Surgical Hub for Device Integration and Data Management

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing surgical systems face challenges in efficiently managing and integrating various surgical devices and data systems, leading to inefficiencies and a lack of connectivity between medical facilities.

Innovation Solution

A computer-implemented interactive surgical system that includes a surgical hub connected to a cloud-based system, enabling communication and coordination between various surgical devices, visualization systems, and robotic systems, as well as providing a platform for data management and analysis.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If surgical systems integrate multiple devices and data systems, then system functionality and data availability improve, but device complexity and integration difficulty increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesystem functionalityVSAvoidintegration difficulty
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

A central hub device serves as an intermediary component that receives data from multiple surgical devices (energy generators, robotic systems, visualization systems) and provides centralized control. This hub architecture simplifies integration by providing standardized communication interfaces and centralized data management, reducing the complexity of direct peer-to-peer connections between diverse surgical devices.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The surgical system employs universal communication protocols and standardized data formats that enable different surgical devices to interoperate through a common interface. The hub device performs multiple functions including data aggregation, processing, storage, and distribution, eliminating the need for device-specific integration solutions and reducing overall system complexity.

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

2Productivity

If real-time data communication between surgical devices is implemented, then surgical efficiency and decision-making improve, but system complexity and communication overhead increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesurgical efficiencyVSAvoidcommunication overhead
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The central hub acts as a communication intermediary that consolidates data transmission from multiple surgical devices. Instead of requiring direct real-time communication channels between all device pairs, the hub centralizes the communication infrastructure, reducing the number of communication channels needed and simplifying the network architecture while maintaining real-time data availability.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The system merges multiple data streams from different surgical devices into a unified data structure at the hub. This consolidation approach reduces communication overhead by transmitting aggregated data rather than separate data streams for each device interaction, improving surgical efficiency while reducing system complexity.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #5Merging (Combining)

3Loss of information

If cloud-based data management and analytics are implemented, then data analysis capability and decision-making improve, but data transmission requirements and system dependency increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedata analysis capabilityVSAvoiddata transmission
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of informationVSQuantity of substance

Solution Approach 1:

The system extracts and separates heavy computational analytics functions from the local surgical environment and relocates them to cloud-based processing resources. This allows the local surgical system to maintain minimal data processing capabilities while leveraging powerful cloud-based analytics engines for complex data analysis, reducing local hardware requirements and data transmission bandwidth needs.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The hub device performs preliminary data processing, filtering, and preprocessing of surgical data before transmitting information to the cloud. By preparing and optimizing data locally beforehand, the system reduces the quantity and complexity of data that needs to be transmitted to cloud-based analytics platforms, minimizing network bandwidth requirements while maintaining comprehensive data analysis capabilities.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentEP3506306B1Surgical systems with autonomously adjustable control programs
Publication Date: 2025.04.09 ETHICON INC
  • EP3506306B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3506306B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP3506306B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

A surgical feedback system includes a surgical instrument, a data source, and a surgical hub configured to communicably couple to the data source and the surgical instrument. The surgical hub has a control circuit, wherein the control circuit is configured to receive an input from the data source, analyze the received data against a stored set of data to optimize an outcome of a surgical procedure, and communicate a recommendation based on the analyzed data.