Clock interference cancellation for analog signal

Abstract

Systems and methods are described for generating a 3D navigation interface for a robotically-assisted medical procedure. The method may include: (i) receiving a 3D model representative of a volume of a patient; (ii) receiving 2D data representative of one or more 2D images corresponding to at least a portion of the volume of the patient; (iii) generating co-registered operation data relating the 3D model to the 2D data; (iv) generating a 3D navigation interface, including generating a display of at least a portion of the 3D model based on the co-registered operation data; and (v) causing a display device to display the 3D navigation interface to a user. The method may be implemented by a system including a head mounted device displaying the 3D navigation interface in an extended reality view.

Description

Intuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC CLOCK INTERFERENCE CANCELLATION FOR ANALOG SIGNALCROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims priority to and the benefit of the filing date of provisional U.S. Patent Application No. 63 / 748,248 entitled “CLOCK INTERFERENCE CANCELLATION FOR ANALOG SIGNAL,” filed on January 22, 2025. The entire contents of the provisional application are hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference.FIELD

[0002] Disclosed examples relate to cancelling clock interference in an analog sensor signal. In particular, the disclosed examples relate to systems and methods for providing an anti-clock signal alongside a sensor signal to cancel interference from a provided clock signal.BACKGROUND

[0003] A computer-assisted medical system allows a user to control one or more teleoperated medical instruments to perform a medical procedure on a patient. To this end, the computer-assisted medical system captures and displays imagery (e.g., of a surgical space) to the user. Such imagery may be captured by an imaging device coupled to an image processing system of the computer-assisted medical system. In particular, the imaging device may capture image data synchronized to a clock signal (e.g., on the rising and / or falling edges of the clock signal).

[0004] However, the clock signal may cause interference in the sensor signal when provided from the imaging device to an image processing system. This interference may be particularly pronounced in thin cables (such as those used in surgical equipment) where the clock signal wire and the sensor signal wire are in close proximity. Conventional techniques for mitigating the clock noise require larger hardware to support multiple cable bundles or use part of the image data buffer to perform software removal of the noise. However, such techniques are unsuitable for some devices (e.g., image probes, ultrasound probes, and / or other such devices for performing medical procedures, that should remain small) and / or impact the image data quality (e.g., by using the buffer to perform software removal of the noise).SUMMARY

[0005] The following presents a simplified summary of various examples described herein and is not intended to identify key or critical elements or to delineate the scope of the claims.Intuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC

[0006] In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to an apparatus including a sensing probe, including: a sensing device configured to generate a sensor signal; a cable coupled to the sensing device, the cable including a first wire, a second wire, and a third wire; and an anticlock processing circuitry coupled to the cable, the anti-clock processing circuitry being configured to: receive a clock signal; generate an anti-clock signal based on the clock signal, the anti-clock signal being out of phase with the clock signal; provide the clock signal to the second wire of the cable; and provide the anti-clock signal to the third wire of the cable, the anti-clock signal carried by the third wire offsetting interference, caused by the clock signal carried by the second wire, to the sensor signal carried by the first wire.

[0007] In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a system including: a processing circuitry configured to: generate a clock signal for controlling a sensing device; and receive a sensor signal via a first wire of a cable of the sensing device, the sensor signal generated by the sensing device; and an anti-clock processing circuitry configured to couple to the processing circuitry, the anti-clock processing circuitry configured to: generate an anti-clock signal based on the clock signal, the anti-clock signal being out of phase with the clock signal; provide the clock signal to a second wire of the cable; and provide the anti-clock signal to a third wire of the cable, the anti-clock signal carried by the third wire offsetting interference, caused by the clock signal carried by the second wire, to the sensor signal carried by the first wire.

[0008] In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a method including: generating, by processing circuitry, a clock signal for controlling a sensing device; receiving, by the processing circuitry, a sensor signal via a first wire of a cable of the sensing device, the sensor signal generated by the sensing device; generating, by the processing circuitry, an anti-clock signal based on the clock signal, the anti-clock signal being out of phase with the clock signal; providing, by the processing circuitry, the clock signal to a second wire of the cable; and providing, by the processing circuitry, the anti-clock signal to a third wire of the cable, the anti-clock signal carried by the third wire offsetting interference, caused by the clock signal carried by the second wire, to the sensor signal carried by the first wire.

[0009] It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are illustrative and explanatory in nature and are intended to provide an understanding of the present disclosure without limiting the scope of the present disclosure. In thatIntuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC regard, additional aspects, features, and advantages of the present disclosure will be apparent to one skilled in the art from the following detailed description.BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010] FIG. 1 depicts an illustrative configuration of an imaging device coupled to an image processing system of a computer-assisted medical system, such as that described below with regard to FIGS. 7-9B.

[0011] FIG. 2 depicts an illustrative configuration that may be similar to the configuration of FIG. 1, including an imaging device configured to capture images of a scene and coupled to an image processing system via a cable.

[0012] FIG. 3 depicts an example configuration of a processing system as described with regard to FIGS. 1 and / or 2.

[0013] FIGS. 4A-4E depict example configurations of wires within a cable for connecting processing circuitry to the imaging device of FIGS. 1-3.

[0014] FIG. 5A depicts an example diagram of a conventional cable.

[0015] FIG. 5B depicts an example diagram of a cable including an anti-clock wire as described herein with regard to at least FIGS. 4A-4E.

[0016] FIG. 5C depicts a circuit diagram illustrating example anti-clock processing circuitry, configured to generate an anti-clock signal and / or recondition a clock signal.

[0017] FIG. 6 depicts a flow diagram illustrating a method for providing an anti-clock signal through a cable to counteract a clock signal effect on a sensor signal.

[0018] FIG. 7 is a simplified diagram of a medical system in which techniques disclosed herein may be implemented, according to some examples.

[0019] FIG. 8A is a simplified diagram of a medical instrument system, including a flexible elongate device, which may be used in connection with the techniques disclosed herein, according to some examples.

[0020] FIG. 8B is a simplified diagram of a medical tool within the flexible elongate device of FIG. 8A, according to some examples.Intuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC

[0021] FIGS. 9A and 9B are simplified diagrams of side views of a patient coordinate space including a medical instrument mounted on an insertion assembly, according to some examples.

[0022] Examples of the present disclosure and their advantages are best understood by referring to the detailed description that follows. It should be appreciated that like reference numerals are used to identify like elements illustrated in one or more of the figures, wherein showings therein are for purposes of illustrating examples of the present disclosure and not for purposes of limiting the same.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] In the following description, specific details are set forth describing some examples consistent with the present disclosure. Numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the examples. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that some examples may be practiced without some or all of these specific details. The specific examples disclosed herein are meant to be illustrative but not limiting. One skilled in the art may realize other elements that, although not specifically described here, are within the scope and the spirit of this disclosure. In addition, to avoid unnecessary repetition, one or more features shown and described in association with one example may be incorporated into other examples unless specifically described otherwise or if the one or more features would make an example nonfunctional. In some instances, well known methods, procedures, components, and circuits have not been described in detail so as not to unnecessarily obscure aspects of the examples.

[0024] This disclosure describes a cable and processing circuitry disposed between a controller for an imaging device, such as a chip controlling a vision probe, and an image processing system communicatively coupled to the imaging device and configured to receive and / or process image data from the imaging device. As used herein, the term “cable” refers to a bundle of wires (or other signal-carrying conductors) that include a common start and / or end point (e.g., beginning from the processing circuitry and / or ending at the imaging device, or vice versa) except where explicitly noted otherwise. Each wire may carry a different signal between the start and end points of the cable. Depending on the implementation, the signals carried by the wires may be or include digital signals, analog signals, etc. As used herein, the term “sensor signal” refers to a signal from an imaging device or other such sensor, and may include image data, video data, and / or any other such sensor data from the imaging device or other such sensor.Intuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC

[0025] The systems and methods described herein may provide a number of improvements through the use of processing circuitry configured to generate an anti-clock signal and the use of a wire carrying the anti-clock signal within a cable. For example, by running an anti-clock signal through a cable that carries a signal from the imaging device, the anti-clock signal counteracts induced noise in the signal that is introduced by the clock signal that also runs through the cable. As such, the systems and methods described herein improve the signal to noise ratio (SNR) and overall operation of a system while maintaining an overall small footprint for system. In particular, in some implementations, the imaging device is a probe that enters an object and / or body (e.g., a patient body, an organ, a material sample, etc.). As such, the surface area, cross-sectional area, and / or volume of the probe should be kept small, removing options for conventional systems, such as adding additional cables, including greater distance between wires, using a differential signal to reduce interference (which would require a larger chip), etc. Moreover, because the sensor signal is bidirectional, the sensor signal cannot be effectively buffered to remove noise. As such, maintaining a small footprint for the device while eliminating or reducing noise provides an improvement to the system that is not sufficiently addressed by existing techniques.

[0026] Similarly, software solutions (e.g., subtracting a dark version of the image from the pixels to remove the columns of noise introduced by the clock signal into the image) require a loss of dynamic range for the imaging (e.g., because there needs to be space in the buffer for the additional image data), lowering the overall quality of the image data. Because the image data is often analyzed by computer vision algorithms that process the image data to, for example, determine characteristics of the scene, this loss of dynamic range can impact the ability of the computer vision algorithms to accurately determine these characteristics. The instant techniques remove or reduce the need for software techniques, reducing the buffer range needed for the image data and improving the overall image data quality.

[0027] Similarly, the systems and methods described herein may offer improvements by allowing rising and falling edge sampling (e.g., capturing image data at both the rising edge of the clock signal and the falling edge of the clock signal). Imaging devices that sample on both edges of the clock sample constructively, further compounding the noise introduced by the clock signal. By introducing the anti-clock signal, however, the instant systems and methods reduce the noise from sampling at both the rising and falling edge of the clock signal, thereby preventing the noise artifacts from compounding.Intuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC

[0028] Further, the introduction of the processing circuitry to generate the anti-clock signal functions to buffer the clock signal. For example, as the clock signal travels through a circuit board and / or through connectors to various components, there is impedance discontinuity that causes reflections in the clock signal, which is reflected in the sensor signal. By buffering the clock signal through the anti-clock signal generation process, the reflections are reduced and / or eliminated, further improving the sensor signal by removing the impedance discontinuity in the clock signal.

