Patent ID: 7543239

Claim:
An interface device for controlling a magnetic navigation system that applies a magnetic field in a selected direction to an operating region in a subject to magnetically orient a medical device in the operating region, the interface comprising: a display on which at least one image of the operating region is displayed; an input device for identifying on the at least one image on the display a plurality of points along the subject's vasculature in an image of the operating region in the subject, to establish a predetermined branched path through the subject's vasculature, and for identifying an identified navigation point in the operating region on the at least one image on the display; a processor for detecting the input of an identified point, where in response to detecting said input the processor responds by determining an application point in the operating region on a predetermined branched path through the subject's vasculature that is closest to the identified point, and generates a command causing the magnetic navigation system to apply a magnetic field at the application point, in a direction tangent to the predetermined path at the application point, to thereby magnetically orient a medical device in the operating region towards the identified point.