Appeal No. 98-0194 Page 14
Application No. 08/132,940
characteristic of the generator 30 at that power setting. A
family of such relationships, as illustrated by Figure 2, may
be stored in memory. The CPU is further programmed to
calculate the power delivered to the surgical target from the
detected current value and the derived impedance value, such
calculations being well-known in the art. Any or all of the
electrical quantities detected, derived, or calculated may be
stored in memory or forwarded to one or more display devices 70
or a printer 75. Ensslin then teaches (column 4, lines 12-21)
that
[i]t is ordinarily desirable for the CPU to perform the
calculations in real time. It is then feasible for the
CPU to control the electrosurgical generator in response
to detected current, calculated power, total energy
dispensed, or any combination of these parameters. For
example, it may sometimes be desirable for the generator
30 to be automatically shut down in response to signals
from the CPU indicating that a predetermined amount of
energy has been dispensed to the target 40 either over a
prescribed increment of time or since the commencement of
a procedure.
Ensslin also discloses (column 2, lines 40-54) that the
computer integrates power over time and drives auxiliary
devices which can terminate power after a predetermined amount
of total energy has been dispensed to the patient. Thus,
Page: Previous 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007