Method and System For Media Presentation During Operative Workflow

• US 20120035868A1
• Filed: 10/20/2011
• Published: 02/09/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: OrthoSensor, Inc (Stryker Corporation)
• Original Assignee: OrthoSensor, Inc (Stryker Corporation)
• Inventors: McIntosh, Jason, Boillot, Marc, Roche, Martin, Gil, Carlos
• Granted Patent: US 9,189,083 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/56
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4245 involving determining the position of the probe, e.g. with respect to an external reference frame or to the patient
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0325 using a plurality of light emitters or reflectors or a plurality of detectors forming a reference frame from which to derive the orientation of the object, e.g. by triangulation or on the basis of reference deformation in the picked up image
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0346 with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/043 using propagating acoustic waves
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/20 for handling medical images, e.g. DICOM, HL7 or PACS
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/60 for the operation of medical equipment or devices

Abstract

A portable measurement system is provided comprising a probe, two trackers, a receiver and a pod. A user interface control captures a location and position of the probe in a three-dimensional sensing space with respect to a coordinate system of the receiver from time of flight waveform analysis. The system suppresses a ringing portion of the received ultrasonic and minimizes distortion associated with ultrasonic transducer ring-down during high-resolution position tracking of the probe and the two trackers. Media is presented according to a customized use of the probe and two trackers during an operation workflow.

Claims

1. A computer readable storage medium, comprising computer instructions for directing a controller to perform the steps of:

emitting ultrasonic waveforms from three or more ultrasonic transducers on a probe in a three-dimensional sensing space;

digitally sampling ultrasonic waveforms from three or more microphones on a receiver to produce sampled received ultrasonic waveforms;

tracking a relative location and movement of the probe in the three-dimensional ultrasonic sensing space from differential time of flight waveform analysis of the sampled received ultrasonic waveforms;

suppressing a ringing portion of the received ultrasonic waveforms that overlap with digitally sampled acoustic waveforms received at the microphones; and

minimizing distortion associated with ultrasonic transducer ring-down during generation of a high-resolution position tracking of the probe.

2. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1, further comprising computer instructions for:

receiving a user interface command from the probe during tracking associated with the high-resolution position tracking of the probe; and

presenting a media that corresponds to the user interface command, wherein the media is at least one among audio, image, video, and text.

3. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1, further comprising computer instructions for presenting the media according to a customized use of the probe during an operation workflow.

4. The computer readable storage medium of claim 2, further comprising recognizing an operation workflow and reporting measurement data from the probe associated with the operation workflow.

5. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1, further comprising navigating a menu system of a Graphical User Interface via the tracking of the probe relative to the receiver.

6. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1, further comprising navigating a menu system of a Graphical User Interface by way of the probe.

7. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1, further comprising weighting an envelope of a received ultrasonic waveform for selective peak amplification.

8. A portable measurement system comprising a controller that emits by way of a probe ultrasonic waveforms from three or more ultrasonic transducers on a probe in a three-dimensional sensing space;

digitally samples by way of a receiver ultrasonic waveforms from three or more microphones on a receiver to produce sampled received ultrasonic waveforms;

tracks a relative location and movement of the probe in the three-dimensional ultrasonic sensing space from differential time of flight waveform analysis of the sampled received ultrasonic waveforms;

suppresses a ringing portion of the received ultrasonic waveforms that overlap with digitally sampled acoustic waveforms received at the microphones; and

minimizes distortion associated with ultrasonic transducer ring-down during generation of a high-resolution position tracking of the probe.

9. The portable measurement system of claim 8, where the controller receives a user interface command from the probe during tracking associated with the high-resolution position tracking of the probe;

and

presents a media that corresponds to the user interface command, wherein the media is at least one among audio, image, video, and text.

10. The portable measurement system of claim 8, where the controller applies a weighting of a Time of Flight (TOF) ultrasonic distance measurement as a function of distance between the probe and the receiver, wherein the distance is 10 cm to 90 cm for permitting three-dimensional interaction.

11. The portable measurement system of claim 8, wherein the controller elements predicts a movement of the probe with respect to the receiver.

12. The portable measurement system of claim 8, wherein the controller element presents the media according to a customized use of the probe during an operation workflow.

13. The portable measurement system of claim 8, wherein the controller element recognizes an operation workflow and reporting measurement data from the probe associated with the operation workflow.

14. A portable measurement system, comprising:

a probe comprising

three ultrasonic transducers that emit ultrasonic waveforms for creating a three-dimensional sensing space;

a probe communication link for receiving transmission pulses that establish a transmit time of the ultrasonic waveforms from the three ultrasonic transducers;

a user interface control that captures a location and position of the probe in the three-dimensional sensing space;

two trackers each comprising;

three ultrasonic transducers that emit ultrasonic waveforms within the three-dimensional sensing space;

a tracker communication link for receiving transmission pulses that establish a transmit time of the ultrasonic waveforms from the three ultrasonic transducers;

a receiver comprising;

four microphones to capture the ultrasonic waveforms transmitted from the probe and the two trackers to produce captured ultrasonic waveforms; and

a receiver communication link for relaying the captured ultrasonic waveforms to a

a pod comprising

a digital signal processor that digitally samples the captured ultrasonic waveforms and tracks a relative location and movement of the probe and the two trackers with respect to the receiver in the three-dimensional ultrasonic sensing space from time of flight waveform analysis;

a controller communicatively coupled to the probe communication link, the tracker communication links, and the receiver communication link for synchronizing transmit and receive data functions of the digital signal processor

and an I/O port for communicating to a user interface measurement data associated with the relative location and the movement of the probe and the two trackers with respect to the receiver.

15. The portable measurement system of claim 14, wherein the digital signal processor

suppresses a ringing portion of the received ultrasonic waveforms that overlap with digitally sampled acoustic waveforms received at the microphones;

and

minimizes distortion associated with ultrasonic transducer ring-down from the probe and the two trackers during generation of a high-resolution position tracking of the probe and the two trackers;

16. The portable measurement system of claim 14, wherein the pod

receives a user interface command from the probe during tracking associated with the high-resolution position tracking of the probe;

and

presents a media that corresponds to the user interface command, wherein the media is at least one among audio, image, video, and text.

17. The portable measurement system of claim 14, wherein the pod is communicatively coupled to a remote station via wired USB connectivity or wireless Bluetooth connectivity.

18. The portable measurement system of claim 14, wherein the probe communication link is wireless to the pod, and the tracker communication link is wireless to the pod.

19. The portable measurement system of claim 14, wherein the pod measures a position and orientation for each of the probe, first tracker and second tracker with respect to a coordinate system of the receiver in three-dimensions within about 120 degrees conical line of sight.

20. The portable measurement system of claim 14, wherein the digital signal processor applies an acoustic spherical weighting to Time of Flight (TOF) ultrasonic distance measurements as the probe moves within short range of the receiver approximately between 10 cm and 90 cm.