleaning and or replacement of particular parts embodiments of the device may be reassembled for subsequent use either at a reconditioning facility or by a surgical team immediately prior to a surgical procedure Those skilled in the art will appreciate that reconditioning of a device may utilize a variety of techniques for disassembly cleaning replacement and reassembly Use of such tech niques and the resulting reconditioned device are all within the scope of the present application 0066 By way of example only embodiments described herein may be processed before surgery First a new or used instrument may be obtained and if necessary cleaned The instrument may then be sterilized In one sterilization tech nique the instrument is placed in a closed and sealed con tainer such as a plastic or TYVEK bag The container and instrument may then be placed in a field of radiation that can penetrate the container such as gamma radiation x rays or high energy electrons The radiation may kill bacteria on the instrument and in the container The sterilized instrument may then be stored in the sterile container The sealed con tainer may keep the instrument sterile until it is opened in a
10. such that a user may be able to tell version functionality identification etc information of the various components of surgical instrument 300 In yet some other exemplary versions when an error code is transmitted to external device 350 external device 350 may be operable to send the error code information to the manufacturer or any other suitable location for reporting or diagnosis purposes External device 350 may be operable to send the error code information by using for example cellular WiFi modem communication or any other suitable communication means as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the teachings herein Furthermore in addition to the error code external device 350 may be operable to send contex tual troubleshooting instructions based on the error code sent by external device 350 to enable the user to correct the errors 0036 If the identification of surgical instrument 300 is transmitted to external device 340 it will further be appre ciated that a user manual corresponding to the model of surgical instrument 300 may be output to video output 370 and navigated using user controls 360 Furthermore exter nal device 340 may be operable to display useful informa tion to a user with respect to individual components rather than an entire user manual 0037 It should be understood that communication device 330 may comprise an RF communications module operable
11. surgical instrument 400 which may later be used for diagnosis and or analyzing the operation of surgical instrument 400 0043 Memory unit 430 may also be loaded with user preference information such that when memory unit 430 is connected to surgical instrument 400 control unit 480 of surgical instrument 400 is operable to configure surgical instrument 400 according to the user preference data Such user preference information may include maximum and mini mum settings for surgical instrument 400 along with the particular procedure being performed by surgical instrument 400 Other suitable types of user preference information may be used as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the teachings herein 0044 IV Exemplary Remote Activation of Surgical Instrument 0045 FIG 5 depicts an exemplary surgical instrument 500 having a handle assembly 510 and a working end 520 which may comprise for example a transmission assembly with an end effector Surgical instrument 500 which may be constructed similar to or in accordance with medical device and or surgical instrument 10 100 further comprises a control unit 580 and a communication device 530 in wireless communication with an external control 540 FIG 6 shows one merely exemplary form that external control 540 may take In particular FIG 6 shows an external May 10 2012 control 640 comprising a footswitch having a b
12. to engage in two way communication with external device 340 such that communication device 330 may send infor mation and or commands to external device 340 and exter nal device 340 may send information and or commands to communication device 330 It will be appreciated that in a two way communication setup all of the features of a one way communication may be implemented In addition diag nostic instructions may be sent to surgical instrument 300 via communication device 330 which may include instruc tions to record readings at particular sensors within surgical instrument 300 or any other suitable instructions as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the teachings herein In yet other exemplary versions the user may be able to select a user profile on external device 340 which may then be sent to surgical instrument 300 to cus tomize the functionality of surgical instrument 300 For example the user may establish custom maximum and mini mum settings for buttons on surgical instrument 300 In some versions the user may use external device 340 to indicate the type of procedure to be performed using surgical instrument 300 External device 340 may use this infor mation to selectively enable disable certain functionalities parameters and or diagnostics in surgical instrument 300 May 10 2012 For example the maximum power level of surgical instru ment 300 the blade ampl
