Patent ID: 7854232

Claim:
A method for determining the location and orientation of a tracking device in relation to a transcranial magnetic stimulation (“TMS”) induction coil device when the tracking device is attached to the TMS coil device for performing navigated brain stimulation, the method comprising: providing a TMS coil device comprising: a casing comprising at least one coil winding and an attachment portion having a predetermined size and shape for removable attachment of the casing and a mating portion of a tracking device, wherein the mating portion has a predetermined size and shape complementary to the predetermined size and shape of the attachment portion, and wherein, when the attachment portion of the casing and mating portion of the tracking device are removably attached and configured, such that, during use, the casing and the tracking device are mated together and are together freely movable by a user with at least one set of two or more reflective elements of the tracking device in a fixed location with respect to the casing or the at least one coil winding of the casing; at least one reference designation point defined at a predetermined location on the TMS coil device and a predetermined distance away from a point defined on the attachment portion; and wherein the tracking device includes the at least one set of two or more reflective elements at a predetermined location and orientation in relation to each other, and wherein, when the tracking device is removably attached to the attachment portion, the two or more elements are at a predetermined location and orientation in relation to the attachment portion; detecting the locations of the reference point and two or more reflective elements of the tracking device; generating an actual reference coordinate frame for the TMS coil device based on the detected locations of the reference point and the two or more elements of the tracking device, computing an actual location and orientation of the tracking device in relation to the coil windings in the casing based on the actual reference coordinate frame; and adjusting tracking device calibration data used to perform navigated brain stimulation with the TMS coil device including the attached tracking device if a variance exists between an expected and the actual location and orientation of the tracking device in relation to the coil windings, wherein the calibration data is a based on the expected location and orientation of the attached tracking device in relation to the coil windings.