Control system for ophthalmic surgical instruments

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A microsurgical control system for controlling at least one ophthalmic microsurgical instrument for performing ophthalmic surgical procedures, the system comprising:

a console;

attachment means on said console for attachment to at least one ophthalmic microsurgical instrument;

control means coupled to said attachment means for providing a plurality of surgical procedure control signals to said instrument; and

a manually actuable controller coupled to said control means for controlling said control signals to said instrument;

said control means including a means for defining predetermined and selectable surgical procedures, said defining means including a jack on said console and at least one memory circuit removably connected to said jack and storing an individualized set of surgeon selected parameters at least in part defining operating values for said at least one instrument, said connected memory circuit interfacing with said control means for controlling said instrument during performance of said surgical procedures.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said stored parameters include instrument response characteristic parameters.

3. A microsurgical control system for controlling at least one ophthalmic microsurgical instrument for performing ophthalmic surgical procedures, the system comprising:

a console;

connecting means on said console for connecting to at least one ophthalmic microsurgical instrument;

control means coupled to said connecting means for providing a plurality of surgical procedure control signals to said instrument;

a manually actuable controller coupled to said control means for controlling said control signals to said instrument;

said control means including a means for defining predetermined and selectable surgical procedures, said defining means including a jack on said console and at least one memory circuit removably connected to said jack and storing parameters used to at least in part define operating values, said connected memory circuit controlling said instrument during performance of said surgical procedures; and

at least one internal memory circuit for storing default parameters used to define default surgical procedures.

4. A microsurgical control system for controlling at least one ophthalmic microsurgical instrument for performing ophthalmic surgical procedures, the system comprising:

a console;

connecting means on said console for connecting to at least one ophthalmic microsurgical instrument;

control means coupled to said connecting means for providing a plurality of surgical procedure control signals to said instrument; and

a controller coupled to said control means for controlling said control signals to said instrument;

said control means including means for defining predetermined and selectable surgical procedures, said defining means including at least one memory circuit storing an individualized set of surgeon selected operating values, said memory circuit controlling said instrument at least in part during performance of said surgical procedures.

5. A microsurgical control system for controlling at least two different ophthalmic microsurgical instruments so as to be able to perform a plurality of different surgical procedures, comprising:

a console;

means for connecting said at least two ophthalmic microsurgical instruments to said console;

a plurality of first distinct display regions on said console;

a plurality of second distinct display regions on said console;

each of said regions being capable of displaying human readable characters and at least one of said display regions being capable of displaying two sets of human readable characters;

a plurality of controller means disposed on said console at locations corresponding to said predetermined regions of said console, said controller means including at least one first controller for selecting said surgical procedures and at least one second controller for selecting an operating value of one of said microsurgical instruments, said at least one second controller having a response range corresponding to a plurality of operating values for one of said microsurgical instruments;

a procedure control means for defining and providing a plurality of predetermined and selectable ophthalmic surgical procedures for controlling said instruments, said surgical procedures corresponding to procedures indicated by said predetermined human readable messages in one of said first and second regions; and

a procedure selection means coupled to said procedure control means and responsive to said at least one first controller for causing said procedure control means to perform a selected one of said plurality of procedures.

6. A microsurgical control system for controlling at least one ophthalmic microsurgical instrument for performing ophthalmic surgical procedures, the system comprising:

a console;

attachment means on said console for attachment to at least one ophthalmic microsurgical instrument;

control means coupled to said attachment means for providing a plurality of surgical procedure control signals to said instrument; and

a manually actuable controller coupled to said control means for controlling said control signals to said instrument;

said control means including a means for defining predetermined and selectable surgical procedures, said defining means including a jack on said console and at least one memory circuit removably connected to said jack and storing an individualized set of surgeon selected parameters at least in part defining operating values for the surgical procedures, said memory circuit interfacing with said control means for controlling said instrument during performance of said surgical procedures.