13. 2 izing and Cutting Instrument issued Aug 31 2004 the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein 0004 While several systems and methods have been made and used for surgical instruments it is believed that no one prior to the inventors has made or used the invention described in the appended claims BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 0005 While the specification concludes with claims which particularly point out and distinctly claim the inven tion it is believed the present invention will be better under stood from the following description of certain examples taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals identify the same elements and in which 0006 FIG 1 depicts a schematic view of an exemplary medical device having an internal power source 0007 FIG 2 depicts a perspective view of an exemplary medical device having an internal power source 0008 FIG 3 depicts a diagrammatic view of an exemplary surgical instrument with an external device 0009 FIG 4 depicts a side partially cross sectional view of an exemplary surgical instrument with a memory unit 0010 FIG 5 depicts a side diagrammatic view of an exem plary surgical instrument with and external control 0011 FIG 6 depicts a side view of an exemplary foot pedal for use with the surgical instrument of FIG 5 0012 FIG 7 depicts a perspective view of an exemplary external control for use with the
14. In the present example power source 110 is located internally within housing 130 of medical device 100 Alternatively power source 110 may only partially extend into housing 130 and may be selec tively attachable to a portion of housing 130 In yet a further exemplary configuration a portion of housing 130 may extend into power source 110 and power source 110 may be selectively attachable to the portion of housing 130 Power source 110 may also be configured to detach from medical device 100 and decouple from control module 120 or electrical connection 150 As a result power source 110 may be completely separated from medical device 100 in some versions As is readily apparent this may allow the power source 110 to be removed to be recharged or reclaimed for resterilization and reuse such as in accordance with various teachings herein After recharging or after an initial charge power source 110 may be inserted or rein serted into medical device 100 and secured to housing 130 or internally within housing 130 Of course medical device 100 may also allow power source 110 to be charged and or recharged while power source 110 is still in or otherwise coupled relative to housing 130 0027 It should also be understood that control module 120 may be removed for servicing testing replacement or any other purpose as will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the teachings
15. No 2007 0282333 entitled Ultrasonic Waveguide and Blade pub lished Dec 6 2007 the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein U S Pat Pub No 2008 0200940 entitled Ultrasonic Device for Cutting and Coagulating published Aug 21 2008 the disclosure of which is incorpo rated by reference herein U S Pat Pub No 2011 0015660 entitled Rotating Transducer Mount for Ultrasonic Surgical Instruments published Jan 20 2011 the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein U S Pat No 6 500 176 entitled Electrosurgical Systems and Techniques for Sealing Tissue issued Dec 31 2002 the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein and U S Pat Pub No 2011 0087218 entitled Surgical Instrument Compris ing First and Second Drive Systems Actuatable by a Common Trigger Mechanism published Apr 14 2011 the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein Additionally such surgical tools may include a cordless transducer such as that disclosed in U S Pat Pub No 2009 0143797 entitled Cordless Hand held Ultrasonic Cautery Cutting Device published Jun 4 2009 the disclosure of which is incorpo rated by reference herein In addition the surgical instru ments may be used or adapted for use in robotic assisted surgery settings such as that disclosed in U S Pat No 6 783 524 entitled Robotic Surgical Tool with Ultrasound Cauter May 10 201
16. US 20120116381A1 as United States a2 Patent Application Publication 0 Pub No US 2012 0116381 Houser et al 43 Pub Date May 10 2012 54 76 21 22 60 SURGICAL INSTRUMENT WITH CHARGING STATION AND WIRELESS COMMUNICATION Inventors Kevin L Houser Springboro OH US Daniel W Price Loveland OH US Gavin M Monson Oxford OH US Hitesh Jain Chittorgarh IN Appl No 13 275 547 Filed Oct 18 2011 Related U S Application Data Provisional application No 61 410 603 filed on Nov 5 2010 provisional application No 61 487 846 filed on May 19 2011 Publication Classification 51 Int A61B 18 18 2006 01 92 AUS rer 606 33 606 1 57 ABSTRACT An apparatus comprises an electrically power surgical instru ment having a handle assembly The apparatus also comprises a communication device positioned within the handle assem bly The communication device is operable to communicate with at least a portion of the electrically powered surgical instrument The apparatus further comprises an external device in wireless communication with the communication device The external device is operable to receive information from the communication device and the external device is operable to provide an output viewable to the user el ble oen gt N y mer 7 ET Q Patent Application Publication May 10 2012
17. by reference herein in their entirety 0029 It is further understood that any one or more of the teachings expressions embodiments examples etc described herein may be combined with any one or more of the other teachings expressions embodiments examples etc that are described herein The following described teach ings expressions embodiments examples etc should there fore not be viewed in isolation relative to each other Various suitable ways in which the teachings herein may be combined will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art in view of the teachings herein Such modifications and varia tions are intended to be included within the scope of the claims 0030 II Exemplary RF Communication Device 0031 In some instances it may be desirable to provide wireless communication of information to and or from a medical device 10 100 For instance such information may relate to characteristics of medical device 10 100 operation of medical device 10 100 the surgical environment of medical device 10 100 and or other information Such information may be stored and or may be presented to the user of medical device 10 100 such that the user may receive feedback in real time Various examples of ways in which such wireless communication may be provided and implemented will be discussed in greater detail below while additional examples will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art in vi
