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).

  • Patent number: 12622759
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2026
    Assignee: Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc.
    Inventors: Brandon D. Itkowitz, Mahdi Azizian, Brian D. Hoffman, Ian E. McDowall, Paul W. Mohr, William C. Nowlin
  • Publication number: 20260026681
    Abstract: 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: Application
    Filed: September 26, 2025
    Publication date: January 29, 2026
    Inventors: Marc Levesque, Jonathan D. Halderman, Brian D. Hoffman, Derek C. Liou, Nariman Majdi Nasab
  • Publication number: 20250387185
    Abstract: 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: Application
    Filed: August 20, 2025
    Publication date: December 25, 2025
    Applicant: 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
  • Patent number: 12490892
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 9, 2025
    Assignee: INTUITIVE SURGICAL OPERATIONS, INC.
    Inventors: Marc Levesque, Jonathan D. Halderman, Brian D. Hoffman, Derek C. Liou, Nariman Majdi Nasab
  • Patent number: 12465194
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 2023
    Date of Patent: November 11, 2025
    Assignee: Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc.
    Inventors: Jeffrey DiCarlo, Stephen J. Blumenkranz, Brian D. Hoffman, Geoff Richmond, Tao Zhao
  • Publication number: 20250339222
    Abstract: 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: Application
    Filed: July 16, 2025
    Publication date: November 6, 2025
    Applicant: 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
  • Patent number: 12450760
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 21, 2025
    Assignee: Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc.
    Inventors: Heath Feather, Rohitkumar Godhani, Brian D. Hoffman, Brandon D. Itkowitz, Adam T. Schmidt, Siddarth Sen
  • Patent number: 12414828
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2024
    Date of Patent: September 16, 2025
    Assignee: 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
  • Patent number: 12383358
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2023
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2025
    Assignee: 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
  • Patent number: 12357400
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2023
    Date of Patent: July 15, 2025
    Assignee: 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
  • Patent number: 12339871
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2024
    Date of Patent: June 24, 2025
    Assignee: INTUITIVE SURGICAL OPERATIONS, INC.
    Inventors: Brian D. Hoffman, Joshua Radel
  • Publication number: 20250152298
    Abstract: 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: Application
    Filed: January 16, 2025
    Publication date: May 15, 2025
    Applicant: Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc.
    Inventors: Karen C. Brandao, Mahdi Azizian, Simon P. DiMaio, Brian D. Hoffman, Jonathan M. Sorger
  • Publication number: 20250152297
    Abstract: 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: Application
    Filed: January 16, 2025
    Publication date: May 15, 2025
    Applicant: Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc.
    Inventors: Karen C. Brandao, Mahdi Azizian, Simon P. DiMaio, Brian D. Hoffman, Jonathan M. Sorger
  • Patent number: 12295552
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2024
    Date of Patent: May 13, 2025
    Assignee: Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc.
    Inventors: Ian E. McDowall, Jeffrey M. DiCarlo, Brian D. Hoffman, William Jason Culman
  • Publication number: 20250090241
    Abstract: 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: Application
    Filed: September 25, 2024
    Publication date: March 20, 2025
    Inventors: Siddarth Sen, Brian D. Hoffman, Geoffrey A. Richmond
  • Patent number: 12243204
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: October 6, 2023
    Date of Patent: March 4, 2025
    Assignee: Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc.
    Inventors: Geoffrey A. Richmond, Brian D. Hoffman
  • Publication number: 20250017673
    Abstract: 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: Application
    Filed: October 1, 2024
    Publication date: January 16, 2025
    Applicant: Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc.
    Inventors: William C. Nowlin, Mahdi Azizian, Simon P. DiMaio, Brian D. Hoffman, Paul W. Mohr
  • Patent number: 12133702
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2024
    Assignee: Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc.
    Inventors: William C. Nowlin, Mahdi Azizian, Simon P. DiMaio, Brian D. Hoffman, Paul W. Mohr
  • Publication number: 20240338421
    Abstract: 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: Application
    Filed: June 20, 2024
    Publication date: October 10, 2024
    Applicant: Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc.
    Inventors: Brian D. Hoffman, Geoffrey A. Richmond, Siddarth Sen
  • Patent number: 12108992
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2024
    Assignee: Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc.
    Inventors: Siddarth Sen, Brian D. Hoffman, Geoffrey A. Richmond