US 2,019,201,137 · Filed 2018-12-04

How Surgical Robots Talk to Hospital Networks Without Crashing

A surgical robot needs to send tons of video and sensor data back to a control center in real time. This patent protects a smart traffic-control system that makes sure the data from multiple operating rooms doesn't clog up the hospital's network like too many cars on one highway.

Curated and verified by the IsItPatented Editorial team

The plain-English version

What it protects

The claim covers a network system where surgical robots feed data through 'hubs' that sit in operating rooms and talk to a central server. What's protected here is the specific method these hubs use to decide which data gets sent first—like giving priority to live video feeds over less urgent logs—and how they manage storage and communication to prevent network congestion when multiple operating rooms are running at once.

Why it matters

Modern surgical robots generate enormous amounts of real-time video and telemetry data. Without intelligent prioritization, a busy hospital with multiple robots operating simultaneously would overwhelm its network bandwidth. This patent protects Ethicon's solution for managing that traffic intelligently, which is critical infrastructure for hospital systems relying on robotic surgery. It's the behind-the-scenes engineering that makes simultaneous robotic surgeries practical.

Real-world use

When a surgeon uses a robotic arm to perform a delicate procedure in one operating room while another surgery happens nearby, this system ensures the live video feed controlling the robot arrives instantly without delay caused by competing data traffic from other equipment.

Original USPTO abstract

Various surgical systems are disclosed. A surgical system can include a surgical robot and a surgical hub. The surgical robot can include a control unit in signal communication with a control console and a robotic tool. The surgical hub can include a display. The surgical hub can be in signal communication with the control unit. A facility can include a plurality of surgical hubs that communicate data from the surgical robots to a primary server. To alleviate bandwidth competition among the surgical hubs, the surgical hubs can include prioritization protocols for collecting, storing, and/or communicating data to the primary server.

Patent details

Publication number: US 2,019,201,137
Filing date: 2018-12-04
Grant date: Application — not yet granted
Assignee: Ethicon Llc
Inventor(s): SHELTON, IV, FREDERICK E., MORGAN, JEROME R., HARRIS, JASON L., YATES, DAVID C.
CPC class: H04L67/10

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