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:
May. 16, 2000
Filed:
Jun. 15, 1998
Takashi Mihori, Sagamihara, JP;
Olympus Optical Co., Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An electrosurgical apparatus detects separation of a return electrode of the electrosurgical apparatus for cutting and coagulating an organic tissue from a patient. An impedance detecting section detects a contact impedance between the return electrode and the patient and generates an impedance detection signal corresponding to the contact impedance. A first discrimination section discriminates if the impedance detection signal generated by the impedance detecting section falls within a normal range of the contact impedance having predetermined upper and lower limits after the electrosurgical apparatus is powered on. When the first discrimination section detects that the impedance detection signal lies in the normal range, a storage section stores the then impedance detection signal as a reference signal. A second discrimination section discriminates if the return electrode is in an abnormal state where the return electrode is separated from the patient, based on a difference between the impedance detection signal, generated by the impedance detecting section, and the reference signal stored in the storage section.