Surgery – Diagnostic testing – Measuring anatomical characteristic or force applied to or...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-28
2002-06-11
Shaver, Kevin (Department: 3736)
Surgery
Diagnostic testing
Measuring anatomical characteristic or force applied to or...
C433S214000, C433S029000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06402707
ABSTRACT:
FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to measuring, imaging, and mapping of intra-oral objects and features and, more particularly, to a method and system for real time intra-orally acquiring and registering three-dimensional measurements and images of intra-oral objects and features, for primary application in the field of dentistry.
Commercial application of non-x-ray based imaging methods, devices, and systems in the field of dentistry, for automatically measuring, imaging, and mapping dental conditions of patients, is still significantly limited, even in view of the current rapid rate of developing and applying a wide variety of non-x-ray based imaging techniques in various other fields. The main objective, and benefit, of using automatic measuring and imaging techniques in dentistry, hereinafter also referred to as ‘dental measuring/imaging’, is to enable dental practitioners such as dentists, dental hygienists, and dental technicians to obtain highly accurate and precise realistic measurements, images, and spatial maps of intra-oral objects and features such as teeth, gum, intra-oral soft tissue, bone matter, dental undercuts, and, dental fixtures and prostheses of any kind, of dental patients, for the goal of improving procedures and processes, and decreasing costs, relating to examining, charting, diagnosing, and treating dental conditions of those patients.
Details of limitations and shortcomings associated with conventional non-imaging techniques currently used for examining, charting, diagnosing, and treating dental conditions of patients, in general, and for designing, manufacturing, fitting, and monitoring dental prostheses, in particular, are adequately described in dental literature and related prior art, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,440,393, issued to Wenz, in PCT International Publication No. WO 98/52493, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,273,429, issued to Rekow et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 4,964,770, issued to Steinbichler et al., and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,857,853, issued to van Nifterick et al.
A well known example illustrating the potentially significant utility, effectiveness, and, procedural and economic impact of successfully applying automatic measuring and imaging techniques to dentistry involves examining, charting, diagnosing, and treating dental patients requiring dental prostheses such as crowns, bridges, dentures, or implants. More specifically, data and information obtained from measuring, imaging, and mapping intra-oral objects and features can be directly used for highly accurately and cost effectively designing, manufacturing, fitting, and monitoring dental prostheses, thereby replacing currently used inaccurate, labor, material, time, and cost intensive, non-imaging techniques. Automatic dental measuring and imaging techniques are also applicable for performing various types of restorative procedures, occlusal registration, and, orthodontic and tempero mandibular joint (TMJ) dysfunction therapies.
Different categories of mechanisms, such as electrical, electronic, electromechanical, electro-optical, electromagnetic, radar, magnetic, magneto-mechanical, magnetic resonance, acoustic, ultrasound, sonar, photo-acoustic, telemetry, hybrids, and combinations of these, used for automatic three-dimensional measurement, imaging, and mapping of objects, features, and distances, are widely known and employed in various fields. The particular category of electro-optical mechanisms used in measuring and imaging techniques includes, for example, time/light in flight, laser scanning, moire, laser speckle pattern sectioning, interferometry, photogrammetry, laser tracking, and structured light or active triangulation. Specialized interferometric techniques of shearography, diffraction grating, digital wavefront reconstruction and wavelength scanning, and conoscopic holography have recently been developed as useful electro-optical measuring, imaging, and mapping techniques. Electro-optical techniques are reviewed by Chen, F., in “Overview of three-dimensional shape measurement using optical methods”, Opt. Eng. 39(1) Jan., 10-22, 2000, and are further described in references therein. Several of these electro-optical techniques have been specifically applied for measuring, imaging, and mapping intra-oral objects and features. Magnetic resonance and ultrasound imaging techniques are well developed and especially applied in the medical field.
Basic in any measuring and imaging technique for accurately and precisely measuring, imaging, or mapping objects and features is the determination, sub-division, and usage of the source space and source resolution associated with the measurements and images. Measurements and images are defined in terms of global and local coordinates of the source space. Global space refers to a global coordinate space, encompassing one or more local coordinate spaces, and is at source resolution. Local space refers to a local coordinate space that is contained within global space that is also at source resolution. Accordingly, by definition, each local coordinate space and all coordinate points or positions contained therein are local with respect to the global coordinate space, whereby they can be transformed, mapped, or related to corresponding global coordinate space and global coordinate points or positions, respectively. This procedure is commonly known as registration of local coordinate space and associated local coordinate points or positions with respect to, or in terms of, global coordinate space and associated global coordinate points or positions, within source space. The registration procedure is performed by using one or more reference, fiducial, or registration, points or markers defined in the global coordinate space, which can also be associated with one or more local coordinate spaces within the global coordinate space.
Hereinafter, the terms ‘measuring system’, ‘measuring device’, ‘imaging system’, and ‘imaging device’ are general, and are applicable to any category, such as those listed above, of automatic three-dimensional shape measurement, imaging, and mapping of objects and features. With respect to measuring, imaging, and mapping objects and features, the position and orientation of a measuring and imaging device such as an electro-optical measuring and imaging probe, an electromagnetic measuring and imaging probe, an ultrasound measuring and imaging probe, or a magnetic resonance measuring and imaging probe, can be characterized, described, or defined in terms of source or global coordinate space. Furthermore, for each measuring and imaging device global position, each field of view of the measuring and imaging device can be associated with a corresponding local coordinate space, within the source or global coordinate space, where the positions, orientations, and shapes or configurations, of the objects and features in each field of view of the measuring and imaging device are definable in terms of that local coordinate space. Applying a registration procedure here involves transforming or mapping local measurement and image data and information of the objects and features to global measurement and image data and information of the objects and features, using the position and orientation of the measuring and imaging device in global coordinate space as the transforming or mapping common link between global and local coordinate spaces.
Implementation of an automatic measuring and imaging technique usually includes measurement and image processing hardware and software, for automatically performing mathematical operations involved in registering local with global coordinate spaces during and/or after measurement and imaging, and for manipulating and editing measurements and images acquired in local and/or global coordinate spaces. Following these procedures, the graphical or digitized measurements and images are displayed on a display device by converting measurement and image definition from source space into device space, where device space refers to the characteristics of the device, for example, devic
Denupp Corporation BVI
Lilling & Lilling P.C.
Shaver Kevin
Szmal Brian
LandOfFree
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