Intraoral scanning system component pairing
AssigneeAlign Technology, Inc.
InventorsEdi Fridman, Moshe Alboher
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An intraoral scanning system comprises an intraoral scanner and a base unit comprising a computing device and a cradle for the intraoral scanner. Responsive to placement of the intraoral scanner into the cradle, the intraoral scanner causes the base unit to wirelessly broadcast a unique identifier according to a first wireless communication protocol and receives the unique identifier. The intraoral scanner uses the unique identifier to establish a wireless connection with the base unit according to a second wireless communication protocol.
Claims26
An intraoral scanning system comprising:
- an intraoral scanner;
- and
- a base unit comprising a computing device and a cradle for the intraoral scanner;
- wherein:
- responsive to placement of the intraoral scanner into the cradle, the intraoral scanner causes the base unit to wirelessly broadcast a unique identifier according to a first wireless communication protocol and receives the unique identifier;
- and
- the intraoral scanner is configured to use the unique identifier to establish a wireless connection with the base unit according to a second wireless communication protocol.
A wireless intraoral scanner for an intraoral scanning system, comprising:
- a contactless communication reader to read a unique identifier from a contactless communication tag of a base unit of the intraoral scanning system;
- and
- a wireless network interface module to receive the unique identifier from the contactless communication reader and use the unique identifier to establish a wireless connection with a wireless access point of the base unit that provides a wireless local area network (WLAN), wherein a name of the WLAN corresponds to the unique identifier.
A base unit for an intraoral scanning system, comprising:
- a cradle comprising a contactless communication tag;
- a wireless access point;
- and
- a computing device having a connection to the contactless communication tag and to the wireless access point;
- wherein the computing device is configured to:
- read the contactless communication tag to determine a unique identifier of the contactless communication tag;
- and
- configure the wireless access point to cause a wireless local area network (WLAN) associated with the wireless access point to have a name corresponding to the unique identifier;
- wherein the contactless communication tag is configured to receive a wireless signal from a contactless communication reader of a first intraoral scanner of the intraoral scanning system and broadcast the unique identifier;
- and
- wherein the computing device is configured to receive a request from the first intraoral scanner to connect to the wireless access point to establish a wireless connection between the base unit and the first intraoral scanner.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.