Patent ID: 8750964

Claim:
A method for determining a position within a patient of a medical instrument used in a medical imaging examination, comprising: (a) retrieving dimensional information comprising a combination of (i) dimensions of a table on which a patient is positioned during the medical imaging examination, the dimensions comprising at least a length, a width, and a height of the table top, (ii) dimensions of the medical instrument itself wherein an overall length of which corresponds to a maximum length that the medical instrument can be inserted within a patient from an insertion point, and (iii) spatial arrangement and positional movement limitations of the medical imaging system, including a lowest height the medical imaging system is capable of reaching; (b) calculating from the dimensional information via a computing unit a limited position area representing a possible spatial position of the medical instrument within a patient, wherein, (i) a larger limited position area is calculated such that a length and a width are defined by the length and the width of the table, and a lower bound and an upper bound are defined by the height of the table and the lowest height the medical imaging system, (ii) the larger limited position area is further refined into a smaller limited position area that does not exceed the overall length that the medical instrument can be inserted within a patient from an insertion point, and (iii) wherein each limited position area is calculated without regard to external sensors, transmitters, or receivers positioned about or fixed to a patient to define the limited position area; (c) storing in memory the limited position area; (d) reducing a search area from an infinite space or an infinite half-space to the limited position area for use during position determination of the medical instrument; and (e) determining the position of the medical instrument by searching only within the limited position area calculated from the dimensional information without regard to external sensors, transmitters, or receivers positioned about or fixed to a patient to define the limited position area, thereby reducing computational effort for position determination.