Patent · US Expired

Medical diagnosis, treatment and imaging systems

US6788967B2 · kind B2 · utility

533Cited by
128References
17Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMar 23, 1999
Grant dateSep 7, 2004
Priority date
Expiry dateMar 23, 2019

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC A)Human Necessities
  • CPC primaryA61N1/3627
  • WIPO fieldMedical technology
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

A locating system for determining the location and orientation of an invasive medical instrument, for example a catheter or endoscope, relative to a reference frame, comprising: a plurality of field generators which generate known, distinguishable fields, preferably continuous AC magnetic fields, in response to drive signals; a plurality of sensors situated in the invasive medical instrument proximate distal end thereof which generate sensor signals in response to said fields; and a signal processor which has an input for a plurality of signals corresponding to said drive signals and said sensor signals and which produces the three location coordinates and three orientation coordinates of a point on the invasive medical instrument.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.