Patent ID: 8027710

Claim:
A method of facilitating minimally invasive surgery on a patient; the method comprising: a) forming at least one incision on said patient's body to access a cavity within said patient's body, said incision passing through a cavity wall; b) inserting an instrument platform into said cavity through said incision; said platform carrying a plurality of transmitters and a plurality of receivers; said transmitters and receivers emitting and receiving energy enabling said instrument to transmit image data collected intra-corporeally; c) anchoring said platform to an interior surface of said cavity wall proximate said incision, with said plurality of transmitters and receivers having a field of view directed into said cavity and away from said interior surface on which said platform is anchored; d) activating said transmitters to direct energy to structures within said cavity; said receivers receiving energy reflected from the structures within said field of view of said receivers and transmitting intra-corporeal data indicative of the relative position of said structures to said computer; said transmitted intra-corporeal data being chosen from the group consisting of optical lighting, thermal, ultrasonic, infrared, Doppler, x-ray, spectrographic, distance, and combinations thereof; e) said computer altering the field of view of said receivers based on the intra-corporeal data received from said receivers as necessary to maintain said receivers in an aligned state as said cavity wall and said structures move or are moved relative to each other; and f) converting said intra-corporeal data to a visual format enabling a surgeon to view said visual image of the cavity in real time.