THREE-DIMENSIONAL SCANNER WITH RFID

• US 20080068197A1
• Filed: 09/07/2007
• Published: 03/20/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Brainlab AG
• Original Assignee: Brainlab AG
• Inventors: Neubauer, Timo, Plassky, Norman, Millahn, Manuel
• Granted Patent: US 8,207,863 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/686.1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/102 Modelling of surgical devices, implants or prosthesis
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/2051 Electromagnetic tracking systems
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/2055 Optical tracking systems
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/256 having a database of accessory information, e.g. including context sensitive help or scientific articles
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/061 for measuring dimensions, e.g. length
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/0803 Counting the number of times an instrument is used
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/20 Surgical navigation systems; Devices for tracking or guiding surgical instruments, e.g. for frameless stereotaxis
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/25 User interfaces for surgical systems
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 90/06 Measuring instruments not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 90/36 Image-producing devices or illumination devices not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 90/98 using electromagnetic means, e.g. transponders

Abstract

A measuring device for measuring geometric properties of a medical treatment device includes a measuring unit, a time detection unit, and an RFID writer. The measuring unit is configured to measure a relative position between at least a first part of the medical treatment device and at least a second part of the medical treatment device. The time detection unit configured to detect a time of the measurement, and the RFID writer configured to write a time, based on the detected time, to an RFID transponder of the medical treatment device.

Claims

1. A measuring device for measuring geometric properties of a medical treatment device, comprising:

a measuring unit configured to measure a relative position between at least a first part of the medical treatment device and at least a second part of the medical treatment device;

a time detection unit configured to detect a time of the measurement; and

an RFID writer configured to write a time, based on the detected time, to an RFID transponder of the medical treatment device.

2. The measuring device according to claim 1, wherein the time based on the detected time is the detected time or is a time calculated from the detected time.

3. The measuring device according to claim 2, wherein the calculated time is calculated based on an index period of time and on the detected time, so as to calculate an index time up to which the geometric properties of the medical treatment device are regarded as being valid.

4. The measuring device according to claim 3, further comprising:

a data processing device;

a database communicatively coupled to the data processing device, said database including a plurality of different index periods of time assigned to a plurality of different types of medical treatment devices, and

wherein the data processing unit, based on the type of the measured medical treatment device, retrieves from the database an index period of time corresponding to the type of instrument, and calculates the index time based on the retrieved index period of time.

5. The measuring device according to claim 1, further comprising a data processing device configured to determine the type of the medical treatment device based on the measured position between the at least first part of the medical treatment device and the at least second part of the medical treatment device.

6. A navigation system for navigating a medical treatment device, comprising:

a detection device for detecting a reference system attached to the medical treatment device;

a data processing device for processing data corresponding to the detected reference system;

an RFID reader for reading from an RFID transponder of the medical treatment device geometric data corresponding to the medical treatment device and a time corresponding to when the geometric data were last verified,

wherein the data processing device is configured to determine, from the time read from the RFID transponder, an index time up to which the geometric data are assumed to be valid.

7. The navigation system according to claim 6, wherein when the geometric data are determined to be invalid, the navigation system inhibits use of the medical treatment device.

8. The navigation system according to claim 6, wherein the navigation system emits a warning signal, prevents the display of navigation data corresponding to the medical treatment device, and/or locks the navigation system from use.

9. A medical treatment device comprising an RFID transponder that includes data corresponding to geometric properties of the medical treatment device and a time corresponding to when the geometric properties of the medical treatment device were last verified.

10. A method for measuring geometric properties of a medical treatment device, comprising:

measuring a relative position between a first part of the medical treatment device and a second part of the medical treatment device;

detecting a time of the measurement of the relative position; and

storing on an RFID transponder of the medical treatment device a time based on the detected time.

11. A computer program embodied on a machine readable medium for measuring geometric properties of a medical treatment device, comprising:

code that measures a relative position between a first part of the medical treatment device and a second part of the medical treatment device;

code that detects a time of the measurement of the relative position; and

code that stores on an RFID transponder of the medical treatment device a time based on the detected time.

which, when loaded onto a computer or when running on a computer, causes the computer to carry out the method according to claim 10.