Virtual mouse for use in surgical navigation
AssigneeBiomet Manufacturing, LLC
InventorRyan Schoenefeld
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of performing a surgery is provided including a surgical navigation system having a tracking system, computer and monitor placed outside of a sterile field. An input pad and a tracking array attachable to a surgical instrument or bone are placed into the sterile field along with a probe having a probe array. The tracking array and the probe array are acquired by the tracking system and a virtual mouse is activated by positioning the probe relative to the input pad, thereby causing a mouse input to the computer with the virtual mouse.
Claims25
A method of performing a surgery, comprising:
- providing a surgical navigation system having a tracking system, computer and monitor placed outside of a sterile field;
- placing a tracking array into the sterile field, the tracking array including a frame and being attachable to a surgical instrument being used by a surgeon to perform the surgery or a bone, wherein the frame of the tracking array has an input pad disposed on its outer surface;
- placing a probe having a probe array within the sterile field;
- acquiring the tracking array and the probe array with the tracking system;
- activating a virtual mouse by positioning the probe relative to the input pad;
- and
- causing a mouse input to the computer with the virtual mouse.
A surgical navigation system, comprising:
- a computer having a monitor and surgical navigation utilities software;
- a tracking system coupled to the computer and establishing a measurement field;
- a tracking array recognizable by the tracking system when exposed to the measurement field, the tracking array including a frame and being attachable to a surgical instrument being used by a surgeon to perform the surgery or a bone;
- an input pad disposed on an outer surface of the frame;
- and
- a probe having a probe array recognizable by the tracking system when exposed to the measurement field;
- wherein the software comprises a program that when executed causes the system to recognize positioning of the probe relative to the input pad as a mouse input.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.