[0029] It will be understood that such improvements do not constitute an exhaustive list, and other improvements will be clear according to the various examples discussed herein.

[0030] FIG. 1 depicts an illustrative configuration 100 of an imaging device 102 coupled to an image processing system 104 of a robotic system 114 (e.g.. as part of a computer-assisted medical system, such as that described below with regard to FIGS. 7-9B). Image processing system 104 may include a processing system 106 and an imaging device interface 108. Imaging device interface 108 may allow image processing system 104 to be coupled to imaging device 102 by a cable 110. Depending on the implementation, the imaging device interface 108 may include and / or be communicatively coupled to anti-clock circuitry 105. The cable 110 may extend from the anticlock circuitry 105 in addition to and / or in place of the image processing system 104. Imaging device 102 may be configured to capture images of a scene 112. Depending on the implementation, the anti-clock circuitry 105 may be included in the instrument 113, the robotic system 114, and / or as a separate component between the two.

[0031] Scene 112 may include any environment and / or elements of an environment that may be imaged by imaging device 102. For example, scene 112 may include a tangible real-world scene of physical elements, hi certain illustrative examples, scene 112 is associated with a medical procedure such as a surgical procedure. For example, scene 112 may include an area on or within a body of a patient, such as a work site on which a medical procedure is being performed and / or one or more lumens through which the imaging device 102 traverses on the way to the work site. While the instant description generally provides examples for internal imaging of the subject, similar techniques may be applied to imaging devices 102 that have external views of the medical procedure (e.g., those with fields of view that depict an operating room). A medical procedure may include any activity conducted on a patient, such as minimally-invasive surgical procedures, open surgical procedures, non-surgical procedures, diagnostic procedures, therapeutic procedures,Intuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC procedures in clinical, non-clinical, and / or training settings, etc. A medical procedure may include any activities associated with preparing for, performing, and finalizing the medical procedure, such as pre-procedure activities, intra-procedure activities, and / or post-procedure activities. While such an example is further described herein, one or more principles described herein may be applied to other suitable scenes in other implementations.

[0032] Imaging device 102 may include any imaging device configured to capture images (e.g., images constituting frames of a video stream, still images, etc.) of scene 112. For example, imaging device 102 may include an endoscopic imaging device, a video imaging device, an infrared imaging device, a multispectral imaging device, a visible light imaging device, a non-visible light imaging device, an intensity imaging device (e.g., color, grayscale, black and white imaging devices), a depth imaging device (e.g., stereoscopic imaging devices, time-of-flight imaging devices, infrared imaging devices, etc.), an ultrasound imaging device, a fluoroscopic imaging device, any other imaging device, or any combination or sub-combination of such imaging devices. In some implementations, the imaging device 102 may be, include, or be part of a vision probe with a camera and / or other such image capture device disposed at the tip of the probe. As such, the camera may be small (e.g., 1mm by 1mm by 1mm, 1mm by 1mm by 3mm, 2mm by 1mm by 3mm, etc.) and may be coupled to the cable 110 such that the cable is thin with a minimal quantity of wires, shielding, etc. Depending on the implementation, the imaging device 102 may sample (e.g., capture pixels of an image) at a rising edge of a clock signal, at a falling edge of the clock signal, at both the rising and falling edge of the clock signal, etc.

[0033] In some implementations, imaging device 102 may include an endoscope configured to capture images within a body of a patient. In some examples, imaging device 102 may be in a lumen of an elongate flexible instrument 113 and removable from the lumen. In some examples, imaging device 102 may be integrated with an elongate flexible instrument 113. As imaging device 102 captures images within the body, cable 110 may have a sufficient length to keep imaging device 102 connected to image processing system 104 as imaging device 102 traverses areas within the body of the patient (e.g., 0.5 meters, 1 meter, 1.7 meters, or any other suitable length). In some instances, imaging device 102 may be configured to transmit and / or relay analog signals representative of captured image data along cable 110. The transmission of the analog signals along the length of cable 110 may result in noise added to the captured image data, such as column fixed pattern noise (CFPN).Intuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC

[0034] Notably, the imaging device 102 may receive and / or transmit a clock signal via a wire of the cable 110, which may introduce noise onto the wire carrying the analog image data within the cable 110 (e.g., as described below with regard to FIGS. 4A-5C). As minimizing the cross-sectional area and volume of the cable 110 is beneficial for at least the reasons described above, introducing an additional cable isolated from the clock signal may be resource-intensive, costly, or otherwise difficult to implement. Instead, the configuration 100 includes anti-clock circuitry 105, configured to introduce an anti-clock signal to counteract the effects of the clock signal. In some implementations, the anti-clock circuitry 105 generates an anti-clock signal that is out-of-phase with the clock signal, such that there is destructive interference between the anti-clock signal and the clock signal on the sensor signal wire. As such, any effect that the clock signal induces onto the analog signal carrying the image / video data from the imaging device 102 is largely counteracted by the anti-clock signal. Depending on the implementation, the anti-clock signal is 180 degrees out-of-phase with the clock signal, about 180 degrees out-of-phase, near 180 degrees out-of-phase (e.g., 145-225 degrees out-of-phase), between 90 and 180 degrees out-of-phase. etc. In further implementations, the processing circuitry disposed and configured to generate the anticlock signal additionally reconditions (e.g., buffers) the clock signal, reducing variance and / or noise caused by reflections at various component interfaces in the system. The effect of the clock signal and / or anti-clock signal on the analog signal as well as the configuration of the anti-clock circuitry may be discussed in more detail below with regard to FIGS. 4A-5C.

[0035] In some implementations, the anti-clock signal is provided via a wire (e.g., as shown below with regard to FIGS. 4A-5C) in cable 110 that connects from the anti-clock circuitry 105 to the imaging device 102. Depending on the implementation, the wire carrying the anti-clock signal connects to ground, or otherwise does not connect to a port and / or terminal in the imaging device 102. As such, the imaging device 102 is able to retain a smaller size (e.g., without the need for additional port(s)) while largely maintaining the benefits described herein (e.g., the benefits of reducing noise (e.g., little to no noise) from the anti-clock signal traveling through the cable 110). In further implementations, the imaging device 102 includes a capacitor or other load balancing component at a terminal that mimics a load induced by the clock signal to which the anti-clock signal is provided to further mitigate imbalanced loading.

[0036] It will be understood that the imaging device 102 as described herein is exemplary, and that other sensor devices may be envisioned. For example, in further implementations, the imagingIntuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC device 102 is an electromagnetic interference (EMT) sensor and / or ultrasound imaging device. The anti-clock signal may similarly be provided to reduce and / or eliminate noise in the pulsing signals, EMI sensor signal, etc.

[0037] In some implementations, the disclosed techniques may be imperfect (e.g.. due to disconnects and / or difficulty in symmetrically arranging a clock signal and / or anti-clock signal in a cable), so additional techniques for determining a noise pattern may be used. For example, processing system 106 may be further configured to determine a noise pattern using a pseudo dark frame image captured by imaging device 102. The pseudo dark frame image may be an image of an environment of imaging device 102 (e.g., scene 112), as opposed to an image with a lens of imaging device 102 completely covered. The processing system 106 may remove the pseudo dark frame from the image to correct for CFPN and improve the overall noise.

[0038] Based on the noise pattern, image processing system 104 may be configured to process additional images captured by imaging device 102. For example, image processing system 104 may subtract the noise pattern to correct for the CFPN added by the coupling of imaging device 102 and image processing system 104 via cable 110. As a result, images output by image processing system 104 (e.g., to a user of the computer-assisted medical system that includes image processing system 104) may more accurately depict the additional images as captured by imaging device 102 than conventional systems.

[0039] Image processing system 104 may include any suitable processors configured to process image data representative of images, such as images captured by imaging device 102. Processing system 106 may include any suitable processors configured to perform various operations associated with reducing noise in images, as described herein. Examples of suitable processors, image processing system 104, and processing system 106 are further described herein. While configuration 100 shows processing system 106 as a component of image processing system 104, in some examples, image processing system 104 and processing system 106 may be a same system. In other examples, processing system 106 may be a separate system from image processing system 104.

[0040] FIG. 2 shows an illustrative configuration 200 that may be similar to configuration 100, including imaging device 102 configured to capture images of scene 112 and coupled to image processing system 104 via cable 110. In configuration 200, however, processing system 106 mayIntuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC be a separate system proximal to image processing system 104 and communicatively coupled to image processing system 104 and / or imaging device 102.

[0041] Depending on the implementation, the configuration 200 may include anti-clock circuitry 105 A disposed similarly to the configuration 100, anti-clock circuitry 105B disposed between the processing system 106 and the image processing system 104, both anti-clock circuitry 105 A and 105B, and / or other configurations not shown (e.g., between the processing system 106 and the imaging device 102 in implementations in which the imaging device is communicatively coupled directly to the processing system 106).

[0042] In such a configuration, processing system 106 may direct imaging device 102 to capture image data (e.g., including a pseudo dark frame image) via image processing system 104 and / or directly if communicatively coupled to imaging device 102. Processing system 106 may be configured to determine a noise and transmit the noise pattern to image processing system 104 for processing additional images captured by image processing system 104. Processing system 106 may transmit the noise pattern to image processing system 104 in any suitable manner.

[0043] It will be understood that, although FIG. 2 depicts the anti-clock circuitry 105B between the processing system 106 and the image processing system 104, the anti-clock circuitry 105B may be disposed between a remainder of the image processing system 104 and the imaging device 102 while being part of the robotic system 114. In further implementations, the anti-clock circuitry 105 A may be included in the instrument 113 in place of and / or in addition to the anti-clock circuitry 105B in the robotic system 114. It will be understood that similar arrangements may be possible with regard to FIG. 1 as described above.

