Method and apparatus for identification using capacitive elements

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9486271-B2
Application number	US-201213411722-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 5, 2012
Priority date	Mar 5, 2012
Publication date	Nov 8, 2016
Grant date	Nov 8, 2016

Abstract

A surgical instrument and related method are provided. The surgical instrument includes a housing, a cable, and an identifying circuit. An end-effector is coupled to the housing for treating tissue. The cable extends from the housing and is configured to couple the surgical instrument to a generator. The identifying circuit includes a plurality of capacitive elements disposed on the surgical instrument. The plurality of capacitive elements is readable by the generator.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for identifying a surgical instrument, the method comprising:
connecting the surgical instrument to a generator;
measuring a plurality of capacitance values of each of a plurality of capacitive elements formed on an outer surface of the surgical instrument;
mapping each of the plurality of capacitance values to a corresponding value;
sequentially concatenating each of the corresponding values to generate a surgical instrument identification va…

Assignees

• Dunning James E
• Covidien Lp

Inventors

• Dunning James E

Classifications

• A61B90/98 Primary

  Human Necessities · mapped topic

• A61B18/1445

  Human Necessities · mapped topic

• A61B18/1206 Primary

  Human Necessities · mapped topic

• A61B90/90

  Human Necessities · mapped topic

• A61B2090/0814

  Human Necessities · mapped topic