Patent ID: 7959860

Claim:
A system for detecting conditions within containers formed by surgical drapes during surgical procedures and controlling thermal treatment of said containers in response to said detected conditions, said system comprising: a thermal treatment unit to thermally treat a sterile medium and including a basin; a surgical drape, covering and substantially conforming to said basin, to serve as a drape container for said sterile medium; a sensing device to detect drape container conditions including sterility of said drape, wherein said sensing device includes a status device and a plurality of conductors responsive to contact with said sterile medium to indicate conditions of said drape container, and wherein said status device includes a plurality of states with the state of said status device indicating said sterility of said drape; a controller to operate said thermal treatment unit to control a temperature of said basin; and a detection unit to determine occurrence of said drape container conditions from signals from said sensing device to control said controller to operate said thermal treatment unit in accordance with said determined drape container conditions.