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Surgical instrument

Surgical instrument description/claims

This application is a continuation of co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 11/562,960, filed Nov. 22, 2006, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/012,845, filed Nov. 16, 2001 (now U.S. Pat. No. 7,169,141), which is a continuation-in-part of and claims the benefit of priority from U.S. application Ser. No. 09/827,503, filed Apr. 6, 2001 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,432,112), which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/746,853, filed Dec. 21, 2000 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,692,485), which is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/375,666, filed Aug. 17, 1999 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,197,017), which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/028,550, filed Feb. 24, 1998 (now abandoned). This application is also a continuation-in-part of and claims the benefit of priority from U.S. application Ser. No. 09/783,637, filed Feb. 14, 2001 (now abandoned), which is a continuation of PCT Application Ser. No. PCT/US00/12553, filed May 9, 2000, which claims the benefit of priority of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/133,407, filed May 10, 1999. This application is also a continuation-in-part of and claims the benefit of priority from PCT Application PCT/US01/11376, filed Apr. 6, 2001, which claims priority to U.S. application Ser. No. 09/746,853, filed Dec. 21, 2000 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,692,485), and Ser. No. 09/827,503, filed Apr. 6, 2001 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,432,112). This application is also a continuation-in-part of and claims the benefit of priority from U.S. application Ser. No. 09/746,853, filed Dec. 21, 2000 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,692,485) and 09/827,503, filed Apr. 6, 2001 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,432,112). This application is also a continuation-in-part of and claims the benefit of priority from U.S. application Ser. No. 09/827,643, filed Apr. 6, 2001 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,554,844), which claims priority to, inter alia, U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/257,869, filed Dec. 21, 2000 and U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/195,264, filed Apr. 7, 2000, and is also a continuation-in-part of PCT Application PCT/US00/12553, filed May 9, 2000 from which U.S. application Ser. No. 09/783,637, filed Feb. 14, 2001 (now abandoned), claims priority.

This application also claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. §§ 119 and 120 to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/293,346, filed May 24, 2001, U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/279,087, filed Mar. 27, 2001, U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/313,496, filed Aug. 21, 2001, U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/313,497, filed Aug. 21, 2001, U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/313,495, filed Aug. 21, 2001, U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/269,203, filed Feb. 15, 2001, U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/269,200, filed Feb. 15, 2001, U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/276,151, filed Mar. 15, 2001, U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/276,217, filed Mar. 15, 2001, U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/276,086, filed Mar. 15, 2001, U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/276,152, filed Mar. 15, 2001, U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/257,816, filed Dec. 21, 2000, U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/257,868, filed Dec. 21, 2000, U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/257,867, filed Dec. 21, 2000, and U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/257,869, filed Dec. 21, 2000.

The disclosures of all of the foregoing applications and U.S. Pat. No. 6,197,017 are all incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

This application is also related to application Ser. No. ______ (Attorney Docket No. HNMD-EA004 CON2), Ser. No. ______ (Attorney Docket No. HNMD-EA004 CON3), Ser. No. ______ (Attorney Docket No. HNMD-EA004 CON4) and Ser. No. ______ (Attorney Docket No. HNMD-EA004 CON6), all of which are filed on the same date herewith.

The disclosures of the foregoing applications are expressly incorporated herein by reference. This application further expressly incorporates herein by reference, U.S. application Ser. No. 10/014,145 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,775,582), Ser. No. 10/012,845 (now U.S. Pat. No. 7,169,141), Ser. No. 10/008,964 (now abandoned), Ser. No. 10/013,046 (now abandoned), Ser. No. 10/011,450 (now abandoned), Ser. No. 10/008,457 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,949,106), Ser. No. 10/008,871 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,843,793), Ser. No. 10/023,024 (now abandoned), Ser. No. 10/011,371 (now U.S. Pat. No. 7,090,683), Ser. No. 10/011,449 (now abandoned), Ser. No. 10/010,150 (now U.S. Pat. No. 7,214,230), Ser. No. 10/022,038 (now abandoned), Ser. No. 10/012,586, all filed on Nov. 16, 2001.

The present invention relates to surgical instruments and more particularly to surgical instruments which are remotely controlled by electronic control signals generated by a user which are sent to a drive unit which drives mechanically drivable components of a mechanical apparatus which support a surgical instrument.

In accordance with the present inventions, a medical system is provided. The medical system comprises a rigid support affixed relative to a patient table. In one embodiment, the rigid support is a rigid post mounted to the patient table. The medical system further comprises a surgical instrument mounted to the carriage assembly. The surgical instrument carries a distal tool configured for performing a medical procedure on a patient. In one embodiment, the carriage assembly comprises at least one rail and a carriage slidably disposed on the rail(s), and the surgical instrument is affixed to the carriage. The carriage assembly may further comprise a cable connected to the carriage and a pulley. In another embodiment, the surgical instrument comprises an adapter and an instrument insert carrying the distal tool and removably disposed within the adapter. In this case, the adapter may have an elongated guide member that receives the instrument insert

The medical system further comprises mechanical cabling, and an electromechanical drive unit (e.g., one having a motor array) coupled to the carriage assembly via the mechanical cabling to control linear movement of the surgical instrument relative to the rigid support. If the carriage assembly comprises a cable connected to the carriage and a pulley, the mechanical cabling may be coupled to the pulley. In one embodiment, the drive unit is coupled to the carriage assembly via the mechanical cabling to control pivoting movement of the surgical instrument about the rigid support. In another embodiment, the drive unit is coupled to the surgical instrument via the mechanical cabling to control rotational movement of the surgical instrument about its longitudinal axis. In still another embodiment, the drive unit is coupled to the surgical instrument via the mechanical cabling to control actuation of the distal tool

In one embodiment, the medical system further comprises a remote controller configured for directing the drive unit to control the movement of the surgical instrument. The remote controller may be coupled to the drive unit via external cabling, and may have a user interface for receiving commands from a user, which may be movements made at the user interface that correspond to movements of the surgical instrument.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating one embodiment of the robotic system of the present invention;

FIGS. 1A-1C are three views of a flexible cannula for use with the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 2A is a schematic diagram illustrating the degrees-of-freedom associated with the master station;

FIG. 2B is a schematic diagram illustrating the degrees-of-freedom associated with the slave station;

FIG. 2C shows a functional schematic diagram of the surgical adapter component of the system of FIG. 1;

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• Utility Patent

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