Patent ID: 7819318
Filing Date: 2010-10-26
Classification: A61B

Abstract:
1. An intelligent implement for surgical use, the implement comprising: a) an implement body; b) a metal housing having an external surface provided with an opening accessing an interior space thereof, wherein the opening in the housing is closable with a metal cover to provide an encasement having a substantially uniform wall thickness (T) of less than 0.5 mm measured from an interior wall surface to the external surface; c) a passive radio-frequency transponder comprising an iron core antenna received within the interior space of the encasement and oriented to effectively couple a radio-frequency signal present at the interior wall surface to the antenna, wherein the encasement including the passive radio-frequency transponder and antenna is in at least a metal portion of the implement body; and d) a reference device defined on the implement body, wherein the transponder stores information about select dimensional characteristics referenced on the implement body with respect to the reference device, the dimensional characteristics being usable in a computer-aided navigation system.