Search

EP-3505075-B1 - SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS COMPRISING BUTTON CIRCUITS

EP3505075B1EP 3505075 B1EP3505075 B1EP 3505075B1EP-3505075-B1

Inventors

  • SHELTON, IV FREDERICK E.
  • VENDELY, MICHAEL J.
  • HARRIS, JASON L.
  • BAKOS, GREGORY J.

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20181228

Claims (12)

  1. A surgical instrument handle (217100), comprising: a housing (217110); a control circuit (220000) positioned in said housing; a button shell (217132, 217142, 217152, 217172); and a flex circuit (217137, 217144, 217154) at least partially embedded in said button shell, wherein said flex circuit is in electrical communication with said control circuit, and said flex circuit comprises a strain gage (217137, 217154) contained within said button shell, wherein said button shell comprises a compliant section configured to permit said button shell to observably deflect when depressed by a user of said surgical instrument handle.
  2. The surgical instrument handle of Claim 1, wherein said button shell has been etched to expose at least a portion of said flex circuit.
  3. The surgical instrument handle of Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein said button shell is molded over at least a portion of said flex circuit.
  4. The surgical instrument handle of any preceding Claim, wherein said button shell and said housing comprise an assembly.
  5. The surgical instrument handle of any preceding Claim, wherein said button shell is integrally-formed with said housing.
  6. The surgical instrument handle of any preceding Claim, wherein said flex circuit comprises a capacitive switch element (219230), and/or a force-sensitive piezoelectric switch element.
  7. The surgical instrument handle of Claim 6, wherein said button shell comprises an outer surface accessible by a user of the surgical instrument handle, wherein one or both of said capacitive switch element and said force-sensitive piezoelectric switch element is mounted to said outer surface.
  8. The surgical instrument handle of any preceding Claim, wherein the compliant section comprises either a living hinge (217174) or scoring configured to permit said button shell (217170) to observably deflect.
  9. The surgical instrument handle of any preceding Claim, further comprising a button shell (217162) that is constructed to resist observable deflection when depressed by the user of the surgical instrument handle.
  10. The surgical instrument handle of Claim 9, wherein said control circuit comprises a haptic feedback generator, and wherein said control circuit actuates said haptic feedback generator when said button shell constructed to resist observable deflection is depressed.
  11. The surgical instrument handle of any preceding Claim, wherein said housing and said button shell are either comprised of the same material or comprised of different materials.
  12. The surgical instrument handle of any preceding Claim, wherein said flex circuit comprises electrical traces and surface mount components connected to said electrical traces.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/778,572, entitled SURGICAL INSTRUMENT SYSTEMS, filed December 12, 2018, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/750,529, entitled METHOD FOR OPERATING A POWERED ARTICULATING MULTI-CLIP APPLIER, filed October 25, 2018, of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/750,539, entitled SURGICAL CLIP APPLIER, filed October 25, 2018, and of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/750,555, entitled SURGICAL CLIP APPLIER, filed October 25, 2018, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entireties. This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/659,900, entitled METHOD OF HUB COMMUNICATION, filed April 19, 2018, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/665,128, entitled MODULAR SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS, filed May 1, 2018, of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/665,129, entitled SURGICAL SUTURING SYSTEMS, filed May 1, 2018, of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/665,134, entitled SURGICAL CLIP APPLIER, filed May 1, 2018, of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/665,139, entitled SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS COMPRISING CONTROL SYSTEMS, filed May 1, 2018, of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/665,177, entitled SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS COMPRISING HANDLE ARRANGEMENTS, filed May 1, 2018, and of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/665,192, entitled SURGICAL DISSECTORS, filed May 1, 2018, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entireties. This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/649,291, entitled USE OF LASER LIGHT AND RED-GREEN-BLUE COLORATION TO DETERMINE PROPERTIES OF BACK SCATTERED LIGHT, filed March 28, 2018, of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/649,294, entitled DATA STRIPPING METHOD TO INTERROGATE PATIENT RECORDS AND CREATE ANONYMIZED RECORD, filed March 28, 2018, of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/649,296, entitled ADAPTIVE CONTROL PROGRAM UPDATES FOR SURGICAL DEVICES, filed March 28, 2018, of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/649,300, entitled SURGICAL HUB SITUATIONAL AWARENESS, filed March 28, 2018, of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/649,302, entitled INTERACTIVE SURGICAL SYSTEMS WITH ENCRYPTED COMMUNICATION CAPABILITIES, filed March 28, 2018, of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/649,307, entitled AUTOMATIC TOOL ADJUSTMENTS FOR ROBOT-ASSISTED SURGICAL PLATFORMS, filed March 28, 2018, of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/649,309, entitled SURGICAL HUB SPATIAL AWARENESS TO DETERMINE DEVICES IN OPERATING THEATER, filed March 28, 2018, of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/649,310, entitled COMPUTER IMPLEMENTED INTERACTIVE SURGICAL SYSTEMS, filed March 28, 2018, of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/649,313, entitled CLOUD INTERFACE FOR COUPLED SURGICAL DEVICES, filed March 28, 2018, of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/649,315, entitled DATA HANDLING AND PRIORITIZATION IN A CLOUD ANALYTICS NETWORK, filed March 28, 2018, of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/649,320, entitled DRIVE ARRANGEMENTS FOR ROBOT-ASSISTED SURGICAL PLATFORMS, filed March 28, 2018, of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/649,323, entitled SENSING ARRANGEMENTS FOR ROBOT-ASSISTED SURGICAL PLATFORMS, filed March 28, 2018, of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/649,327, entitled CLOUD-BASED MEDICAL ANALYTICS FOR SECURITY AND AUTHENTICATION TRENDS AND REACTIVE MEASURES, filed March 28, 2018, and of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/649,333, entitled CLOUD-BASED MEDICAL ANALYTICS FOR CUSTOMIZATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS TO A USER, filed March 28, 2018, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entireties. This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/611,339, entitled ROBOT ASSISTED SURGICAL PLATFORM, filed December 28, 2017, of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/611,340, entitled CLOUD-BASED MEDICAL ANALYTICS, filed December 28, 2017, and of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/611,341, entitled INTERACTIVE SURGICAL PLATFORM, filed December 28, 2017. BACKGROUND The present disclosure relates to surgical systems and, in various arrangements, to grasping instruments that are designed to grasp the tissue of a patient, dissecting instruments configured to manipulate the tissue of a patient, clip appliers configured to clip the tissue of a patient, and suturing instrumen