System, method, and apparatus for refurbishment of robotic surgical arms

A method of refurbishing a robotic surgical arm, the robotic surgical arm comprising an interface for communicating between a control system and a robotic memory device for storing data associated with the robotic surgical arm that is associated with the robotic surgical arm, the interface is electrically connected through a single conductor to the memory device, the method comprising:

• disconnecting the single conductor into two conductors, a first conductor of the two conductors for communicating with the control system and a second conductor of the two conductors for communicating with the memory device;
• and
• inserting a circuit having a first interface connected to the first conductor and a second interface connected to the second conductor, the circuit recognizes at least one request from the first interface and the circuit respond directly to the at least one requests;
• the circuit forwarding at least one other request from the first interface to the second interface and the circuit forwarding a response from second interface back to the first interface;
• whereas a first one of the at least one request includes a request to read a usage counter from the robotic memory device and the circuit responds with a value from an internal usage counter, the internal usage counter associated with the circuit.

A device for extending the life of a robotic surgical arm, the robotic surgical arm comprising a single wire interface, the single wire interface is connected to an interface pin for communicating with a control system and the single wire interface is connected to a robotic memory device for storing data associated with the robotic surgical arm, the device for extending the life of the robotic surgical arm comprising:

• a circuit is connected to a single wire interface between the interface pin and the robotic memory device, the circuit having a logic array and memory, the logic array intercepts requests from the interface pin such that the logic array recognizes at least one of the requests and the logic array responds to the at least one of the requests by sending a response to the interface pin;
• and at least one other of the requests is received by the robotic memory device of which a response from the robotic memory device is sent by the robotic memory device to the interface pin;
• whereas the interface pin is for establishing an electrical interface to a control system;
• wherein the logic array includes memory for maintaining an internal usage counter;
• a first one of the at least one of the requests is a request to read the usage count from the robotic memory device;
• and whereas after the logic array recognizes the request to read the usage count, the logic array reads the internal usage counter and the logic array responds over the interface pin with a response that includes the internal usage counter that was read from the memory.