Prioritization of three dimensional dental elements

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9037439-B2
Application number	US-201213410196-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 1, 2012
Priority date	May 13, 2011
Publication date	May 19, 2015
Grant date	May 19, 2015

Abstract

The present disclosure includes methods, systems, and devices for prioritization of three dimensional dental elements. One method for prioritizing three dimensional dental elements includes receiving a virtual initial dental data set (IDDS) of teeth having spatial information regarding the positions of a number of teeth in the virtual IDDS with respect to each other for presentation of the teeth in a virtual three dimensional space to be viewed on a user interface, setting prioritization values of a number of elements of one or more of the number of teeth, and prioritizing the number of elements to be selected by a user based upon their prioritization values.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A computing device implemented method of prioritizing three dimensional dental elements, comprising:
receiving a virtual initial dental data set (IDDS) of teeth having spatial information regarding positions of a number of teeth in the virtual IDDS with respect to each other for presentation of the teeth in a virtual three dimensional space to be viewed on a user interface;
setting prioritization values for each of the number of teeth and at least one reference point on one of the number of teeth;
prioritizing the number of teeth and the at least one reference point to be selected by a user based upon their prioritization values; and
manipulating a transparency of at least one of the number of teeth based on the prioritization and a line of sight of the reference point in the virtual IDDS.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising allowing the reference point to be selected before the at least one of the number of teeth where the reference point and the at least one tooth have overlapping portions.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising automatically rendering a first tooth and a second tooth in the number of teeth wherein the first tooth is more transparent than the second tooth, and wherein the second tooth in the number of teeth is more opaque than the first tooth based on the prioritization and the line of sight of the reference point.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein setting the prioritization values includes setting a prioritization value for a dental object.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising allowing manipulation of the at least one reference point.

6. A non-transitory computing device readable medium having executable instructions that can be executed by a processor to cause a computing device to perform a method of prioritizing three dimensional dental elements, comprising:
receiving a virtual initial dental data set (IDDS) of teeth having spatial information regarding positions of a number of teeth in the virtual IDDS with respect to each other for presentation of the teeth in a virtual three dimensional space to be viewed on a user interface;
prioritizing each of the number of teeth and at least one of a reference point on a first tooth of the number of teeth and a dental object by a user based upon prioritization values;
selecting and manipulating at least a second tooth of the number of teeth in the virtual IDDS based on the prioritization wherein the manipulation includes changing a transparency of the at least second tooth based on a line of sight of the at least one of the reference point and the dental object in the virtual IDDS and the prioritization values; and
identifying a digital dental landmark on the first one of the number of teeth in the virtual IDDS.

7. The medium of claim 6 , wherein at least one of the reference point and the dental object is attached to the first tooth.

8. The medium of claim 6 , wherein the instructions are executable by the processor to cause the computer to perform the method, further comprising transferring the identified digital dental landmark to a different virtual dental data set.

9. The medium of claim 8 , wherein the different virtual dental data set includes at least one of a first virtual dental data set representing a different point in time than the virtual IDDS for a same patient and a second virtual dental data set representing a different tooth configuration than that of the virtual IDDS for the same patient.

10. The medium of claim 6 , furthering including:
prioritizing at least one of a dental landmark, a line in the virtual IDDS, a particular shape in the virtual IDDS, and a combination thereof.

11. A system for prioritizing three dimensional dental elements, comprising:
a memory having computer-readable instructions stored thereon; and
a processor coupled to the memory to execute the computer-readable instructions to:
provide a virtual IDDS of teeth having spatial information regarding the positions of a number of teeth in the virtual IDDS with respect to each other;
select a first tooth of the number of teeth in the virtual IDDS to be presented via a user interface transparently and a second tooth of the number of teeth with at least one of a reference point and a dental object thereon in the virtual IDDS to be presented via the user interface opaquely;

prioritize the first and second teeth, and the at least one of the reference point and the dental object based on the selection;
manipulate a transparency of at least one of the first and second teeth based on the prioritization, the transparency, the opaqueness, and a line of sight of the at least one of the reference point and the dental object in the virtual IDDS; and
display, via the user interface, the manipulation.

12. The system of claim 11 , including both the reference point and the dental object that are located on the second tooth.

13. The system of claim 11 , including both the reference point and the dental object that are located on different teeth.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the processor coupled to the memory further executes the computer-readable instructions to label a digital dental landmark on the second tooth in the virtual IDDS.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein the processor coupled to the memory further executes the computer-readable instructions automatically adjust a transparency of a third tooth of the number of teeth in order to manipulate the at least one reference point and the dental object.

16. The system of claim 11 , wherein the first tooth is located physically behind the second tooth.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the processor coupled to the memory further executes the computer-readable instructions allow the second tooth to be selected and manipulated by a user via the user interface, while the first tooth remains idle.

Assignees

• Kuo Eric E
• Kvasov Igor
• Egorova Anna
• Gagarin Sergey
• Align Technology Inc

Inventors

• Kuo Eric E
• Kvasov Igor
• Egorova Anna
• Gagarin Sergey

Classifications

• A61C9/0053

  Optical means or methods, e.g. scanning the teeth by a laser or light beam · CPC title

• A61C9/004

  Means or methods for taking digitized impressions · CPC title

• G06F30/00 Primary

  Computer-aided design [CAD] · CPC title

• A61C9/0073 Primary

  Interferometric means or methods, e.g. creation of a hologram · CPC title

• A61B1/00022

  removable · CPC title