Remote presence system mounted to operating room hardware

• US 10,875,182 B2
• Filed: 05/07/2008
• Issued: 12/29/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 03/20/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Teladoc Health, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Teladoc Health, Inc.
• Inventors: Wang, Yulun, Jordan, Charles S., Pinter, Marco, Sanchez, Daniel Steven, Hanrahan, Kevin
• Primary Examiner(s): Amin, Bhavesh V
• Application Number:
  US12/151,740
• Publication Number:
  US 20090240371A1
• Time in Patent Office: 4,619 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 19/023 including video camera means
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 9/1689 Teleoperation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/40 relating to mechanical, radiation or invasive therapies, e.g. surgery, laser therapy, dialysis or acupuncture
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 80/00 ICT specially adapted for facilitating communication between medical practitioners or patients, e.g. for collaborative diagnosis, therapy or health monitoring

Abstract

A robot system that includes a remote station and a robot face. The robot face includes a camera that is coupled to a monitor of the remote station and a monitor that is coupled to a camera of the remote station. The robot face and remote station also have speakers and microphones that are coupled together. The robot face may be coupled to a boom. The boom can extend from the ceiling of a medical facility. Alternatively, the robot face may be attached to a medical table with an attachment mechanism. The robot face and remote station allows medical personnel to provide medical consultation through the system.

Claims

1. A tele-presence system, comprising:

a boom including first and second articulate joints that is attached to a fixed structure at a first location;

a robot face coupled to said boom via third and fourth joints having first and second actuators that can be remotely actuated to pan and tilt the robot face relative to the boom, said robot face including a robot monitor, a robot camera, a robot speaker, and a robot microphone, said robot camera and said robot monitor are mechanically coupled such that they move together relative to said boom, and said robot camera captures a patient image; and

,

a remote station located a second location remote from said first location, said remote station is coupled to said robot face via a network to receive said patient image, said remote station can control the first and second actuators via an input device and includes a station monitor that displays said patient image, a station camera that captures a user image that is transmitted to said robot and displayed by said robot monitor, a station speaker that reproduces sound received by said robot microphone, and a station microphone that receives sound that is reproduced by said robot speaker.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said boom has at least two degrees of freedom.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein said remote station monitor displays a display user interface.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein said boom includes actuators to provide at least two degrees of freedom for said robot face.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein said remote station transmits commands to actuate said actuators.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the network coupled to said robot face and said remote station.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the fixed structure is a medical facility that supports said boom and a medical table that is in physical proximity to said robot face.

8. A method for providing a remote medical consultation, comprising:

controlling a movement of a robot face that is coupled to a boom that has first and second articulate joints and is attached to a fixed structure at a first location from a remote station at a second location remote from said first location, said robot face is coupled to the boom via third and fourth joints that have first and second actuators that can be remotely actuated to pan and tilt the robot face relative to the boom, wherein the robot face includes a robot camera and a robot monitor that are mechanically coupled such that they move together relative to said boom;

capturing a patient image with the robot camera;

transmitting the patient image from the robot camera to a station monitor of the remote station;

displaying the patient image on the station monitor;

capturing a user image with a station camera of the remote station;

transmitting the user image from the station camera to the robot monitor;

displaying the user image on the robot monitor; and

,

transmitting an audio command from a station microphone to a robot speaker.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising transmitting an audio request from a robot microphone to a station speaker.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising transmitting an actuator command from the remote station to actuate an actuator of the boom.