[0044] FIG. 3 illustrates an example configuration of processing system 106. For example, processing system 106 may be a controller located at a proximal end of a computer-assisted system. Processing system 106 may include, without limitation, a storage facility 302 and a processing facility 304 selectively and communicatively coupled to one another. Facilities 302 and 304 may each include or be implemented by one or more physical computing devices including hardware and / or software components such as processors, memories, storage drives, communication interfaces, instructions stored in memory for execution by the processors, and so forth. Although facilities 302 and 304 are shown to be separate facilities in FIG. 3, facilities 302 and 304 may be combined into fewer facilities, such as into a single facility, or divided into more facilities as mayIntuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC serve a particular implementation. In some examples, each of facilities 302 and 304 may be distributed between multiple devices and / or multiple locations as may serve a particular implementation.

[0045] Storage facility 302 may maintain (e.g., store) executable data used by processing facility 304 to perform any of the functionality described herein. For example, storage facility 302 may store instructions 306 that may be executed by processing facility 304 to perform one or more of the operations described herein. Instructions 306 may be implemented by any suitable application, software, code, and / or other executable data instance. Storage facility 302 may also maintain any data received, generated, managed, used, and / or transmitted by processing facility 304.

[0046] Processing facility 304 may be configured to perform (e.g., execute instructions 306 stored in storage facility 302 to perform) various operations associated with capturing image data and / or reducing noise in images for a computer-assisted medical system. In the description that follows, any references to functions performed by a processing system (e.g., processing system 106) may be understood to be performed by processing facility 304 based on instructions 306 stored in storage facility 302.

[0047] FIGS. 4A-4E depict example configurations of wires within a cable 400. In each of the examples of FIGS. 4A-4E, the respective cable 400 (e.g., cables 400A-400E) include at least a power wire 402, a clock wire 404, an anti-clock wire 406, a sensor signal wire 408, and a ground wire 410. It will be understood that, as used herein, a particular cable or wire (e.g., cable 400A, 400B, etc.) may be referred to as a collective and / or in general using the reference numeral without the corresponding letter (e.g.. cable 400 rather than cable 400A). Additionally, it will be understood that listing and / or describing all potential configurations of the wires within a cable to implement the techniques as described herein would be prohibitive, and that FIGS. 4A-4E are exemplary only. As such, additional configurations are envisioned and the techniques described herein should not be limited to the configurations described with regard to FIGS. 4A-4E.

[0048] In the example of FIG. 4A, the cable 400A includes a plurality of wires contained within a cable jacket 414A. The center of the cable 400A includes a sensor signal wire 408A, carrying a sensor signal and surrounded by a shield 412A. The cable 400 A additionally includes a power wire 402A, carrying a VCC power signal, and at least one ground wire 410A to function as a powerIntuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC drain. Additionally, the cable 400A includes a clock wire 404A, carrying a clock signal. As described herein, the clock signal carried by the clock wire 404A can induce an effect on the sensor signal earned by sensor signal wire 408A, causing blurry or otherwise unclear images to be delivered from an image probe (e.g., of FIG. 1), particularly over longer distances, during which the clock signal may have a greater impact on the sensor signal over time (e.g., as described below with regard to FIG. 5A). As such, the cable 400A also includes an anti-clock wire 406A, carrying an anti-clock signal to counteract the inducted effects of the clock signal on the sensor signal. In some implementations, the anti-clock signal is out of phase with the clock signal to interfere with the clock signal effect destructively. Depending on the implementations, the anti-clock signal may be 180 degrees out of phase with the clock signal (e.g., total destructive interference), within a small range of 180 degrees out of phase (e.g., near total destructive interference), between 90 and 180 degrees out of phase, etc.

[0049] In some embodiments, the sensor signal wire 408A is or includes a coaxial cable element. In some such embodiments, the sensor signal wire 408A may include a conductor 420A, an insulator 421 A, and a shield 412A. Depending on the embodiment, the conductor 420 A may be a center conductor (e.g., a conductor running through the center of the insulator 421A). In some embodiments, the conductor 420A may be a single- stranded conductor (e.g., a single and / or solid strand of wire), a multi- stranded wire (e.g., multiple strands of wire threaded together), and / or any other such arrangement. In further embodiments, the shield 412A may be a conductive outer shield. For example, depending on the embodiment, the shield 412A may be or include a serve-shield (e.g., a shield consisting of multiple small wires wrapped around the insulator 421A), a foil wrap shield, and / or any other such shield. In some embodiments, the insulator 421 A may maintain consistent clearance such that the capacitance per unit length between conductive elements 420A and 412A can achieve a characteristic impedance sufficient for high speed communication with minimal signal distortion.

[0050] In further embodiments, at least some of the power wire 402A, clock wire 404A, and / or anti-clock wire 406A are insulated conductors. In some such implementations, the power wire 402A, clock wire 404A, and / or anti-clock wire 406A may include a conductor 430A that is electrically isolated from other elements in the cable 400A by the insulator 431 A. Depending on the implementation, the conductor 430A and / or insulator 431 A may be similar to the conductor 420A and / or insulator 421 A, respectively. In some implementations, the power wire 402A, clockIntuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC wire 404A, and / or anti-clock wire 406A may be or include a magnet wire, including a center conductor 430A and a thin polymer insulator 431 A.

[0051] Depending on the implementation, such wires with an internal conductor 420A surrounded by an insulator 421 A of controlled thickness and electrical properties, and further surrounded with a shield 412A, may be referred to as a “coaxial wire” or “coax wire.” Depending on the implementation, the center conductor may be single or multiply stranded. The shield 412 A may include a wrapped foil or multiple individual wires wrapped and / or braided around the insulator 421 A.

[0052] In further implementations, wires including a center conductor 430A and insulator 431 A without a shield are insulated conductors. In some such implementations, if the insulator 431 A includes a thin enameled coating, vinyl coating, and / or other such similar coating, such wires may also be referred to as “magnet wires,” “enameled wires,” or “magnet connections.”

[0053] In the example embodiment of FIG. 4A, the clock wire 404A and the anti-clock wire 406 A are physically and capacitively symmetrical (e.g.. equidistant) from the sensor signal wire 408A, ensuring an equal effect from each signal on the sensor signal to largely cancel each other out. Similarly, in the example embodiment of FIG. 4A, the clock wire 404A and the anti-clock wire 406A are capacitively symmetrical (i.e., due to the ground wires being capacitively invisible to the system) and nearly physically symmetrical from the power wire 402A to prevent interference with regard to such by either signal. In further implementations, the clock wire 404A, anti-clock wire 406A, and / or the sensor signal wire 408A (or the power wire 402A) are made from and / or different insulator materials to make the system capacitively symmetrical while not being physically symmetrical, hi some implementations, the symmetrical arrangement from the power wire 402A reduces the noise in the power signal, and subsequently reduces the power supply reject ratio (PSRR) from the chip that converts the sensor signal, improving the ability of the chip to buffer the sensor signal.

[0054] Referring next to FIG. 4B, the cable 400B similarly includes a plurality of wires contained within a cable jacket 414B, surrounding a shield 412B that in turn surrounds a sensor signal wire 408B. Similar to the cable 400A, the cable 400B includes a power wire 402B, a clock wire 404B, and a ground wire 410B. Depending on the implementation, the anti-clock wire may be anti-clock wire 406B or anti-clock wire 407B. Notably, the positioning of anti-clock wire 406BIntuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC leaves the anti-clock wire 406B and the clock wire 404B capacitively equidistant to the power wire 402B, and the positioning of anti-clock wire 407B leaves the anti-clock wire 407B and the clock wire 404B closer to physically equidistant to the power wire 402B.

[0055] Referring next to FIG. 4C, the cable 400C is similar to the cable 400B, but includes additional wires for additional capabilities (e.g., providing control signals to lights and / or other accessories of the imaging probe). In some implementations, the cable 400A-C is and / or includes a single coaxial cable. In other implementations (e.g., with regard to FIGS. 4D and 4E below), additional coaxial cables may be used.

[0056] FIGS. 4D and 4E similarly illustrate other arrangements for cables 400D and 400E, respectively. In the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 4D, each of the power wire 402D, the clock wire 404D, the anti-clock wire 406D, and the sensor signal wire 408D include a conductor 403D and an insulator 405D disposed to keep the wires separate from each other and from the ground wire(s) 410D. Unlike cables 400A-400C, the shield 412D may include a number of wires surrounding the coaxial wires (e.g., wires 404D, 406D, and / or 408D). In some implementations, the shield 412D may comprise a number of ground wires 410D. Moreover, the cable 400D may be surrounded by a jacket 414D. Similarly, the cable 400E includes the power signal wire 402E, ground wire 410E, sensor signal wire 408E, the clock wire 404E, and the anti-clock wire 406E. The power wire 402E is disposed close to physically and capacitively equidistant between the clock wire 404E and the anti-clock wire 406E, as the clock wire 404E and the anti-clock wire 406E are a tightly coupled pair within a single clock control cable 416E, maintaining the symmetrical capacitance as described herein. Depending on the implementation, the clock wire 404E and / or the anti-clock wire 406E are twisted-pair magnet wires, twinax wires (e.g., coaxial wires / cables with two center conductors (e.g., SATA cables)), and / or any other such wire configuration as described herein. Similarly, the cable 400E may include a shield 4I2E surrounding the entire bundle of wires and / or a jacket 416E as described above.

[0057] In some implementations, the wires of the various cables 400 are magnet wires. In further implementations, the wires of the various cables 400 are coaxial wires and / or include coaxial wires (e.g., the sensor signal wire 408A-C is a single coaxial wire in FIGS. 4A-C). In further implementations, the cables 400 include additional wires that connect to other accessories and / or other elements of the imaging device (e.g., lights and / or LEDs, a return signal, aIntuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC cancellation signal, etc.). Tn some such implementations, the additional wires are configured to provide an analog signal to an element and do not introduce noise into the video signal. Similarly, the analog signal may be transmitted to a load matching a resistor associated with the anti-clock circuitry and / or the analog signal.

