Patent Document ID: 20110160571
Application ID: 12906420
Patent Status: 0

Claim One:
1. An apparatus for determining a shape of a medical tool in a region of interest in a patient's body, comprising: a localization system configured to produce location readings with respect to points within said region of interest in accordance with an output of a location sensor connected to said tool moving within said region of interest, each location reading being associated with a three-dimensional reference coordinate system; and a control unit coupled to said localization system configured to determine a reconstruction representing the shape of said tool as a function of (1) a positional constraint that includes a first location corresponding to a first location reading produced by the localization system, said first location reading indicating a constricting point along a tool path where said patient's body anatomically constrains movement of said tool in at least one degree of freedom, and (2) a shape constraint corresponding to a relaxation shape of said tool.