18. ce 330 and external device 340 are in cellular communication an intermediate cellular tower and or other communication points may be used to transmit infor mation between communication device 330 and external device 340 In yet other merely exemplary versions it will be appreciated that communication device 330 and external device 340 may be in communication through a hardware connection such as a USB or Ethernet cable 0040 III Exemplary Memory Unit 0041 FIG 4 depicts an exemplary surgical instrument 400 having a handle assembly 410 and a working end 420 which may comprise for example a transmission US 2012 0116381 AI assembly with an end effector Surgical instrument 400 further comprises a control unit 480 and a memory unit 430 It will be appreciated that surgical instrument 400 may be constructed according to or similar to the teachings regarding surgical instrument medical device 10 100 0042 Memory unit 430 may comprise a fixed memory or a removable memory in communication with control unit 480 Memory unit 430 may comprise a flash memory card that may be removable or fixed In some versions where memory unit 430 is fixed in relation to handle assembly 410 it will be appreciated that handle assembly 410 may include a port for wired and or wireless communication with memory unit 430 The present example comprises a remov able memory plugged into a memory slot 432 Control unit
19. ence herein BACKGROUND 0002 In some settings endoscopic surgical instruments may be preferred over traditional open surgical instruments since a smaller incision may reduce the post operative recov ery time and complications Consequently some endoscopic surgical instruments may be suitable for placement of a distal end effector at a desired surgical site through a cannula of a trocar These distal end effectors may engage tissue in a number of ways to achieve a diagnostic or therapeutic effect e g endocutter grasper cutter stapler clip applier access device drug gene therapy delivery device and energy deliv ery device using ultrasound RF laser etc Endoscopic sur gical instruments may include a shaft between the end effec tor and a handle portion which is manipulated by the clinician Such a shaft may enable insertion to a desired depth and rotation about the longitudinal axis of the shaft thereby facilitating positioning of the end effector within the patient 0003 Examples of endoscopic surgical instruments include those disclosed in U S Pat Pub No 2006 0079874 entitled Tissue Pad Use with an Ultrasonic Surgical Instru ment published Apr 13 2006 the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein U S Pat Pub No 2007 0191713 entitled Ultrasonic Device for Cutting and Coagu lating published Aug 16 2007 the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein U S Pat Pub
20. ent to slot 938 For example light 940 may light up red in the event that battery 924 attached to slot 938 is empty of charge Slot 938 may light up yellow if battery 924 attached to slot 938 is cur rently charging and slot 938 may light up green if battery 924 is fully charged Other suitable configurations will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the teachings herein For example rather than different color lights 940 numerical indicators or any other suitable indi cators may be used to indicate the relative charge states of battery 924 and or other information relating to battery 924 0055 Lid 914 covering battery compartment 922 com prises a hinged lid attached to the rear of battery compartment 922 Furthermore lid 922 is constructed of a translucent or transparent material such that the user may see into recharging container 912 as batteries 924 are being charged By viewing batteries 924 through lid 922 the US 2012 0116381 AI user can ascertain the charge states of batteries 924 without opening recharging container 912 While the present example comprises a hinged lid for lid 914 it will be appre ciated that other configurations for lid 914 may be used such as a snap top lid a sliding cover etc or any other suitable variation as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the teachings herein 0056 The front of recharging contai
21. et other versions user controls 748 are operable to set the operating mode of surgical instrument 500 which may include selecting between a cutting mode and a coagulation mode Power level meter 746 in the present example com prises a series of numerical indicators corresponding to a particular power level of surgical instrument 500 operable to inform the user of the current power level of surgical instrument 500 While the present example uses numerical indicators for power level meter 746 it will be appreciated that any suitable indicator may be used as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the teachings herein For example power level meter 746 may comprise a bar meter a circular meter or any other suitable indicator 0046 0047 FIGS 8 10 depict an exemplary charger unit 810 for use in conjunction with a surgical instrument 800 and a laparoscope monitor 820 In the present example charger unit 810 comprises a body 822 a clamp portion 814 a plug 812 a display 816 and a communication module 818 Body 822 which can be seen in FIG 9 from the front of body 822 has a rectangular shape but it will be appre ciated that any suitable shape for body 822 may be used as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the teachings herein Clamp portion 814 shown in FIG 10 through a side view of body 822 comprises a pair of jaws biased toward each ot
