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:
Jun. 05, 2001
Filed:
Apr. 16, 1999
Mark Harold Van Horn, Raleigh, NC (US);
MedAcoustics, Inc., Raleigh, NC (US);
Abstract
Methods, systems and computer program products are provided for determining an obscured contact point based on a visible portion of an acoustic sensor of a medical device contacting a patient by acquiring a first image containing an upper surface of the acoustic sensor from a first viewpoint and a second image containing the upper surface of the acoustic sensor from a second viewpoint different from the first viewpoint. The acoustic sensor is located in the first image and the second image and the centroid of the acoustic sensor is determined based on the location of the acoustic sensor in the first image and the corresponding location of the acoustic sensor in the second image. A plane of the visible portion of the acoustic sensor is also determined based on the position of the upper surface of the acoustic sensor in the first image and the corresponding position of the upper surface of the acoustic sensor in the second image. The contact point of the obscured portion of the acoustic sensor may then be determined by projecting a predetermined depth through the centroid of the acoustic sensor in a direction having a predefined relationship with the plane of the visible portion of the acoustic sensor.