Receiver used in marker localization sensing system and tunable to marker frequency
First Claim
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1. A method of locating a marker associated with a patient, said marker having a marker resonant frequency, the method comprising:
- (a) implanting said marker in the patient;
(b) applying an excitation at a frequency selected from a set of frequencies to said marker using an excitation source;
(c) receiving a set of plurality of inputs indicative of a magnetic flux sensed over an observation interval and induced by said marker in response to said excitation at said one of a set of frequencies;
(d) automatically adjusting the observation interval based at least in part on the set of plurality of inputs;
(e) iteratively repeating steps (b)-(c) for all of the frequencies in said set of frequencies;
(f) identifying said marker resonant frequency based upon the multiple sets of plurality of inputs;
(g) adjusting said excitation source to provide further excitation at said marker resonant frequency;
(h) receiving a resonance set of plurality of inputs indicative of a sensed magnetic flux induced by said marker in response to said excitation at said marker resonant frequency; and
(i) analyzing said resonance set of plurality of inputs to determine said location of said marker, wherein analyzing said resonance set of plurality of inputs to determine said location of said marker includes comparing said resonance set of inputs to reference measurements corresponding to known locations within a bounding volume.
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Abstract
A receiver for determining the location of a marker that is excited with an exciting waveform. A sensing array having coils is used to sense magnetic flux from the resonating marker. The coils provide inputs to the receiver. The receiver includes a correlation processor for analyzing the inputs in a coherent manner. Further, the receiver is adapted to tune to the resonant frequency of a marker.
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Citations
15 Claims
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1. A method of locating a marker associated with a patient, said marker having a marker resonant frequency, the method comprising:
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(a) implanting said marker in the patient; (b) applying an excitation at a frequency selected from a set of frequencies to said marker using an excitation source; (c) receiving a set of plurality of inputs indicative of a magnetic flux sensed over an observation interval and induced by said marker in response to said excitation at said one of a set of frequencies; (d) automatically adjusting the observation interval based at least in part on the set of plurality of inputs; (e) iteratively repeating steps (b)-(c) for all of the frequencies in said set of frequencies; (f) identifying said marker resonant frequency based upon the multiple sets of plurality of inputs; (g) adjusting said excitation source to provide further excitation at said marker resonant frequency; (h) receiving a resonance set of plurality of inputs indicative of a sensed magnetic flux induced by said marker in response to said excitation at said marker resonant frequency; and (i) analyzing said resonance set of plurality of inputs to determine said location of said marker, wherein analyzing said resonance set of plurality of inputs to determine said location of said marker includes comparing said resonance set of inputs to reference measurements corresponding to known locations within a bounding volume. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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6. A method of determining a marker resonant frequency of a marker associated with a patient, the method comprising:
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(a) implanting said marker within the patient; (b) applying an excitation at a frequency selected from a set of frequencies to said marker using an excitation source; (c) receiving a set of plurality of inputs indicative of a magnetic flux sensed over an observation interval and induced by said marker in response to said excitation at said one of a set of frequencies; (d) automatically adjusting the observation interval based on the set of plurality of inputs; (e) repeating steps (b)-(c) for all of the frequencies in said first set of frequencies; (f) identifying a frequency band that contains said marker resonant frequency; (g) formulating a second set of frequencies within said frequency band and repeating steps (b)-(c) for all of the frequencies in said second set of frequencies; and (h) identifying said marker resonant frequency based on the response from step (e), wherein identifying said marker resonant frequency includes estimating a phase shift that is common to each of the plurality of inputs; and removing the phase shift from each of the plurality of inputs. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9)
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Specification