22. ew of the teachings herein It should be under stood that the below teachings may be readily incorporated with medical device 10 100 and with the instruments taught in the various references cited herein 0032 FIG 3 depicts an exemplary surgical instrument 300 having a handle assembly 310 connected to a trans mission assembly 320 Surgical instrument 300 further comprises a communication device 330 positioned in the present example within handle assembly 310 Surgical instrument 300 is further in communication with an external device 340 through communication device 330 In the exemplary versions surgical instrument 300 is in commu nication with external device 340 through RF communica tion but any suitable communication means may be used as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the teachings herein For example Bluetooth communica tion Wi Fi or any other suitable communication may be used It will also be appreciated that a software handshake may be used to verify that surgical instrument 300 and external device 340 are authorized to communicate with each other and or to register surgical instrument 300 with May 10 2012 external device 340 In some other exemplary versions surgical instrument 300 and external device 340 are oper able to establish communication with each other based pri marily on proximity such that surgical instrument 300 sim ply attempts to con
23. f example only such function may include cauterizing tissue ablating tissue severing tissue ultrasoni cally vibrating stapling tissue or any other desired task for medical device 10 End effector 16 may thus include an active feature such as an ultrasonic blade a pair of clamping jaws a sharp knife a staple driving assembly a monopolar RF electrode a pair of bipolar RF electrodes a thermal heat ing element and or various other components End effector 16 may also be removable from medical device 10 for servicing testing replacement or any other purpose as will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the teachings herein In some versions end effector 16 is modu lar such that medical device 10 may be used with different kinds of end effectors e g as taught in U S Provisional Application Ser No 61 410 603 etc Various other configu rations of end effector 16 may be provided for a variety of different functions depending upon the purpose of medical device 10 as will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art in view of the teachings herein Similarly other types of components of a medical device 10 that may receive power May 10 2012 from power source 14 will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art in view of the teachings herein 0025 Medical device 10 of the present example includes a trigger 18 and a sensor 20 though it should be under stood that suc
24. g 812 or plug 812 is not coupled with a wall outlet charger unit 810 may run on one or more batteries in charger unit 810 Such batteries may be the same batteries used to power sur gical instrument 800 or a dedicated backup battery In ver sions where charger unit 810 has a dedicated backup bat tery such a backup battery may also be used to recharge one or more batteries from surgical instrument 800 As another variation of charger unit 810 having a dedicated backup battery charger unit 810 may simply run on the backup battery without also charging a battery from surgical instru ment when charger unit 810 is not coupled with plug 812 or when plug 812 is not coupled with a wall outlet Other suitable schemes will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art in view of the teachings herein 0049 Communication module 818 is operable to com municate wirelessly with surgical instrument 800 As a result communication module 818 is operable to send and receive data from surgical instrument 800 which may include various diagnostic readings from surgical instrument 800 Charger unit 810 is then operable to output informa tion from surgical instrument 800 to display 816 Display 816 may comprise an LCD screen operable to show diag nostic information and or information regarding the opera tion of surgical instrument 800 Display 816 may output statuses regarding surgical instrument 800 alarm
25. h as the iPhone or any other suitable mobile devices 0035 Insome versions communication device 330 is in one way communication with external device 340 such that information is transferred only from communication device 330 of surgical instrument 300 to external device 340 For example in the event that any errors occur during the use of surgical instrument 300 an error code may be sent wire lessly from surgical instrument 300 to external device 340 Furthermore any other relevant diagnostic information may US 2012 0116381 AI be sent from surgical instrument 300 to external device 340 as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the teachings herein Once an error code is sent to external device 340 external device 340 may output the error code to video output 370 for user to read the error code In some versions a corresponding explanation for the error code may also be output Furthermore console 350 may be operable to output an audible warning The audible warning could comprise a generic warning for any error that occurs or in other exemplary versions audible warning may comprise a specific sound corresponding to a particular warning such that the user may be able to tell what error if any has occurred by simply listening to the warning Video output 370 may further be operable to output a full diagnostic report regarding the various components of surgical instru ment 300
26. h components are merely optional Trigger 18 is coupled to control module 12 and power source 14 by electrical connection 22 Trigger 18 may be configured to selectively provide power from power source 14 to end effector 16 and or to some other component of medical device 10 to activate medical device 10 when performing a procedure Sensor 20 is also coupled to control module 12 by an electrical connection 22 and may be configured to provide a variety of information to control module 12 dur ing a procedure By way of example only such configurations may include sensing a temperature at end effector 16 or determining the oscillation rate of end effector 16 Data from sensor 20 may be processed by control module 12 to effect the delivery of power to end effector 16 e g in a feedback loop etc Various other configurations of sensor 20 may be provided depending upon the purpose of medical device 10 as will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art in view of the teachings herein Of course as with other components described herein medical device 10 may have more than one sensor 20 or sensor 20 may simply be omitted if desired 0026 FIG 2 depicts a merely exemplary form that medi cal device 10 may take In particular FIG 2 shows a medi cal device 100 comprising a power source 110 a control module 120 a housing 130 end effector 140 and an electrical connection 150
