Tourniquet Hazard Suppressor

A surgical tourniquet system having a hazard suppressor, comprising:

• Touchscreen user interface for displaying information visually to a user and including a touchscreen key adapted for actuation by the user to produce a user input signal;
• Tourniquet controller communicating with the touchscreen user interface through a hazard suppressor and further communicating with a cuff pressure regulator, wherein the cuff pressure regulator is connected pneumatically to a tourniquet cuff applied to a surgical patient;
• Power supply responsive to a power control signal for selectively supplying and interrupting electrical power to each of the touchscreen user interface, the tourniquet controller, the cuff pressure regulator, a hazard suppression alarm and a hazard suppressor, each requiring the supply of electrical power for operation;
• Hazard suppression alarm responsive to a hazard suppression signal and operable independently of the touchscreen user interface for producing a hazard suppression alarm perceptible to the user if the hazard suppression signal is produced;
• Power control key operable independently of the operation of the touchscreen user interface and located away from the touchscreen user interface, wherein the power control key detects an actuation by the user and produces a power control signal indicative of the actuation;
• and
• Hazard suppressor adapted for detecting a malfunction of the touchscreen user interface and responsive to the power control signal, wherein the hazard suppressor suppresses communication of the power control signal to the power supply when the malfunction is detected, and wherein the hazard suppressor further produces the hazard suppression signal when communication is suppressed.

A surgical tourniquet system having a hazard suppressor, comprising:

• Touchscreen user interface including a graphical display adapted for displaying information visually to a user, wherein the graphical display is further adapted to show a touchscreen key corresponding to a desired action of a tourniquet controller, and wherein the touchscreen user interface detects actuation of the touchscreen key by the user and produces a user input signal upon actuation;
• Tourniquet controller communicating with the touchscreen user interface through a hazard suppressor and further communicating with a cuff pressure regulator, wherein the cuff pressure regulator is connected pneumatically to a tourniquet cuff applied to a surgical patient;
• Cuff pressure transducer for sensing a level of pressure in the tourniquet cuff and for producing a cuff pressure signal indicative of the sensed level of pressure;
• Power supply responsive to a power control signal produced by a power control key for selectively supplying and interrupting electrical power to at least the touchscreen user interface, the tourniquet controller, the cuff pressure regulator, the cuff pressure transducer, a hazard suppression alarm and a hazard suppressor, each requiring the supply of electrical power for operation;
• Power control key for detecting an actuation by the user and for producing a power control signal indicative of the actuation;
• and
• Hazard suppressor operable by detecting a malfunction of the touchscreen user interface at a detection time when the level of pressure indicated by the cuff pressure signal is substantially greater than zero, and further operable upon detection of the malfunction at the detection time by suppressing communication of the user input signal to the tourniquet controller,
• suppressing communication of the power control signal to the power supply;
• and
• wherein the hazard suppressor includes override means enabling the user to override only the suppression of communication of the power control signal to the power supply after detection of the malfunction at the detection time.

A surgical tourniquet system having a hazard suppressor, comprising:

• Touchscreen user interface including a graphical display adapted for displaying information visually to a user, wherein the graphical display is further adapted to show a touchscreen key, wherein the touchscreen key is shown as an icon representing an action of a tourniquet controller within a predetermined touchscreen key perimeter defining a predetermined touchscreen key area at a selected position on the graphical display, and wherein the touchscreen user interface is operable for detecting actuation by sensing the presence of a touch of the user on a region of the graphical display, and wherein the touchscreen user interface is further operable for producing a user input signal indicative of the presence and the region of the touch;
• Tourniquet controller communicating with the touchscreen user interface through a hazard suppressor and further communicating with a cuff pressure regulator, wherein the cuff pressure regulator is connected pneumatically to a tourniquet cuff applied to a surgical patient;
• Cuff pressure transducer for sensing a level of pressure in the tourniquet cuff and for producing a cuff pressure signal indicative of the sensed level of pressure;
• and
• Hazard suppressor responsive to the user input signal indicative of the presence and region of the touch and adapted for producing a user hazard suppression signal if at least a portion of the region of the touch is located outside the predetermined touchscreen key perimeter, and wherein the hazard suppressor is further adapted for suppressing communication of the user input signal to the tourniquet controller if the user hazard suppression signal is produced at a time when the level of pressure indicated by the cuff pressure signal differs substantially from a reference level.

A surgical tourniquet system having a hazard suppressor, comprising:

• Touchscreen user interface including a graphical display adapted for displaying information visually to a user wherein the graphical display is further adapted to show first and second touchscreen keys,
• wherein the first touchscreen key is shown as a first icon within a predetermined touchscreen key perimeter defining a predetermined touchscreen key area at a selected position on the graphical display,
• wherein the second touchscreen key is shown as a second icon within a second predetermined touchscreen key perimeter defining a second predetermined touchscreen key area at a second selected position on the graphical display, and
• wherein the touchscreen user interface is operable for detecting actuation by sensing the presence of a touch of the user on a plurality of regions of the graphical display, and wherein the touchscreen user interface is further operable for producing a user input signal indicative of the presence and the plurality of regions of the touch;
• Tourniquet controller communicating with the touchscreen user interface through a hazard suppressor and further communicating with a cuff pressure regulator, wherein the cuff pressure regulator is connected pneumatically to a tourniquet cuff applied to a surgical patient;
• Cuff pressure transducer for sensing a level of pressure in the tourniquet cuff and for producing a cuff pressure signal indicative of the sensed level of pressure;
• and
• Hazard suppressor adapted for communicating the user input signal to the tourniquet controller if the presence of the touch is sensed entirely within the first and second touchscreen key perimeters simultaneously at a time when the level of pressure indicated by the cuff pressure signal differs substantially from zero, wherein the hazard suppressor is further adapted for suppressing communication of the user input signal to the tourniquet controller and for producing a user hazard suppression signal if a region of the touch is sensed outside the first and second touchscreen key perimeters at the time.