Patent ID: 11944397
Assignee: INTUITIVE SURGICAL OPERATIONS, INC.
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC A | IPC A

Claim 12:
13. A system comprising:
means for controlling a surgical instrument,
the surgical instrument comprising an instrument shaft;
means for receiving the instrument shaft,
the means for receiving comprising means for sealing against the instrument shaft, and
the means for sealing being sized and shaped to slidably engage the instrument shaft; and
means for causing continuous, oscillatory, or intermittent vibrational motion of the means for sealing relative to the instrument shaft,
the means for causing continuous, oscillatory, or intermittent vibrational motion being connected directly to or integral with the means for sealing and being driven at a frequency greater than about 1 kilohertz so as not to interfere with a surgeon's sense of touch in a haptic feedback system.