The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 24, 2026
Filed:
Oct. 17, 2023
Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
David W. Weir, Emerald Hills, CA (US);
Kevin Durant, Alameda, CA (US);
William Burbank, Sandy Hook, CT (US);
Patrick Flanagan, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abstract
Surgical systems and related methods for detecting whether a surgical instrument lacks a surgical cartridge in an unfired condition. A method of detecting that a surgical instrument lacks a surgical cartridge in an unfired condition mounted to the surgical instrument includes commanding a movement of the actuation output in a direction opposite to a firing direction for the surgical cartridge, detecting that an actuation amount of the actuation output as a result of the commanded movement is at or above a threshold actuation amount, and in response to detecting that the actuation amount of the actuation output is at or above the threshold actuation amount, determining that the surgical instrument lacks a surgical cartridge in the unfired condition mounted to the surgical instrument.