Technologies for enabling electronic lockout of a surgical stapler using near field communication

1 . A surgical stapler comprising:

an end effector configured to receive the staple cartridge, wherein the staple cartridge includes a plurality of surgical staples, a metallic sled movable, in response to a firing of the surgical stapler, from a home position to a spent position within the staple cartridge to eject the surgical staples from the staple cartridge, and a secondary near field communication (NFC) coil;

a sensor controller; and

an NFC sensor circuit including a primary NFC coil,

wherein the sensor controller is configured to:

energize the primary NFC coil to generate a primary magnetic field to induce a current in the secondary NFC coil,

determine a first resonant frequency of the NFC sensor circuit based on the primary magnetic field and a secondary magnetic field generated by the secondary NFC coil,

compare the first resonant frequency of the NFC sensor circuit to an expected resonant frequency of the NFC sensor circuit when the metallic sled is in the home position and interacting with the magnetic field generated by the primary NFC coil, and

determine, based on the comparison of the first resonant frequency and the expected resonant frequency, whether to enable lockout of the surgical stapler to prevent firing of the surgical stapler.

2 . The surgical stapler of claim 1 , wherein the end effector comprises a jaw assembly having a cartridge jaw and an anvil jaw opposite the cartridge jaw, wherein the cartridge jaw comprises a floor wall and a pair of opposing sidewalls extending up from the floor wall to define a channel configured to receive the staple cartridge, wherein a first sidewall of the pair of opposing sidewalls includes a recess defined on an internal surface facing the channel,

wherein the surgical stapler further includes a circuit board, wherein the sensor controller and the NFC sensor circuit are mounted on the circuit board, and

wherein the circuit board is located within the recess of the first sidewall such that the NFC primary coil of the NFC sensor circuit is laterally adjacent to the metallic sled when the metallic sled is in the home position.

3 . The surgical stapler of claim 1 , wherein the present resonant frequency of the NFC sensor circuit is dependent on whether the metallic sled is located in the home position and interacting with the magnetic field generated by the secondary NFC sensor coil.

4 . The surgical stapler of claim 3 , wherein the primary NFC coil and the secondary NFC coil are pretuned to the expected resonant frequency with the metallic sled in the home position.

5 . The surgical stapler of claim 1 , wherein the sensor controller includes an NFC reader circuit configured to energize the primary NFC coil to generate a magnetic field to induce a current in the secondary NFC coil of the staple cartridge and receive, in response to the induced current, data from a responder circuit of the staple cartridge transferred via the secondary NFC coil.

6 . The surgical stapler of claim 1 , wherein the sensor controller is further configured to respond to the lockout status request with an indication of whether the lockout of the surgical stapler is enabled or disabled based on the present resonant frequency of the inductance sensor circuit.

7 . A surgical stapler comprising:

an end effector configured to receive the staple cartridge, wherein the staple cartridge includes a plurality of surgical staples, a metallic sled movable, in response to a firing of the surgical stapler, from a home position to a spent position within the staple cartridge to eject the surgical staples from the staple cartridge, and a secondary near field communication (NFC) coil; and

a sensor controller; and

an NFC sensor circuit located in the end effector and including a primary NFC coil,

wherein the sensor controller includes a mode controller and an NFC control circuit, wherein the mode controller is configured to selectively configure the NFC control circuit between an inductance sensing circuit and an NFC reader circuit, wherein the primary NFC coil forms an inductance sensor coil of the inductance sensing circuit while the NFC control circuit is configured as the inductance sensing circuit, and

wherein the sensor controller is configured to use the inductance sensing circuit to determine whether the sled is in the home position and use the NFC reader circuit to read data from the staple cartridge via the secondary NFC coil.

8 . The surgical stapler of claim 7 , wherein the sensor controller is configured to determine a mode for the NFC control circuit between an inductance sensing mode and an NFC reading mode, and wherein in response to a determination that the mode for the NFC control circuit is the inductance sensing mode, the sensor controller is further configured to:

control the mode controller to configure the NFC control circuit as the inductance sensing circuit;

energize, using the inductance sensing circuit, the inductance sensor coil to generate a magnetic field;

determine a present resonant frequency of the inductance sensing circuit based on the magnetic field;

compare the present resonant frequency of the inductance sensing circuit to an expected resonant frequency of the inductance sensing circuit; and

determine, based on the comparison of the present resonant frequency and the expected resonant frequency, whether to enable lockout of the surgical stapler to prevent firing of the surgical stapler.

