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US 9,226,766 B2Granted
Serial communication protocol for medical device
AssigneeEthicon Endo-Surgery, Inc.
InventorsJeffrey L. Aldridge, John K. Moriarty, Stephen T. Janesch, Matthew R. Drzewiecki, Ryan J. Thompson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus is disclosed. The apparatus includes a circuit configured to transmit a signal as a serial protocol over a pair of electrical conductors. The serial protocol is defined as a series of pulses distributed over at least one transmission frame. At least one pulse in the transmission frame is simultaneously encoded by modulating an amplitude of the pulse to represent one of two first logic states and modulating a width of the pulse to represent one of two second logic states. An instrument and a generator also are disclosed.
Claims22
An apparatus, comprising:
- a generator circuit configured to transmit a signal as a serial protocol over a first electrical conductor of a pair of electrical conductors coupled to a control circuit of a medical instrument, wherein the serial protocol is defined as a series of pulses distributed over at least one transmission frame, the series of pulses comprising at least one information pulse simultaneously encoded by modulating an amplitude of the at least one information pulse to represent an input state of the control circuit and modulating a width of the at least one information pulse to represent a desired output state of the control circuit, wherein the input state of the control circuit is representative of respective states of a plurality of switching devices electrically coupled to the control circuit, and wherein the generator circuit is further configured to read a short circuit applied to an end of the pair of electrical conductors coupled to the control circuit to initiate the at least one transmission frame and initiate a loop calibration by measuring an impedance of the loop for the at least one transmission frame.
An instrument, comprising:
- a generator circuit configured to transmit a signal as a serial protocol over an electrical conductor coupled to a control circuit of the instrument, wherein the serial protocol is defined as a series of pulses distributed over at least one transmission frame, the series of pulses comprising at least one information pulse simultaneously encoded by modulating an amplitude of the at least one information pulse to represent an input state of the control circuit and modulating a width of the at least one information pulse to represent a desired output state of portion of the control circuit, wherein the input state of the control circuit is representative of respective states of a plurality of switching devices electrically coupled to the control circuit, wherein the generator circuit is further configured to read a short circuit applied to an end of a pair of electrical conductors coupled to the control circuit to initiate the at least one transmission frame and initiate a loop calibration by measuring an impedance of the loop for the at least one transmission frame;
- an output device coupled to an output portion of the control circuit;
- and
- an input device coupled to an input portion of the control circuit.
1 more element
A generator, comprising:
- a conditioning circuit electrically coupled to an instrument by a pair of electrical conductors, wherein the instrument comprises a control circuit configured to transmit a signal as a serial protocol over a first electrical conductor of the pair of electrical conductors, wherein the serial protocol is defined as a series of pulses distributed over at least one transmission frame, the series of pulses comprising at least one information pulse simultaneously encoded by modulating an amplitude of the at least one information pulse to represent an input state of the control circuit and modulating a width of the at least one information pulse to represent a desired output state of the control circuit, wherein the generator is configured to read a short circuit applied to an end of the pair of electrical conductors coupled to the control circuit to initiate the at least one transmission frame and initiate a loop calibration by measuring an impedance of the loop for the at least one transmission frame;
- and
- an energy circuit configured to drive the instrument.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.