Patent ID: 11872080
Assignee: BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA, FOR AND ON BEHALF OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA IN HUNTSVILLE
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC A  G | IPC A  G

Claim 10:
11. A method for positioning a probe to capture an echocardiogram of a patient, the method comprising:
placing a positioning device on a patient, the positioning device comprising a support structure defining an open interior space and a plurality of reference points around the open interior space, the support structure comprising a plurality of sensor units, each sensor unit of the plurality of sensor units being located at a corresponding reference point of the plurality of reference points, each sensor unit of the plurality of sensor units comprising an inertial sensor, a magnetic sensor, and an electrocardiogram sensor or a digital stethoscope sensor;
capturing a plurality of images from a probe and a plurality of data sets associated with the probe, wherein each data set of the plurality of data sets corresponds to a position and orientation of the probe within the support structure when an image of the plurality of images is captured, the probe comprising an inertial sensor and a magnetic sensor, and capturing the plurality of data sets associated with the probe includes determining the position and orientation of the probe based on signals from the inertial sensor and magnetic sensor of the probe and signals from the inertial sensors and magnetic sensors of the plurality of sensor units;
determining, by a controller, a position for the probe in the open interior space of the support structure to capture an echocardiogram image based on the plurality of images and the plurality of data sets, wherein the position for the probe is determined with respect to the plurality of reference points;
guiding an operator to move the probe within the open interior space of the support structure to the determined position, wherein guiding an operator to move the probe within the open interior space includes providing information to an operator on a display; and
positioning the probe at the determined position to capture the echocardiogram image.