Method and apparatus for making customized fixation devices
AssigneeAMEI Technologies Inc.
InventorDavid F. Crook
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and apparatus is described for making a custom fixation device. The apparatus comprises a means for scanning a treatment site and for producing image data representative of the treatment site. A means for generating a set of vectors is included for defining a set of points, the set of vectors representative of the treatment site, the points associated with a surface, part of the surface representative of part of the treatment site, part of the surface hidden from view. Further, means for associating each point with a pole of a control polygon of a non-uniform rational B-spline, means responsive to the non-uniform rational B-spline for constructing a model of the treatment site, and means responsive to the model for constructing the fixation device are described.
Claims15
An apparatus for making a custom fixation device comprising:
- means for scanning a treatment site and for producing image data representative of the treatment site;
- means for generating a set of vectors defining a set of points, the set of vectors representative of the treatment site, the points associated with a surface, part of the surface representative of part of the treatment site, part of the surface hidden from view;
- means for associating each point with a pole of a control polygon of a non-uniform rational B-spline;
- means responsive to the non-uniform rational B-spline for constructing a model of the treatment site;
- and
- means responsive to the model for constructing the fixation device.
A method for constructing a customized fixation device comprising:
- scanning a treatment site to produce image data representative of the treatment site;
- receiving a plurality of sets of data values, the data values within each set corresponding to a property of the treatment site along a first and second dimension, each set corresponding to the value at a predetermined position along a third dimension;
- generating a set of points from the sets of data values, the points defining a surface, part of the surface representative of the treatment site;
- generating a vector to each point;
- associating each vector with a pole of a control polygon of a non-uniform rational B-spline;
- generating a model of the treatment site in accordance with the control polygon;
- and
- constructing a customized fixation device in accordance with the model.
An apparatus for making customized fixation devices comprising:
- means for generating image data representative of a treatment site;
- means for modifying the image data;
- means for generating from the image data a set of points associated with a surface, part of the surface representative of the treatment site, part of the surface hidden from view;
- means for generating a set of vectors associated with the points;
- means for associating each vector with a pole of a control polygon of a non-uniform rational B-spline;
- means for translating the non-uniform rational B-spline into slice data suitable for use with a stereolithographic system;
- and
- means for converting the slice data to a three dimensional object representative of a treatment site.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.