Patent ID: 8600478

Claim:
A method of using a system to determine information related to a plurality of surgical instruments used with a surgical navigation system for navigating a procedure relative to an anatomy, the method comprising: providing a first surgical instrument having a first information member having data related to the first surgical instrument stored therewith; providing a second surgical instrument having a second information member having data related to the second surgical instrument therewith; facilitating the planning of a surgical procedure using a surgical navigation system having a localizer array, the surgical procedure including defining a set of instruments to be used at discrete portions of a surgical procedure as defined in the surgical plan; prior to beginning the surgical procedure, transferring a set of data from the first and second information members through the localizer array to the surgical navigation system to compare the set of data from the first and second information members to the surgical plan; if the data set from the first and second information members are the set of instruments to be used in the surgical plan, display the navigation of the first and second instruments according to the surgical plan; and during the execution of the surgical plan, for each discrete portion of the surgical procedure, determining if a proposed instrument is within the defined set of instruments for the discrete portion of the surgical procedure.