Synchronous data communication
AssigneeIntuitive Surgical Operations, Inc.
InventorsMichael B. Druke, Christopher J. Jacques
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A data packet is provided that includes a synchronization field and an acknowledgement field indicative of an acknowledgement of receipt of a prior data packet. The data packet also includes a response field that includes information indicative of a system fault, a header field, and a sequence number field that includes a number assigned to the data packet. The data packet further includes a data field, an end of packet field, and an error-checking field. Methods and computer program products are provided that, in some implementations, include retransmitting packets if the acknowledgement field in a received data packet is a no acknowledgement (NAK) and/or placing a node into a safe state in response to a fault signal that is included in the received data packet.
Claims15
A method comprising:
- transmitting a first data packet from a first node of a robotic surgical system to a second node of the robotic surgical system, the first data packet including a fault indication that a fault exists in the robotic surgical system;
- receiving the first data packet including the fault indication at the second node;
- placing the second node into a safe state of the second node in response to receiving the fault indication, wherein placing the second node into the safe state of the second node includes locking a position of a first robotic arm joint in the robotic surgical system without software intervention;
- transmitting a second data packet from the second node to a third node of the robotic surgical system in response to receiving the first data packet, the second data packet including the fault indication;
- receiving the second data packet including the fault indication at the third node;
- and
- placing the third node into a safe state of the third node in response to receiving the fault indication, wherein placing the third node into the safe state of the third node includes locking a position of a second robotic arm joint in the robotic surgical system without software intervention.
A robotic surgical system comprising:
- a first node;
- a second node;
- a third node;
- a first robotic arm joint;
- a second robotic arm joint;
- and
- fault reaction hardware;
- the first node being configured to transmit a first data packet to the second node, the first data packet including a fault indication that a fault condition exists in the robotic surgical system;
- the second node being configured to transmit a second data packet to the third node in response to receiving the first data packet, the second data packet including the fault indication;
- the fault reaction hardware being configured to place the second node into a safe state of the second node in response to receiving the fault indication and without software intervention, the safe state of the second node including a locked position of the first robotic arm joint;
- and
- the fault reaction hardware being further configured to place the third node into a safe state of the third node in response to receiving the fault indication and without software intervention, the safe state of the third node including a locked position of the second robotic arm joint.
A computer program product embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium, the computer program product comprising instructions operable to cause a programmable processor to perform the operations of:
- transmitting a first data packet from a first node of a robotic surgical system to a second node of the robotic surgical system, the first data packet including a fault indication that a fault exists in the robotic surgical system;
- receiving the first data packet including the fault indication at the second node;
- placing the second node into a safe state of the second node in response to receiving the fault indication, wherein placing the second node into the safe state of the second node includes locking a position of a first robotic arm joint in the robotic surgical system without software intervention;
- transmitting a second data packet from the second node to a third node of the robotic surgical system in response to receiving the first data packet, the second data packet including the fault indication;
- receiving the second data packet including the fault indication at the third node;
- and
- placing the third node into a safe state of the third node in response to receiving the fault indication, wherein placing the third node into the safe state of the third node includes locking a position of a second robotic arm joint in the robotic surgical system without software intervention.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.