Method for tracking and reporting usage events to determine when preventive maintenance is due for a medical robotic system
First Claim
1. In a medical robotic system including a patient-side unit having robotic arms adapted to hold and manipulate medical devices, and a surgeon console having a display screen and a processor configured to control movement of the robotic arms and manipulation of the medical devices, the patient-side unit and surgeon console each including a plurality of subassemblies which are not readily replaced during a medical procedure, wherein the improvement comprises:
- individual of the plurality of subassemblies configured to store its usage-related information in a non-volatile memory included in the subassembly; and
the processor is further configured to determine whether one or more usage thresholds have been exceeded according to the usage-related information, and display one or more messages on the display screen identifying individual of the subassemblies requiring preventive maintenance according to such determination.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A medical robotic system comprises a number of components that may be monitored to determine their preventive maintenance needs by recording usage-related information for the monitored components into associated non-volatile memories. When usage of the component exceeds a specified usage threshold, the system displays a warning message on its display screen to have preventive maintenance performed for the component. If the usage continues without such maintenance and exceeds a higher usage threshold, the system displays an error message on its display screen and the system transitions into an error state during which medical procedures are not allowed to be performed. The usage-related information may also be communicated to a remote computer which gathers and processes usage-related information from a number of medical robotic systems to estimate resource requirements for timely performing preventive maintenance on the medical robotic systems, and anticipated service revenues from such maintenance.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. In a medical robotic system including a patient-side unit having robotic arms adapted to hold and manipulate medical devices, and a surgeon console having a display screen and a processor configured to control movement of the robotic arms and manipulation of the medical devices, the patient-side unit and surgeon console each including a plurality of subassemblies which are not readily replaced during a medical procedure, wherein the improvement comprises:
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individual of the plurality of subassemblies configured to store its usage-related information in a non-volatile memory included in the subassembly; and the processor is further configured to determine whether one or more usage thresholds have been exceeded according to the usage-related information, and display one or more messages on the display screen identifying individual of the subassemblies requiring preventive maintenance according to such determination. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. In a medical robotic system including a patient-side unit having robotic arms adapted to hold and manipulate medical devices, and a surgeon console having a display screen and a processor configured to control movement of the robotic arms and manipulation of the medical devices, the patient-side unit including a subassembly having a spring extendable along a vertical direction to assist in setting up a corresponding one of the robotic arms, wherein the improvement comprises:
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the subassembly configured to store usage-related information including a count of a number of direction changes in the vertical direction of the spring in a non-volatile memory included in the subassembly; and the processor is further configured to determine whether one or more usage thresholds have been exceeded according to the usage-related information and display one or more messages on the display screen identifying the subassembly as requiring preventive maintenance according to such determination.
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27. In a medical robotic system including a patient-side unit having robotic arms adapted to hold and manipulate medical devices, and a surgeon console having a display screen and a processor configured to control movement of the robotic arms and manipulation of the medical devices, the patient-side unit and surgeon console each including a plurality of subassemblies, wherein the improvement comprises:
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individual of the plurality of subassemblies configured to store its usage-related information in a non-volatile memory included in the subassembly; and the processor is further configured to determine whether one or more usage thresholds have been exceeded according to the usage-related information, display one or more messages on the display screen identifying individual of the subassemblies requiring preventive maintenance according to such determination, and copy a snapshot of the contents of the non-volatile memories to a removable memory board during a power down process performed by the medical robotic system.
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Specification