Method to register an optical tracking system with a particle detector system

A method for registering an optical tracking system with a particle detector system in a common voxel coordinate grid to improve quality assurance, accuracy, speed, and operating cost efficiencies of a medical imaging process, the method comprising the steps of:

• defining, with a camera system as the optical tracking system, a rigid body from a first set of markers on an object support and a second set of markers on a tracking frame;
• obtaining, with the camera system, a time-dependent coordinate transformation from camera coordinates to rigid body coordinates;
• obtaining, with the camera system, a coordinate transformation from the camera coordinates to tracker coordinates of the tracking frame;
• calibrating, with a proton imaging system as the particle detector system, locations of trackers in an isocentric coordinate system;
• obtaining, with the proton imaging system, a coordinate transformation from the tracker coordinates to isocentric coordinates in the isocentric coordinate system;
• obtaining, with the camera system and the proton imaging system, a coordinate transformation from the camera coordinates to the isocentric coordinates;
• obtaining, with the camera system, a time-dependent coordinate transformation from the rigid body coordinates to the isocentric coordinates;
• defining voxel coordinates of the common voxel coordinate grid to coincide with the isocentric coordinates at a beginning of measurement, wherein the voxel coordinates move with the rigid body;
• obtaining a time-dependent coordinate transformation from the isocentric coordinates to the voxel coordinates;
• measuring, with the proton imaging system, a proton trajectory in the tracker coordinates;
• placing, with the proton imaging system, the proton trajectory into the isocentric coordinates;
• and
• placing the proton trajectory into the voxel coordinates of the common voxel coordinate grid by utilizing the time-dependent coordinate transformation from the isocentric coordinates to the voxel coordinates and the proton trajectory in the isocentric coordinates.