The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 07, 1995
Filed:
Oct. 21, 1993
Judith T Lewis, Nashville, TN (US);
Robert L Galloway, Jr, Nashville, TN (US);
Other;
Abstract
In a coordinate system defined by a coordinate space digitizer, the location of an implanted symmetric object may automatically be determined based on differences between the characteristic acoustic impedances of at least a portion of an implanted object and one or more materials surrounding that object. An A-mode ultrasound transducer may be attached to a coordinate space digitizer or pointing device such that an attached computer tracks the position and orientation of the ultrasound transducer. The reflected radio-frequency (rf) ultrasound signals may automatically be analyzed along with the transducer position and orientation corresponding to each received rf signal to detect the position of the implanted object. The time delay between received ultrasound echoes is used to compute the depth of the object from the transducer. This allows for an accurate determination of the three-dimensional coordinates of the implanted object.