27. her such that clamp portion 814 is operable to grasp laparoscope monitor 820 Clamp portion 814 may be operable to grasp any suitable surface or mem ber as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the teachings herein Plug 812 is operable to connect charger unit 810 to a wall outlet and draw power from the outlet to recharge rechargeable batteries contained within charger unit 810 In the present example plug 812 is operable to fold into a recess formed within body 822 However it will be appreciated that plug 812 may be fixed without being able to fold inward 0048 In some versions charger unit 810 is operable to removably receive and recharge one or more batteries that are used to power surgical instrument 800 For instance one V Exemplary Battery Pack with Charger Unit US 2012 0116381 AI rechargeable battery may be used in surgical instrument 800 while another rechargeable battery is charged held in charger unit 810 Once the battery in surgical instrument 800 is depleted it may be replaced with the fully charged battery from charger unit 810 and charger unit 810 may begin recharging the depleted battery Since rechargeable batteries are stored within charger unit 810 it will be appreciated that the rechargeable batteries may be used to power the electrical functions of charger unit 810 as well For instance in set tings where charger unit 810 is not coupled with plu
28. instrument 900 falls below a threshold thereby alerting the user to replace battery 924 It will be appreciated that any information sent from surgical instrument 900 may also be output to generator 932 to display on generator panel 912 and or for other processing by generator 932 It will be appreciated that generator 932 may be used to show information regarding surgical instru ment 900 as if generator 932 were directly connected to surgical instrument 900 0062 When battery 924 is ready for use FIG 12 shows battery 924 being dropped into handle assembly 928 of surgical instrument 900 by opening battery door 930 and dropping in battery 924 In some exemplary versions bat tery 924 may have an asymmetrical shape with handle assembly 928 having a complementary shape such that battery 924 can only be dropped into handle assembly 928 in one orientation Battery 924 may be handled appropri ately by for example a technician or surgeon with sterile hands such that replacing battery 924 does not compromise US 2012 0116381 AI the sterility of handle assembly 928 FIG 13 shows battery door 930 being shut and surgical instrument 900 being ready for use 0063 Itshould be appreciated that any patent publication or other disclosure material in whole or in part that is said to be incorporated by reference herein is incorporated herein only to the extent that the incorporated material does n
29. itude at various power levels of surgical instrument 300 and or the pattern of power pro vided to surgical instrument 300 may be determined based on the procedure selected by the user 0038 In some versions software firmware revisions for surgical instrument 300 may be sent to surgical instrument 300 which are operable to modify various functionalities of surgical instrument 300 For example when external device 340 is in communication with surgical instrument 300 through communication device 330 surgical instrument 300 may send firmware software version information to external device 340 External device 340 which may be in communication with a computer or a remote site via the Internet may then check whether the firmware version of surgical instrument 300 is the most updated version If a newer firmware software version exists then external device 340 may automatically send the updated software to surgi cal instrument 300 In the alternative external device 340 may send instructions prompting a user to confirm intent to receive a software update prior to sending updated software to surgical instrument 300 It will be appreciated that such software may be delivered to control unit 380 for imple mentation or to any other suitable component Some other merely exemplary versions may include instructions trans mitted to control unit 380 from external device 340 oper able to enable and disable functio
30. ll become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description which is by way of illustration one of the best modes contemplated for carrying out the invention As will be realized the invention is capable of other different and obvious aspects all without departing from the invention For example while various US 2012 0116381 AI Accordingly the drawings and descriptions should be regarded as illustrative in nature and not restrictive 0021 It will be appreciated that the terms proximal and distal are used herein with reference to a clinician gripping a handpiece assembly Thus an end effector is distal with respect to the more proximal handpiece assembly It will be further appreciated that for convenience and clarity spatial terms such as top and bottom also are used herein with respect to the clinician gripping the handpiece assembly However surgical instruments are used in many orientations and positions and these terms are not intended to be limiting and absolute 0022 I Medical Devices for Use with Insertable or Reclaimable Components 0023 FIG 1 shows components of an exemplary medical device and or surgical instrument 10 in diagrammatic block form As shown medical device 10 comprises a control module 12 a power source 14 and an end effector 16 Merely exemplary power sources 14 may include NiMH batteries Li ion batteries e g prismatic cell type lithium ion
