US Patent 11986234 Surgical system communication pathways

A surgical system comprising a surgical hub, a surgical instrument, a generator configured to energize an end effector; and a smoke evacuation system configured to remove smoke from a surgical site is disclosed. The surgical instrument comprises the end effector. A control command is passed directly from the surgical hub to the surgical instrument. The surgical instrument is configured to pass the control command received from the surgical hub to the generator and the smoke evacuation system in a daisy-chain manner.