System , method and article for measuring and reporting craniomandibular biomechanical functions
OwnerBruce William Adamsinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention provides a motion analysis system for measuring the relative function of one anatomical structure to another based on optical fiducial markers tracked in a series of images and in turn data, where the components of hard and soft tissue are used in analysis and where the image data can be compared in a time series such that probabilities of involvement with various tissues can be correlated to the image data. The system measures displacement at various positions and can relate the data to various muscle and other soft tissue variations within the constraints of the anatomy and physiology including motion in three dimensional space, including rotations and translations and functions including velocity and acceleration.
Claims41
A method of operating a system for use in mandibular motion tracking, the method comprising:
- comparing by at least one processor an appearance of at least one shape of at least a first fiducial marker in a first digital image of the mandible to at least one defined actual shape of the fiducial marker;
- and an appearance of at least one shape of at least the same fiducial marker in a second digital image of the mandible to at least the first fiducial marker and at least one of correlating, normalizing, or correcting the at least the first digital image, based at least in part on the comparisons to subsequent images, and comparisons to the actual fiducial marker, including three dimensional comparison such that the rotations and translations of the mandible versus the maxilla can be measured as changes from the first digital image;
- said method further comprising a second fiducial marker mounted to the cranium in a manner whereby it does not move as a result of mandibular movement, said second fiducial marker being used for normalization or geometric correlation of the image data in a series of images.
A system for use in jaw plane tracking, the system comprising:
- at least one processor;
- and at least one nontransitory storage medium that stores processor executable instructions which when executed cause the at least one processor to:
- compare an appearance of at least one shape of at least a first fiducial marker in a first digital image of a portion of a movement sequence to at least one defined actual shape of the fiducial marker;
- compare an appearance of each of a plurality of sections of the fiducial marker in the first digital image to respective ones of defined features of the fiducial marker;
- and at least one of correlate, normalize, or correct at least the first digital image, based at least in part on the comparisons;
- said system further comprising a second fiducial marker mounted to the cranium in a manner whereby it does not move as a result of mandibular movement, said second fiducial marker being used for normalization or geometric correlation of the image data in a series of images.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.