Apparatus and method for real-time tracking of bony structures

A system, comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• memory coupled to the processor, the memory comprising program modules that are executable by the processor, the program modules configured to:
• measure reflected energy received at a detector device, the reflected energy from reflection of a beam of near infrared (NIR) energy by points on a surface of a patient during a first scan of the patient with the beam of NIR energy;
• for each of the points on the surface of the patient, determine a corresponding skin thickness based on a pattern of the reflected energy;
• for said each of the points on the surface of the patient, compensate for the corresponding skin thickness to determine a skeletal position associated with and underlying said each of the points;
• determine a position of skeletal anatomy of the patient derived from the skeletal positioning for said each of the points;
• determine a position of a target in the patient with respect to the position of the skeletal anatomy;
• and
• determine an alignment for a beam of radiation that aligns the beam of radiation with the target.

A system, comprising:

• a detector operable for receiving and measuring reflected energies, the reflected energies from reflection of a beam of near infrared (NIR) energy, from an NIR source, by a patient's skin at each point of a plurality of points on the patient's skin exposed to the beam by an optical scanner;
• and
• a computer system coupled to the detector and operable for performing operations comprising:
• determining patterns comprising a pattern of each reflected energy of the reflected energies based on a distance from a respective point of the points;
• determining thickness measurements comprising a thickness measurement of the patient's skin at said each point of the points based on the pattern around said each point;
• determining points of a bone surface of the patient using at least a subset of the thickness measurements;
• and
• determining a position of a target in the patient with respect to the bone surface.