Patent ID: 9737301
Date: 2017-08-22
CPC Classifications: A61B,G01R,G06F,H02H,H02J,Y02D

Claim:
1. A surgical instrument, comprising: a first jaw; a second jaw, wherein at least one of the first jaw and the second jaw is movable relative to the other one of the first jaw and the second jaw between an open configuration and an approximated configuration to capture tissue therebetween; a cutting member movable during a firing stroke to cut the tissue captured between the first jaw and the second jaw in the approximated configuration, the cutting member comprising a cutting surface at a distal portion thereof; a sensing module operable to measure a characteristic of the cutting surface, wherein the sensing module comprises: a cleaning mechanism; wherein the cutting surface reflects the light emitted by the light source, and wherein the optical sensor is operable to measure at least one intensity of the reflected light while the cutting surface is advanced through the optical sensing region, and wherein the cleaning mechanism is configured to clean the cutting surface before the cutting surface enters the optical sensing region.