Surgical Tool Motion Tracking for Direct Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current ophthalmic surgical systems require manual or assistant-based control of surgical settings, which is inefficient and increases manpower requirements, as they lack direct surgeon control over settings during procedures.
Innovation Solution
A surgical system incorporating a heads-up display, a surgical microscope, a control unit, a tracking unit, and a processing unit that processes the motion of a surgical tool to identify control actions through temporal spatial information, allowing the surgeon to control settings directly using motion patterns or gestures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If control of surgical settings is performed by an assistant through a touch screen, then the surgeon can adjust settings, but the surgeon must verbally communicate with the assistant and wait for the action to be completed, increasing time loss and manpower requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The surgical tool itself serves as the control input device. The surgeon directly manipulates the surgical tool to generate control commands without needing an assistant. The control unit detects motion patterns of the surgical tool and automatically translates them into control commands for surgical settings, enabling the surgeon to self-adjust settings during the procedure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical/physical interaction system (assistant pressing buttons on a touch screen) with an optical/detection system. The tracking unit optically tracks the surgical tool's motion, and the control unit processes this data to generate control commands, substituting the manual assistant operation with an automated detection and translation system.
2Ease of operation
If control of surgical settings is performed by the surgeon through a foot pedal, then the surgeon can adjust settings independently, but the foot pedal can only accommodate a limited number of control commands
Solution Approach 1:
The surgical tool serves multiple functions: it is both the surgical instrument and the control input device. By detecting different motion patterns of the same surgical tool, the system can generate a wide variety of control commands, making the surgical tool a universal control interface that can accommodate numerous different control functions beyond what a specialized foot pedal can provide.
Solution Approach 2:
The control system is dynamic and adaptive. Instead of having fixed control mappings, the system detects various motion patterns (speed, direction, amplitude, sequence) of the surgical tool and dynamically translates them into appropriate control commands. This dynamic translation capability allows a single surgical tool to provide versatile control over multiple surgical settings and functions.
3Adaptability or versatility
If a touch screen interface is used for controlling surgical settings, then full control commands are available, but the interface complexity increases and requires an assistant to operate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the control input function from the complex console interface and relocates it to the surgical tool itself. By moving the control interface from the console (where it would require a complex touch screen and assistant operation) to the surgical tool (which the surgeon already holds and manipulates), the system provides full control capability while simplifying the overall console interface requirements.
Data Source
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AI summary
A surgical system uses a surgical tool as a control input. A tracking unit tracks a motion of the surgical tool, and a processing unit for processes the motion of the surgical tool to obtain a temporal spatial information of the surgical tool. The control unit further comprises a control input unit with a number of control commands. The control input unit associates the temporal spatial information of the surgical tool with a corresponding control command.