Stryker Corporation

Rajeshwari Srinivasan

Brannon P Wells

Hasan Ertas

Ruzbeh Shariff

Sohail Desai

A unit of equipment designed for use in endoscopic surgery includes radio frequency identification (RFID) circuitry and a network interface. The RFID circuitry can be used to store information of various types, such as component usage tracking information, user preferences, usage logs, error logs, device settings, etc. The network interface allows the unit to communicate over an external network with a remote server. Information, such as information stored in the RFID circuitry or in a separate memory, may be sent over the network to a desired destination, such as a server operated by the manufacturer of the equipment.

Endoscopy device with integrated RFID and external network capability

RFID circuitry is used in an endoscopic light source unit to track cumulative light bulb use information. An inductively powered RFID tag is affixed to the light bulb assembly, and communicates wirelessly with an RF transceiver within the light source unit via a low-frequency modulation wave. The RFID tag includes memory which stores a value representing cumulative duration of use of the light bulb. The transceiver reads the value from the RFID tag and communicates the value to control circuitry in the light source unit, which tracks use of the light bulb within the light source unit. Based on such tracking, the transceiver periodically updates the value in the RFID tag via the wireless link. Cumulative bulb usage hours is displayed on the light source unit. The RFID tag also may store a custom password and/or other information.

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Rajeshwari Srinivasan