Patent ID: 7842092

Claim:
A system for implanting a prosthetic device comprising: a first component configured to be disposed in an actual joint and including a first feature; and a computer programmed: to determine, based in part on a second component that is disposed on an actual bone of the actual joint, a placement of the first component on the same actual bone to obtain a desired relationship between the first component and the second component, and to determine a relationship between the first component and second component, wherein the second component includes a second feature, and wherein the determined relationship is based at least in part on the first feature and the second feature, and wherein at least one of the first feature and the second feature includes a characteristic that is represented via a computer as a virtual feature, and wherein the computer is programmed to determine a rate of wear of at least one of the first component and the second component based at least in part on at least one of the first feature and the second feature.