User interface for intraoral scanning with tooth color detection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12335455-B2
Application number	US-202318243032-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 6, 2023
Priority date	Jun 15, 2017
Publication date	Jun 17, 2025
Grant date	Jun 17, 2025

Abstract

A system includes an intraoral scanner and a computing device operatively connected to the intraoral scanner. The intraoral scanner generates three-dimensional scan data of a tooth and further generates color data of the tooth under multi-chromatic light. The computing device receives the three-dimensional scan data and the color data of the tooth during a first mode of operation. The computing device invokes a second mode of operation, and presents, in a graphical user interface (GUI), an image of the tooth. The computing device further presents, in the GUI, data indicating a plurality of color zones of the tooth and further indicating, for at least one color zone of the plurality of color zones, that insufficient color data has been received, wherein each color zone indicates a separate region of the tooth that is expected to have approximately uniform color.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to perform operations comprising:
receiving scan data of a tooth from an intraoral scanner;
receiving color data for the tooth generated under multi-chromatic light from the intraoral scanner;
presenting, in a graphical user interface (GUI), an image of the tooth;
dividing the tooth into a plurality of regions, each region of the plurality of regions having an approximately uniform color within the region;
determining, for one or more regions of the plurality of regions of the tooth, that insufficient color data has been received;
presenting, in the GUI, an indication that insufficient color data has been received for the one or more regions of the tooth; and
presenting, in the GUI, a marker identifying a receptive field of a sensor of the intraoral scanner, wherein the marker indicates whether a probe of the intraoral scanner is pointed at a region of the tooth for which insufficient color data has been received.

2. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the scan data comprises three-dimensional (3D) scan data, the operations further comprising:
stitching together a plurality of scans of the tooth from the 3D scan data of the tooth; and
generating the image of the tooth based on the plurality of scans of the tooth that have been stitched together.

3. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of regions correspond to a plurality of color zones for which the color data was received during a first mode of operation, the operations further comprising:
presenting, in the GUI, indications of one or more color zones of the plurality of color zones that show that the color data was received for the one or more color zones.

4. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of regions comprise at least one of a cervical region, a first interproximal region on a first side of the tooth, a second interproximal region on a second side of the tooth, a body region, or an incisal region.

5. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the color data comprises color data for the one or more regions, the operations further comprising:
generating a three-dimensional (3D) model of the tooth using the scan data and the color data for the one or more regions.

6. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
categorizing one or more regions of the plurality of regions according to a color pallet used for dental prosthetics.

7. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
determining whether the intraoral scanner is positioned for generation of color data for a region of the one or more regions of the tooth; and
responsive to determining that the intraoral scanner is positioned for generation of the color data for the region of the tooth, outputting at least one of an audio signal or a video signal.

8. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the color data for the tooth comprises one or more color measurements of the tooth.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the color data for the tooth comprises one or more two-dimensional color images of the tooth.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
determining that sufficient color data has been obtained for the one or more regions; and
updating the GUI to indicate that color data has been received for the one or more regions.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
receiving additional color data for the one or more regions of the tooth; and
generating a three-dimensional (3D) model of the tooth using the scan data and the additional color data for the one or more regions of the tooth.

12. A system comprising:
an intraoral scanner configured to generate scan data of a tooth and to output multi-chromatic light and generate color data of the tooth based on the multi-chromatic light; and
a computing device operatively connected to the intraoral scanner, wherein the computing device is to:
receive the scan data of the tooth and the color data of the tooth;
present, in a graphical user interface (GUI), an image of the tooth;
divide the tooth into a plurality of regions, each region of the plurality of regions having an approximately uniform color within the region;
determine, for one or more regions of the plurality of regions of the tooth, that insufficient color data has been received;
present, in the GUI, an indication that insufficient color data has been received for the one or more regions of the tooth; and
present, in the GUI, a marker identifying a receptive field of a sensor of the intraoral scanner, wherein the marker indicates whether a probe of the intraoral scanner is pointed at a region of the tooth for which insufficient color data has been received.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the scan data comprises three-dimensional (3D) scan data, and wherein the computing device is further to:
stitch together a plurality of scans of the tooth from the 3D scan data of the tooth; and
generate the image of the tooth based on the plurality of scans of the tooth that have been stitched together.

14. The system of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of regions correspond to a plurality of color zones for which the color data was received during a first mode of operation, and wherein computing device is further to:
present, in the GUI, indications of one or more color zones of the plurality of color zones that show that the color data was received for the one or more color zones.

15. The system of claim 12 , wherein the computing device is further to:
categorize one or more regions of the plurality of regions according to a color pallet used for dental prosthetics.

16. The system of claim 12 , wherein the color data for the tooth comprises one or more color measurements of the tooth.

17. A method comprising:
receiving scan data of a tooth from an intraoral scanner;
receiving color data for the tooth generated under multi-chromatic light from the intraoral scanner;
presenting, in a graphical user interface (GUI), an image of the tooth;
dividing the tooth into a plurality of regions, each region of the plurality of regions having an approximately uniform color within the region;
determining, for one or more regions of the plurality of regions of the tooth, that insufficient color data has been received;
presenting, in the GUI, an indication that insufficient color data has been received for the one or more regions of the tooth; and
presenting, in the GUI, a marker identifying a receptive field of a sensor of the intraoral scanner, wherein the marker indicates whether a probe of the intraoral scanner is pointed at a region of the tooth for which insufficient color data has been received.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the scan data comprises three-dimensional (3D) scan data, the method further comprising:
stitching together a plurality of scans of the tooth from the 3D scan data of the tooth; and
generating the image of the tooth based on the plurality of scans of the tooth that have been stitched together.

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein the plurality of regions correspond to a plurality of color zones for which the color

Assignees

• Align Technology Inc

Inventors

• Furst Gilad
• Verker Tal
• Saphier Ofer

Classifications

• H04N23/555

  for picking-up images in sites, inaccessible due to their dimensions or hazardous conditions, e.g. endoscopes or borescopes · CPC title

• H04N23/10

  for generating image signals from different wavelengths · CPC title

• H04N23/74

  by influencing the scene brightness using illuminating means · CPC title

• H04N23/56

  provided with illuminating means · CPC title

• H04N23/55

  Optical parts specially adapted for electronic image sensors; Mounting thereof · CPC title