IP Library Granted Patent US 11,058,509
Granted Patent B2
US 11,058,509 · App. 16/063,550 · Granted Jul 13, 2021

Medical safety control apparatus, medical safety control method, and medical support system

Inventors: Wataru Kokubo (Tokyo, JP); Takeshi Maeda (Tokyo, JP); Tatsumi Sakaguchi (Kanagawa, JP)
Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
A61B90/03A61B1/00006A61B1/00009A61B1/00039A61B1/00055A61B1/00149A61B1/00193A61B34/10A61B34/30A61B90/50A61B17/00234A61B2034/2051A61B2034/2063A61B2090/033A61B2090/061A61B2090/065B25J9/0009
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,058,509
App. No.
16/063,550
Granted
Jul 13, 2021
Kind
B2
Abstract

A medical safety control apparatus that includes processing circuitry that obtains a surgical instrument-biological tissue distance, determine whether the surgical instrument-biological tissue distance is greater than a predetermined first restricted distance, in response to determining that the surgical instrument-biological tissue distance is not greater than the predetermined first restricted distance, issues an instruction for stopping a motion of an arm of a support arm apparatus that supports the surgical instrument, in response to determining that the surgical instrument-biological tissue distance is greater than the predetermined first restricted distance, determines whether the surgical instrument-biological tissue distance is greater than a predetermined second restricted distance, and in response to determining that the surgical instrument-biological tissue distance is not greater than the predetermined second restricted distance, issues a first instruction for restricting a motion speed of the arm.

Claims (54)

1. A medical safety control apparatus, comprising:

processing circuitry configured to

obtain a surgical instrument-biological tissue distance, which is a distance between a surgical instrument and a biological tissue of a patient, the surgical instrument-biological tissue distance being detected while a treatment is being performed on the biological tissue by the surgical instrument, the surgical instrument being an endoscope having a lens tube;

determine whether the surgical instrument-biological tissue distance is greater than a predetermined first restricted distance in an advancement region, the advancement region being a cylindrical region in an advancement direction of the lens tube, the cylindrical region having a diameter that is larger than an outer diameter of the lens tube;

in response to determining that the surgical instrument-biological tissue distance is not greater than the predetermined first restricted distance in the advancement region, issue an instruction for stopping a motion of an arm of a support arm apparatus that supports the surgical instrument, or an instruction for causing the arm to execute a retracting motion by which the surgical instrument moves away from the biological tissue;

in response to determining that the surgical instrument-biological tissue distance is greater than the predetermined first restricted distance in the advancement region, determine whether the surgical instrument-biological tissue distance is greater than a predetermined second restricted distance in the advancement region, the second restricted distance being greater than the first restricted distance;

in response to determining that the surgical instrument-biological tissue distance is not greater than the predetermined second restricted distance in the advancement region, issue a first instruction for restricting a motion speed of the arm;

in response to determining that the surgical instrument-biological tissue distance is greater than the predetermined second restricted distance in the advancement region, determine whether the surgical instrument-biological tissue distance is greater than the predetermined first restricted distance in a peripheral region, the peripheral region being a hollow cylindrical region surrounding a periphery of the advancement region; and

in response to determining that the surgical instrument-biological tissue distance is not greater than the predetermined first restricted distance in the peripheral region, issue a second instruction for restricting the motion speed of the arm.

2. The medical safety control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein

the processing circuitry is configured to issue the first instruction for restricting the motion speed of the arm to a predetermined value or less, and

the predetermined value changes according to the surgical instrument-biological tissue distance.

3. The medical safety control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein

in the retracting motion, the surgical instrument moves backward along a path on which the surgical instrument has advanced.

4. The medical safety control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein

the processing circuitry is configured to issue an instruction for issuing a warning based on the surgical instrument-biological tissue distance.

5. The medical safety control apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein

the warning is set in stages according to the surgical instrument-biological tissue distance.

6. The medical safety control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein

the endoscope is configured as a stereo camera, and

the surgical instrument-biological tissue distance is detected on a basis of a captured image by the endoscope.

7. The medical safety control apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein

the processing circuitry is configured to:

obtain a two-dimensional distribution of the surgical instrument-biological tissue distance in a plane approximately perpendicular to an advancement direction of the surgical instrument; and

issue a motion-restricting instruction for restricting the motion of the arm based on the surgical instrument-biological tissue distance in each of multiple regions set in the advancement direction of the surgical instrument.

8. The medical safety control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein

the surgical instrument-biological tissue distance is detected by a distance measurement sensor provided on a front end of the surgical instrument.

