Serial communication protocol for medical device

• US 9,226,766 B2
• Filed: 03/15/2013
• Issued: 01/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/09/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cilag Gmbh International (Johnson & Johnson)
• Original Assignee: Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. (Johnson & Johnson)
• Inventors: Aldridge, Jeffrey L., Moriarty, John K., Janesch, Stephen T., Drzewiecki, Matthew R., Thompson, Ryan J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pascal, Robert
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tan, Richard
• Application Number:
  US13/839,351
• Publication Number:
  US 20130285758A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,026 Days
• Field of Search: 332/108, 332/115, 332/120, 332/145, 332/149, 332/151, 375/238, 375/239, 375/268, 375/320, 375/353, 370/205, 370/212, 370/213, 606/10, 606/34
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/320068 using mechanical vibrations, e.g. ultrasonic A61B17/22012 takes precedence; dental tooth drilling devices operated by vibration A61C3/03; removing intra-ocular material using mechanical vibrations A61F9/00745
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 18/04 by heating by applying electromagnetic radiation A61B18/18; hyperthermia using electric or magnetic fields, radiation or ultrasound A61N
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/00017 Electrical control of surgical instruments
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/00185 Means for setting or varying the pulse height
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/0019 Means for setting or varying the pulse width
• CPC Class Codes: H03C 3/40 using two signal paths the outputs of which have a predetermined phase difference and at least one output being amplitude-modulated
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 7/02 Amplitude modulation, i.e. PAM
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 7/08 Duration or width modulation ; Duty cycle modulation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 25/4902 Pulse width modulation; Pulse position modulation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 25/4917 using multilevel codes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/04 Modulator circuits; Transmitter circuits

Abstract

An apparatus is disclosed. The apparatus includes a circuit configured to transmit a signal as a serial protocol over a pair of electrical conductors. The serial protocol is defined as a series of pulses distributed over at least one transmission frame. At least one pulse in the transmission frame is simultaneously encoded by modulating an amplitude of the pulse to represent one of two first logic states and modulating a width of the pulse to represent one of two second logic states. An instrument and a generator also are disclosed.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a generator circuit configured to transmit a signal as a serial protocol over a first electrical conductor of a pair of electrical conductors coupled to a control circuit of a medical instrument, wherein the serial protocol is defined as a series of pulses distributed over at least one transmission frame, the series of pulses comprising at least one information pulse simultaneously encoded by modulating an amplitude of the at least one information pulse to represent an input state of the control circuit and modulating a width of the at least one information pulse to represent a desired output state of the control circuit, wherein the input state of the control circuit is representative of respective states of a plurality of switching devices electrically coupled to the control circuit, and wherein the generator circuit is further configured to read a short circuit applied to an end of the pair of electrical conductors coupled to the control circuit to initiate the at least one transmission frame and initiate a loop calibration by measuring an impedance of the loop for the at least one transmission frame.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control circuit is configured to modulate the amplitude of the at least one information pulse to encode one of two logic states associated with the input state of the control circuit, wherein the two logic states are a logic “

0” and

a logic “

1”

.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the generator circuit is configured to modulate the width of the at least one information pulse to encode one of two logic states associated with the desired output state of the control circuit, wherein the two logic states are a logic “

0” and

a logic “

1”

.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one information pulse in the at least one transmission frame is encoded to represent at least two of four logic states, a logic “

0”

or a logic “

1”

representing a logic state of the input state of the control circuit and a logic “

0”

or a logic “

1”

representing a logic state of the desired output state of the control circuit.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control circuit is configured to store energy from the transmitted protocol signal.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control circuit is configured to apply a short circuit to the end of the pair of electrical conductors coupled to the control circuit to generate a start pulse to initiate the at least one transmission frame.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the series of pulses further comprises a start pulse and at least one header pulse.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a data circuit, wherein the data circuit stores information associated with the medical instrument.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the series of pulses further comprises at least one non-encode pulse whose amplitude returns to a positive rail of the transmitted signal.

10. An instrument, comprising:

a generator circuit configured to transmit a signal as a serial protocol over an electrical conductor coupled to a control circuit of the instrument, wherein the serial protocol is defined as a series of pulses distributed over at least one transmission frame, the series of pulses comprising at least one information pulse simultaneously encoded by modulating an amplitude of the at least one information pulse to represent an input state of the control circuit and modulating a width of the at least one information pulse to represent a desired output state of portion of the control circuit, wherein the input state of the control circuit is representative of respective states of a plurality of switching devices electrically coupled to the control circuit, wherein the generator circuit is further configured to read a short circuit applied to an end of a pair of electrical conductors coupled to the control circuit to initiate the at least one transmission frame and initiate a loop calibration by measuring an impedance of the loop for the at least one transmission frame;

an output device coupled to an output portion of the control circuit; and

an input device coupled to an input portion of the control circuit.

11. The instrument of claim 10, wherein the control circuit is configured to modulate the amplitude of the at least one information pulse to encode one of two logic states associated with the input state of the control circuit, wherein the two logic states are a logic “

0” and

a logic “

1”

.

12. The instrument of claim 11, wherein the input device comprises one of the plurality of switching devices.

13. The instrument of claim 10, wherein the generator circuit is configured to modulate the width of the at least one information pulse to encode one of two logic states associated with the desired output state of the control circuit, wherein the two logic states are a logic “

0” and

a logic “

1”

.

14. The instrument of claim 13, wherein the output device is selected from any one of an energy drive circuit, a visual indicator, an audible indicator, a tactile indicator, and any combination of anyone thereof.

15. The instrument of claim 10, wherein the series of pulses further comprises a start pulse and at least one header pulse.

16. The instrument of claim 10, further comprising a data circuit, wherein the data circuit stores information associated with the instrument.

17. A generator, comprising:

a conditioning circuit electrically coupled to an instrument by a pair of electrical conductors, wherein the instrument comprises a control circuit configured to transmit a signal as a serial protocol over a first electrical conductor of the pair of electrical conductors, wherein the serial protocol is defined as a series of pulses distributed over at least one transmission frame, the series of pulses comprising at least one information pulse simultaneously encoded by modulating an amplitude of the at least one information pulse to represent an input state of the control circuit and modulating a width of the at least one information pulse to represent a desired output state of the control circuit, wherein the generator is configured to read a short circuit applied to an end of the pair of electrical conductors coupled to the control circuit to initiate the at least one transmission frame and initiate a loop calibration by measuring an impedance of the loop for the at least one transmission frame; and

an energy circuit configured to drive the instrument.

18. The generator of claim 17, wherein the conditioning circuit is configured to read the modulated amplitude of the at least one information pulse and decode one of two logic states associated with the input state of the control circuit, wherein the two logic states are a logic “

0” and

a logic “

1”

.

19. The generator of claim 17, wherein the conditioning circuit is configured to demodulate the width of the at least one information pulse to decode one of two logic states associated with the desired output state of the control circuit, wherein the two logic states are a logic “

0” and

a logic “

1”

.

20. The generator of claim 17, wherein the conditioning circuit is configured to read at least one header pulse in the series of pulses to identify the control circuit.

21. The generator of claim 17, wherein the conditioning circuit is configured to read the short circuit applied to the end of the pair of electrical conductors coupled to the control circuit to initiate the at least one transmission frame and initiate the loop calibration.

22. The generator of claim 17, wherein the conditioning circuit is configured to determine a number of inputs and outputs used by the instrument by reading a data circuit coupled to the control circuit.