Patent ID: 11957301
Assignee: ASENSUS SURGICAL EUROPE SàRL
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC A  G | IPC A  G

Claim 0:
1. A method of assisting an operator to perform a surgical procedure, comprising:
inserting at least one surgical tool into a surgical environment of a human body;
real-time estimating a 3D spatial position of said at least one surgical tool within the surgical environment;
detecting if there is movement of said at least one surgical tool within the surgical environment by determining whether the 3D spatial position of said at least one surgical tool at time tf is different than the 3D spatial position of said at least one surgical tool at time t0;
controlling the spatial position of said at least one surgical tool using a controller, wherein said controlling step includes determining whether each of said detected movements is an ALLOWED movement or a RESTRICTED movement based on a predetermined environmental rule stored in a database in communication with the controller, wherein said determining step comprises
receiving at least one real-time image of said surgical environment,
performing real-time image processing of said image to determine the 3D spatial position of hazards or obstacles in said surgical environment wherein said hazards or obstacles are selected from a group consisting of tissue, a surgical tool, an organ, an endoscope and any combination thereof;
determining that said movement is a RESTRICTED movement if the movement is one in which said at least one surgical tool is located substantially in at least one of said 3D spatial positions, and
determining that said movement is an ALLOWED movement if the movement is one in which the location of said at least one surgical tool is substantially different from said 3D spatial positions.