Granted Patent B2

US 12,697,178 · App. 17/851,687 · Granted Aug 4, 2026

Inventor: Brendan J. Oberkircher (Cincinnati, OH)

Assignee: CILAG GMBH INTERNATIONAL

A61B34/25G06F3/023G06F3/0486G06F9/453A61B2017/00973

Abstract

Claims (57)

1 . A method for assigning a footswitch to control a port of a modular energy system, wherein the modular energy system comprises an energy module and a display screen configured to render a graphical user interface (GUI), and wherein the energy module comprises ports configured to deliver energy modalities to surgical instruments coupled thereto, the method comprising:

displaying, by the GUI, a plurality of widgets corresponding to the ports;

detecting, by the modular energy system, when a footswitch is available to be wirelessly connected to the modular energy system and is available to be assigned to one of the ports;

in response to detecting when the footswitch is available to be wirelessly connected to the modular energy system, displaying, by the GUI, an object representing the footswitch and indicating that the footswitch is available to be assigned to one of the ports;

identifying, by the modular energy system, one or more of the ports that are available to be controlled by the footswitch;

prior to any user interaction with the object, displaying, by the GUI, an icon in the widgets that correspond to the one or more ports identified as available to be controlled by the footswitch, wherein the icon indicates that the port is available to be controlled by the footswitch; and

receiving a drag and drop input from a user interacting with the GUI, the drag and drop input including dragging and dropping the the object into one of the widgets displaying the icon indicating that the port is available to be controlled by the footswitch; and

in response to the received drag and drop input, performing both of the following:

wirelessly pairing the footswitch with the modular energy system based on received drag and drop input, and

assigning, by the modular energy system, the footswitch to one of the ports, the assignment being based on the received drag and drop input,

such that the footswitch is both assigned to one of the ports and wirelessly paired with the modular energy system based on the same received drag and drop input.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting, by the modular energy system, when the footswitch is available to be wirelessly connected to the modular energy system and is available to be assigned to one of the ports comprises determining that the footswitch is a single-pedal footswitch; and

wherein identifying, by the modular energy system, one or more of the ports that are available to be controlled by the footswitch comprises determining that one or more of the ports are compatible with a single-pedal footswitch.

3 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising:

displaying, by the GUI, a single-pedal footswitch icon in the object based on the modular energy system determining that the footswitch is a single-pedal footswitch.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting, by the modular energy system, when the footswitch is available to be wirelessly connected to the modular energy system and is available to be assigned comprises determining that the footswitch is a dual-pedal footswitch; and

wherein identifying, by the modular energy system, one or more of the ports that are available to be controlled by the footswitch comprises determining that one or more of the ports are compatible with a dual-pedal footswitch.

5 . The method of claim 4 , further comprising:

displaying, by the GUI, a dual-pedal footswitch icon in the object based on the modular energy system determining that the footswitch is a dual-pedal footswitch.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying, by the modular energy system, one or more of the ports that are available to be controlled by the footswitch comprises determining that one or more of the ports do not already have a footswitch assigned thereto.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

displaying, by the GUI, a footswitch icon in the widget corresponding to the port to which the footswitch is assigned.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the footswitch is a first footswitch, wherein the object is a first object, the method further comprising:

detecting, by the modular energy system, that a second footswitch is available to be assigned to one of the ports; and

displaying, by the GUI, a second object indicating that the second footswitch is available to be assigned to one of the ports based on the detection of the second footswitch.

9 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

displaying, by the GUI, a help balloon including instructions to drag and drop the object to assign the footswitch to one of the ports.

10 . A modular energy system for use in a surgical environment, the modular energy system comprising:

one or more energy modules, wherein each of the one or more energy modules comprises ports, wherein each of the ports is configured to deliver an energy modality to a surgical instrument connected thereto;

a footswitch configured to control the activation of at least one of the ports; and

a header module comprising a display screen, wherein:

the footswitch is configured to wirelessly pair with the header module,

the modular energy system is configured to:

detect when the footswitch is available to be wirelessly connected to the modular energy system and is available to be assigned one of the ports, and

identify one or more of the ports that are available to be controlled by the footswitch; and

the display screen is configured to:

render a graphical user interface (GUI)

display a plurality of widgets, wherein each widget corresponds to one of the ports;

in response to the modular energy system detecting when the footswitch is available to be wirelessly connected to the modular energy system and is available to be assigned to one of the ports, display an object indicating that the footswitch is available to be assigned to one of the ports;

prior to any user interaction with the object, display an icon in the widgets that correspond to the ports that are available to be controlled by the footswitch; and

allow a user to drag and drop the object into one of the widgets having the icon, wherein dragging and dropping the object into one of the widgets displaying the icon causes the header module to do both of the following:

wirelessly pair with the footswitch, and

assign the footswitch to the port corresponding to the widget.

11 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the footswitch comprises a single-pedal footswitch or a dual-pedal footswitch.

12 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the GUI is configured to display the icon only in widgets corresponding to ports controllable by a single pedal footswitch if the footswitch comprises a single-pedal footswitch, and wherein the GUI is configured to display the icon only in widgets corresponding to ports controllable by a dual-pedal footswitch if the footswitch comprises a dual-pedal footswitch.

13 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the GUI is configured to display a single-pedal footswitch icon in the object if the footswitch comprises a single-pedal footswitch, and wherein the GUI is configured to display a dual-pedal footswitch icon in the object if the footswitch comprises a dual-pedal footswitch.

14 . The system of claim 10 , wherein dragging and dropping the object into one of the widgets having the icon causes the GUI to display a footswitch icon in the widget.

15 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the footswitch is a first footswitch, wherein the object is a first object, wherein the system further comprises a second footswitch, and wherein the GUI is further configured to simultaneously display the first object and a second object indicating that the second footswitch is available to be assigned to one of the ports.

16 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the GUI is further configured to display a help balloon including instructions to drag and drop the object to assign the footswitch to one of the ports.

17 . A method for assigning a footswitch to control a port of a modular energy system, wherein the modular energy system comprises an energy module and a display screen configured to render a graphical user interface, and wherein the energy module comprises ports configured to deliver energy modalities to surgical instruments coupled thereto, the method comprising:

displaying, by the GUI, a plurality of widgets corresponding to the ports;

detecting, by the modular energy system, that the footswitch is available to be assigned to one of the ports, wherein detecting, by the modular energy system, that the footswitch is available to be assigned to one of the ports comprises detecting that the footswitch is available to be wirelessly paired with the modular energy system;

displaying, by the GUI, an object indicating that the footswitch is available to be assigned to one of the ports based on the detection of the footswitch;

identifying, by the modular energy system, one or more of the ports that are available to be controlled by the footswitch;

displaying, by the GUI, an icon in the widgets corresponding to the one or more ports identified as available to be controlled by the footswitch, wherein the icon indicates that the port is available to be controlled by the footswitch;

assigning, by the modular energy system, the footswitch to one of the ports based on a user input, the user input including the user interacting with the GUI to drag and drop the object into one of the widgets having the icon indicating that the port is available to be controlled by the footswitch; and

wirelessly pairing the footswitch with the modular energy system based on the user input such that the footswitch is both assigned to one of the ports and wirelessly paired with the modular energy system based on the same user input.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (400)