Surgical instrument having recording capabilities
AssigneeEthicon Endo-Surgery, Inc.
InventorsFrederick E. Shelton, IV, John N. Ouwerkerk, Eugene L. Timperman
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A surgical instrument. The surgical instrument has an end effector and a trigger in communication with the end effector. The surgical instrument also has a first sensor and an externally accessible memory device in communication with the first sensor. The first sensor has an output that represents a first condition of either the trigger or the end effector. The memory device is configured to record the output of the first sensor. In various embodiments, memory device may include an output port and/or a removable storage medium.
Claims21
A surgical instrument comprising:
- an end effector to engage tissue, the end effector comprising a staple channel and an anvil pivotably translatable relative to the staple channel, wherein at least one of the anvil and the staple channel define a longitudinal channel;
- a reciprocating knife positioned to slide distally through the longitudinal channel when the anvil is pivoted to a position substantially parallel to the staple channel;
- an actuation device operably communicating with said end effector;
- a first sensor having an output representing a first condition of the actuation device;
- a second sensor having an output representing a position of the anvil;
- a third sensor having an output representing a position of the reciprocating knife;
- and
- an externally accessible memory device in communication with the first, second and third sensors, wherein the memory device is configured to record the output of the first, second and third sensors.
A surgical instrument comprising:
- an end effector to engage tissue, the end effector comprising a staple channel and an anvil pivotably translatable relative to the staple channel, wherein at least one of the anvil and the staple channel define a longitudinal channel;
- a reciprocating knife positioned to slide distally through the longitudinal channel when the anvil is pivoted to a position substantially parallel to the staple channel;
- an actuation device in communication with the end effector;
- a first sensor mounted on the end effector and having an output representing a condition of the anvil;
- a second sensor mounted on the end effector and having an output representing a condition of the reciprocating knife;
- and
- a memory device in communication with the first sensor and the second sensor, wherein the memory device is configured to record the output of the first sensor and the output of the second sensor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.