Surgical Hub Control Updates Using Perioperative Feedback

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative Solutions
Generate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

Medical facilities often lag in adopting newer technologies due to patient safety concerns and a desire to maintain traditional practices, leading to a lack of communication and shared knowledge among systems and facilities.

Innovation Solution

A computer-implemented interactive surgical system with a modular communication hub that integrates visualization, robotic, and intelligent surgical instruments, connected to a cloud-based system for adaptive control program updates and data processing, facilitating efficient communication and data sharing across healthcare facilities.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If medical facilities maintain traditional practices to ensure patient safety, then reliability is improved, but adaptability deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvepatient safetyVSAvoidadoption of newer technologies
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The surgical hub collects and analyzes surgical data from multiple sources, providing feedback that enables automatic generation of control program updates. This feedback mechanism allows the system to learn from actual surgical outcomes and improve performance while maintaining safety through data-driven decision making rather than unproven technological changes

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

Solution Approach 2:

The system performs self-updates by automatically generating control program improvements based on analyzed surgical data. This self-service capability allows the medical facility to adopt newer technologies through internal learning and improvement rather than external imposition, maintaining control over safety while enabling adaptability

Inventive Principle:
Principle #25Self-service

2Productivity

If medical facilities adopt newer technologies to improve surgical outcomes, then productivity is improved, but reliability deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesurgical efficiencyVSAvoidpatient safety
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The system continuously monitors surgical data and provides feedback that validates whether newer technologies are improving outcomes safely. This feedback loop ensures that productivity improvements from new technologies are only accepted when they demonstrate reliable performance through actual surgical data

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

Solution Approach 2:

The system performs preliminary analysis of surgical data to generate control program updates before full implementation. This preliminary action allows testing and validation of newer technologies on a limited basis, ensuring reliability is maintained while exploring productivity improvements

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

3Reliability

If surgical systems operate independently to maintain traditional practices, then reliability is improved, but loss of information deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvestability of traditional practicesVSAvoidlack of communication and shared knowledge
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSLoss of information

Solution Approach 1:

The surgical hub merges data from multiple surgical systems and facilities into a centralized platform. This combining of previously independent systems allows knowledge sharing and communication while maintaining the operational stability of individual facilities through centralized analysis rather than forced integration

Inventive Principle:
Principle #5Merging (Combining)

4Adaptability or versatility

If medical facilities implement centralized data sharing to improve communication, then adaptability is improved, but device complexity deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecommunication and data sharingVSAvoidsystem integration complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The surgical hub is designed as a universal platform that can receive and process data from multiple different surgical systems and facilities. This multi-functionality enables centralized data sharing and communication without requiring complex custom integration for each individual system, reducing overall device complexity

Inventive Principle:
Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Data Source

PatentEP3506286B1Adaptive control program updates for surgical hubs
Publication Date: 2026.03.25 ETHICON INC
  • EP3506286B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3506286B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP3506286B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

Various analytics systems are disclosed. An analytics system is configured to communicably couple to a plurality of surgical hubs that are controlled by control programs. The analytics system comprises a processor and a memory coupled to the processor. The memory stores instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the analytics system to: receive perioperative data indicative of an operational behavior of the surgical hubs; analyze the perioperative data to determine whether an update condition is satisfied; generate a control program update according to whether the update condition is satisfied; and transmit the control program update to the surgical hubs. The perioperative data comprises data detected by the surgical hubs during a surgical procedure. The control program update is configured to alter the manner in which the control programs operate the surgical hubs during a surgical procedure based on the operational behavior.