Touchscreen controlling medical equipment from multiple manufacturers

• US 20040024384A1
• Filed: 08/02/2002
• Published: 02/05/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Karl Storz Endoscopy-America Incorporated (Karl Storz Se & Co. Kg)
• Original Assignee: Storz Endoskop Produktions GmbH (Karl Storz Se & Co. Kg)
• Inventors: Novak, Pavel
• Granted Patent: US 6,824,539 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 606/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/00199 with a console, e.g. a control panel with a display
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 90/20 Surgical microscopes characterised by non-optical aspects
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 90/36 Image-producing devices or illumination devices not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation

Abstract

A communication system including a bus, interconnecting first and third party surgical devices, and a touchscreen, operated with the bus and displaying replicas control interfaces of the first and third party surgical devices, and facilitating remote control of the first and third party surgical devices during a surgical procedure.

Claims

1. A medical communication and control system comprising:

a touchscreen;

a controller for the touchscreen, having a controller command protocol;

a first remotely controllable surgical device, having a first command protocol, controllable by said touchscreen;

a second remotely controllable surgical device, having a second command protocol, controllable by said touchscreen;

an interface, connected between the touchscreen controller and the first remotely controllable surgical device and the second remotely controllable surgical device, for converting the controller command protocol to the first and second command protocols, and for transforming inputs received by the touchscreen into commands for controlling the first and second remotely controllable surgical devices; and

an image, replicating a control interface particular to the first and second remotely controllable surgical devices, for display on the touchscreen to receive inputs and to display a status of the first and second remotely controllable surgical devices.

2. The medical communication system of claim 1 wherein the interface comprises a microprocessor.

3. The medical communication system of claim 1 wherein at least one remotely controllable surgical device has an electronic master capability and at least one other remotely controllable surgical device is a slave.

4. The medical communication system of claim 3 further comprising software, executing on the at least one remotely controllable surgical device with master capability for routing control signals to the at least one remotely controllable surgical device that is a slave.

5. The medical communication system of claim 3 further comprising software, executing on the at least one remotely controllable surgical device with master capability, for receiving a feedback signal from the at least one remotely controllable surgical device that is a slave.

6. The medical communication system of claim 1 further comprising software, executing on the interface device, for displaying a scroll down menu of a variety of surgical procedures.

7. The communication system of claim 3 further comprising a database accessible by the controller for storing the replica control interfaces of various surgical devices.

8. The medical communication system of claim 7 further comprising software, executing on the interface device for querying the database.

9. The medical communication system of claim 7 further comprising software, executing on the device with master capability, for querying sources of information through a network connection, to update the database.

10. The medical communication system of claim 9 wherein the network connection comprises the Internet.

11. The medical communication system of claim 1 further comprising software executing on the interface device, for verifying the outputs.

12. The medical communication system of claim 11 further comprising software executing on the interface device for reversing the outputs after the outputs have been verified.

13. A medical communication and control system comprising:

a touchscreen;

a controller for the touchscreen;

a controller command protocol for the touchscreen controller;

a first and a second remotely controllable surgical device;

a first and a second command protocol for control of a first and a second surgical device respectively;

an interface, connected between the touchscreen controller and the remotely controllable surgical devices, for converting the controller command protocol to the first and second command protocols for transforming inputs received by the touchscreen into commands for controlling the first and second remotely controllable surgical devices; and

an image, replicating control interfaces particular to the remotely controllable surgical devices for display on the touchscreen to receive inputs and to display a status of the remotely controllable surgical devices.

14. The medical communication system of claim 13 wherein the interface comprises a microprocessor.

15. The medical communication system of claim 13 wherein at least one remotely controllable surgical device has an electronic master capability and at least one other remotely controllable surgical device is a slave.

16. The medical communication system of claim 15 further comprising software, executing on the at least one remotely controllable surgical device with master capability for routing control signals to the at least one remotely controllable surgical device that is a slave.

17. The medical communication system of claim 15 further comprising software, executing on the at least one remotely controllable surgical device with master capability, for receiving a feedback signal from the at least one remotely controllable surgical device that is a slave.

18. A medical communication and control system comprising:

a touchscreen;

a controller for the touchscreen, having a controller command protocol;

a first remotely controllable surgical device, having a first command protocol, controllable by said touchscreen;

a second remotely controllable surgical device, having a second command protocol, controllable by said touchscreen; and

an interface, connected between the touchscreen controller and the first remotely controllable surgical device and the second remotely controllable surgical device, for converting the controller command protocol to the first and second command protocols, and for transforming inputs received by the touchscreen into commands for controlling the first and second remotely controllable surgical devices.