[0058] Referring next to FIGS. 5A and 5B, schematics illustrate example cables 500 carrying signals from an imaging probe (e.g., as described with regard to FIG. 1 above) to an image processing system and / or a processing system (e.g., as described with regard to FIGS. 1-3). Similar to FIGS. 4A-4E, the example cables 500 include a plurality of wires, including a power wire 502, a clock wire 504, a sensor signal wire 508 and a ground wire 510. FIG. 5 A depicts a conventional cable 500A and FIG. 5B depicts a version of the cable 500B that includes an anti-clock wire 506B.

[0059] Notably, in FIG. 5A, the clock signal 503 traveling through the clock wire 504A affects the sensor signal wire 508A, generating a noise pattern 507 in the signal traveling through the sensor signal wire 508. In the exemplary implementation of FIG. 5B, however, the cable 500B includes an anti-clock wire 506B. The anti-clock signal 505 traveling through the anti-clock wire 506B is out-of-phase with the clock signal 503 traveling through the clock wire 504B, and therefore destructively interferes with the impact of the clock signal 503 on the signal traveling through the sensor signal wire 508B, eliminating (or, in some implementations, reducing) the noise pattern in the signal from the image probe.

[0060] Referring next to FIG. 5C, a circuit diagram depicts example anti-clock processing circuitry 550 (e.g., similar to or the same as anti-clock circuitry 105 of FIGS. 1 and 2), configured to generate an anti-clock signal 505. In some implementations, the anti-clock processing circuitry 550 includes an anti-clock generation gate 525. The anti-clock generation gate 525 receives an input clock signal 501 and generates an anti-clock signal 505 using the input clock signal 501. In the exemplary implementation of FIG. 5C, the anti-clock generation gate 525 includes a XOR gate and additionally receives a power wire 502C as an input, causing the anti-clock generation gate 525 to generate a “1” value when the input clock signal 501 has a “0” value, and causing the anticlock generation gate 525 to generate a “0” value when the input clock signal 501 has a “1” value.

[0061] In some implementations, the anti-clock processing circuitry 550 further includes a clock reconditioning gate 520, which also receives the input clock signal 501 and generates a reconditioned clock signal 503. In some such implementations, the clock recondition gate 520Intuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC reconditions the input clock signal 501 using ground signal 501C, restoring the clock signal timing from any degradation or irregularities that may have occurred while traveling (e.g., due to induction, minor reflection at a connection interface, dispersion from frayed or damaged wires, etc.). Additionally, the clock reconditioning gate 520 may delay the input clock signal 501 such that the clock signal 503 and the anti-clock signal 505 are synchronously out-of-phase with one another (e.g.. about 180 degrees out-of-phase) and that the clock signal 503 phase does not change while the anti-clock generation gate 525 generates the anti-clock signal 505. As illustrated, the clock generation gate 520 may be or include a XOR gate, and may receive a ground wire 510C as an input alongside the input clock signal 501 so that the clock generation gate 520 generates the clock signal 503 with a value of “1” when the input clock signal 501 has a value of “1” and a value of “0” when the input clock signal 501 has a value of “0”.

[0062] In further implementations, the anti-clock processing circuitry 550 includes series and / or source termination resistor(s) (not shown) to prevent waves traveling at the source from reflecting back to the receiver. Depending on the implementation, the series and / or source termination resistor(s) may be disposed after at least one of the clock reconditioning gate 520 and / or the anti-clock reconditioning gate 525, before at least one of the clock reconditioning gate 520 and / or the anti-clock reconditioning gate 525, elsewhere within the anti-clock processing circuitry 550, and / or elsewhere within the imaging device 102 and / or image processing system 104.

[0063] It will be understood that the configuration of the anti-clock processing circuitry 550 as described above is exemplary, and that other configurations may be imagined. For example, each of the clock reconditioning gate 520 and the anti-clock generation gate 525 may be a combination of other gates (e.g., a combination of four NAND gates; a combination of two NOT gates, two AND gates, and an OR gate; an XNOR gate and a NOT gate; a XOR gate and a buffer gate: etc.). Similarly, the clock generation gate 520 and the anti-clock generation gate 525 may be XNOR gates with swapped inputs (e.g., the clock generation gate 520 includes the power wire 502C as an input and the anti-clock generation gate 525 includes the ground wire 510C as an input). As such, it will be understood that, except as explicitly stated herein, the subject matter should not be limited to just the configuration detailed in FIG. 5C.Intuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC

[0064] Referring next to FIG. 6, a flow diagram depicts a method 600 for providing an anticlock signal through a cable to counteract a clock signal effect on a sensor signal. Although the method 600 is described below with regard to cable 500 and anti-clock processing circuitry 550 and components thereof as illustrated in FIGS. 5A-5C, it will be understood that other similarly suitable devices and components may be used instead, including those shown in FIGS. 1-3, 4A-4C, 7-9B, etc.

[0065] In some implementations, the anti-clock processing circuitry 550 and / or the cable 500 are included in a sensing probe, which further comprises a sensing device configured to generate a sensor signal (e.g.. the sensor signal provided to the sensor signal wire(s) 508 A and / or 508B of FIGS. 5A and / or 5B). In further implementations, the anti-clock processing circuitry 550 and / or the cable 500 are included in a robotic system and / or are communicatively coupled to the sensing probe (e.g.. as described above with regard to FIGS. 1 and 2 above). In some implementations, the sensor signal includes sensor data corresponding with both rising and falling edges of the clock signal (e.g., data collected and / or transmitted by the sensing probe at the rising and falling edge of the clock signal, respectively).

[0066] Depending on the implementation, the sensing probe further includes a cable connector that comprises a housing in which the anti-clock processing circuitry 550 is at least partially housed and / or otherwise held. In further implementations, the cable 500 includes at least three wires: a first wire configured to carry the sensor signal, a second wire configured to carry a clock signal (e.g., the clock signal 503), and a third wire configured to carry an anti-clock signal (e.g., the anticlock signal 505). Depending on the implementation, the cable 500 may be varying lengths (e.g., 10 cm, 95 cm 1.45 m, etc.). In some such implementations, the cable 500 is approximately equal to or slightly less than 1 m (e.g., 95 cm) to reduce noise in the wire while allowing for sufficient flexibility for easy insertion into a subject (e.g., for a surgical procedure).

[0067] At block 602, the anti-clock processing circuitry 550 receives an input clock signal (e.g., input clock signal 501). In some implementations, the anti-clock processing circuitry 550 includes logical circuit components at which the anti-clock processing circuitry 550 receives the input clock signal. In some implementations, the anti-clock processing circuitry 550 includes at least a XOR logic gate, the input clock signal is one of the inputs to the XOR logic gate. In some such implementations, the anti-clock processing circuitry 550 further receives a constant signal (e.g., aIntuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC power signal) as the other input to generate the anti-clock signal (e.g., causing the anti-clock signal to be about 180 degrees out of phase with the clock signal). In further implementations, the anticlock processing circuitry 550 receives an offset signal from the clock signal to generate the anticlock signal. It will be understood that the XOR logic gate may be a configuration of other logic gates (e.g., AND logic gates, OR logic gates, NOT logic gates, NAND logic gates, NOR logic gates. XAND logic gates, etc.) arranged to function as a XOR logic gate rather than a discrete entity.

[0068] At block 604, the anti-clock processing circuitry 550 generates an anti-clock signal (e.g., the anti-clock signal 505). The anti-clock signal is out of phase with the clock signal, so as to cause destructive interference with the clock signal. In some implementations, the anti-clock signal is 180 degrees (e.g., with some range of error) out of phase with the clock signal (e.g., complete destructive interference), near 180 degrees out of phase (e.g., 135 degrees to 225 degrees out of phase) with the clock signal (e.g., near complete destructive interference), between 90 to 180 degrees out of phase with the clock signal, etc.

[0069] At block 606, the anti-clock processing circuitry 550 provides a clock signal (e.g., the clock signal 503) to a second wire (e.g., clock wire 504A and / or 504B) of a cable 500. In some implementations, the anti-clock processing circuitry 550 reconditions the received input clock signal prior to providing the clock signal to the second wire. As such, the anti-clock processing circuitry 550 functions as a buffer for the clock signal.

[0070] At block 608, the anti-clock processing circuitry 550 provides the anti-clock signal 505 to a third wire (e.g., anti-clock wire 506A and / or 506B) of a cable 500. In some implementations, the anti-clock signal offsets the interference caused by the clock signal to the sensor signal.

[0071] It will be understood that, although FIG. 6 is described above with regard to particular components, other components may perform some of the functionality described above as appropriate. For example, in some examples components of the image processing system 104 may perform some of the functionality described. Similarly, in further examples, other components not described with regard to FIGS. 1-5C may perform the functionality as described above.

[0072] FIGS. 7-9B depict diagrams of a medical system that may be used for manipulating a medical instrument including a vision probe according to any of the methods and systems described above, in some examples.Intuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC

[0073] FTG. 7 is a simplified diagram of a medical system 700 according to some examples. The medical system 700 may be suitable for use in, for example, surgical, diagnostic (e.g., biopsy), or therapeutic (e.g., ablation, electroporation, etc.) procedures. While some examples are provided herein with respect to such procedures, any reference to medical or surgical instruments and medical or surgical methods is non-limiting. The systems, instruments, and methods described herein may be used for animals, human cadavers, animal cadavers, portions of human or animal anatomy, non-surgical diagnosis, as well as for industrial systems, general or special purpose robotic systems, general or special purpose teleoperational systems, or robotic medical systems.