31. nalities of surgical instru ment 300 For example the instructions may be operable to only allow surgical instrument 300 to be used a certain number of times Furthermore the instructions may prevent surgical instrument 300 from being used outside of particu lar hours Other suitable variations of enabling and disabling components will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the teachings herein In some versions external device 340 may be operable to send automated diagnostic and or troubleshooting commands to surgical instrument 300 For example the user may press a key on external device 340 operable to send directions to surgical instru ment 300 where the user may walk through a set of pre defined instructions and or routines to enable the user to diagnose and or troubleshoot any issues with surgical instru ment 300 0039 While the present example contemplates RF com munication between communication device 330 and exter nal device 340 it will be appreciated that any suitable method of communication between communication device 330 and external device 340 may be used Furthermore it is contemplated that communication device 330 and exter nal device 340 may be located remotely in relation to each other with communication device 330 and external device 340 being in cellular communication or some other form of substantially remote communication In versions where com munication devi
32. nect to nearby devices such as external device 340 For instance communication device 330 may periodically and or continuously broadcast a signal until external device 340 responds Conversely external device 340 may broadcast until a communication device 330 responds 0033 Communication device 330 of surgical instrument 300 is in communication with a control unit 380 which may comprise a microprocessor or any other suitable com puting chip as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the teachings herein It will be appreciated that control unit 380 is in communication with many or all of the working components of surgical instrument 900 through the use of sensors operable to measure parameters associated with the functionality operation of surgical instrument 900 As a result control unit 380 is operable to monitor the operation of surgical instrument 900 and record various diagnostic readings of surgical instrument 900 The diag nostic readings may be communicated to communication device 330 and or in some versions as will be discussed in further detail below to a memory card for storage In addition to diagnostic information it will be appreciated that identifi cation information of surgical instrument 300 may be recorded Furthermore information regarding operation of surgical instrument 300 may be recorded as well For example after a use of surgical instrument 300 co
33. ner 912 comprises a display panel 936 operable to provide various information to the user including battery 924 charge levels Other exem plary information may include displaying the total number of batteries 924 in battery compartment 922 as well as an on off status of recharging container 912 Any other suitable information may be displayed on panel 936 as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the teachings herein Display panel 936 may be used in addition to or in lieu of lights 940 0057 Recharging container 912 is coupled with genera tor 932 via a communication cable 918 which is plugged into a universal port 939 of generator 932 Communica tion cable 918 is operable to deliver power as well as opera tion instructions from generator 932 to recharging container 912 Communication cable 918 may also transmit data from recharging container 912 to generator 932 In the present example cable 918 is selectively retractable within recharging container 912 In particular when retracted cable 918 may be pulled to extend from recharging con tainer 912 Recharging container 912 includes a retraction button 917 that may be pressed to retract extended cable 918 back into recharging container 912 A resilient mem ber may bias cable 918 to a retracted position Of course retractability of cable 918 is merely optional 0058 Generator 932 is coupled with a po
34. nt may be able to transmit information regarding the operation and or status of the ultrasonic and or RF based instrument which may be output entirely or in part to generator panel 920 By way of example only generator 932 and associated components may be configured in accordance with the teachings of U S Patent App Publ No 201 1 0087212 entitled Surgical Gen erator for Ultrasonic and Electrosurgical Devices published Apr 14 2011 the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein While the present example shows generator 932 it will be appreciated that in some versions generator 932 may be removed such that recharging station 912 is simply plugged directly into a wall 0061 Furthermore it is contemplated that recharging con tainer 912 may be in wireless communication with surgical instrument 900 such that surgical instrument 900 is oper able to transfer information to recharging container 912 regarding diagnostic and or status information of surgical instrument 900 or any other information as would be suit able to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the teachings herein For instance surgical instrument 900 may transmit information to recharging container 912 regarding the charge status of a battery 924 contained within surgical instrument 900 Recharging container 912 may provide an audio and or visual alert to the user when the charge level of the battery 924 in surgical
