Patent ID: 7176936

Claim:
A method for augmented reality guided instrument positioning, comprising the steps of: displaying a real view of an environment including an instrument; determining a preferred path for positioning of said instrument; marking the preferred path with a graphics guide; augmenting the real view with a rendering of the graphics guide such that at least one portion of the graphics guide is transparent with respect to other portions of the graphics guide to provide a substantially unobstructed view through the at least one portion of the graphics guide to at least a portion of the instrument to facilitate alignment of the real instrument with the virtual guide, the transparency of at least one portion of the guide being varied at redefined time intervals; aligning the instrument with the graphics guide so that the instrument appears in a same location as the graphics guide in the augmented view thereby creating a mutual spatial relationship between the real instrument and the virtual guide, and when properly aligned, at least a portion of the instrument is visible through the at least one transparent portion of the graphics guide; and inserting the instrument in the graphics guide.