Patents by Inventor Brian D. Hoffman
Brian D. Hoffman has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
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Patent number: 12622759Abstract: A method is provided for use with a teleoperated surgical system, the method comprising: determining patient position information during a setup for a performance of the surgical procedure within an instance of the surgical system; determining a match between the determined patient position and a patient position signature; and launching a support arm control signal within the surgical system that corresponds to the matched support arm signature.Type: GrantFiled: July 12, 2022Date of Patent: May 12, 2026Assignee: Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc.Inventors: Brandon D. Itkowitz, Mahdi Azizian, Brian D. Hoffman, Ian E. McDowall, Paul W. Mohr, William C. Nowlin
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Publication number: 20260026681Abstract: An illumination source may be coupled to an image capture device through a connector. A light sensor is placed downstream of the connector to measure the light received by the image capture device from the illumination source. The light sensor provides the measurement of the received light to the illumination source for closed-loop control of illumination source. The light sensor may be positioned in a camera housing to take into account light attenuation from the illumination source to the camera. The light sensor may be positioned at other locations on the image capture device. Multiple light sensors may be positioned at different locations on the image capture device to detect sources or locations of attenuation. Redundant light sensors of more than one type of sensor may be used at a single light sensor location to provide for validation of measurements and increase the variety of information measured.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 26, 2025Publication date: January 29, 2026Inventors: Marc Levesque, Jonathan D. Halderman, Brian D. Hoffman, Derek C. Liou, Nariman Majdi Nasab
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Publication number: 20250387185Abstract: A teleoperated surgical system is provided comprising: a first robotic surgical instrument; an image capture; a user display; a user input command device coupled to receive user input commands to control movement of the first robotic surgical instrument; and a movement controller coupled to scale a rate of movement of the first robotic surgical instrument, based at least in part upon a surgical skill level at using the first robotic surgical instrument of the user providing the received user input commands, from a rate of movement indicated by the user input commands received at the user input command device.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 20, 2025Publication date: December 25, 2025Applicant: Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc.Inventors: Mahdi Azizian, Simon P. DiMaio, Brian D. Hoffman, Anthony M. Jarc, Henry C. Lin, May Quo-Mei Liu, Ian E. McDowall, William C. Nowlin, Brent Tokarchuk
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Patent number: 12490892Abstract: An illumination source may be coupled to an image capture device through a connector. A light sensor is placed downstream of the connector to measure the light received by the image capture device from the illumination source. The light sensor provides the measurement of the received light to the illumination source for closed-loop control of illumination source. The light sensor may be positioned in a camera housing to take into account light attenuation from the illumination source to the camera. The light sensor may be positioned at other locations on the image capture device. Multiple light sensors may be positioned at different locations on the image capture device to detect sources or locations of attenuation. Redundant light sensors of more than one type of sensor may be used at a single light sensor location to provide for validation of measurements and increase the variety of information measured.Type: GrantFiled: September 27, 2019Date of Patent: December 9, 2025Assignee: INTUITIVE SURGICAL OPERATIONS, INC.Inventors: Marc Levesque, Jonathan D. Halderman, Brian D. Hoffman, Derek C. Liou, Nariman Majdi Nasab
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Patent number: 12465194Abstract: An apparatus may configure an illuminator to illuminate a scene with non-white light. The illuminator includes a plurality of color component illumination sources. The non-white light is light other than white light and is generated by a combination of light output by the plurality of color component illumination sources. The apparatus may also control a camera to capture, in a plurality of color channels of the camera, a frame of the scene illuminated with the non-white light and adjust pixel values of a color channel of the camera in the frame of the scene to decrease noise of the color channel in the frame of the scene.Type: GrantFiled: August 4, 2023Date of Patent: November 11, 2025Assignee: Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc.Inventors: Jeffrey DiCarlo, Stephen J. Blumenkranz, Brian D. Hoffman, Geoff Richmond, Tao Zhao
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Publication number: 20250339222Abstract: A surgical method is provided for use with a teleoperated surgical system (surgical system), the method comprising: recording surgical instrument kinematic information indicative of surgical instrument motion produced within the surgical system during the occurrence of the surgical procedure; determining respective kinematic signatures associated with respective surgical instrument motions; producing an information structure in a computer readable storage device that associates respective kinematic signatures with respective control signals; comparing, during a performance of the surgical procedure surgical instrument kinematic information during the performance with at least one respective kinematic signature; launching, during a performance of the surgical procedure an associated respective control signal in response to a match between surgical instrument kinematics during the performance and a respective kinematic signature.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 16, 2025Publication date: November 6, 2025Applicant: Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc.Inventors: Brent Tokarchuk, Mahdi Azizian, Joey Chau, Simon P. DiMaio, Brian D. Hoffman, Anthony M. Jarc, Henry C. Lin, Ian E. McDowall, William C. Nowlin, John D. Seaman, Jonathan M. Sorger
