US 12,469,596 B2
Method and system for coordinating user assistance
Govinda Payyavula, Sunnyvale, CA (US); and Simon P. DiMaio, San Carlos, CA (US)
Assigned to Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US)
Appl. No. 17/780,943
Filed by Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US)
PCT Filed Nov. 30, 2020, PCT No. PCT/US2020/062591
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date May 27, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/113175, PCT Pub. Date Jun. 10, 2021.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/942,696, filed on Dec. 2, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0415492 A1, Dec. 29, 2022
Int. Cl. G16H 40/40 (2018.01); G06Q 30/016 (2023.01)
CPC G16H 40/40 (2018.01) [G06Q 30/016 (2013.01)] 19 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A medical system comprising:
a robotic manipulation system comprising a manipulator arm configured to support an instrument on the manipulator arm, the manipulator arm comprising a plurality of joints that enable control of a kinematic configuration of the manipulator arm,
wherein the robotic manipulation system is configured to perform a medical procedure on a patient; and
a coordination system for coordinating remote assistance for the robotic manipulation system while the medical system is in an operational state that is one of:
a use state of the robotic manipulation system,
a setup state before the use state, and
a setup state after the use state,
the coordination system comprising:
a system awareness engine executed by a processing system of the medical system and configured to:
obtain parameter data from sensors of the robotic manipulation system, the parameter data comprising a plurality of positions or velocities of the plurality of joints,
process the parameter data to determine a system-internal context of the medical system, the processing comprising:
determining a current kinematic configuration of the manipulator arm based on the plurality of positions or velocities,
computing, based on the current kinematic configuration and a location of the patient, a proximity of the robotic manipulation system to the patient, and
determining an estimate of the operational state of the medical system based on the proximity; and
a support agent executed by the processing system and configured to:
receive a first support request from the medical system,
receive the system-internal context from the system awareness engine,
evaluate the system-internal context to identify a support person to respond to the first support request from a plurality of support persons, the evaluation comprising:
identifying, by a support person identification logic, the support person to respond to the first support request according to the estimate of the operational state
wherein the support person identification logic is configured to assign each support person of the plurality of support persons to at least one of the use state, the setup state before the use state, and the setup state after the use state, and
automatically contact the support person to respond to the first support request.