9. The medical safety control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein

the surgical instrument-biological tissue distance is detected by a distance detection section provided at a position where the surgical instrument and the biological tissue are observable.

10. The medical safety control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein

a condition that stipulates a restriction on the motion of the arm is set in accordance with input from a user.

11. The medical safety control apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein

the input from the user is executed by at least one of speech of the user, a movement of a gaze of the user, a movement of a head of the user, and a gesture of the user.

12. The medical safety control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein

the processing circuitry is configured to perform a power assist control, in which the arm is driven by an actuator in response to an external force imparted to the arm by a user.

13. A medical safety control method comprising:

obtaining a surgical instrument-biological tissue distance, which is a distance between a surgical instrument and a biological tissue of a patient, the surgical instrument-biological tissue distance being detected while a treatment is being performed on the biological tissue by the surgical instrument, the surgical instrument being an endoscope having a lens tube;

determining, using processing circuitry, whether the surgical instrument-biological tissue distance is greater than a predetermined first restricted distance in an advancement region, the advancement region being a cylindrical region in an advancement direction of the lens tube, the cylindrical region having a diameter that is larger than an outer diameter of the lens tube;

in response to determining that the surgical instrument-biological tissue distance is not greater than the predetermined first restricted distance in the advancement region, issuing an instruction for stopping a motion of an arm of a support arm apparatus that supports the surgical instrument, or an instruction for causing the arm to execute a retracting motion by which the surgical instrument moves away from the biological tissue;

in response to determining that the surgical instrument-biological tissue distance is greater than the predetermined first restricted distance in the advancement region, determining, using the processing circuitry, whether the surgical instrument-biological tissue distance is greater than a predetermined second restricted distance in the advancement region, the second restricted distance being greater than the first restricted distance;

in response to determining that the surgical instrument-biological tissue distance is not greater than the predetermined second restricted distance in the advancement region, issuing a first instruction for restricting a motion speed of the arm;

in response to determining that the surgical instrument-biological tissue distance is greater than the predetermined second restricted distance in the advancement region, determining, using the processing circuitry, whether the surgical instrument-biological tissue distance is greater than the predetermined first restricted distance in a peripheral region, the peripheral region being a hollow cylindrical region surrounding a periphery of the advancement region; and

in response to determining that the surgical instrument-biological tissue distance is not greater than the predetermined first restricted distance in the peripheral region, issuing a second instruction for restricting the motion speed of the arm.

14. A medical support system comprising:

a support arm apparatus that supports a surgical instrument with an arm; and

processing circuitry configured to

control a driving of the support arm apparatus;

obtain a surgical instrument-biological tissue distance, which is a distance between the surgical instrument and a biological tissue of a patient, the surgical instrument-biological tissue distance being detected while a treatment is being performed on the biological tissue by the surgical instrument, the surgical instrument being an endoscope having a lens tube;

determine whether the surgical instrument-biological tissue distance is greater than a predetermined first restricted distance in an advancement region, the advancement region being a cylindrical region in an advancement direction of the lens tube, the cylindrical region having a diameter that is larger than an outer diameter of the lens tube;

in response to determining that the surgical instrument-biological tissue distance is not greater than the predetermined first restricted distance in the advancement region, issue an instruction for stopping a motion of the arm of the support arm apparatus that supports the surgical instrument, or an instruction for causing the arm to execute a retracting motion by which the surgical instrument moves away from the biological tissue;

in response to determining that the surgical instrument-biological tissue distance is greater than the predetermined first restricted distance in the advancement region, determine whether the surgical instrument-biological tissue distance is greater than a predetermined second restricted distance in the advancement region, the second restricted distance being greater than the first restricted distance;

in response to determining that the surgical instrument-biological tissue distance is not greater than the predetermined second restricted distance in the advancement region, issue a first instruction for restricting a motion speed of the arm;

in response to determining that the surgical instrument-biological tissue distance is greater than the predetermined second restricted distance in the advancement region, determine whether the surgical instrument-biological tissue distance is greater than the predetermined first restricted distance in a peripheral region, the peripheral region being a hollow cylindrical region surrounding a periphery of the advancement region; and

in response to determining that the surgical instrument-biological tissue distance is not greater than the predetermined first restricted distance in the peripheral region, issue a second instruction for restricting the motion speed of the arm.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jun 18, 2018
From: KOKUBO, WATARU; MAEDA, TAKESHI; SAKAGUCHI, TATSUMI
To: SONY CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 046378/0402 →
Priority Claims (1)
JP JP2016-011348 · Jan 25, 2016 · national
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20190000585A1 · Jan 3, 2019