US Patent Issued to Covidien on April 22 for "Authentication and information system for reusable surgical instruments" (Connecticut Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 6 -- United States Patent no. 12,282,445, issued on April 22, was assigned to Covidien LP (Mansfield, Mass.).

"Authentication and information system for reusable surgical instruments" was invented by Ethan Collins (Naugatuck, Conn.), David Durant (Wallingford, Conn.) and John Hryb (Southington, Conn.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An authentication and information system for use in a surgical stapling system includes a microprocessor configured to demultiplex data from a plurality of components in the surgical system. The authentication and information system can include one wire chips and a coupling assembly with a communication connection."

The patent was filed on Jan...