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

Claim 5:
6. 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 collision prevention rule stored in a database in communication with the controller, wherein said wherein said collision prevention rule is configured to define using image processing a predetermined distance between said at least one surgical tool and an anatomical element within said surgical environment; said ALLOWED movements are movements which are in a range that is larger than said predetermined distance, and said RESTRICTED movements are movements which is in a range that is smaller than said predetermined distance; wherein said anatomical element is selected from a group consisting of tissue, organ, another surgical tool and any combination thereof.