Accessory Port Interface With Isolation and Presence Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Operating rooms are cluttered with multiple devices requiring unique techniques and user interfaces, necessitating a need for consolidated capital equipment to reduce equipment footprint and improve surgical staff efficiency, while modular energy systems require flexible interfaces to support various accessories with challenges in cybersecurity, system reliability, and power budgeting.
Innovation Solution
An accessory circuit with a flexible serial communication interface, presence detection circuit, and remote power control interface for modular energy systems, including a processor, isolation barrier, and serial bus power configuration to manage accessory connectivity and power distribution efficiently.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple separate capital equipment devices are used to perform different surgical tasks, then each device can provide specialized functionality, but the equipment footprint and clutter in the operating room increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple capital equipment functions (energy delivery, fluid management, imaging, communication) into a single integrated surgical system with a unified platform. This consolidation reduces the number of separate devices in the operating room while maintaining all necessary specialized functionalities through modular attachments and integrated control systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The surgical system is designed as a universal platform capable of performing multiple surgical tasks through a single device. The system can switch between different energy modalities, support various surgical instruments, and provide multiple operational modes (cutting, coagulation, sealing) through one versatile capital equipment piece, eliminating the need for multiple specialized devices.
2Adaptability or versatility
If each capital equipment has unique user interfaces and techniques, then each device can be optimized for its specific task, but surgical staff efficiency decreases due to the need to learn and interact with multiple different interfaces
Solution Approach 1:
The system employs a universal user interface that provides consistent control methods across all surgical functions. Whether performing energy delivery, fluid management, or imaging operations, the surgical staff interacts with a single standardized interface paradigm, eliminating the need to learn multiple different control systems while maintaining optimized task-specific functionalities.
Solution Approach 2:
The system separates the user interface from the functional modules, allowing a single unified interface to control multiple specialized functions. This segmentation enables the interface to adapt to different tasks without requiring separate interface designs, improving operational efficiency while maintaining task-specific optimization through software configuration rather than hardware differentiation.
3Adaptability or versatility
If a flexible serial communication interface is used to support multiple communication protocols for future accessories, then the system can support a wide variety of accessories, but cybersecurity risks and system reliability challenges increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces an intermediary communication layer that sits between the flexible serial interface and the core control systems. This intermediary layer validates, filters, and manages all accessory communications, ensuring that multiple communication protocols can be supported while maintaining cybersecurity standards and system reliability through centralized protocol management and authentication mechanisms.
4Use of energy by moving object
If remote accessories are commanded to power up or down, then the master system can control accessory power consumption, but the remote system may be in a limited functionality operational state and cannot respond to commands
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements preliminary power management by placing remote accessories into low-power or sleep states before they are needed, rather than keeping them continuously powered. The master system schedules power state transitions in advance, ensuring accessories are in the optimal operational state when commands are issued, thus maintaining command responsiveness while minimizing overall power consumption throughout the surgical procedure.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed in an accessory circuit for a modular energy system. The accessory circuit includes an accessory port configured to receive an accessory, a power supply, a processor, an isolation barrier configured to electrically isolate the processor and the power supply from the accessory port. A flexible serial communication interface is coupled between the processor and the accessory port. The flexible serial communication interface is configured to support multiple communication protocols. A presence detection circuit is coupled between the accessory port and the processor. The presence detection circuit is configured to detect presence of an accessory connected to the accessory port.