US 11,684,426 B2
System and method for tracking bones
Pierre Couture, Montreal (CA)
Assigned to ORTHOSOFT ULC, Montréal (CA)
Filed by ORTHOSOFT INC., Montreal (CA)
Filed on Aug. 30, 2019, as Appl. No. 16/556,837.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/725,639, filed on Aug. 31, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2020/0069375 A1, Mar. 5, 2020
Int. Cl. A61B 34/20 (2016.01); A61B 34/10 (2016.01); A61B 90/00 (2016.01)
CPC A61B 34/20 (2016.02) [A61B 34/10 (2016.02); A61B 90/39 (2016.02); A61B 2034/107 (2016.02); A61B 2034/2048 (2016.02); A61B 2034/2055 (2016.02); A61B 2034/2065 (2016.02); A61B 2034/2068 (2016.02); A61B 2090/3983 (2016.02)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system for determining a position and an orientation of a bone of an anatomical feature, the bone underlying an outer-skin surface of the anatomical feature, the system comprising:
a trackable reference device having an elongated body extending linearly between a first end and a second end, the first end and the second end being axially spaced part along a longitudinal axis defined by the elongated body of the trackable reference device, a surgical pin mounted to the trackable reference device at the first end thereof to anchor the trackable reference device to the bone at the first end, the first end defining a first position along the longitudinal axis of the trackable reference device;
at least one distance sensor fixedly mounted to the trackable reference device at a second position on the trackable reference, the at least one distance sensor at the second position being axially spaced apart a fixed distance along the longitudinal axis from the surgical pin at the first position, the at least one distance sensor operable to determine a distance measurement between the trackable reference device and the bone, at the second position, in a transverse direction relative to the longitudinal axis;
a wearable attachment attached to the trackable reference device at an axial position located between the first position and the second position along the longitudinal axis, the wearable attachment configured to be mounted about the outer-skin surface of the anatomical feature to mount the trackable reference device to the outer-skin surface;
at least one reference marker array having a plurality of reference markers mounted to the trackable reference device at respective fixed positions along the elongated body of the trackable reference device between the surgical pin and the at least one distance sensor;
a fixed reference defining a reference coordinate system;
a position sensing device operable to register position and orientation readings of the reference markers in the reference coordinate system; and
a processing unit operable to receive the position and orientation readings from the position sensing device, and to receive the distance measurement of the second position of the trackable reference device from the bone, the processing unit being operable to determine the position and the orientation of the bone in the reference coordinate system using the position and orientation readings and the distance measurement.