Image registration of intraoral images using ink markings

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12178683-B2
Application number	US-202318369750-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 18, 2023
Priority date	Jan 27, 2014
Publication date	Dec 31, 2024
Grant date	Dec 31, 2024

Abstract

Embodiments include receiving intraoral scan data comprising a plurality of intraoral images of a dental site generated during scanning of the dental site by an intraoral scanner, a plurality of ink markings each comprising a pattern of ink having been temporarily stamped or tattooed onto a gingival surface at the dental site prior to the scanning of the dental site, wherein at least two intraoral images of the plurality of intraoral images comprise representations of one or more ink markings of the plurality of ink markings. Embodiments further include performing registration between the plurality of intraoral images based at least in part on the one or more ink markings, generating a three-dimensional (3D) model of the dental site using the plurality of intraoral images that have undergone registration, and outputting the generated 3D model to a display.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to perform operations comprising:
receiving, by the processing device, intraoral scan data comprising a plurality of intraoral images of a dental site generated during scanning of the dental site by an intraoral scanner, a plurality of ink markings each comprising a pattern of ink having been temporarily stamped or tattooed onto a gingival surface at the dental site prior to the scanning of the dental site, wherein at least two intraoral images of the plurality of intraoral images comprise representations of one or more ink markings of the plurality of ink markings;
performing, by the processing device, registration between the plurality of intraoral images based at least in part on the one or more ink markings;
generating a three-dimensional (3D) model of the dental site using the plurality of intraoral images that have undergone registration; and
outputting the generated 3D model to a display.

2. The computer readable medium of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
using the representations of the one or more ink markings in the at least two intraoral images in performing the registration.

3. The computer readable medium of claim 2 , wherein the one or more ink markings provide at least one of an optical or geometrical reference point for performing the registration between the at least two intraoral images, the operations further comprising:
aligning a first representation of at least a first portion of the one or more ink markings in a first intraoral image of the at least two intraoral images with a second representation of at least a second portion of the one or more ink markings in a second intraoral image of the at least two intraoral images to perform the registration.

4. The computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the one or more ink markings comprise a stamp having a known two-dimensional (2D) shape.

5. The computer readable medium of claim 4 , wherein the stamp partially deforms based on a shape of an area on which the stamp was applied, and wherein partial deformation of the stamp deforms the known 2D shape.

6. The computer readable medium of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
outputting a representation of the one or more of the plurality of ink markings on the 3D model of the dental site.

7. The computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of ink markings are spread apart over an edentulous region of the dental site.

8. The computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the one or more ink markings have a known color, and wherein the known color is usable to identify the one or more ink markings in the at least two intraoral images.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 1 , the operations further comprising: identifying a spatial relationship between a plurality of features of the dental site; determining that a region of the dental site comprises one or more missing teeth;
determining that the region of the dental site lacks features suitable for scanning of the dental site; computing an optimal location within the region for placement of the one or more ink markings
based on the one or more missing teeth and a field of view of the intraoral scanner; and
indicating the optimal location within the region for placement of the one or more ink markings.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 1 , the operations further comprising: presenting a plurality of different ink markings to select from; and
receiving a selection of an ink marking from the plurality of different ink markings, wherein the selected ink marking corresponds to the plurality of ink markings in the intraoral scan data.

11. A system comprising:
an intraoral scanner configured to generate intraoral scan data comprising a plurality of intraoral images of a dental site, each intraoral image of the plurality of intraoral images comprising optically-captured three-dimensional structures of the dental site; and
a computing device operatively coupled to the intraoral scanner, the computing device to:
receive the intraoral scan data comprising the plurality of intraoral images of the dental site generated during scanning of the dental site by the intraoral scanner, a plurality of ink markings each comprising a pattern of ink having been directly applied onto a gingival surface at the dental site prior to the scanning of the dental site, wherein at least two intraoral images of the plurality of intraoral images comprise representations of one or more ink markings of the plurality of ink markings;
perform registration between the plurality of intraoral images based at least on part on the one or more ink markings;
generate a three-dimensional (3D) model of the dental site using the plurality of intraoral images that have undergone registration; and
output the 3D model to a display.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the 3D model of the dental site comprises a representation of the one or more ink markings that were directly applied onto the gingival surface at the dental site prior to the scanning of the dental site.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the one or more ink markings comprise a first ink marking having at least one of a first shape, symbol or color and a second ink marking having at least one of a second shape, symbol or color that is different from the at least one of the first shape, symbol or color.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the one or more ink markings provide at least one of an optical or geometrical reference point for performing the registration between the at least two intraoral images, and wherein the computing device is to align a first representation of at least a first portion of the one or more ink markings in a first intraoral image of the at least two intraoral images with a second representation of at least a second portion of the one or more ink markings in a second intraoral image of the at least two intraoral images to perform the registration.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein the one or ink markings have a known two-dimensional (2D) shape.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the one or more ink markings partially deform based on a shape of an area on which the one or more ink markings were applied, and wherein partial deformation of the one or more ink markings partially deforms the known 2D shape.

17. The system of claim 11 , wherein the one or more ink markings are disposed at an edentulous region of the dental site.

18. The system of claim 11 , wherein the one or more ink markings have a known color, and wherein the known color is usable to identify the one or more ink markings in the at least two intraoral images.

19. The system of claim 11 , wherein the computing device is further to:
identify a spatial relationship between a plurality of features of the dental site; determine that a region of the dental site comprises one or more missing teeth;
determine that the region of the dental site lacks features suitable for scanning of the dental site; compute an optimal location within the region for placement of the one or more ink markings based
on the one or more missing teeth and a field of view of the intraoral scanner; and
indicate the optimal location within the region for placement of the one or more ink markings.

20. The system of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of ink markings are spaced apart over a region of interest on the dental site.

Assignees

• Align Technology Inc

Inventors

• Kopelman Avi
• Levin Adi
• Katz Ran
• Kuo Eric

Classifications

• A61B90/39

  Markers, e.g. radio-opaque or breast lesions markers · CPC title

• A61B2090/3937

  Visible markers · CPC title

• A61B2090/3991

  having specific anchoring means to fixate the marker to the tissue, e.g. hooks · CPC title

• G06T7/593

  from stereo images · CPC title

• G06T2207/10012

  Stereo images · CPC title