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AssigneeEthicon, Inc.
InventorsDaniel W. Price, Sora Rhee, Cory G. Kimball, Timothy G. Dietz, Ashvani K. Madan, Donna L. Korvick, Jeffrey D. Messerly, William E. Clem, Jacqueline C. Aronhalt, William D. Dannaher, John B. Schulte, Danius P. Silkaitis, Stephen J. Balek, Michael R. Lamping
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A surgical instrument comprises a body assembly and an end effector. The body assembly includes a control module, an orientation sensor communicatively coupled to the control module, and an energy component. The energy component is operable to activate the end effector at a plurality of energy settings. A storage device is communicatively coupled to the control module and includes a plurality of gesture profiles and corresponding energy settings. The control module is configured to set the energy setting of the energy component to a corresponding energy setting in response to a correlation between the output of the orientation sensor and a gesture profile. In some versions, the control module modifies the energy setting based upon output from a force sensor that measures the force on the end effector. The control module may also decrease the energy setting in response to an anomalous acceleration or deceleration detected by an accelerometer.
An apparatus comprising:
A method for controlling a surgical instrument comprising a body assembly, an end effector, a force sensor operable to detect a force applied to the end effector, an orientation sensor, a storage device, and a control module, wherein the body assembly comprises an ultrasonic transducer and an interface in communication with the control module, wherein the ultrasonic transducer is capable of operating at a plurality of energy settings, wherein each energy setting in the plurality of energy settings comprises one or both of a frequency or an amplitude of vibrational waves generated by the ultrasonic transducer, wherein the control module is operable to set an energy setting for the ultrasonic transducer, wherein the orientation sensor and the force sensor are communicatively coupled to the control module, wherein the end effector is coupled to the ultrasonic transducer, wherein the storage device comprises a plurality of configuration data sets, wherein each configuration data set comprises a plurality of gesture profiles and a plurality of corresponding energy settings, wherein each gesture profile of the plurality of gesture profiles is associated with a corresponding energy setting of the plurality of energy settings, wherein the control module is configured to receive data from the orientation sensor and the force sensor, the method comprising the steps of:
An apparatus comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.