First examiner: Prof M du Bois
Second examiner: Prof S Geyer
External examiner: Prof CJ Visser
This paper consists of 8 pages.
Instructions:
1. The examination question paper counts 80 marks.
2. It consists of 8 questions. Answer ALL the questions.
3. The duration of the examination on the timetable is 4 hours.
4. In addition to the duration of the examination indicated on the timetable, you are
given 30 minutes to FINALISE the uploading of your exam file. Your exam file
must be uploaded via the myExams platform on 22 October 2024 BEFORE 18:45
(South African Standard Time).
5. This is an open-book examination. You may consult your prescribed study material
during the examination.
6. This examination is proctored via the Invigilator App. You are required to activate (or
log in to) the Invigilator app between 14:00 and 14:45 (South African Standard Time).
The QR code is below:
,SCENARIO
ABC (Pty) Ltd is a company that develops and manufactures telesurgery robotic systems. In
telesurgery, or remote surgery, surgeons use wireless networks and robotic systems to operate
on patients from a distance. If, for example, you are far from a hospital – in a remote area, in an
aircraft, or even in space – but have access to such a robotic system, you can be operated on
by the robot that is remote-controlled by a human surgeon.
Telesurgery is dependent on smooth, real-time data transmissions. Even the smallest time-lag –
delays in the live video streaming relayed from the patient to the doctor, or the doctor’s
commands relayed to the robotic system – can have devastating results. Fortunately, with
technology like 5G the future of robotic telesurgery looks bright.
ABC (Pty) Ltd commissioned Jo, a freelance computer programmer, to write a computer program
to monitor and mitigate latency time in the interactive data communication between the surgeon
and the robotic system. ABC had worked with Jo before: they simply explained what they needed
and then left Jo to get the job done. ABC started marketing the computer program and the
systems incorporating it in 2023.
ABC’s employees had spent much time, skill, and effort to develop Standard Operating
Procedures (SOP) for using their systems. Much of what should be contained in such SOP
brochures is prescribed by the state. The brochures are text-only (with no artistic works) and you
can accept that copyright subsists in them. It came to ABC’s attention that XYZ (Pty) Ltd, ABC’s
competitor, is selling one of their (XYZ’s) robotic system with a substantially improved version of
an ABC SOP brochure. ABC writes to XYZ to demand that they stop infringing ABC’s copyright.
, Further, ABC (Pty) Ltd applied for a patent relating to some of its technology in the field of remote
surgery robotic systems, particularly over a patient-side device for a surgical system. Some of
the technology incorporated into this innovation includes Jo’s computer program. The picture
below is just an example of a patient-side device. The claims from the patent application follow.
Figure 1: Illustrative picture of a patient-side device for a surgical system from en.wikipedia.org
Claim 1: A patient-side device for a surgical system.
Claim 2: A plurality of manipulator arms, each having an instrument holder capable of
holding a long-axis surgical instrument at the tip, and each having a plurality of degrees
of freedom.
Claim 3: An elongated arm base configured to connect the base ends of each of the
plurality of manipulator arms, base and a positioner having a plurality of links and a
plurality of joints, connecting the base and the arm base, and being configured to hold
the arm base movably.
Claim 4: An operation unit, including a computer program, configured to give an
instruction to move the arm base by the positioner.
Claim 5: A control unit that controls the operation of the positioner, the arm base, and
the plurality of manipulator arms. The positioner is a patient-side device that holds the
arm base in a state where the rotation axis of the first torsion joint is tilted in the vertical
direction and tilted with respect to the horizontal plane at the preparation position. The
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