Apparatus and method for measuring an anatomical angle of a body
OwnerHayley Warreninventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus (20) for automatically measuring an anatomical angle of a body, the apparatus (20) comprising aligning means (23) for aligning an axis (22) of the apparatus (20) with anatomical landmarks of the body, sensing means (30) for sensing an orientation of the axis (22) while the axis is aligned with the landmarks, and processing means (40) for processing the sensed orientation. The sensing means (30) comprises a magnetometer (32) and an accelerometer (31), and the aligning means comprises a pair of lasers.
Claims18
A handheld goniometer for measurement of anatomical angles of a body, comprising:
- a housing having lasers secured therein for projecting at least one laser beam outwardly of the housing in alignment with an axis thereof, the housing positionable by a user in a first position to align the at least one laser beam with a first pair of anatomical landmarks and subsequently in a second position to align the at least one laser beam with a second pair of anatomical landmarks;
- sensors, a user input device, a microprocessor and memory mounted in the housing for capture and storage of data on orientation in three dimensions of the housing when the user input device is operated;
- and
- a digital display controlled by the microprocessor,
- and wherein:
- the microprocessor upon operation of the user input device in the first position causes capture in the memory of data on first orientations in three dimensions of the housing and axis, and upon a subsequent operation of the user input device in the second position causes capture of data on second orientations in three dimensions of the housing and axis, derives from the first and second orientations an anatomical angle between the first and second orientations of the axis, and displays the angle on the display, and the user input device comprises first and second switches with pushbuttons on opposite sides of the housing operable by a user pushing the pushbuttons towards each other.
A method for measurement of an anatomical angle of a body, comprising the steps of:
- holding a handheld goniometer in a first position wherein an axis of the handheld goniometer is aligned with a first pair of anatomical landmarks;
- operating a user input device of the goniometer to cause sensing of data on a first orientation in three dimensions of the goniometer and the axis in the first position and storing said data;
- subsequently holding the goniometer in a second position wherein the axis is aligned with a second pair of anatomical landmarks;
- operating the user input device to cause sensing of data on a second orientation in three dimensions of the goniometer and the axis in the second position, and the user input device comprises first and second switches with pushbuttons on opposite sides of the handheld goniometer operable by pushing the pushbuttons towards each other;
- and
- deriving from the data on the first and second orientations of the goniometer and its axis an angle between the axis in its first orientation and the axis in its second orientation, being an anatomical angle between the first and second pairs of anatomical landmarks.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.