[0074] As shown in FIG. 7, medical system 700 may include a manipulator assembly 702 that controls the operation of a medical instrument 704 in performing various procedures on a patient P. Medical instrument 704 may extend into an internal site within the body of patient P via an opening in the body of patient P. In some implementations, medical instrument 704 may including an imaging device and / or other such probe (e.g., imaging device 102 of FIG. 1). The manipulator assembly 702 may be teleoperated, non-teleoperated, or a hybrid teleoperated and non-teleoperated assembly with one or more degrees of freedom of motion that may be motorized and / or one or more degrees of freedom of motion that may be non-motorized (e.g., manually operated). The manipulator assembly 702 may be mounted to and / or positioned near a patient table T. A master assembly 706 allows an operator O (e.g., a surgeon, a clinician, a physician, or other user) to control the manipulator assembly 702. In some examples, the master assembly 706 allows the operator O to view the procedural site or other graphical or informational displays. In some examples, the manipulator assembly 702 may be excluded from the medical system 700 and the instrument 704 may be controlled directly by the operator O. In some examples, the manipulator assembly 702 may be manually controlled by the operator O. Direct operator control may include various handles and operator interfaces for hand-held operation of the instrument 704.

[0075] The master assembly 706 may be located at a surgeon’s console which is in proximity to (e.g., in the same room as) a patient table T on which patient P is located, such as at the side of the patient table T. In some examples, the master assembly 706 is remote from the patient table T, such as in in a different room or a different building from the patient table T. The master assembly 706 may include one or more control devices for controlling the manipulator assembly 702. The control devices may include any number of a variety of input devices, such as joysticks, trackballs, scroll wheels, directional pads, buttons, data gloves, trigger-guns, hand-operated controllers, voiceIntuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC recognition devices, motion or presence sensors, and / or the like. In some examples, the master assembly 706 may be or include an image processing system (e.g., image processing system 104 of FIG. 1), including and / or communicatively coupled to a display such as an extended reality (XR) device, such as a virtual reality (VR) device, an augmented reality (AR) device, a mixed reality (MR) device, or any other such device as described herein.

[0076] The manipulator assembly 702 supports the medical instrument 704 and may include a kinematic structure of links that provide a set-up structure. The links may include one or more non-servo controlled links (e.g., one or more links that may be manually positioned and locked in place) and / or one or more servo controlled links (e.g., one or more links that may be controlled in response to commands, such as from a control system 712). The manipulator assembly 702 may include a plurality of actuators (e.g., motors) that drive inputs on the medical instrument 704 in response to commands, such as from the control system 712. The actuators may include drive systems that move the medical instrument 704 in various ways when coupled to the medical instrument 704. For example, one or more actuators may advance medical instrument 704 into a naturally or surgically created anatomic orifice. Actuators may control articulation of the medical instrument 704, such as by moving the distal end (or any other portion) of medical instrument 704 in multiple degrees of freedom. These degrees of freedom may include three degrees of linear motion (e.g., linear motion along the X, Y, Z Cartesian axes) and in three degrees of rotational motion (e.g., rotation about the X, Y, Z Cartesian axes). One or more actuators may control rotation of the medical instrument about a longitudinal axis. Actuators can also be used to move an articulable end effector of medical instrument 704, such as for grasping tissue in the jaws of a biopsy device and / or the like, or may be used to move or otherwise control tools (e.g., imaging tools, ablation tools, biopsy tools, electroporation tools, etc.) that are inserted within the medical instrument 704. Depending on the example, the manipulator assembly 702 may include or be an image processing system as described in more detail above with regard to FIGS. 1-3. Similarly, the medical instrument 704 may be or include elements of an imaging device and may be at least partially coupled to the image processing system via a cable as described above with regard to FIGS. 1-6.

[0077] The medical system 700 may include a sensor system 708 with one or more sub-systems for receiving information about the manipulator assembly 702 and / or the medical instrument 704. Such sub-systems may include a position sensor system (e.g., that uses electromagnetic (EM)Intuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC sensors or other types of sensors that detect position or location); a shape sensor system for determining the position, orientation, speed, velocity, pose, and / or shape of a distal end and / or of one or more segments along a flexible body of the medical instrument 704; an image processing system (e.g., using a color imaging device, an infrared imaging device, an ultrasound imaging device, an x-ray imaging device, a fluoroscopic imaging device, a computed tomography (CT) imaging device, a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) imaging device, or some other type of imaging device) for capturing images, such as from the distal end of medical instrument 704 or from some other location; and / or actuator position sensors such as resolvers, encoders, potentiometers, and the like that describe the rotation and / or orientation of the actuators controlling the medical instrument 704.

[0078] The medical system 700 may include a display system 710 for displaying an image or representation of the procedural site and the medical instrument 704. Display system 710 and master assembly 706 may be oriented so physician O can control medical instrument 704 and master assembly 706 with the perception of telepresence. In some examples, although the display system 710 and the master assembly 706 are depicted in FIG. 7 as separate blocks, both the display system 710 and the master assembly 706 may be part of the same device and / or operation control system.

[0079] In some examples, the medical instrument 704 may include a visualization system, which may include an image capture assembly that records a concurrent or real-time image of a procedural site and provides the image to the operator O through one or more displays of display system 710. The image capture assembly may include various types of imaging devices. The concurrent image may be, for example, a two-dimensional image or a three-dimensional image captured by an endoscope positioned within the anatomical procedural site. In some examples, the visualization system may include endoscopic components that may be integrally or removably coupled to medical instrument 704. Additionally or alternatively, a separate endoscope, attached to a separate manipulator assembly, may be used with medical instrument 704 to image the procedural site. The image capture assembly may be coupled to the display system 710 and / or master assembly 706 via a cable as described above with regard to FIGS. 4A-5C. The visualization system may be implemented as hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof which interact with or are otherwise executed by one or more computer processors, such as of the control system 712.Intuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC

[0080] Display system 710 may also display an image of the procedural site and medical instruments, which may be captured by the visualization system. In some examples, the medical system 700 provides a perception of telepresence to the operator O. For example, images captured by an imaging device at a distal portion of the medical instrument 704 may be presented by the display system 710 to provide the perception of being at the distal portion of the medical instrument 704 to the operator O. The input to the master assembly 706 provided by the operator O may move the distal portion of the medical instrument 704 in a manner that corresponds with the nature of the input (e.g., distal tip turns right when a trackball is rolled to the right) and results in corresponding change to the perspective of the images captured by the imaging device at the distal portion of the medical instrument 704. As such, the perception of telepresence for the operator O is maintained as the medical instrument 704 is moved using the master assembly 706. The operator O can manipulate the medical instrument 704 and hand controls of the master assembly 706 as if viewing the workspace in substantially true presence, simulating the experience of an operator that is physically manipulating the medical instrument 704 from within the patient anatomy.

[0081] In some examples, the display system 710 may present virtual images of a procedural site that are created using image data recorded pre- operatively (e.g., prior to the procedure performed by the medical instrument system 800) or intra-operatively (e.g., concurrent with the procedure performed by the medical instrument system 800), such as image data created using computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography (PET), fluoroscopy, thermography, ultrasound, optical coherence tomography (OCT), thermal imaging, impedance imaging, laser imaging, nanotube X-ray imaging, and / or the like. The virtual images may include two-dimensional, three-dimensional, or higher-dimensional (e.g., including, for example, time based or velocity-based information) images. In some examples, one or more models are created from pre-operative or intra-operative image data sets and the virtual images are generated using the one or more models.

[0082] In some examples, for purposes of imaged guided medical procedures, display system 710 may display a virtual image that is generated based on tracking the location of medical instrument 704. For example, the tracked location of the medical instrument 704 may be registered (e.g., dynamically referenced) with the model generated using the pre-operative or intra-operative images, with different portions of the model correspond with different locations of the patient anatomy. As the medical instrument 704 moves through the patient anatomy, the registration isIntuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC used to determine portions of the model corresponding with the location and / or perspective of the medical instrument 704 and virtual images are generated using the determined portions of the model. This may be done to present the operator O with virtual images of the internal procedural site from viewpoints of medical instrument 704 that correspond with the tracked locations of the medical instrument 704.

[0083] The medical system 700 may also include the control system 712, which may include processing circuitry that implements the some or all of the methods or functionality discussed herein. The control system 712 may include at least one memory and at least one processor for controlling the operations of the manipulator assembly 702, the medical instrument 704, the master assembly 706, the sensor system 708, and / or the display system 710. Control system 712 may include instructions (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable medium storing the instructions) that when executed by the at least one processor, configures the one or more processors to implement some or all of the methods or functionality discussed herein. While the control system 712 is shown as a single block in FIG. 7, the control system 712 may include two or more separate data processing circuits with one portion of the processing being performed at the manipulator assembly 702, another portion of the processing being performed at the master assembly 706, and / or the like. In some examples, the control system 712 may include other types of processing circuitry, such as application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and / or field-programmable gate array (FPGAs). The control system 712 may be implemented using hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof.

[0084] In some examples, the control system 712 may receive feedback from the medical instrument 704, such as force and / or torque feedback. Responsive to the feedback, the control system 712 may transmit signals to the master assembly 706. In some examples, the control system 712 may transmit signals instructing one or more actuators of the manipulator assembly 702 to move the medical instrument 704. In some examples, the control system 712 may transmit informational displays regarding the feedback to the display system 710 for presentation or perform other types of actions based on the feedback.

[0085] The control system 712 may include a virtual visualization system to provide navigation assistance to operator O when controlling the medical instrument 704 during an image-guided medical procedure. Virtual navigation using the virtual visualization system may be based uponIntuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC an acquired pre-operative or intra-operative dataset of anatomic passageways of the patient P. The control system 712 or a separate computing device may convert the recorded images, using programmed instructions alone or in combination with operator inputs, into a model of the patient anatomy. The model may include a segmented two-dimensional or three-dimensional composite representation of a partial or an entire anatomic organ or anatomic region. An image data set may be associated with the composite representation. The virtual visualization system may obtain sensor data from the sensor system 708 that is used to compute an (e.g., approximate) location of the medical instrument 704 with respect to the anatomy of patient P. The sensor system 708 may be used to register and display the medical instrument 704 together with the pre- operatively or intra- operatively recorded images. For example, PCT Publication WO 2016 / 191298 (published December 1, 2016, and titled “Systems and Methods of Registration for Image Guided Surgery”), which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, discloses example systems.

