BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is generally related to medical and/or robotic devices, systems, and methods. For example, the invention allows the system software of robotic systems used in surgery or other applications to be revised by including update data in a memory of a tool which can be mounted on a robotic arm. The software update may facilitate the use of tools which were not available when the robotic system software was installed. In another example, a medical device system having a disposable component and a reusable processor may have the processor software updated by use of a disposable instrument, thereby allowing the instrument to be used for both treating tissues and updating system programming.

Minimally invasive medical techniques are intended to reduce the amount of extraneous tissue that is damaged during diagnostic or surgical procedures, thereby reducing patient recovery time, discomfort, and deleterious side effects. While many of the surgeries performed each year in the US could potentially be performed in a minimally invasive manner, only a portion of current surgeries use these advantageous techniques due to limitations in minimally invasive surgical instruments and the additional surgical training involved in mastering them.

Minimally invasive telesurgical systems for use in surgery have been developed to increase a surgeon's dexterity and avoid some of the limitations on traditional minimally invasive techniques. In telesurgery, the surgeon uses some form of remote control (such as a servomechanism or the like) to manipulate surgical instrument movements, rather than directly holding and moving the instruments by hand. In telesurgery systems, the surgeon can be provided with an image of the surgical site at the surgical workstation. While viewing a two or three dimensional image of the surgical site on a display, the surgeon performs the surgical procedures on the patient by manipulating master control devices, which in turn control the motion of servomechanically operated instruments

The servomechanism used for telesurgery will often accept input from two master controllers (one for each of the surgeon's hands) and may include two or more robotic arms. It will often be advantageous to change the position of the image capturing device so as to enable the surgeon to view the surgical site from another position. Mapping of the hand movements to the image displayed from the image capture device can help the surgeon provide more direct control over movement of the surgical instruments.

While the new telesurgical systems and devices have proven highly effective and advantageous, still further improvements would be desirable. For example, a wider variety of surgical instruments may be adapted or developed for mounting to these new robotic arms for performing existing and new minimally invasive procedures. By having the flexibility of attaching a wide variety of new instruments having new surgical end effectors to existing telesurgical systems, surgeons may be able to perform more and more surgical procedures using minimally invasive techniques. The existing systems, including their software, processors, and manipulator actuation structures, are already being deployed in surgical rooms throughout the country and throughout the world. Unfortunately, as new robotic surgical instruments are developed, updating this base of existing capital equipment can be slow, expensive, and difficult to implement uniformly, particularly for the robotic surgical systems already located in other countries.

For the reasons outlined above, it would be advantageous to provide improved devices, systems, and methods for robotic surgery. It would also be advantageous to provide improvements for other robotic applications. Similarly, as medical instrument systems having both reusable capital equipment with reprogrammable processors and disposable components proliferate, it may be advantageous to provide improved devices, systems, and methods for updating the capital equipment, as well as providing business methods for commercializing systems for telesurgery, robotics, medical instruments, and a variety of other fields.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally provides improved robotic devices, systems, and methods for use in robotic surgery and other robotic applications. The present invention also provides improved medical instrument devices, systems, and methods for using these improved medical systems, particularly for medical systems including both a reprogrammable processor and a limited-use medical treatment probe. Business methods may also be provided by the present invention for commercializing capital equipment having related peripherals and limited-use components. In some embodiments, the invention may incorporate a memory into a limited-use component such as a robotic surgical tool. Machine readable code cant be stored in that tool memory with data and/or programming instructions to be implemented by the system processor. This can allow the programming of the system processor to be effectively updated by shipping of new surgical robotic tools or other disposables. Optionally, once the update data or programming instructions have been downloaded by the processor from a tool, subsequent tools can take advantage of the updated processor programming without requiring repeated downloading of the new software. This can avoid delays and expense, for example, when surgical instruments are repeatedly removed and attached to a robotic arm during one or more surgical procedures.

In a first aspect, the invention provides a robotic system comprising a robotic arm having a tool holder and a signal interface. A plurality of robotic tools are each receivable by the holder for manipulation by the robotic arm. A processor has a memory and is coupled to the robotic arm. The processor memory comprises robotic tool data associated with the plurality of tools. The processor directs movement of a robotic tool received by the tool holder using associated tool data from the processor memory. A first additional tool has a memory with additional tool data or code. The memory of the processor may lack this additional tool data or code prior to coupling of the first additional tool to the robotic arm. The first tool transmits the additional tool data or code to the processor via the tool signal interface. The processor stores the additional data or code in the processor memory for use in directing movement of the robotic arm after the first additional tool is removed from the tool holder. The additional data or code may also be used while the first additional tool is still mounted to the arm.

In the exemplary embodiments, the tools comprise surgical robotic tools having a plurality of differing surgical end effectors, so that the robotic system comprises a surgical robotic system.

The first additional tool may have a tool type identifier. A second additional tool may also have the same tool type identifier. The processor may store the additional tool data from the first additional tool in the memory, and may, in response to the tool type identifier of the second additional tool, direct movement to the robotic arm using the additional tool data from the processor memory when the second additional tool is received by the tool holder. By making use of the additional tool data from the memory rather than downloading this new data each time a new tool is attached the system may avoid system delays during tool changes.

