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AssigneeZimmer, Inc.
InventorsAdam H. Sanford, Dean M. Acker, Jeffrey D. Brown, Brian D. Earl, John E. Pendleton
Estimating the term…
A plurality of individual medical devices is created that define a medical device family. Within the family of medical devices, each of the plurality of medical devices has at least one dimension that, within an acceptable tolerance, is substantially equal to the same dimension of another of the plurality of medical devices. Thus, for each medical device in the family, another, corresponding medical device has at least one substantially similar dimension. For example, a first medical device may have a first value for a dimension and a second medical device may have a second value for the same dimension that is equal to one of the sum of the second dimension and the acceptable tolerance or the difference between the second dimension and the acceptable tolerance. Thus, each of the plurality of medical devices varies from another of the plurality of medical devices by the acceptable tolerance.
A method of manufacturing a plurality of medical devices configured to replicate a portion of the anatomy of patients within an identified patient population in at least a first dimension, wherein the method includes manufacturing a plurality of medical devices that includes at least a first medical device, a second medical device, and a third medical device, the first medical device having a first value for the first dimension that is substantially equal to an established minimum value for the first dimension, the second medical device having a second value for the first dimension that is both greater than the first value and substantially equal to or less than the sum of the first value and an acceptable tolerance within the identified patient population for the first dimension, and the third medical device having a third value for the first dimension that is substantially equal to an established maximum value for the first dimension, wherein the established minimum value for the first dimension corresponds to a patient within the identified patient population having a low value for the first dimension, and wherein the established maximum value for the first dimension corresponds to a patient within the identified patient population having a high value for the first dimension.
A method of manufacturing a plurality of medical devices configured to replicate a portion of the anatomy of patients within an identified patient population in at least a first dimension, the method comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.