9 . The surgical stapler of claim 8 , wherein the inductance sensor circuit comprises a tank circuit having a capacitor and the inductance sensor coil.

10 . The surgical stapler of claim 8 , wherein the present resonant frequency of the NFC sensor circuit is dependent on whether the metallic sled is located in the home position and interacting with the magnetic field generated by the inductance sensing circuit.

11 . The surgical stapler of claim 8 , wherein the primary NFC coil and the secondary NFC coil are pretuned to the expected resonant frequency with the metallic sled in the home position.

12 . The surgical stapler of claim 8 , wherein the sensor controller is further configured to respond to the lockout status request with an indication of whether the lockout of the surgical stapler is enabled or disabled based on the present resonant frequency of the inductance sensing circuit.

13 . The surgical stapler of claim 7 , wherein the sensor controller is configured to determine a mode for the NFC control circuit between an inductance sensing mode and an NFC reading mode, and wherein in response to a determination that the mode for the NFC control circuit is the NFC reading mode, the sensor controller is further configured to:

control the mode controller to configure the NFC control circuit as the NFC reader circuit;

energize, using the NFC reader circuit, the primary NFC coil to generate a magnetic field to induce a current in the secondary NFC coil of the staple cartridge, and

receive, in response to the induced current, data from a responder circuit of the staple cartridge transferred via the secondary NFC coil.

14 . The surgical stapler of claim 7 , wherein the mode controller is configured to control an electronic switch to selectively couple either (i) a first capacitor in series with the primary NFC coil to form the NFC reader circuit or (ii) a second capacitor in parallel with the primary NFC coil to form the inductance sensing circuit.

15 . A surgical stapler comprising:

an end effector configured to receive the staple cartridge, wherein the staple cartridge includes a plurality of surgical staples, a metallic sled movable, in response to a firing of the surgical stapler, from a home position to a spent position within the staple cartridge to eject the surgical staples from the staple cartridge, and a secondary near field communication (NFC) coil;

a sensor controller; and

an NFC sensor circuit including located in the end effector and a primary NFC coil and an inductance sensor coil,

wherein the sensor controller includes a mode controller and an NFC control circuit, wherein the mode controller is configured to selectively configure the NFC control circuit between (i) an inductance sensing circuit by electrically coupling the inductance sensor coil to the NFC control circuit and (ii) an NFC reader circuit by electrically coupling the primary NFC coil to the NFC control circuit, and

wherein the sensor controller is configured to use the inductance sensing circuit to determine whether the sled is in the home position and use the NFC reader circuit to read data from the staple cartridge via the secondary NFC coil.

16 . The surgical stapler of claim 15 , wherein the sensor controller is configured to determine a mode for the NFC control circuit between an inductance sensing mode and an NFC reading mode, and wherein in response to a determination that the mode for the NFC control circuit is the inductance sensing mode, the sensor controller is further configured to:

control the mode controller to electrically couple the inductance sensor coil to the NFC control circuit to form the inductance sensing circuit;

energize, using the inductance sensing circuit, the inductance sensor coil to generate a magnetic field;

determine a present resonant frequency of the inductance sensing circuit based on the magnetic field;

compare the present resonant frequency of the inductance sensing circuit to an expected resonant frequency of the inductance sensing circuit; and

determine, based on the comparison of the present resonant frequency and the expected resonant frequency, whether to enable lockout of the surgical stapler to prevent firing of the surgical stapler.

17 . The surgical stapler of claim 16 , wherein the present resonant frequency of the inductance sensing circuit is dependent on whether the metallic sled is located in the home position and interacting with the magnetic field generated by the inductance sensing coil.

18 . The surgical stapler of claim 16 , wherein the inductance sensing coil is pretuned to the expected resonant frequency with the metallic sled in the home position.

19 . The surgical stapler of claim 16 , wherein the sensor controller is further configured to respond to the lockout status request with an indication of whether the lockout of the surgical stapler is enabled or disabled based on the present resonant frequency of the inductance sensing circuit.

20 . The surgical stapler of claim 15 , wherein the sensor controller is configured to determine a mode for the NFC control circuit between an inductance sensing mode and an NFC reading mode, and wherein in response to a determination that the mode for the NFC control circuit is the NFC reading mode, the sensor controller is further configured to:

control the mode controller to electrically couple the primary NFC coil to the NFC control circuit to form the NFC reader circuit;

energize, using the NFC reader circuit, the primary NFC coil to generate a magnetic field to induce a current in the secondary NFC coil of the staple cartridge, and

receive, in response to the induced current, data from a responder circuit of the staple cartridge transferred via the secondary NFC coil.