US 2,007,270,660 · Filed 2006-03-29
Tracking Surgical Tools Inside Your Body with Wireless Signals
Imagine a surgical tool or implant that wirelessly broadcasts its location inside your body. This patent describes a system that uses an array of antennas positioned in different ways to pinpoint exactly where that tool or implant is during surgery. It's like having a GPS tracker for orthopedic devices that work inside the operating room.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The claim covers a specific system architecture: a controller connected to an antenna array that mixes coplanar antennas (all in the same plane) with additional non-coplanar antennas (positioned out of that plane), along with wireless transmitter circuits embedded in orthopedic devices like surgical tools, implants, or bone-mounted trackers. What's protected is the combination of this multi-directional antenna arrangement working together to triangulate and determine the exact 3D location of the orthopedic device based on wireless signals it transmits.
Why it matters
Real-time tracking of surgical instruments and implants during orthopedic procedures reduces the risk of placement errors and improves surgical precision. By patenting this antenna-array method, the inventors created a proprietary way to achieve accurate indoor localization in the challenging RF environment of an operating room, where traditional GPS fails. This type of technology is foundational to image-guided surgery and computer-assisted orthopedic procedures, which have become increasingly important for complex joint replacements and spine surgeries.
Real-world use
During a hip replacement surgery, a surgeon could use this system to verify that a new hip socket implant is positioned correctly inside the patient's body without needing repeated X-rays or fluoroscopy.
Original USPTO abstract
A system and method for determining a location of an orthopaedic medical device includes a controller and an array of antennas. The array of antennas includes a number of coplanar antennas and one or more additional antennas positioned non-coplanar relative to the coplanar antennas. The coplanar and non-coplanar antennas may be directional antennas. The orthopaedic medical device includes a wireless transmitter circuit configured to transmit a wireless signal and may be coupled to a bone of the patient, an orthopaedic implant, or an orthopaedic surgical tool. The controller is electrically coupled to the array of antennas and configured to determine a location of the orthopaedic medical device based on output signals received from the antennas in response to the wireless signal.
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 2,007,270,660
- Filing date
- 2006-03-29
- Grant date
- Application — not yet granted
- Assignee
- Caylor Edward J Iii / Sherman Jason T
- Inventor(s)
- CAYLOR EDWARD J.III, SHERMAN JASON T.
- CPC class
- G01S5/02
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