Patent ID: 8880150

Claim:
A medical device for determining an orientation of a tracheal tube in a subject comprising: a processor configured to execute instructions for: driving a light source to emit light through a plurality of optical conductors circumferentially spaced apart on a beveled distal end of the tracheal tube, wherein the beveled distal end is slanted relative to a wall of the tracheal tube; receiving information related to received light at a detector for each of the plurality of optical conductors; receiving information related to an interference between the received light and a reference beam; and determining an orientation of the tracheal tube based upon the interference between the received light and the reference beam for each of the plurality of optical conductors and a difference in path length between the plurality of optical conductors, wherein the difference in path length is representative of a position of each respective optical conductor about the beveled distal end; and a memory storing the instructions, wherein the memory is coupled to the processor; wherein the processor is configured to access the memory to read the instructions.