U.S. Patent 8058771 was awarded to Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. on 2011-11-15 and describes a “Ultrasonic device for cutting and coagulating with stepped output.” This patent has been cited 283 times by other U.S. patents which places it in the top 500 cited patents since 2010 according to our law firm research, and makes it of the most innovative medical technology patents in the field of instruments. The abstract states:

Various embodiments are directed to an apparatus, system, and method for driving an end effector coupled to an ultrasonic transducer in a surgical instrument. The method comprises generating a first ultrasonic drive signal by a generator coupled to an ultrasonic drive system, actuating the ultrasonic transducer with the first ultrasonic drive signal for a first period, generating a second ultrasonic drive signal by the generator, and actuating the ultrasonic transducer with the second ultrasonic drive signal for a second period, subsequent to the first period. The first drive signal is different from the second drive signal over the respective first and second periods. The first and second drive signals define a step function waveform over the first and second periods. The apparatus comprises a generator configured to couple to an ultrasonic instrument. The system comprises a generator coupled to an ultrasonic instrument. The ultrasonic instrument comprises an ultrasonic drive system comprising an ultrasonic transducer coupled to a waveguide and an end effector coupled to the waveguide, and wherein the ultrasonic drive system is configured to resonate at a resonant frequency. Link: U.S. Patent 8058771

This patent was originally filed on 2009-07-15 which gives it a processing time of 853 days, compared to an average processing time of 1075 in the field. Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. has 2128 total patents. The first named inventor is James R. Giordano of Milford Charter Twp, MI. The primary examiner was Thomas Dougherty.

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