Patent ID: 8752747

Claim:
A method of recording the state of a surgical instrument, the surgical instrument comprising: an end effector to engage tissue, the end effector comprising a staple channel and an anvil pivotable relative to the staple channel, where at least one of the anvil and the staple channel defines a longitudinal channel; a reciprocating knife positioned to slide distally through the longitudinal channel; a longitudinal shaft extending proximally from the end effector; a first sensor having an output representing a position of the anvil relative to the staple channel; a second sensor having an output representing a position of the reciprocating knife; and an externally accessible memory device; the method comprising: monitoring the outputs of the first sensor and the second sensor; recording the output of the first sensor to the memory device when a change occurs in the output of the first sensor; and recording the output of the second sensor to the memory device when a change occurs in the output of the second sensor.