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Patent number: 12450760Abstract: An exemplary processing system of a computer-assisted surgical system identifies an object in a surgical space, accesses a model of the object, identifies a pose of the object in the surgical space, aligns the model with the pose of the object to define depth data for the model in the surgical space, and generates a depth map in the surgical space for at least a portion of the object based on the depth data for the model. Corresponding systems and methods are also described.Type: GrantFiled: March 31, 2020Date of Patent: October 21, 2025Assignee: Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc.Inventors: Heath Feather, Rohitkumar Godhani, Brian D. Hoffman, Brandon D. Itkowitz, Adam T. Schmidt, Siddarth Sen
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Patent number: 12414828Abstract: A teleoperated surgical system is provided comprising: a first robotic surgical instrument; an image capture; a user display; a user input command device coupled to receive user input commands to control movement of the first robotic surgical instrument; and a movement controller coupled to scale a rate of movement of the first robotic surgical instrument, based at least in part upon a surgical skill level at using the first robotic surgical instrument of the user providing the received user input commands, from a rate of movement indicated by the user input commands received at the user input command device.Type: GrantFiled: January 18, 2024Date of Patent: September 16, 2025Assignee: Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc.Inventors: William C. Nowlin, Mahdi Azizian, Simon P. DiMaio, Brian D. Hoffman, Anthony M. Jarc, Henry C. Lin, May Quo-Mei Liu, Ian E. McDowall, Brent Tokarchuk
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Patent number: 12383358Abstract: A surgical method is provided for use with a teleoperated surgical system (surgical system), the method comprising: recording surgical instrument kinematic information indicative of surgical instrument motion produced within the surgical system during the occurrence of the surgical procedure; determining respective kinematic signatures associated with respective surgical instrument motions; producing an information structure in a computer readable storage device that associates respective kinematic signatures with respective control signals; comparing, during a performance of the surgical procedure surgical instrument kinematic information during the performance with at least one respective kinematic signature; launching, during a performance of the surgical procedure an associated respective control signal in response to a match between surgical instrument kinematics during the performance and a respective kinematic signature.Type: GrantFiled: July 12, 2023Date of Patent: August 12, 2025Assignee: Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc.Inventors: Brent Tokarchuk, Mahdi Azizian, Joey Chau, Simon P. DiMaio, Brian D. Hoffman, Anthony M. Jarc, Henry C. Lin, Ian E. McDowall, William C. Nowlin, John D. Seaman, II, Jonathan M. Sorger
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Patent number: 12357400Abstract: A system comprises a first robotic arm adapted to support and move a tool and a second robotic arm adapted to support and move a camera configured to capture an image of a camera field of view. The system further comprises an input device, a display, and a processor. The processor is configured to display a first synthetic image including a first synthetic image of the tool. The first synthetic image of the tool includes a portion of the tool outside of the camera field of view. The processor is also configured to receive a user input at the input device and responsive to the user input, change the display of the first synthetic image to a display of a second synthetic image including a second synthetic image of the tool that is different from the first synthetic image of the tool.Type: GrantFiled: March 21, 2023Date of Patent: July 15, 2025Assignee: INTUITIVE SURGICAL OPERATIONS, INC.Inventors: Brandon D. Itkowitz, Simon P. DiMaio, Daniel J. Halabe, Christopher J. Hasser, Brian D. Hoffman, David Q. Larkin, Catherine J. Mohr, Paul W. Mohr, Tao Zhao, Wenyi Zhao
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Patent number: 12339871Abstract: A robotic system is provided. The robotic system includes a publishing node including at least one first synchronization database that includes a plurality of attributes, each of the attributes including a tag identifying the attribute and data, a flag associated with each of the attributes, and a subscriber list. The system also includes a subscriber node including at least one second synchronization database. The publishing node is configured to set the flag associated with the attributes when the attributes are written in the at least one first synchronization database or when the data included in the attributes are modified and publish the flagged attributes to the subscriber node.Type: GrantFiled: March 21, 2024Date of Patent: June 24, 2025Assignee: INTUITIVE SURGICAL OPERATIONS, INC.Inventors: Brian D. Hoffman, Joshua Radel
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Publication number: 20250152298Abstract: A method is provided to produce a multi-modality image of a surgical scene comprising: capture light reflected from the surgical scene; producing first image information corresponding to a first modality image; producing second image information corresponding to a second modality image; selecting a portion of the second image modality based at least in part upon anatomical structure information included within the selected portion; and producing simultaneously within a display at least a portion of the first modality image of the surgical scene and the selected portion of the second modality image.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 16, 2025Publication date: May 15, 2025Applicant: Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc.Inventors: Karen C. Brandao, Mahdi Azizian, Simon P. DiMaio, Brian D. Hoffman, Jonathan M. Sorger
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Publication number: 20250152297Abstract: A method is provided to produce a multi-modality image of a surgical scene comprising: capture light reflected from the surgical scene; producing first image information corresponding to a first modality image; producing second image information corresponding to a second modality image; selecting a portion of the second image modality based at least in part upon anatomical structure information included within the selected portion; and producing simultaneously within a display at least a portion of the first modality image of the surgical scene and the selected portion of the second modality image.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 16, 2025Publication date: May 15, 2025Applicant: Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc.Inventors: Karen C. Brandao, Mahdi Azizian, Simon P. DiMaio, Brian D. Hoffman, Jonathan M. Sorger
