Patent ID: 7996057

Claim:
Apparatus for calibration of a probe that includes a magnetic position sensor and an acoustic imaging device, the apparatus comprising: a rigid mechanical framework; one or more field generators, fixed to the framework, and operative to generate a magnetic field of known spatial characteristics; an acoustic target assembly, which is in a known spatial relation to the framework and comprises a phantom coupled to a motion mechanism, which is arranged to move the phantom in a known orbit relative to the framework; a jig, fixed to the framework, for holding the probe within the magnetic field of the one or more field generators, in an orientation suitable for the acoustic imaging device to image the phantom; and a processor, which is coupled to receive, while the probe is in the jig, position signals from the magnetic position sensor responsively to the magnetic field and image signals from the acoustic imaging device responsively to reflection of acoustic waves from the phantom, and to process the position and image signals in order to calibrate coordinates of the acoustic imaging device relative to the magnetic position sensor, wherein the acoustic imaging device is configured to capture two-dimensional images having an image plane, and wherein the phantom is shaped and positioned so as to define two spatial planes, which meet in a line that intersects the image plane when the probe is held in the jig in the suitable orientation.