The processor may store the additional tool data in an update list of the processor memory. The update list may comprise data associated with a plurality of additional tools of differing types. The processor memory may also comprise a native list of data associated with the plurality of tools.

The processor may give priority to the additional tool data of the update list over the tool data of the native list when similar tool identifiers are included on both so as to allow effective revisions to the tool data of known tools. The memory may also include a reject tool list, with the processor inhibiting use of an additional tool having a rejected tool identifier included on the reject tool list.

The processor may comprise machine readable code for directing movement of the tools. The machine readable code may embody a software capability identifier, often in the form of a software revision identifier, and the additional tool data may specify a minimum software capability and/or revision. The processor may inhibit use of the first additional tool if the software revision is older than the minimum software revision. This allows, for example, a distributor of the tools to specify a minimum processor software capability if a new tool is to be used, for example, so that a tool requiring a particular subroutine will only be used on systems having processors that include that subroutine.

A second tool may include machine readable code embodying tool data, including tool-movement directing data and a maximum software revision. The processor may direct movement of the second tool using tool data from the memory of the processor when the software revision identifier of the processor is older than the maximum specified software revision of the second tool. This allows the processor to selectively make use of resident tool data in a memory of the processor rather than taking time to download that same information from an additional tool which has been sitting for several months or years, long after the processor software has already been updated, and possibly after the data in the tool memory has been updated.

At least some of the plurality of tools may comprise legacy tools lacking some or all of the additional tool data. The additional tool data may include an indicator or flag so as to alert the processor that it should make use of the additional tool data. This indicator or flag may be turned off or negated in the legacy tools.

Optionally, an input device may be coupled to the processor for receiving input movements, with the processor effecting an output movement of a tool received by the tool holder corresponding to the input movement so that the robotic system comprises a master-slave robotic system. A first configuration time may correspond to configuring the processor for directing movement using the tool data from the memory, and a second configuration time may correspond to configuring the processor for directing movement using additional tool data downloaded from the mounted tool. The second configuration time may be longer than the first configuration time. The processor may be adapted to limit cumulative configuration time by storing the additional tool data from the first tool in the memory, and using that stored additional data for the first additional tool (after removal and attachment), a second additional tool, and/or the like.

In another aspect, the invention provides a medical instrument system comprising a plurality of medical instruments. Each instrument has a tissue treatment delivery surface and an interface. A processor has an interface sequentially couplable with the instrument interfaces. The processor has a memory storing code or data, and controls treatment delivered by the tissue treatment delivery surfaces of the instruments using the stored code or data. A first additional instrument has a tissue treatment delivery surface, an instrument memory, and an interface coupled to the instrument memory so as to provide communication between the instrument memory and the processor when the additional instrument interface is coupled to the processor interface. The processor is configured to store update code or data from the instrument memory in the memory of the processor. A second additional tool has a tissue treatment delivery surface and an interface. The processor controls treatment delivered by the tissue treatment delivery surface of the second additional tool using the update code or data communicated from the instrument memory of the first additional instrument.

In many embodiments, the plurality of medical instruments will comprise a plurality of medical instrument types. Each medical instrument may have an instrument memory coupled to the interface. The memory may comprise a type identifier, each instrument type having associated instrument type data embodied by the machine readable code. The processor may direct treatment via the tissue treatment surface of an instrument coupled with the processor using associated instrument data in response to the type identifier of the coupled instrument. The second additional instrument may have the same type identifier as the first additional instrument.

In another aspect, the invention provides a robotic method comprising sequentially mounting a plurality of robotic tools of different types to a robotic arm. Movement of each sequentially mounted robotic tool is directed with a processor using data or code associated with the mounted robotic tool type. The data or code for the plurality of tools is stored in the memory of the processor. A first additional robotic tool is mounted to the robotic arm. Update tool data or code is transmitted from a memory of the first tool to the processor. Movement of the robotic arm is directed by the processor using the update tool data or code.

The tools may comprise surgical robotic tools having a plurality of different surgical end effectors. The movement of the surgical end effectors may be directed by a surgeon moving an input device so as to perform a surgical procedure. Hence, the robotic arm and input device may be components of a master-slave surgical robotic system.

There will often be a configuration time or a download delay involved when the processor downloads the additional tool data from a mounted tool. This configuration time may be substantially greater than the time involved in configuring the processor for directing movement of a tool when the desired data is already resident in a memory of the processor. To limit the overall reconfiguration time and avoid delays during tool changes, the processor may store the additional tool data downloaded from a mounted tool for use with other tools of a similar type. The additional tool data may be stored in an update list of the memory, while the tool data associated with the known tool types may be stored in a native list of the memory of the processor. When a tool identifier is listed in both the native memory (so that the tool was known when the processor software revision was loaded into the processor, for example) but the tool data is later updated (for example, to lower a grip strength limit to increase safety margins based on experience when using the tool in the field) the same tool type may be included in both lists. Under such circumstances, it may be advantageous to give priority to the update list, for example, by checking the update list first, and if a tool identifier is found therein, making use of that information and not going on to check the native list. This allows tool data to be effectively updated by distributing appropriate additional tools having revised tool data. Additional options include a reject list in the processor memory, with the processor inhibiting use of a tool having a tool identifier included on the reject tool list.