[0086] During a virtual navigation procedure, the sensor system 708 may be used to compute the (e.g., approximate) location of the medical instrument 704 with respect to the anatomy of patient P. The location can be used to produce both macro-level (e.g., external) tracking images of the anatomy of patient P and virtual internal images of the anatomy of patient P. The system may include one or more electromagnetic (EM) sensors, fiber optic sensors, and / or other sensors to register and display a medical instrument together with pre- operatively recorded medical images. For example, U.S. Patent No. 8,900,131 (filed May 13, 2011, and titled “Medical System Providing Dynamic Registration of a Model of an Anatomic Structure for Image-Guided Surgery”), which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, discloses example systems.

[0087] Medical system 700 may further include operations and support systems (not shown) such as illumination systems, steering control systems, irrigation systems, and / or suction systems. In some examples, the medical system 700 may include more than one manipulator assembly and / or more than one master assembly. The exact number of manipulator assemblies may depend on the medical procedure and space constraints within the procedural room, among other factors. Multiple master assemblies may be co-located, or they may be positioned in separate locations. Multiple master assemblies may allow more than one operator to control one or more manipulator assemblies in various combinations.Intuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC

[0088] FTG. 8 A is a simplified diagram of a medical instrument system 800 according to some examples. The medical instrument system 800 includes a flexible elongate device 802 (also referred to as elongate device 802), a drive unit 804, and a medical tool 826 that collectively is an example of a medical instrument 704 of a medical system 700. The medical system 700 may be a teleoperated system, a non-teleoperated system, or a hybrid teleoperated and non-teleoperated system, as explained with reference to FIG. 7. A visualization system 831, tracking system 830, and navigation system 832 are also shown in FIG. 8A and are example components of the control system 712 of the medical system 700. In some examples, the medical instrument system 800 may be used for non-teleoperational exploratory procedures or in procedures involving traditional manually operated medical instruments, such as endoscopy. The medical instrument system 800 may be used to gather (e.g., measure) a set of data points corresponding to locations within anatomic passageways of a patient, such as patient P.

[0089] The elongate device 802 is coupled to the drive unit 804. The elongate device 802 includes a channel 821 through which the medical tool 826 may be inserted. The elongate device 802 navigates within patient anatomy to deliver the medical tool 826 to a procedural site. The elongate device 802 includes a flexible body 816 having a proximal end 817 and a distal end 818. In some examples, the flexible body 816 may have an approximately 3 mm outer diameter. Other flexible body outer diameters may be larger or smaller.

[0090] Medical instrument system 800 may include the tracking system 830 for determining the position, orientation, speed, velocity, pose, and / or shape of the flexible body 816 at the distal end 818 and / or of one or more segments 824 along flexible body 816, as will be described in further detail below. The tracking system 830 may include one or more sensors and / or imaging devices. The flexible body 816, such as the length between the distal end 818 and the proximal end 817, may include multiple segments 824. The tracking system 830 may be implemented using hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof. In some examples, the tracking system 830 is part of control system 712 shown in FIG. 7.

[0091] Tracking system 830 may track the distal end 818 and / or one or more of the segments 824 of the flexible body 816 using a shape sensor 822. The shape sensor 822 may include an optical fiber aligned with the flexible body 816 (e.g., provided within an interior channel of the flexibly body 816 or mounted externally along the flexible body 816). In some examples, the optical fiberIntuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC may have a diameter of approximately 800 pm. Tn other examples, the diameter may be larger or smaller. The optical fiber of the shape sensor 822 may form a fiber optic bend sensor for determining the shape of flexible body 816. Optical fibers including Fiber Bragg Gratings (FBGs) may be used to provide strain measurements in structures in one or more dimensions. Various systems and methods for monitoring the shape and relative position of an optical fiber in three dimensions, which may be applicable in some examples, are described in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006 / 0013523 (filed July 13, 2005 and titled “Fiber optic position and shape sensing device and method relating thereto”); U.S. Patent No. 7,772,541 (filed on March 12, 2008 and titled “Fiber Optic Position and / or Shape Sensing Based on Rayleigh Scatter”); and U.S. Patent No. 8,773,650 (filed on Sept. 2, 2010 and titled “Optical Position and / or Shape Sensing”), which are all incorporated by reference herein in their entireties. Sensors in some examples may employ other suitable strain sensing techniques, such as Rayleigh scattering, Raman scattering, Brillouin scattering, and Fluorescence scattering.

[0092] In some examples, the shape of the flexible body 816 may be determined using other techniques. For example, a history of the position and / or pose of the distal end 818 of the flexible body 816 can be used to reconstruct the shape of flexible body 816 over an interval of time (e.g., as the flexible body 816 is advanced or retracted within a patient anatomy). In some examples, the tracking system 830 may alternatively and / or additionally track the distal end 818 of the flexible body 816 using a position sensor system 820. Position sensor system 820 may be a component of an EM sensor system with the position sensor system 820 including one or more position sensors. Although the position sensor system 820 is shown as being near the distal end 818 of the flexible body 816 to track the distal end 818, the number and location of the position sensors of the position sensor system 820 may vary to track different regions along the flexible body 816. In one example, the position sensors include conductive coils that may be subjected to an externally generated electromagnetic field. Each coil of position sensor system 820 may produce an induced electrical signal having characteristics that depend on the position and orientation of the coil relative to the externally generated electromagnetic field. The position sensor system 820 may measure one or more position coordinates and / or one or more orientation angles associated with one or more portions of flexible body 816. In some examples, the position sensor system 820 may be configured and positioned to measure six degrees of freedom, e.g., three position coordinates X, Y, Z and three orientation angles indicating pitch, yaw, and roll of a base point. In some examples, theIntuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC position sensor system 820 may be configured and positioned to measure five degrees of freedom, e.g., three position coordinates X, Y, Z and two orientation angles indicating pitch and yaw of a base point. Further description of a position sensor system, which may be applicable in some examples, is provided in U.S. Patent No. 6,380,732 (filed August 11, 1999 and titled “Six-Degree of Freedom Tracking System Having a Passive Transponder on the Object Being Tracked”), which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

[0093] In some examples, the tracking system 830 may alternately and / or additionally rely on a collection of pose, position, and / or orientation data stored for a point of an elongate device 802 and / or medical tool 826 captured during one or more cycles of alternating motion, such as breathing. This stored data may be used to develop shape information about the flexible body 816. In some examples, a series of position sensors (not shown), such as EM sensors like the sensors in position sensor system 820 or some other type of position sensors may be positioned along the flexible body 816 and used for shape sensing. In some examples, a history of data from one or more of these position sensors taken during a procedure may be used to represent the shape of elongate device 802, particularly if an anatomic passageway is generally static.

[0094] FIG. 8B is a simplified diagram of the medical tool 826 within the elongate device 802 according to some examples. The flexible body 816 of the elongate device 802 may include the channel 821 sized and shaped to receive the medical tool 826. In some examples, the medical tool 826 may be used for procedures such as diagnostics, imaging, surgery, biopsy, ablation, illumination, irrigation, suction, electroporation, etc. Medical tool 826 can be deployed through channel 821 of flexible body 816 and operated at a procedural site within the anatomy. Medical tool 826 may be, for example, an image capture probe (e.g., imaging device 102 of FIG. 1), a biopsy tool (e.g.. a needle, grasper, brush, etc.), an ablation tool (e.g., a laser ablation tool, radio frequency (RF) ablation tool, cryoablation tool, thermal ablation tool, heated liquid ablation tool, etc.), an electroporation tool, and / or another surgical, diagnostic, or therapeutic tool. In some examples, the medical tool 826 may include an end effector having a single working member such as a scalpel, a blunt blade, an optical fiber, an electrode, and / or the like. Other end types of end effectors may include, for example, forceps, graspers, scissors, staplers, clip appliers, and / or the like. Other end effectors may further include electrically activated end effectors such as electro surgical electrodes, transducers, sensors, and / or the like.Intuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC

[0095] The medical tool 826 may be or include a biopsy tool used to remove sample tissue or a sampling of cells from a target anatomic location. In some examples, the biopsy tool is a flexible needle. The biopsy tool may further include a sheath that can surround the flexible needle to protect the needle and interior surface of the channel 821 when the biopsy tool is within the channel 821. The medical tool 826 may be an image capture probe that includes a distal portion with a stereoscopic or monoscopic camera that may be placed at or near the distal end 818 of flexible body 816 for capturing images (e.g., still or video images). The captured images may be processed by the visualization system 831 for display and / or provided to the tracking system 830 to support tracking of the distal end 818 of the flexible body 816 and / or one or more of the segments 824 of the flexible body 816. The image capture probe may include a cable including a clock and anticlock signal (e.g., as described above with regard to FIGS. 4A-5C for transmitting the captured image data that is coupled to an imaging device at the distal portion of the image capture probe. In some examples, the image capture probe may include a fiber-optic bundle, such as a fiberscope, that couples to a more proximal imaging device of the visualization system 831. The image capture probe may be single- spectral or multi- spectral, for example, capturing image data in one or more of the visible, near-infrared, infrared, and / or ultraviolet spectrums. The image capture probe may also include one or more light emitters that provide illumination to facilitate image capture. In some examples, the image capture probe may use ultrasound, x-ray, fluoroscopy, CT, MRI, or other types of imaging technology.

[0096] In some examples, the image capture probe is inserted within the flexible body 816 of the elongate device 802 to facilitate visual navigation of the elongate device 802 to a procedural site and then is replaced within the flexible body 816 with another type of medical tool 826 that performs the procedure. In some examples, the image capture probe may be within the flexible body 816 of the elongate device 802 along with another type of medical tool 826 to facilitate simultaneous image capture and tissue intervention, such as within the same channel 821 or in separate channels. A medical tool 826 may be advanced from the opening of the channel 821 to perform the procedure (or some other functionality) and then retracted back into the channel 821 when the procedure is complete. The medical tool 826 may be removed from the proximal end 817 of the flexible body 816 or from another optional instrument port (not shown) along flexible body 816.Intuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC

[0097] In some examples, the elongate device 802 may include integrated imaging capability rather than utilize a removable image capture probe. For example, the imaging device (or fiberoptic bundle) and the light emitters may be located at the distal end 818 of the elongate device 802. The flexible body 215 may include one or more dedicated channels that carry the cable(s) and / or optical fiber(s) between the distal end 818 and the visualization system 831. Here, the medical instrument system 800 can perform simultaneous imaging and tool operations.