19. The medical communication system of claim 18 wherein the interface comprises a microprocessor.

20. The medical communication system of claim 18 wherein at least one remotely controllable surgical device has an electronic master capability and at least one other remotely controllable surgical device is a slave.

21. The medical communication system of claim 20 further comprising software, executing on the at least one remotely controllable surgical device with master capability for routing control signals to the at least one remotely controllable surgical device that is a slave.

22. The medical communication system of claim 20 further comprising software, executing on the at least one remotely controllable surgical device with master capability, for receiving a feedback signal from the at least one remotely controllable surgical device that is a slave.

23. A method for operating a medical communication system comprising the steps of:

providing a touchscreen;

providing a controller for the touchscreen, having a controller command protocol;

providing a first remotely controllable surgical device, having a first command protocol;

providing a second remotely controllable surgical device, having a second command protocol;

providing an interface, connecting the touchscreen controller to the first and second remotely controllable surgical devices;

providing an image replicating the control interface of the first and second remotely controllable surgical devices for display on the touchscreen and for receiving input commands;

inputting commands to the touchscreen controller for controlling the first and second remotely controllable surgical devices respectively;

converting the commands from the controller command protocol to the first and second command protocols respectively; and

transmitting the converted commands to the first and second remotely controllable surgical devices respectively.

24. The method of claim 23 further comprising the step of providing at least one remotely controllable surgical device with electronic master capability and providing at least one other remotely controllable surgical device as a slave.

25. The method of claim 24 further comprising the step of providing software, executing on the at least one remotely controllable surgical device with master capability for routing control signals to the at least one remotely controllable surgical device that is a slave.

26. The method of claim 24 further comprising the step of providing software, executing on the at least one remotely controllable surgical device with master capability, for receiving a feedback signal from the at least one remotely controllable surgical device that is a slave.

27. A method for operating a medical communication system comprising the steps of:

providing a touchscreen;

providing a controller for the touchscreen;

providing a controller command protocol for the touchscreen controller;

providing a first remotely controllable surgical device, having a first command protocol;

providing a second remotely controllable surgical device, having a second command protocol;

providing an interface, connected between the touchscreen controller and the first remotely controllable surgical device and the second remotely controllable surgical device;

inputting commands to the touchscreen for controlling the first remotely controllable surgical device and the second remotely controllable surgical device;

converting the commands from the controller command protocol to the first and second command protocols respectively; and

transmitting the converted commands to the first remotely controllable surgical device and the second remotely controllable surgical device respectively.

28. A medical communication and control system comprising:

a remotely controllable surgical device having a control interface which is particular to said remotely controllable surgical device;

a touchscreen for displaying the control interface;

a controller for controlling said remotely controllable surgical device;

a database, accessible by said controller; and

an image, stored on said database, replicating the control interface particular to said remotely controllable surgical device;

wherein said controller upon connection of said remotely controllable surgical device queries said database for said image replicating the control interface particular to said remotely controllable surgical device for display on the touchscreen to receive inputs and to display a status of the remotely controllable surgical device, and wherein if said controller does not locate said image on said database, said controller automatically downloads and stores said image on said database for use with said touchscreen.

29. The medical communication and control system of claim 28 wherein said controller is connected to a network and the automatic downloading takes place over the network.

30. The medical communication and control system of claim 28 wherein said controller periodically queries, downloads and saves updated images particular to various remotely controllable surgical devices on said database.

31. The medical communication and control system of claim 29 wherein the network comprises the Internet.

32. The medical communication and control system of claim 29 wherein the network comprises an Intranet.

33. A medical communication and control system comprising:

a remotely controllable surgical device having a control interface which is particular to said remotely controllable surgical device;

a touchscreen for displaying the control interface;

a controller for controlling said remotely controllable surgical device;

a database, accessible by said controller; and

an image, stored on said database, replicating the particular control interface for said remotely controllable surgical device, and for display on the touchscreen to receive inputs and to display a status of the remotely controllable surgical device;

wherein said controller upon connection of said remotely controllable surgical device queries said database for said image replicating the control interface particular to said remotely controllable surgical device for display on the touchscreen to receive inputs and to display a status of the remotely controllable surgical device, and wherein said controller periodically queries, downloads and saves updated images particular to various remotely controllable surgical devices to said database.

34. The medical communication and control system of claim 33 wherein said controller is connected to a network and the periodic querying, downloading and saving takes place over the network.

35. The medical communication and control system of claim 33 wherein said controller automatically downloads said image replicating the control interface particular to said remotely controllable surgical device and stores said image on said database for use with said touchscreen.

36. The medical communication and control system of claim 34 wherein the network comprises the Internet.

37. The medical communication and control system of claim 34 wherein the network comprises an Intranet.