CAD Tool Volume Splitting for Surgical Guides
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current CAD tools for surgical procedures, such as dental implant placement and surgical planning, are limited in creating and manipulating complex shapes and overlapping volumes, leading to suboptimal surgical results and extended patient time.
Innovation Solution
A highly flexible CAD tool that enables the creation and manipulation of freeform objects within a CAD environment, allowing independent control of control points in multiple dimensions, and performs Boolean operations to split volumes, facilitating the customization of surgical guides and templates.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If existing CAD tools are used with limited object types and manipulation capabilities, then device complexity is reduced, but manufacturing precision and adaptability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the manipulation of complex shapes into manipulation of simpler primitive objects (spheres, cylinders, boxes) through Boolean operations. This allows precise control of complex surgical guide geometries by combining basic shapes rather than requiring direct manipulation of complex forms, thus improving precision while managing system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements nested Boolean operations where primitive objects can be combined to form complex surgical guide geometries. Objects can be nested within each other and manipulated independently, allowing precise control of complex shapes through hierarchical composition of simpler elements.
2Adaptability or versatility
If existing CAD tools are used with limited manipulation of overlapping volumes, then ease of operation is maintained, but adaptability and manufacturing precision deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments overlapping volume manipulation into independent primitive object manipulation. By representing complex shapes as combinations of primitives (spheres, cylinders, boxes), the system can manipulate overlapping volumes through Boolean operations on these simple elements, maintaining ease of operation while achieving high adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent enables dynamic manipulation of objects in 3D space with real-time updates. Objects can be freely positioned, rotated, and scaled, and the system dynamically recalculates Boolean operations and overlapping volumes as objects are manipulated, providing both ease of operation and adaptability to complex surgical scenarios.
3Adaptability or versatility
If existing CAD tools are used with limited freeform object creation, then device complexity is reduced, but adaptability and manufacturing precision deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates freeform objects by segmenting them into combinations of primitive shapes through Boolean operations. Rather than requiring complex freeform object creation capabilities, the system builds complex geometries from simple primitives (spheres, cylinders, boxes), achieving high adaptability while keeping the underlying system relatively simple.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent makes primitive objects universal building blocks that can be combined in various Boolean operations to create any desired freeform shape. The same set of primitive objects and operations serves multiple purposes: creating surgical guides, analyzing overlapping volumes, and generating complex geometries, thereby achieving versatility without proportionally increasing complexity.
4Productivity
If existing CAD tools are used with limited Boolean operations, then ease of operation is maintained, but productivity and manufacturing precision deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs Boolean operations and volume calculations in advance during the surgical guide creation process. By pre-calculating overlapping volumes and preparing complex geometries from primitives before the actual surgery, the system improves productivity while maintaining ease of operation through automated preliminary processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual, step-by-step geometric construction with automated Boolean operations. Complex geometries are generated automatically by combining primitives through Boolean logic rather than requiring manual modeling, significantly improving productivity while keeping operations simple through automated execution.
Data Source
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AI summary
A computing device (200) is provided that includes a processor (204) and memory (216) including data that, when processed by the processor (204), enables the computing device (200) to: import a freeform object into a Computer-Aided Drafting (CAD) environment (228); facilitate a customization of the freeform object within the CAD environment by independent manipulation of one or more control points in at least two dimensions, where the one or more control points are defined at a surface of the freeform object and, when manipulated, result in a changed configuration of the freeform object in the at least two dimensions; determine an overlapping volume in the CAD environment (228) that is shared between the freeform object and another object; and perform one or more Boolean operations to convert the overlapping volume into a split volume.