The invention can facilitate the distribution of tools which are intended for use with existing robotic systems and other capital equipment, but which tools have been developed after the systems have been installed in the field. However, not all previously installed systems may have the capability of utilizing newly-developed tools. For example, an installed robotic surgery system may have software that is not configured to accommodate a sliding joint at the distal end effector. If a new tool is developed which makes use of such a sliding joint, it may be easier to update the software of an installed robotic surgery system using magnetic or optical recording media, a network, or other conventional means, rather than taking the time to download an extensive software revision via a surgical robotic tool coupled to a robotic surgery system in the middle of a surgical procedure. Similarly, if a new tool is developed which requires hardware that is not installed on some robotic systems, such as an ultrasound driver for an ultrasound tool. Advantageously, the processor memory may store system capability data, and the additional tool data may identify a minimum system capability. The processor can inhibit use of the first additional tool if the system capability data is incompatible with the minimum system capability of the first additional tool. For example, the processor in the memory may store a software revision identifier and the additional tool data may include a minimum software revision.

After a tool has been distributed to systems in the field for an extended period of time, software revisions may be implemented on the installed systems for a variety of reasons. If the programming of the processor is to be updated, it will often be advantageous to avoid any time delay involved in downloading tool data to the processor memory by including the additional tool data with a system software revision. The memory of the processor may store a software revision identifier, and a second tool may have a tool memory with tool data including a maximum software revision. Although the tool memory may also include data for use in directing movement to the tool, the processor may direct movement of the second tool using tool data from the processor memory in response to the software revision identifier of the processor being older than the maximum software revision of the second tool. This may avoid, for example, the use of obsolete tool data stored on a memory of an old tool.

At least some of the plurality of the tools may comprise legacy tools. Such legacy tools need not necessarily include a tool memory with tool data sufficient for using the tool if the tool is not known to the robotic system. Nonetheless, a tool type identifier may be transmitted from each legacy tool mounted on the arm to the processor. The processor may identify the tool data in the processor memory using the transmitted tool type identifier. Optionally, the processor may differentiate between legacy tools and tools having full downloadable additional tool data based on data transmitted from the tool. Ideally, systems sold after legacy tools will still be compatible with the earlier-distributed legacy tools, while many newly-distributed tools having downloadable tool data will still be compatible with older systems, even if the older systems cannot fully take advantage of the downloadable data.

In another aspect, the invention provides a method comprising mounting a first robotic tool to a robotic arm. Movement of the mounted first tool is directed with a processor using first tool data. The first tool data is stored in a memory of the processor prior to mounting the first tool. A second robotic tool is mounted to the robotic arm. The second robotic tool has a memory with data associated with the second robotic tool. The second tool data is transmitted from the second tool to the processor. Movement of the mounted second tool is directed with the processor using the transmitted second tool data.

The second tool data need not be stored in the memory of the processor prior to mounting the second tool. A third robotic tool may be mounted to the robotic arm. The third robotic tool may have a tool identifier corresponding to a tool identifier of the second tool. Movement of the third tool may be directed by the processor using the transmitted second tool data. This can avoid repeated delays that might be imposed by downloading similar tool data from tools of the same type into the processor.

The third tool may be mounted to the robotic arm prior to mounting the second tool. Movement of the third tool may be directed using third tool data prior to mounting of the second tool. The second tool data may supercede the third tool data for tools having the same tool type identifier as the second tool after the second tool is mounted.

In another aspect, the invention provides a medical instrument system revision method comprising sequentially coupling a plurality of medical instruments to a processor, each instrument having a tissue treatment delivery surface and an interface. Treatment delivery by the tissue treatment delivery surfaces of the sequentially coupled instruments may be controlled using data stored in a memory of the processor. A first additional instrument may be coupled to the processor. The first additional instrument may have a tissue treatment delivery surface and an instrument memory. Update data may be transmitted from the memory of the additional instrument to the processor. The transmitted update data may be stored in the memory of the processor, and treatment delivery from a tissue treatment delivery surface of a second additional tool may be controlled using the stored update data.

The update data may optionally define a machine readable code embodying program instructions for implementing method steps for treating tissue using the tissue treatment delivery surface of a tool. Optionally, the update data may comprise data representing physical parameters of a treatment tool type. For example, when used with a surgical robotic system, the update data may represent geometric joint locations, tool strength limits, offsets, and the like.

The additional instrument may be decoupled from the processor and later recoupled back with the processor. The treatment delivery may be controlled with the recoupled additional instrument using the stored update data so as to avoid repeated downloading of the update data from the memory of the additional instrument.

In another aspect, the invention provides a method comprising providing a plurality of systems. Each system has a processor, and the systems are provided to a plurality of customers. A plurality of peripheral or limited-use devices are distributed to the customers. Each device can be coupled to a system so as to perform a primary function. Programming code or data of the processors are updated using memories of the coupled devices so as to alter the performance of the primary function after the devices are decoupled from the systems.