[0098] In some examples, the medical tool 826 is capable of controllable articulation. The medical tool 826 may house cables (which may also be referred to as pull wires), linkages, or other actuation controls (not shown) that extend between its proximal and distal ends to controllably bend the distal end of medical tool 826, such as discussed herein for the flexible elongate device 802. The medical tool 826 may be coupled to a drive unit 804 and the manipulator assembly 702. In these examples, the elongate device 802 may be excluded from the medical instrument system 800 or may be a flexible device that does not have controllable articulation. Steerable instruments or tools, applicable in some examples, are further described in detail in U.S. Patent No. 7,316,681 (filed on Oct. 4, 2005 and titled “Articulated Surgical Instrument for Performing Minimally Invasive Surgery with Enhanced Dexterity and Sensitivity”) and U.S. Patent No. 9,259,274 (filed Sept. 30, 2008 and titled “Passive Preload and Capstan Drive for Surgical Instruments”), which are incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

[0099] The flexible body 816 of the elongate device 802 may also or alternatively house cables, linkages, or other steering controls (not shown) that extend between the drive unit 804 and the distal end 818 to controllably bend the distal end 818 as shown, for example, by broken dashed line depictions 819 of the distal end 818 in FIG. 8 A. In some examples, at least four cables are used to provide independent up-down steering to control a pitch of the distal end 818 and left- right steering to control a yaw of the distal end 281. In these examples, the flexible elongate device 802 may be a steerable catheter. Examples of steerable catheters, applicable in some examples, are described in detail in PCT Publication WO 2019 / 018736 (published Jan. 24, 2019 and titled “Flexible Elongate Device Systems and Methods”), which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

[0100] In examples where the elongate device 802 and / or medical tool 826 are actuated by a teleoperational assembly (e.g., the manipulator assembly 702), the drive unit 804 may includeIntuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC drive inputs that removably couple to and receive power from drive elements, such as actuators, of the teleoperational assembly. In some examples, the elongate device 802 and / or medical tool 826 may include gripping features, manual actuators, or other components for manually controlling the motion of the elongate device 802 and / or medical tool 826. The elongate device 802 may be steerable or, alternatively, the elongate device 802 may be non-steerable with no integrated mechanism for operator control of the bending of distal end 818. In some examples, one or more channels 821 (which may also be referred to as lumens), through which medical tools 826 can be deployed and used at a target anatomical location, may be defined by the interior walls of the flexible body 816 of the elongate device 802.

[0101] In some examples, the medical instrument system 800 (e.g., the elongate device 802 or medical tool 826) may include a flexible bronchial instrument, such as a bronchoscope or bronchial catheter, for use in examination, diagnosis, biopsy, and / or treatment of a lung. The medical instrument system 800 may also be suited for navigation and treatment of other tissues, via natural or surgically created connected passageways, in any of a variety of anatomic systems, including the colon, the intestines, the kidneys and kidney calices, the brain, the heart, the circulatory system including vasculature, and / or the like.

[0102] The information from the tracking system 830 may be sent to the navigation system 832, where the information may be combined with information from the visualization system 831 and / or pre-operatively obtained models to provide the physician, clinician, surgeon, or other operator with real-time position information. In some examples, the real-time position information may be displayed on the display system 710 for use in the control of the medical instrument system 800. In some examples, the navigation system 832 may utilize the position information as feedback for positioning medical instrument system 800. Various systems for using fiber optic sensors to register and display a surgical instrument with surgical images, applicable in some examples, are provided in U.S. Patent No. 8,900,131 (filed May 13, 2011 and titled “Medical System Providing Dynamic Registration of a Model of an Anatomic Structure for Image-Guided Surgery”), which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

[0103] FIGS. 9 A and 9B are simplified diagrams of side views of a patient coordinate space including a medical instrument mounted on an insertion assembly according to some examples. As shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B, a surgical environment 900 may include a patient P positioned onIntuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC the patient table T. Patient P may be stationary within the surgical environment 900 in the sense that gross patient movement is limited by sedation, restraint, and / or other means. Cyclic anatomic motion, including respiration and cardiac motion, of patient P may continue. Within surgical environment 900, a medical instrument 904 is used to perform a medical procedure which may include, for example, surgery, biopsy, ablation, illumination, irrigation, suction, or electroporation. The medical instrument 904 may also be used to perform other types of procedures, such as a registration procedure to associate the position, orientation, and / or pose data captured by the sensor system 708 to a desired (e.g., anatomical or system) reference frame. The medical instrument 904 may be, for example, the medical instrument 704. In some examples, the medical instrument 904 may include an elongate device 910 (e.g., a catheter) coupled to an instrument body 912. Elongate device 910 includes one or more channels sized and shaped to receive a medical tool.

[0104] Elongate device 910 may also include one or more sensors (e.g., components of the sensor system 708). In some examples, a shape sensor 914 may be fixed at a proximal point 916 on the instrument body 912. The proximal point 916 of the shape sensor 914 may be movable with the instrument body 912, and the location of the proximal point 916 with respect to a desired reference frame may be known (e.g., via a tracking sensor or other tracking device). The shape sensor 914 may measure a shape from the proximal point 916 to another point, such as a distal end 918 of the elongate device 910. The shape sensor 914 may be aligned with the elongate device 910 (e.g., provided within an interior channel or mounted externally). In some examples, the shape sensor 914 may use optical fibers to generate shape information for the elongate device 910.

[0105] In some examples, position sensors (e.g., EM sensors) may be incorporated into the medical instrument 904. A series of position sensors may be positioned along the flexible elongate device 910 and used for shape sensing. Position sensors may be used alternatively to the shape sensor 914 or with the shape sensor 914, such as to improve the accuracy of shape sensing or to verify shape information.

[0106] Elongate device 910 may house cables, linkages, or other steering controls that extend between the instrument body 912 and the distal end 918 to controllably bend the distal end 918. In some examples, at least four cables are used to provide independent up-down steering to control a pitch of distal end 918 and left-right steering to control a yaw of distal end 918. The instrumentIntuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC body 912 may include drive inputs that removably couple to and receive power from drive elements, such as actuators, of a manipulator assembly.

[0107] The instrument body 912 may be coupled to an instrument carriage 906. The instrument carriage 906 may be mounted to an insertion stage 908 that is fixed within the surgical environment 900. Alternatively, the insertion stage 908 may be movable but have a known location (e.g., via a tracking sensor or other tracking device) within surgical environment 900. Instrument carriage 906 may be a component of a manipulator assembly (e.g., manipulator assembly 702) that couples to the medical instrument 904 to control insertion motion (e.g., motion along an insertion axis A) and / or motion of the distal end 918 of the elongate device 910 in multiple directions, such as yaw, pitch, and / or roll. The instrument carriage 906 or insertion stage 908 may include actuators, such as servomotors, that control motion of instrument carriage 906 along the insertion stage 908.

[0108] A sensor device 920, which may be a component of the sensor system 708, may provide information about the position of the instrument body 912 as it moves relative to the insertion stage 908 along the insertion axis A. The sensor device 920 may include one or more resolvers, encoders, potentiometers, and / or other sensors that measure the rotation and / or orientation of the actuators controlling the motion of the instrument carriage 906, thus indicating the motion of the instrument body 912. In some examples, the insertion stage 908 has a linear track as shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B. In some examples, the insertion stage 908 may have curved track or have a combination of curved and linear track sections.

[0109] FIG. 9 A shows the instrument body 912 and the instrument carriage 906 in a retracted position along the insertion stage 908. In this retracted position, the proximal point 916 is at a position L0 on the insertion axis A. The location of the proximal point 916 may be set to a zero value and / or other reference value to provide a base reference (e.g., corresponding to the origin of a desired reference frame) to describe the position of the instrument carriage 906 along the insertion stage 908. In the retracted position, the distal end 918 of the elongate device 910 may be positioned just inside an entry orifice of patient P. Also in the retracted position, the data captured by the sensor device 920 may be set to a zero value and / or other reference value (e.g., 1=0). In FIG.9B, the instrument body 912 and the instalment camage 906 have advanced along the linear track of insertion stage 908, and the distal end 918 of the elongate device 910 has advanced into patient P. In this advanced position, the proximal point 916 is at a position LI on the insertion axis A. InIntuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC some examples, the rotation and / or orientation of the actuators measured by the sensor device 920 indicating movement of the instrument carriage 906 along the insertion stage 908 and / or one or more position sensors associated with instrument carriage 906 and / or the insertion stage 908 may be used to determine the position LI of the proximal point 916 relative to the position L0. In some examples, the position LI may further be used as an indicator of the distance or insertion depth to which the distal end 918 of the elongate device 910 is inserted into the passageway(s) of the anatomy of patient P.

[0110] One or more components of the examples discussed in this disclosure, such as control system 712, may be implemented in software for execution on one or more processors of a computer system. The software may include code that when executed by the one or more processors, configures the one or more processors to perform various functionalities as discussed herein. The code may be stored in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium (e.g., a memory, magnetic storage, optical storage, solid-state storage, etc.). The computer readable storage medium may be part of a computer readable storage device, such as an electronic circuit, a semiconductor device, a semiconductor memory device, a read only memory (ROM), a flash memory, an erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM); a floppy diskette, a CD-ROM, an optical disk, a hard disk, or other storage device. The code may be downloaded via computer networks such as the Internet, Intranet, etc. for storage on the computer readable storage medium. The code may be executed by any of a wide variety of centralized or distributed data processing architectures. The programmed instructions of the code may be implemented as a number of separate programs or subroutines, or they may be integrated into a number of other aspects of the systems described herein. The components of the computing systems discussed herein may be connected using wired and / or wireless connections. In some examples, the wireless connections may use wireless communication protocols such as Bluetooth, near-field communication (NFC), Infrared Data Association (IrDA), home radio frequency (HomeRF), IEEE 502.11, Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT), and wireless medical telemetry service (WMTS).

