Patent ID: 11867963
Assignee: ASTRO TECH CO., LTD.
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G  A | IPC A  G

Claim 0:
1. A method of collecting operating condition information from an elongated tubular member, comprising:
monitoring an operating condition signal provided at one of opposing ends of a contiguous optical fiber structure to determine operating condition information generated by a plurality of operating condition sensors connected to the elongated tubular member, wherein the contiguous optical fiber structure comprises a plurality of individual lengths of optical fiber connected in an end-to-end fashion to form a single length of optical fiber having said opposing ends and wherein at least two of the individual lengths of optical fiber includes at least one of the operating condition sensors integral therewith between opposing ends thereof;
detecting loss of operating condition information corresponding to at least one of the individual lengths of optical fiber; and
in response to detecting the loss of operating condition information, reconfiguring monitoring of the operating condition signal,
wherein reconfiguring said monitoring includes one of:
causing an operating condition signal to be provided at both of said opposing ends of the contiguous optical fiber structure and monitoring a respective operating condition signal at both of said ends of the contiguous optical fiber structure; and
excluding the at least one of the individual lengths of optical fiber from within the contiguous optical fiber structure to create a reconfigured version of the contiguous optical fiber structure and continuing to monitor the operating condition signal provided at said one of the opposing ends of the contiguous optical fiber structure.