Custom braces, casts and devices having fenestrations and methods for designing and fabricating
Assignee3D Systems, Inc.
InventorsScott Summit, Kenneth B. Trauner
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A custom brace and method for fabricating the custom brace includes marking a body with reference points and/or other indicators. Multiple images of the body from multiple angles are then obtained. The images are used to determine the contours of the body and the other markings are located and used to design the custom brace. Fenestrations can be added to the brace design. The custom brace can be fabricated with the fenestrations as a single piece structure or in multiple pieces that are assembled to complete the custom device.
Claims16
A custom brace designed to be virtually fitted on a portion of a patient's body to be braced prior to fabrication, comprising:
- a brace structure adapted to be worn on the patient's body, wherein the brace structure corresponds to a digital representation of the portion of the patient's body to be braced and wherein the digital representation is obtained by photogrammetric processing a plurality of digital images of the portion the patient's body;
- the brace structure comprising:
- a series of fused planar layers of material;
- an innermost surface;
- an outermost surface that surrounds the innermost surface of the brace structure;
- and a plurality of fenestrations that extend through the brace structure between the innermost surface and the outermost surface;
- and
- wherein the brace structure is designed as a homogeneous material and wherein the brace is fabricated by transmitting the digital representations of the brace structure to a fabrication machine and sequentially forming the series of fused planar layers of the material to create the innermost surface and the outermost surface of the brace structure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.