State-Based Speech Recognition for Teleoperational Surgery Workflow

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current teleoperational medical procedures require surgeons to suspend surgical activities for information or troubleshooting, introducing risks and inefficiencies.

Innovation Solution

Implementing a state-based speech recognition system that monitors and evaluates surgical environment variables to provide accurate and efficient information and assistance during teleoperational procedures.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Loss of information

If surgeons suspend surgical activities to access information or troubleshoot, then information accuracy is improved, but procedure time increases and safety decreases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveinformation accessVSAvoidprocedure time
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of informationVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary actions by continuously monitoring surgical environment variables and pre-processing information in the background during surgery. This allows information to be ready and accessible without requiring surgeons to pause procedures, thus maintaining procedure continuity while ensuring information availability.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The speech recognition system acts as an intermediary between the surgical environment and information systems. It translates surgeon voice commands into system actions, enabling natural interaction without requiring surgeons to leave the surgical field or use complex interfaces that would interrupt the procedure.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Loss of information

If surgeons suspend surgical activities to access information or troubleshoot, then information accuracy is improved, but safety decreases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveinformation accessVSAvoidsurgical safety
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of informationVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The system provides self-service by autonomously monitoring surgical variables, detecting potential issues, and preparing troubleshooting information without surgeon intervention. This allows the surgical system to manage its own information needs and safety monitoring continuously, eliminating the need for surgeons to pause and manually check systems.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #25Self-service

Solution Approach 2:

The system implements continuous feedback by monitoring surgical environment variables and providing real-time information to surgeons through speech recognition. This ongoing feedback loop ensures safety information is available when needed without interrupting the surgical flow, as the system constantly updates on surgical status and potential issues.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

3Productivity

If state-based speech recognition is implemented, then information efficiency is improved, but system complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveinformation efficiencyVSAvoidsystem complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system utilizes parameter changes by monitoring variations in surgical environment variables and adapting speech recognition responses based on the current surgical state. This allows the system to provide contextually relevant information efficiently without requiring complex manual configuration, as the surgical state itself drives the information delivery.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

4Loss of time

If state-based speech recognition is implemented, then procedure continuity is improved, but measurement precision requirements increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveprocedure continuityVSAvoidvariable monitoring precision
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of timeVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary monitoring and evaluation of surgical variables continuously in the background, preparing context information before it is needed. This preliminary action ensures that when surgeons speak commands, the system already has precise contextual understanding ready, maintaining procedure continuity while managing precision requirements through advance preparation.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentEP3634296B1Systems and methods for state-based speech recognition in a teleoperational system
Publication Date: 2025.07.30 INTUITIVE SURGICAL OPERATIONS INC
  • EP3634296B1 patent drawingFigure 1A
  • EP3634296B1 patent drawingFigure 1B
  • EP3634296B1 patent drawingFigure 1C

AI summary

A teleoperational surgical system comprises an operator input system and a teleoperational manipulator configured for operation by the operator input system. The teleoperational manipulator is coupled to a medical instrument in a surgical environment. The teleoperational surgical system also includes a processing unit including one or more processors. The processing unit is configured to recognize a voice communication, evaluate the voice communication in the context of a plurality of surgical environment state variables, determine a response to the voice communication based on at least one of the plurality of surgical environment state variables, and provide a command to implement the response.