Graphical user interface for a robotic surgical system

Inventors

Mccloud, Jefferson C. • Bacher, Daniel

Assignees

Conavi Medical Inc • Ximedica LLC

Abstract

A method, apparatus and computer readable medium for schematically representing a spatial position of an instrument used in a robotic surgery system is disclosed. The instrument includes an end effector coupled to a positioning device for spatially positioning the end effector in a surgical workspace in response to input signals generated by movement of a hand controller of an input device in an input device workspace. The method involves causing a processor circuit to calculate a current three-dimensional spatial position of the instrument within the surgical workspace for current input signals received from the input device. The method also involves causing the processor circuit to generate display signals for displaying a graphical depiction of the surgical workspace on a display in communication with the processor circuit, the graphical depiction including a planar representation includes an instrument movement region having a boundary indicating limitations to transverse movement of the instrument within the surgical workspace, and a two-dimensional projection of the current spatial position of the positioning device and the end effector onto the planar representation.

Core Innovation

A robotic surgery apparatus maps a user’s movement of a hand controller within an input device workspace to a surgical instrument within a surgical workspace by determining a current three-dimensional spatial position of the surgical instrument responsive to the current position of the hand controller. The same processor also determines a current rotational orientation of the surgical instrument responsive to the current rotational orientation of the hand controller. The apparatus further determines an instrument depth range indicating limitations to axial movement of the surgical instrument into the surgical workspace and determines a current depth of an end effector within the instrument depth range based on the current three-dimensional spatial position.

The processor determines an input device depth range representing a portion of the instrument depth range that is accessible by the surgical instrument based on a current mapping between the input device workspace and the surgical workspace, where the input device workspace defines a limited range of the instrument depth range being accessible by the surgical instrument. The display shows a graphical depiction of the surgical workspace including an indicator representing a current rotation of the end effector, the instrument depth range, an indicator representing the current depth of the end effector within the instrument depth range, and the input device depth range. The graphical depiction supports multiple instruments with per-instrument depictions and updates hand-controller position/rotation indicators as offsets during an enablement signal active/inactive state.

An enablement signal is received including an active state and an inactive state, and the display uses this state to control presentation of a current hand controller rotation indicator as an offset from the end-effector rotation indicator when transitioning from the active state to the inactive state. The display discontinues displaying the current hand controller rotation indicator in response to the enablement signal transitioning from the inactive state to the active state, while continuing to display the graphical depiction of the surgical workspace. The apparatus provides active constraint indications when the end effector is near movement boundaries or depth limits.

Claims Coverage

The independent claims are directed to a robotic surgery apparatus, a non-transitory computer readable medium, and a method, each with a common set of inventive features centering on mapping hand-controller motion to instrument pose and depth ranges and presenting a graphical depiction with rotation and depth/access indicators conditioned on an enablement signal state (three-dimensional spatial position, rotational orientation, instrument depth range, current end-effector depth, input-device accessible depth range, and an offset/discontinuous hand-controller rotation indicator based on active/inactive enablement transitions).

Across the independent claims, the apparatus/medium/method determines a surgical instrument’s current three-dimensional spatial position and rotational orientation based on hand-controller position and orientation in an input device workspace, derives an instrument depth range and a current end-effector depth within that range, derives an input device depth range representing an accessible portion via a mapping between the workspaces, and displays a graphical depiction of the surgical workspace with rotation and depth/access indicators. The display additionally presents a current hand controller rotation indicator as an offset during enablement-signal inactive transition and discontinues it when enablement returns to the active state, while continuing to display the overall graphical depiction.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications