Virtual Dental Operatory

• US 20110306005A1
• Filed: 06/10/2011
• Published: 12/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CAO Group, Inc.
• Original Assignee: CAO Group, Inc.
• Inventors: Jensen, Steven D.
• Granted Patent: US 10,602,921 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 433/29
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/24 for the mouth, i.e. stomatoscopes, e.g. with tongue depressors tongue depressors per se A61B13/00; Instruments for opening or keeping open the mouth combined with saliva removers A61C17/00; mouth openers for animals A61D15/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/461 Displaying means of special interest
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/486 involving generating temporal series of image data
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/51 for dentistry
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/563 involving image data transmission via a network

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention include methods, devices, and systems that light and magnify a treatment site within the oral cavity without interfering with a dental treatment procedure. In particular, example embodiments of the present invention provide a virtual operatory system that includes an image capture subsystem connected to an image display subsystem. For example, the image capture subsystem can capture and communicate a live image of a treatment site to the image display subsystem for the dental professional to view while performing a dental treatment procedure. In at least one example embodiment, the virtual operatory system can also include an image rendering subsystem that can render the live image of the treatment site in one or more ways to provide an improved visual to the dental professional of the treatment site.

Claims

1. A virtual dental operatory system, comprising:

a capture facility configured to capture an image of a treatment site within a patient'"'"'s oral cavity resulting in a captured image;

a rendering facility communicatively coupled to the capture facility and configured to

receive the captured image; and

apply one or more rendering routines to the captured image resulting in a rendered image; and

a presentation facility communicatively coupled to the rendering facility and configured to display the rendered image to a dental professional while performing a dental procedure,

wherein, the rendered image represents a live view of the treatment site during the dental procedure.

2. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the capture facility includes a camera.

3. The system recited in claim 2, wherein the camera is an autofocus camera.

4. The system recited in claim 3, wherein the camera has a variety of optical magnification.

5. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more rendering routines applied to the captured image include adding a lighting effect.

6. The system recited in claim 4, wherein the one or more rendering routines applied to the captured image include adding a magnification effect.

7. The system recited in claim 4, wherein the one or more rendering routines applied to the captured image include selecting a portion of the captured image focusing on the selected portion.

8. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the presentation facility includes a monitor that displays the rendered image.

9. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the presentation facility includes virtual reality goggles that display the rendered image.

10. A method comprising:

capturing an image representative of a treatment site in a patient'"'"'s oral cavity during the performance of a dental treatment procedure to produce a captured image;

rendering the captured image to enhance the visual properties of the treatment site to produce a rendered image; and

displaying the rendered image to a dental professional during the performance of the dental treatment procedure.

11. The method recited in claim 10, wherein the capturing of the image is provided by a digital camera.

12. The method recited in claim 10, wherein the displaying of the rendered image is provided by a monitor.

13. The method recited in claim 10, wherein the displaying of the rendered image is provided by virtual reality goggles.

14. The method recited in claim 10, wherein the rendering the captured image includes adding lighting effects to the captured image.

15. The method recited in claim 10, wherein the rendering the captured image includes magnification of the captured image.