35. ntrol unit 380 may be operable to determine whether the operation was successful or not Other suitable pieces of information will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the teachings herein 0034 External device 340 comprises a console 350 having user controls 360 and video output 370 Video output 370 may comprise an LCD screen an LED LCD screen and or a touch screen or any other suitable screen operable to display information to the user as would be appar ent to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the teachings herein User controls 360 comprise tactile buttons alongside video output 370 but in some other exemplary versions user controls 360 may comprise soft keys embedded into video output 370 In some versions user controls 360 are incorporated into video output 370 in the form of a touch screen Other suitable components and configurations for user controls 360 will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the teachings herein User controls 360 are operable to change the display of video output 370 so as to display different information to video output 370 Further more user controls 360 may be operable to simply change the format of video output 370 to display the information in for example a different type face or different colors In some merely exemplary versions external device 340 may com prise software incorporated into a Smartphone suc
36. ody 642 an antenna 644 and a pedal 646 Antenna 644 is oper able to transmit signals to communication device 530 Body 642 comprises a stable housing for external control 640 which may include a weighted bottom such that pedal 646 may be depressed without creating instability in the overall external control 640 Actuation of pedal 646 is operable to send an instruction signal from external control 640 to sur gical instrument 500 For example depressing pedal 646 may change the power level speed on off state or any other attribute of surgical instrument 500 as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the teachings herein FIG 7 shows yet another exemplary form that external con trol 540 may take In particular FIG 7 depicts external control 740 having a body 742 with user controls 748 and power level meter 746 As with the exemplary version shown in FIG 6 external control 740 is operable to send instructions to surgical instrument 500 via antenna 744 Additionally antenna 744 of FIG 7 is operable to receive signals that may include information regarding power usage of surgical instrument 500 User controls 748 may com prise hardware buttons or soft keys on an LCD screen oper able to determine the instructions to be transmitted to surgical instrument 500 For example user controls 748 may be operable to set the power level of surgical instrument 500 In y
37. on with the at least one recharge able battery wherein the memory unit is operable to send and receive information to and from the external device May 10 2012 19 The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the external device is configured to be in wireless communication with the com munication device 20 A method of providing information to a user during a surgical procedure using an electrically powered surgical instrument a communication device contained within the surgical instrument and an external device in wireless com munication with the communication device the method com prising a using the surgical instrument in a surgical procedure b sending information from the surgical instrument to the communication device c transmitting information wirelessly from the commu nication device to the external device and d displaying information to the user with the external device
38. ot conflict with existing definitions statements or other disclo sure material set forth in this disclosure As such and to the extent necessary the disclosure as explicitly set forth herein supersedes any conflicting material incorporated herein by reference Any material or portion thereof that is said to be incorporated by reference herein but which conflicts with existing definitions statements or other disclosure material set forth herein will only be incorporated to the extent that no conflict arises between that incorporated material and the existing disclosure material 0064 Embodiments of the present invention have appli cation in conventional endoscopic and open surgical instru mentation as well as application in robotic assisted surgery For instance those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various teaching herein may be readily combined with various teachings of U S Pat No 6 783 524 entitled Robotic Surgical Tool with Ultrasound Cauterizing and Cut ting Instrument published Aug 31 2004 the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein 0065 Embodiments of the devices disclosed herein can be designed to be disposed of after a single use or they can be designed to be used multiple times Embodiments may in either or both cases be reconditioned for reuse after at least one use Reconditioning may include any combination of the steps of disassembly of the device followed by cleaning
39. rein the charger unit is configured to clamp onto a laparoscope monitor 12 The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the charger unit comprises an LCD display operable to display information associated with the surgical instrument 13 The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the external device comprises a foot pedal operable to control the surgical instru ment 14 The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the external device is configured to display a power meter operable to show the power level of the surgical instrument 15 The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the external device comprises a charging station US 2012 0116381 AI 16 An apparatus comprising a an electrically powered surgical instrument b a communication device positioned within the electri cally powered surgical instrument and c an external device operable to hold at least one recharge able battery wherein the external device is in commu nication with the communication device wherein the external device is configured to display information associated with the electrically powered surgical instru ment received from the communication device wherein the external device is configured to recharge the at least one rechargeable battery 17 The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the external device comprises a visual indicator operable to show the charge state of the at least one rechargeable battery 18 The apparatus of claim 16 further comprising a memory unit in communicati