[0111] Various general-purpose computer systems may be used to perform one or more processes, methods, or functionalities described herein. Additionally or alternatively, various specialized computer systems may be used to perform one or more processes, methods, orIntuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC functionalities described herein. In addition, a variety of programming languages may be used to implement one or more of the processes, methods, or functionalities described herein.

[0112] While certain examples and examples have been described above and shown in the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that such examples and examples are merely illustrative and are not limited to the specific constructions and arrangements shown and described, since various other alternatives, modifications, and equivalents will be appreciated by those with ordinary skill in the art.

Claims

Intuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC WHAT IS CLAIMED:

1. An apparatus including a sensing probe, comprising:a sensing device configured to generate a sensor signal;a cable coupled to the sensing device, the cable comprising a first wire, a second wire, and a third wire; andan anti-clock processing circuitry coupled to the cable, the anti-clock processing circuitry being configured to:receive a clock signal;generate an anti-clock signal based on the clock signal, the anti-clock signal being out of phase with the clock signal;provide the clock signal to the second wire of the cable; andprovide the anti-clock signal to the third wire of the cable, the anti-clock signal carried by the third wire and offsetting interference, caused by the clock signal carried by the second wire, to the sensor signal carried by the first wire.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a cable connector comprising a housing and the anti-clock processing circuitry is at least partially within the housing.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the anti-clock processing circuitry is configured to recondition the received clock signal prior to providing the clock signal to the second wire.

4. The apparatus of claim 1. wherein the cable has a length of at least 95 cm.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sensor signal includes sensor data corresponding with both rising and falling edges of the clock signal.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the clock signal and the anti-clock signal are out of phase by about 180 degrees.Intuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC 7. The apparatus of any one of claims 1 -6, wherein the first wire is a coaxial connection wire.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the second wire is a first magnet wire.

9. The apparatus of claim 8. wherein the third wire is a second magnet wire.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the cable includes a third magnet wire configured to carry a power signal to the sensing device.

11. The apparatus of claim 9. wherein the first magnet wire and the second magnet wire are capacitively symmetrical to the coaxial connection wire.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the first magnet wire and the second magnet wire are capacitively symmetrical to the third magnet wire.

13. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the third wire is not electrically coupled to the sensing device.

14. The apparatus of any one of claims 1-6, wherein the cable includes at least one drain connection wire coupled to an electrical ground.

15. The apparatus of any one of claims 1-6, wherein the cable includes at least one magnet wire to carry control signals for controlling operation of the sensing device.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein controlling operation of the sensing device comprises:controlling one or more illumination components associated with the sensing device.Intuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC 17. The apparatus of any one of claims 1-6, wherein the anti-clock processing circuitry includes respective logical circuit components to recondition the clock signal and generate the anti-clock signal.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the respective logical circuit components to recondition the clock signal include a first XOR logic gate configured to receive the clock signal and a ground signal.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the respective logical circuit components to generate the anti-clock signal include a second XOR logic gate configured to receive the clock signal and a power signal.

20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the respective logical circuit components to recondition the clock signal further buffer the clock signal.

21. The apparatus of any one of claims 1-6, wherein the clock signal is a differential clock signal.

22. The apparatus of any one of claims 1-6, wherein the sensing device is an imaging device.

23. The apparatus of any one of claims 1-6, wherein the sensing device is an ultrasound device.

24. A system comprising:a processing circuitry configured to:generate a clock signal for controlling a sensing device; andreceive a sensor signal via a first wire of a cable of the sensing device, the sensor signal generated by the sensing device; andan anti-clock processing circuitry configured to couple to the processing circuitry, the anti-clock processing circuitry configured to:Intuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC generate an anti-clock signal based on the clock signal, the anti-clock signal being out of phase with the clock signal;provide the clock signal to a second wire of the cable; andprovide the anti-clock signal to a third wire of the cable, the anti-clock signal carried by the third wire and offsetting interference, caused by the clock signal carried by the second wire, to the sensor signal carried by the first wire.

25. The system of claim 24, further comprising the sensing device including the cable, wherein second wire and third wire are capacitively symmetric with respect to first wire.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the sensing device includes a cable connector connected to the cable, the cable connector configured to couple the anti-clock processing circuitry with the processing circuitry and including a housing that holds the anti-clock processing circuitry.

27. The system of claim 24, wherein the system comprises a medical system including the processing circuitry, and the processing circuitry is configured to control operation of the sensing device.

28. The system of claim 25, wherein the sensing device includes a terminal at which the anti-clock signal is received.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the terminal is not electrically coupled to a controller of the sensing device.

30. The system of claim 28, wherein the terminal includes a load balancing component that mimics a load induced by the clock signal.

31. The system of claim 24, wherein the anti-clock processing circuitry is configured to recondition the clock signal received from the anti-clock processing circuitry prior to providing the clock signal to the second wire.Intuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC32. The system of claim 24, wherein the sensor signal includes sensor data corresponding with both rising and falling edges of the clock signal.

33. The system of claim 24, wherein the cable has a length of at least 95 cm.

34. The system of claim 24, wherein the clock signal and the anti-clock signal are out of phase by about 180 degrees.

35. The system of claim 24, wherein the second wire and the third wire are approximately physically symmetric with respect to the first wire.

36. The system of claim 24, wherein the first wire is a coaxial connection wire.

37. The system of any one of claims 24-36, wherein the anti-clock processing circuitry is further configured to relay a power signal via a fourth wire.

38. The system of claim 37, wherein the second wire and the third wire are approximately capacitively symmetric with respect to the fourth wire.

39. The system of any one of claims 24-36, wherein the cable includes at least one drain connection wire to an electrical ground.

40. The system of any one of claims 24-36, wherein the anti-clock processing circuitry is further configured to relay one or more control signals received via a fifth wire, wherein the one or more control signals are configured to control operation of the sensing device.

41. The system of any one of claims 24-36, wherein the anti-clock processing circuitry includes respective logical circuit components to recondition the clock signal and generate the anti-clock signal.Intuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC 42. The system of claim 41 , wherein the respective logical circuit components to recondition the clock signal include a first XOR logic gate configured to receive the clock signal and a ground signal.

43. The system of claim 42, wherein the respective logical circuit components to generate the anti-clock signal include a second XOR logic gate configured to receive the clock signal and a power signal.

44. The system of claim 41, wherein the respective logical circuit components to recondition the clock signal further buffer the clock signal.

45. The system of any one of claims 24-36, wherein the clock signal is a differential clock signal.

46. The system of any one of claims 24-36, wherein the sensing device is an imaging device.

47. The system of any one of claims 24-36, wherein the sensing device is an ultrasound device.

48. The system of any one of claims 24-36, further comprising a computing device including one or more processors configured to generate an output based on sensing data.

49. The system of claim 48, wherein the sensing data includes imaging data and the output is an image.

50. The system of claim 49, wherein generating the output includes digitally removing one or more dark frames from the imaging data.Intuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC 51. The system of claim 48, wherein generating the output based on the sensing data includes sampling the sensing data at a rising edge of the clock signal and at a falling edge of the clock signal.

52. The system of any one of claims 24-36, wherein the sensor signal is a bidirectional signal.

53. A method comprising:generating, by processing circuitry, a clock signal for controlling a sensing device; receiving, by the processing circuitry, a sensor signal via a first wire of a cable of the sensing device, the sensor signal generated by the sensing device;generating, by the processing circuitry, an anti-clock signal based on the clock signal, the anti-clock signal being out of phase with the clock signal;providing, by the processing circuitry, the clock signal to a second wire of the cable; and providing, by the processing circuitry, the anti-clock signal to a third wire of the cable, the anti-clock signal carried by the third wire and offsetting interference, caused by the clock signal carried by the second wire, to the sensor signal carried by the first wire.

54. The method of claim 53, wherein the second wire and third wire are capacitively symmetric with respect to the first wire.

55. The method of claim 53, further comprising;reconditioning the clock signal prior to providing the clock signal to the second wire.

56. The method of claim 53, wherein the sensor signal includes sensor data corresponding with both rising and falling edges of the clock signal.

57. The method of claim 53, wherein the clock signal and the anti-clock signal are out of phase by about 180 degrees.Intuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC 58. The method of claim 53, further comprising relaying a power signal via a fourth wire.

59. The method of claim 53, wherein the cable includes at least one drain connection wire to an electrical ground.

60. The method of claim 53, further comprising:relaying one or more control signals received via a fifth wire, wherein the one or more control signals are configured to control operation of the sensing device.

61. The method of any one of claims 53-60. further comprising: reconditioning, via respective logical circuit components of the processing circuitry, the clock signal.

62. The method of claim 61, further comprising:generating, via the respective logical circuit components, the anti-clock signal.

63. The method of claim 62, wherein the reconditioning includes:receiving, via a first XOR logic gate of the respective logical circuit components, the clock signal and a ground signal.

64. The method of claim 63, wherein the generating includes:receiving, via a second XOR logic gate of the respective logical circuit components, the clock signal and a power signal.

65. The method of any one of claims 53-60, wherein the clock signal is a differential clock signal.

66. The method of any one of claims 53-60, further comprising:generating, via one or more processors of a computing device, an output based on sensing data.Intuitive Docket No.: P06984-WO Attorney Docket No.: 33685 / 70599 / PC67. The method of claim 66, wherein the sensing data includes imaging data and the output is an image.

68. The method of claim 67, wherein generating the output includes digitally removing one or more dark frames from the imaging data.

69. The method of claim 66, wherein generating the output based on the sensing data includes:sampling the sensing data at a rising edge of the clock signal and at a falling edge of the clock signal.

70. The method of any one of claims 53-60, wherein the sensor signal is a bidirectional signal.

Images