Magnetic determination of position and orientation
First Claim
1. A magnetic sensor comprising a flexible support, and a plurality of magnetically sensitive elements each having a preselected sensitive direction disposed on said support, said flexible support being folded so that said magnetically sensitive elements are non-coplanar with one another, said sensor having width and thickness dimensions less than about 5 mm and being adapted for mounting within a probe insertable into a body of a living subject.
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Abstract
A magnetic position and orientation determining system uses magnetic fields, desirably including uniform fields from Helmholtz coils positioned on opposite sides of a sensing volume and gradient fields generated by the same coils. By monitoring field components detected at the probes during application of these fields, the position and orientation of the probe in the field can be deduced. A representation of the probe can be superposed on a separately acquired image of the subject to show the position and orientation of the probe with respect to the subject.
710 Citations
28 Claims
- 1. A magnetic sensor comprising a flexible support, and a plurality of magnetically sensitive elements each having a preselected sensitive direction disposed on said support, said flexible support being folded so that said magnetically sensitive elements are non-coplanar with one another, said sensor having width and thickness dimensions less than about 5 mm and being adapted for mounting within a probe insertable into a body of a living subject.
- 7. A magnetic sensor comprising a flexible support, and a plurality of magnetically sensitive elements each having a preselected sensitive direction disposed on said support, said flexible support being folded so that said magnetically sensitive elements are non-coplanar with one another, said support including a center panel, a tip panel intersecting said center panel at a first edge and a first side panel intersecting said center panel at a second edge transverse to said first edge, said magnetically sensitive elements being disposed on said center, side and tip panels, said tip panel and said first side panel being folded out of the plane of said center panel along said first and second edges, the sensor further comprising a core in the form of a rectangular solid having a plurality of faces, said center panel being disposed on one face of said core, said tip panel and first side panels being disposed on other faces of said core adjoining said one face.
- 12. A magnetic sensor comprising a flexible support, and a plurality of magnetically sensitive elements each having a preselected sensitive direction disposed on said support, said flexible support being folded so that said magnetically sensitive elements are non-coplanar with one another, said flexible support including an elongated strip having conductors thereon electrically connected to said magnetically sensitive elements, said strip extending away from the sensor whereby said magnetically sensitive elements can be electrically connected to external devices through said conductors of said strip.
- 14. In combination, a magnetic sensor comprising a flexible support, and a plurality of magnetically sensitive elements each having a preselected sensitive direction disposed on said support, said flexible support being folded so that said magnetically sensitive elements are non-coplanar with one another, and a probe adapted for insertion into a body of a living subject, said sensor being positioned on said probe so that said sensor is positioned within the body of the subject when said probe is inserted into the body of the subject.
- 19. A magnetic sensor comprising a flexible support having non-coplanar portions and a plurality of magnetically sensitive elements each having a preselected sensitive direction disposed on said non-coplanar portions of said flexible support said flexible support including an elongated strip having conductors thereon electrically connected to said magnetically sensitive elements, said strip extending away from the sensor whereby said magnetically sensitive elements can be electrically connected to external devices through said conductors of said strip.
- 22. A magnetic sensor comprising a flexible support having non-coplanar portions and a plurality of magnetically sensitive elements each having a preselected sensitive direction disposed on said non-coplanar portions of said flexible support, said sensor having width and thickness dimensions less than about 5 mm and being adapted for mounting within a probe insertable into a body of a living subject.
Specification