40. s trouble shooting help and advice tissue feedback indicators infor mation related to the performance of surgical instrument 800 minimum and maximum values for battery and or sur gical instrument 800 power power activation information of charger unit 810 or surgical instrument 800 tissue thickness information cycle complete indicators blade heat information and or any other suitable pieces of information as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the teachings herein For example display 816 may be used to show the current power level of surgical instrument 800 or may be used to show a graphical representation of the internal operation of surgical instrument 800 such that the user may be able to use display 816 to monitor surgical instrument 800 during a surgical procedure Laparoscope monitor 820 may be operable to view the surgical site as the surgical procedure is taking place By attaching clamp por tion 814 of charger unit 810 to laparoscope monitor 820 it will be appreciated that the user may simultaneously watch a real time view of the surgical procedure while also moni toring diagnostic information regarding surgical instrument 800 on charger unit 810 0050 In some exemplary versions it will be appreciated that charger unit 810 may further comprise a gravity sensor operable to detect the orientation of charger unit 810 such that charger unit 810 may be held in ei
41. surgical instrument of FIG 5 0013 FIG 8 depicts a perspective view of an exemplary surgical instrument with a monitor and an exemplary charger unit 0014 FIG 9 depicts a front perspective view of the exem plary charger unit of FIG 8 0015 FIG 10 depicts a side view of the exemplary charger unit of FIG 8 0016 FIG 11 depicts a perspective view of an exemplary surgical instrument with an exemplary charging station 0017 FIG 12 depicts a rear perspective view of the sur gical instrument of FIG 11 with a battery door opened and 0018 FIG 13 depicts a rear perspective view of the sur gical instrument of FIG 11 with the battery door closed 0019 The drawings are not intended to be limiting in any way and it is contemplated that various embodiments of the invention may be carried out in a variety of other ways including those not necessarily depicted in the drawings The accompanying drawings incorporated in and forming a part of the specification illustrate several aspects of the present invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention it being understood however that this invention is not limited to the precise arrangements shown DETAILED DESCRIPTION 0020 The following description of certain examples of the invention should not be used to limit the scope of the present invention Other examples features aspects embodiments and advantages of the invention wi
42. ther a horizontal or a vertical orientation while maintaining a readable orientation for the user In yet other exemplary versions charger unit 810 may comprise a USB or other hardware ports operable to connect charger unit 810 to an external device to update May 10 2012 the software of charger unit 810 In other exemplary ver sions updated software may be transferred wirelessly to charger unit 810 to update the firmware or other software of charger unit 810 0051 VI Exemplary Wireless Power Station 0052 FIGS 11 13 show an exemplary surgical instrument 900 having a handle assembly 928 with a battery compart ment 926 operable to hold a rechargeable battery 924 It will be appreciated that surgical instrument 900 may be constructed in accordance with the above teachings relating to medical device 10 100 and or the teachings of any of the references cited herein FIG 11 shows surgical instrument 900 being used in a surgical procedure and in communica tion with a charging station 910 Charging station 910 comprises a recharging container 912 a generator 932 and a platform 934 In the present example recharging compartment 912 sits atop of generator 932 but any suit able configuration may be used For example recharging container 912 may be placed alongside generator 932 under generator 932 or may be incorporated into a single housing with generator 932 Other suitable configurations
43. wer source e g a wall outlet etc via a power cord 916 Power cord 916 is thus operable to deliver power to generator 932 to thereby deliver power to recharging container 912 to recharge batteries 924 Generator 932 comprises a gen erator panel 920 operable to show the status of generator 932 Universal port 939 is shown as accepting a connec tion from recharging container 912 via cable 918 though it should be understood that universal port 939 is also oper able to accept connections from ultrasonic surgical instru ments and RF electrosurgical instruments Generator 932 is thereby also operable to deliver power directly to ultrasonic surgical instruments and RF electrosurgical instruments For instance generator 932 may be compatible with any of the instruments taught in any of the references cited herein among other types of instruments Universal port 939 may comprise an RFID chip reader operable to read an RFID chip contained in a cable plug that is plugged into universal port 939 Thereafter generator 932 can determine the identity of the device plugged into universal port 939 and determine the appropriate instructions and or power parameters for properly operating the plugged in device Other suitable ways of identifying a device plugged into generator 932 may be used as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the teachings herein 0059 Insome versions recharging unit
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