Surgical Hub Dynamic Connectivity Modes
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Solution Overview
Problem
Surgical imaging systems often fail to recognize and convey concealed structures, physical contours, and dimensions within a three-dimensional space, and may not provide necessary information to clinicians during surgical procedures, limiting their effectiveness.
Innovation Solution
A surgical hub that connects various devices and servers, determining connectivity modes to enable or disable the provision of instructional information and data aggregation analysis, allowing for real-time data processing and communication with external networks to support surgical instruments and enhance surgical procedures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If surgical imaging systems are used to view the surgical site, then clinicians can observe the surgical field, but concealed structures, physical contours, and three-dimensional dimensions remain unrecognizable
Solution Approach 1:
The surgical hub acts as an intermediary device that receives data from multiple imaging systems and surgical devices, processes this information, and integrates it with instructional information from external networks. This mediator approach allows clinicians to access comprehensive surgical information without requiring each individual imaging system to be overly complex.
Solution Approach 2:
The surgical hub provides multi-functional capabilities by serving as a central communication node that handles data aggregation, analysis, instructional information provisioning, and connectivity management across different devices and networks, eliminating the need for each device to perform all functions independently.
2Manufacturing precision
If the surgical hub provides instructional information to surgical devices, then surgical precision is improved, but network connectivity requirements and system complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The surgical hub dynamically adjusts its connectivity mode based on network availability and surgical requirements. It can switch between flow-through mode (when external network is unavailable) and provisioning mode (when network is available), allowing the system to maintain surgical precision while adapting connectivity complexity to actual needs.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes operational parameters by switching between different connectivity modes (flow-through vs. provisioning modes) based on network conditions. This parameter change allows the hub to optimize between providing comprehensive instructional information and maintaining simpler operational states when network resources are limited.
3Reliability
If the surgical hub enables remote data aggregation and analysis, then surgical outcomes are improved, but network dependency and potential connectivity issues arise
Solution Approach 1:
The surgical hub implements dynamic connectivity mode switching that adapts to network availability. When external network connectivity is available, it enables remote data aggregation and analysis for improved surgical outcomes. When network connectivity is lost, it transitions to flow-through mode to maintain essential operations, ensuring the system remains adaptable to varying network conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system prepares for potential network failures by having pre-configured fallback modes. The flow-through mode serves as a cushioning mechanism that ensures basic surgical hub functionality continues even when remote data aggregation and analysis become unavailable due to network issues.
4Device complexity
If the surgical hub operates in flow-through mode, then network simplicity is maintained, but instructional information provisioning is disabled
Solution Approach 1:
The surgical hub dynamically switches between flow-through mode (simpler network operation) and provisioning mode (comprehensive information delivery) based on network availability and surgical needs. This dynamic adjustment allows the system to maintain network simplicity when possible while ensuring instructional information is provided when network conditions permit.
Data Source
AI summary
A surgical hub may obtain a hub connectivity mode based on a hub connectivity control parameter. For example, the hub connectivity mode may be selected from multiple connectivity modes that may be preconfigured, dynamically updated, semi-dynamically updated, periodically updated, or preset. The hub connectivity modes may control inter-device connectivity within a network associated with a hospital, and/or communication with an external network associated with a different hospital. The surgical hub may determine whether to provide instructional information to at least one smart surgical instrument based on the hub connectivity mode. On a condition that the hub connectivity mode does not support provisioning instructional information to surgical devices, provisioning instructional information to surgical devices may be disabled. On a condition that the hub connectivity mode supports provisioning instructional information to surgical devices, the surgical hub may determine to obtain and provide instructional information to surgical devices.