Patent ID: 7691062

Claim:
Method for non-invasive determination of a position and orientation of prominent structures inside a body of a human being or an animal, comprising: irradiating the body with ultrasonic radiation in an area of the prominent structures by means of an ultrasonic head which emits ultrasound and receives ultrasound, receiving the ultrasonic radiation reflected from the prominent structures, representing an image corresponding to a travel time of the reflected radiation on a display, determining the position and orientation of the ultrasonic head and of the body in the area of the prominent structures by means of a navigation system and marking elements fixed to the ultrasonic head and to the body, selecting iliac crests of a hip bone as prominent structures on the display, the position and orientation of the selected prominent structures relative to the ultrasonic head being determined based on a radiating direction of the ultrasonic head and a measured travel time of the ultrasonic radiation, and the position and orientation of the prominent structures relative to the body being determined from the position and orientation of the ultrasonic head relative to the body, bringing each of the iliac crests into at least approximate congruence with at least a portion of a corresponding circle on the display, determining respective spheres as structural data of each of the iliac crests with the corresponding circle comprising a great circle of the respective sphere, and selecting a characteristic plane of a hip bone such that a characteristic point of a symphysis of the hip bone lies in the characteristic plane and that the characteristic plane contacts a surface of the two spheres associated with the iliac crests.