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Patent number: 12295552Abstract: In some embodiments, a controller of a computer-assisted surgical system receives a visible image captured by an image capture unit of a surgical system, receives a plurality of hyperspectral images captured at a same waveband by the image capture unit of the surgical system, generates a composite hyperspectral image from the plurality of hyperspectral images, and spatially registering the composite hyperspectral image with the visible image.Type: GrantFiled: January 24, 2024Date of Patent: May 13, 2025Assignee: Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc.Inventors: Ian E. McDowall, Jeffrey M. DiCarlo, Brian D. Hoffman, William Jason Culman
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Publication number: 20250090241Abstract: An exemplary surgical instrument tracking system includes at least one physical computing device that determines, based on endoscopic imagery of a surgical area and using a trained neural network, an observation for an object of interest depicted in the endoscopic imagery, associates, based on a probabilistic framework and kinematics of a robotically-manipulated surgical instrument located at the surgical area, the observation for the object of interest to the robotically-manipulated surgical instrument, and determines a physical position of the robotically-manipulated surgical instrument at the surgical area based on the kinematics of the robotically-manipulated surgical instrument and the observation associated with the robotically-manipulated surgical instrument.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 25, 2024Publication date: March 20, 2025Inventors: Siddarth Sen, Brian D. Hoffman, Geoffrey A. Richmond
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Patent number: 12243204Abstract: A system may access an image that is captured by an imaging device and that depicts an operational scene illuminated by close-range light. The system may also access a depth map of the operational scene. Based on the image and the depth map, the system may generate a processed image depicting the operational scene as being illuminated by a virtual light source that is to be simulated to be illuminating the operational scene and may provide the processed image for presentation on a display screen. Corresponding systems and methods are also disclosed.Type: GrantFiled: October 6, 2023Date of Patent: March 4, 2025Assignee: Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc.Inventors: Geoffrey A. Richmond, Brian D. Hoffman
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Publication number: 20250017673Abstract: A method is provided for intra-surgical use of a surgical patient health record in a teleoperated surgical system that includes a surgical instrument and a surgical instrument actuator, comprising: receiving user input commands to control movement of a robotic surgical instrument; tracking robotic surgical instrument actuator state in response to the user input commands; and transitioning robotic surgical instrument actuator state to a safety mode in response to the robotic surgical instrument transitioning to a prescribed actuator state.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 1, 2024Publication date: January 16, 2025Applicant: Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc.Inventors: William C. Nowlin, Mahdi Azizian, Simon P. DiMaio, Brian D. Hoffman, Paul W. Mohr
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Patent number: 12133702Abstract: A method is provided for intra-surgical use of a surgical patient health record in a teleoperated surgical system that includes a surgical instrument and a surgical instrument actuator, comprising: receiving user input commands to control movement of a robotic surgical instrument; tracking robotic surgical instrument actuator state in response to the user input commands; and transitioning robotic surgical instrument actuator state to a safety mode in response to the robotic surgical instrument transitioning to a prescribed actuator state.Type: GrantFiled: November 10, 2017Date of Patent: November 5, 2024Assignee: Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc.Inventors: William C. Nowlin, Mahdi Azizian, Simon P. DiMaio, Brian D. Hoffman, Paul W. Mohr
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Publication number: 20240338421Abstract: An imaging system is provided for pixel-level segmentation of images comprising: a camera to capture images of an anatomical object and to represent the images in two-dimensional (2D) arrangements of pixels; one or more processors and a non-transitory computer readable medium with information including: CNN instructions to cause the one or more processors to implement a CNN configured to associate anatomical object classifications with pixels of the 2D arrangements of pixels; and multiple sets of weights, to differently configure the CNN based upon different camera image training data; and a display screen configured to display the two-dimensional (2D) arrangements of classified pixels and the anatomical object classifications.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 20, 2024Publication date: October 10, 2024Applicant: Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc.Inventors: Brian D. Hoffman, Geoffrey A. Richmond, Siddarth Sen
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Patent number: 12108992Abstract: An exemplary surgical instrument tracking system includes at least one physical computing device that determines, based on endoscopic imagery of a surgical area and using a trained neural network, an observation for an object of interest depicted in the endoscopic imagery, associates, based on a probabilistic framework and kinematics of a robotically-manipulated surgical instrument located at the surgical area, the observation for the object of interest to the robotically-manipulated surgical instrument, and determines a physical position of the robotically-manipulated surgical instrument at the surgical area based on the kinematics of the robotically-manipulated surgical instrument and the observation associated with the robotically-manipulated surgical instrument.Type: GrantFiled: July 27, 2019Date of Patent: October 8, 2024Assignee: Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc.Inventors: Siddarth Sen, Brian D. Hoffman, Geoffrey A. Richmond