Extended reality headset camera system for computer assisted navigation in surgery

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12225181-B2
Application number	US-202318483105-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 9, 2023
Priority date	May 8, 2020
Publication date	Feb 11, 2025
Grant date	Feb 11, 2025

Abstract

A head-mounted extended reality (XR) display device includes a rigid mounting element coupled to a frame. The XR display device further includes right-side and left-side visible light cameras coupled to the rigid mounting element, right-side and left-side near-infrared (NIR) cameras coupled to the rigid mounting element, and an NIR light-emitting diode (LED) configured to illuminate a region within a field of view of the NIR cameras. The visible light cameras are configured to capture stereoscopic visible light images within a field of view of the user when the user is wearing the frame, and the NIR cameras are configured to capture stereoscopic NIR images within the field of view of the user when the user is wearing the frame.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A head-mounted extended reality (XR) display device comprising:
a frame configured to be worn by a user's head;
a rigid mounting element coupled to the frame;
a camera coupled to the rigid mounting element;
wherein the camera is configured to capture stereoscopic visible light images within a field of view of the user when the user is wearing the frame, and
a tracking system adapted to determine a pose of dynamic reference arrays attached to a patient and to surgical instruments based on stereoscopic visible light images received through the camera, the tracking system further adapted to determine hand gesture based commands based on stereoscopic NIR images received through the camera.

2. The XR display device of claim 1 , wherein the camera defines a field of view having a first center in a first direction extending away from the frame,
wherein the camera defines a field of view having a second center in a second direction extending away from the frame, and
wherein the first direction and the second direction intersect at an intersection point within a field of view of the user when the user is wearing the frame.

3. The XR display device of claim 2 , wherein the first direction and the second direction define an angle at the intersection point that is greater than 10 degrees and smaller than 15 degrees.

4. The XR display device of claim 3 , wherein the angle is substantially 12 degrees.

5. The XR display device of claim 2 , wherein the frame defines a substantially horizontal reference plane when the frame is being worn by the user, and
wherein the first direction and the second direction are angled downwardly with respect to the horizontal reference plane at a downward angle that is greater than 50 degrees and less than 60 degrees when the frame is being worn by the user.

6. The XR display device of claim 5 , wherein the downward angle is substantially 55 degrees.

7. The XR display device of claim 1 , further comprising:
an optical combiner attached to the frame and adapted to pass real world images toward the user's eyes;
a display mounted to the frame so as to project virtual graphical objects on to the optical combiner to be reflected back towards the user's eyes.

8. The XR display device of claim 1 , wherein the camera is configured to capture the stereoscopic visible light images at a first resolution, and to capture the stereoscopic NIR images at a second resolution less than the first resolution.

9. The XR display device of claim 8 , further comprising a loupe camera coupled to the frame, the loupe camera configured to capture color images within the field of view of the user at a third resolution greater than the first resolution.

10. An extended reality (XR) camera assembly for a head-mounted display device comprising:
a rigid mounting element configured to be coupled to a head-wearable frame;
a visible light camera coupled to the rigid mounting element;
a near-infrared (NIR) camera coupled to the rigid mounting element;
at least one NIR light-emitting diode (LED) configured to illuminate a region within a field of view of the right-side NIR camera and the left-side NIR camera,
wherein the visible light camera is configured to capture stereoscopic visible light images within a field of view of a user when the user is wearing the frame, and
wherein the NIR camera is configured to capture stereoscopic NIR images within the field of view of the user when the user is wearing the frame,
a tracking system adapted to determine a pose of dynamic reference arrays attached to a patient and to surgical instruments based on stereoscopic visible light images received through the visible light camera, the tracking system further adapted to determine hand gesture based commands based on the stereoscopic NIR images received through the NIR cameras.

11. The XR camera assembly of claim 10 , wherein the visible light camera defines a field of view having a first center in a first direction extending away from the frame,
wherein the visible light camera defines a field of view having a second center in a second direction extending away from the frame, and
wherein the first direction and the second direction intersect at an intersection point within a field of view of the user when the user is wearing the frame.

12. The XR camera assembly of claim 11 , wherein the first direction and the second direction define an angle at the intersection point that is greater than 10 degrees and smaller than 15 degrees.

13. The XR camera assembly of claim 12 , wherein the angle is substantially 12 degrees.

14. The XR camera assembly of claim 11 , wherein the frame defines a substantially horizontal reference plane when the frame is being worn by the user, and
wherein the first direction and the second direction are angled downwardly with respect to the horizontal reference plane at a downward angle that is greater than 50 degrees and less than 60 degrees when the frame is being worn by the user.

15. The XR camera assembly of claim 14 , wherein the downward angle is substantially 55 degrees.

16. The XR display device of claim 10 , further comprising:
an optical combiner attached to the frame and adapted to pass real world images toward the user's eyes;
a display mounted to the frame so as to project virtual graphical objects on to the optical combiner to be reflected back towards the user's eyes.

17. The XR camera assembly of claim 10 , wherein the visible light camera and the is configured to capture the stereoscopic visible light images at a first resolution, and
wherein the NIR camera is configured to capture the stereoscopic NIR images at a second resolution less than the first resolution.

18. The XR camera assembly of claim 17 , further comprising a loupe camera coupled to the frame, the loupe camera configured to capture color images within the field of view of the user at a third resolution greater than the first resolution.

19. A method of generating extended reality (XR) imagery comprising:
capturing a first plurality of visible light stereoscopic images of a scene within a field of view of a visible light cameras coupled to a rigid mounting element during a time period;
capturing a second plurality of near-infrared (NIR) stereoscopic images of a scene within a NIR cameras coupled to the rigid mounting element during the time period;
determining a pose of dynamic reference arrays attached to a patient and to a surgical instrument based on the first plurality of visible light stereoscopic images within a three-dimensional space; and
determining a hand gesture based commands based on the second plurality of NIR stereoscopic images within the three-dimensional space.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the pair of visible light cameras are disposed at an angle with respect to each other that is greater than 10 degrees and smaller than 15 degrees.

Assignees

• Globus Medical Inc

Inventors

• Healy Weston
• CALLOWAY Thomas
• Johnson Norbert
• Kanagasegar Keerthighaan

Classifications

• H04N23/11

  for generating image signals from visible and infrared light wavelengths · CPC title

• H04N23/21

  from near infrared [NIR] radiation · CPC title

• H04N23/12

  with one sensor only · CPC title

• A61B2017/00991

  Telescopic means · CPC title

• H04N13/239

  using two two-dimensional [2D] image sensors having a relative position equal to or related to the interocular distance (H04N13/243 takes precedence) · CPC title