Force sense display device and force sense display method of medical robot system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12011243-B2
Application number	US-202017438779-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 13, 2020
Priority date	Mar 15, 2019
Publication date	Jun 18, 2024
Grant date	Jun 18, 2024

Abstract

A medical robot system including a memory and a central processing unit that performs operations including receiving measurement signals of forces measured at two or more points on one or both of a surgical tool and a slave device that supports the surgical tool, generating image information for displaying information of the forces as images in association with the two or more points at which the forces are measured, based on the measurement signals, and outputting the image information that is generated to a display device that displays the image information in a second display region of the display device which is different from a first display region of the display device in which information on operation of the surgical tool is displayed.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A medical robot system comprising:
at least one memory storing computer code; and
at least one central processing unit (CPU) which accesses the at least one memory and executes the computer code to cause the at least one CPU to perform operations comprising:
receiving, from one or more sensors attached to at least one of a surgical tool or a slave device that supports the surgical tool and configured to measure forces at two or more points on the at least one of the surgical tool or the slave device that supports the surgical tool, measurement signals of the forces measured at the two or more points on the at least one of the surgical tool or the slave device that supports the surgical tool;
generating image information for displaying information of the forces as images in association with the two or more points at which the forces are measured, based on the measurement signals; and
outputting the image information that is generated to a display device configured to display the image information for the two or more points in a second display region of the display device which is different from a first display region of the display device in which information on operation of the surgical tool is displayed.

2. The medical robot system according to claim 1 , wherein each image represents a respective value of the force by at least one of a color, a shape, or an area of the image.

3. The medical robot system according to claim 1 , wherein the slave device comprises a plurality of slave devices, each supporting a respective surgical tool,
the second display region includes a plurality of sub-regions corresponding respectively to the plurality of slave devices,
the at least one CPU receives the measurement signals of the forces measured at the two or more points on each of the plurality of slave devices, and
the at least one CPU generates the image information for displaying the images of the forces for each of the plurality of slave devices in a corresponding one of the plurality of sub-regions.

4. The medical robot system according to claim 3 , wherein the plurality of slave devices are identified by a shape and a hue of at least a part of the sub-region.

5. The medical robot system according to claim 4 , wherein the at least one CPU receives type information indicating a type of the surgical tool grasped by each of the plurality of slave devices, and
the at least one CPU generates the image information including an image showing a shape of the surgical tool in a sub-region of the plurality of sub-regions that corresponds to the slave device grasping the surgical tool, based on the type information.

6. The medical robot system according to claim 1 , wherein the slave device comprises a shaft and the surgical tool is arranged at an end of the shaft,
the slave device comprises a joint that enables a change in a posture of the surgical tool near the end of the shaft,
the measurement signals include a joint measurement signal relating to a force acting on the joint and an arm measurement signal relating to a force acting on a part of the slave device other than the joint,
the forces comprise the force acting on the joint and the force acting on the part other than the joint, and
the at least one CPU generates the image information for displaying information on the force acting on the joint and information on the force acting on the part other than the joint, based on the joint measurement signal and the arm measurement signal.

7. The medical robot system according to claim 6 , wherein the measurement signals include a surgical tool measurement signal relating to a force acting on the surgical tool, and
the at least one CPU generates the image information for displaying information on the force acting on the surgical tool based on the surgical tool measurement signal.

8. A force sense display method of a medical robot system, the force sense display method comprising:
receiving, by at least one central processing unit (CPU) from one or more sensors configured to measure forces at two or more points on at least one of a surgical tool or a slave device that supports the surgical tool, measurement signals of the forces measured at the two or more points on the at least one of the surgical tool or the slave device that supports the surgical tool;
generating, by the at least one CPU, image information for displaying information of the forces as images in association with the two or more points at which the forces are measured, based on the measurement signals; and
outputting, by the at least one CPU, the image information that is generated to a display portion configured to display the image information for the two or more points in a second display region of a display device which is different from a first display region of the display device in which information on operation of the surgical tool is displayed.

9. An apparatus comprising:
a display device having a first display region in which information on an operation of a surgical instrument is displayed, and a second display region different from the first display region;
at least one memory storing computer code; and
at least one central processing unit (CPU) which accesses the at least one memory and executes the computer code to cause the at least one CPU to perform operations comprising:
receiving, from one or more sensors attached of the surgical instrument and configured to measure forces at two or more points on the surgical instrument, measurement signals of the forces acting on the two or more points on the surgical instrument;
generating image information on images corresponding respectively to the forces, each image indicating an associated one of the forces; and
outputting the image information for the two or more points to the display device to display the images in the second display region.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the surgical instrument comprises a surgical tool and a slave device that supports the surgical tool.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the slave device comprises a cartridge, a shaft attached to the cartridge, and a joint, and the joint supports the surgical tool.

12. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein:
the display device displays an image of the surgical instrument in the second display region, and
the images corresponding to the forces acting on the two or more points are displayed in the second display region at positions that correspond to positions of the two or more points on the image of the surgical instrument that is displayed.

13. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein a value of the force is indicated by at least one of a color, a shape, or an area of the image corresponding to the force.

14. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the surgical instrument comprises a plurality of slave devices, each supporting a surgical tool,
the second display region includes a plurality of sub-regions corresponding respectively to the plurality of slave devices,
the measurement signals comprise forces measured for the plurality of slave devices, and
the images associated with the forces for the plurality of slave devices are displayed in corresponding ones of the plurality of sub-regions.

15. The apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein each of the plurality of sub-regions is displayed with a different shape and/or a different hue to identify a corresponding one of the plurality of slave devices.

16. The apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein the at least one CPU receives, for each of the plurality of slave

Assignees

• Riverfield Inc

Inventors

• HARAGUCHI Daisuke
• Tanaka Yasushi
• Furusawa Yuki

Classifications

• A61B90/37

  Surgical systems with images on a monitor during operation · CPC title

• A61B2090/064

  for measuring force, pressure or mechanical tension · CPC title

• A61B2034/301

  for introducing or steering flexible instruments inserted into the body, e.g. catheters or endoscopes · CPC title

• A61B34/25

  User interfaces for surgical systems · CPC title

• A61B34/30

  Surgical robots · CPC title