Combination localization system

1. A method of correlating a first coordinate system of a first tracking system and a second coordinate system of a second tracking system, comprising:

determining a registration of the first coordinate system of the first tracking system and the second coordinate system of the second tracking system based on determining a first position with the first tracking system and determining a second position with the second tracking system;

determining a vector displacement between the determined first position of the first tracking system and the determined second position of the second tracking system;

transforming the determined first position with the first tracking system relative to the determined second position with the second tracking system;

collecting a first set of position data with the first tracking system and a second set of position data with the second tracking system;

determining a plurality of vectors, wherein one vector is determined between each synchronously related position data in the first set and the second set;

interpolating position data collected with the first tracking system to register the first coordinate system to the second coordinate system of the second tracking system; and

translating a determined third position of the first tracking system relative to a selected position of the second tracking system based on the determined vector displacement.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining the determined first position and second position with a single instrument having a first tracking device trackable with a first tracking system and a second tracking device trackable with a second tracking system.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:

determining a physical distance, direction, or both between the first tracking device and the second tracking device relative to each other on the single instrument.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the selected determined position is a determined position of a single physical location that is determined with both the first tracking system and the second tracking system.

5. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:

determining a plurality of selected determined positions with the single instrument;

wherein each of the selected determined positions is a position determined with both a first tracking system and a second tracking system by tracking the respective tracking device.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

determining a transformation of at least a sub-plurality of the plurality of selected determined positions between the first tracking system and the second tracking system.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

determining an affine transformation as the determined transformation; and

transforming a first tracking system determined position to a second tracking system determined position.

8. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

determining the first selected position with the first tracking system;

wherein translating a first selected position to a second selected position of the second tracking system includes transforming the first selected position with the determined transformation.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

acquiring image data having an image data coordinate system;

registering the second coordinate system of the second tracking system to the image data coordinate system of image data; and

illustrating the first selected position on a display relative to the image data based upon the translation of the first selected position with the determined transformation.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

displaying the acquired image data; and

displaying a position of an instrument superimposed on the displayed image data.

11. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

generating an electromagnetic field relative to an anatomy to define the second coordinate system of the second tracking system;

positioning axis injection electrodes relative to the anatomy to inject a current between respective pairs of axis electrodes into the anatomy to define the first coordinate system of the first tracking system; and

operating the first tracking system and the second tracking system substantially simultaneously to determine the selected determined position with both the first tracking system and the second tracking system.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the selected determined position includes a first tracking system selected determined position displaced a known distance and orientation from a second tracking system selected determined position.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining the determined first position with a first instrument having a first tracking device trackable with the first tracking system and the determined second position with a second instrument having a second tracking device trackable with the second tracking system.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

moving the second instrument through the first instrument;

determining when the second tracking device of the second instrument is aligned with the first tracking device of the first instrument; and

having instructions executed by a processor to determine the registration by determining that the first tracking device and the second tracking device are at the same place within a space when it is determined that the second tracking device of the second instrument is aligned with the first tracking device of the first instrument.

15. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

moving the first instrument to a first known location in a space;

moving the second instrument to a position known relative to the first instrument;

having instructions executed by a processor to determine the registration by determining that the first tracking device and the second tracking device are at the known relative position.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein moving the first instrument to the first known location in the space includes placing a dynamic reference frame in the space;

wherein moving the second instrument to the position known relative to the first instrument includes moving the second instrument to the dynamic reference frame.

17. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

moving the first instrument to a first selected location;

operating a tracking system to track the first tracking device to the first selected location;

identifying the first selected location with an external indication source;

moving the second instrument over the first instrument;

wherein determining the registration of the first coordinate system of the first tracking system and the second coordinate system of the second tracking system occurs when the second tracking device reaches the first selected location identified with the external indication source.

18. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

registering the first coordinate system of the first tracking device to an image coordinate system of an image data.

19. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

synchronizing a timing of the determination of the first position with the first tracking system and the second position with the second tracking system; and

generating a look-up table of the determined vectors.

20. A method of correlating a first coordinate system of a first tracking system and a second coordinate system of a second tracking system, comprising:

synchronously collecting a first registration position data with the first tracking system having a first coordinate system and a second registration position data with the second tracking system having a second coordinate system;

transforming the first registration position data collected with the first tracking system relative to the second registration position data collected with the second tracking system;

collecting a first set of position data with the first tracking system and a second set of position data with the second tracking system;

determining a plurality of vectors, wherein one vector is determined between each synchronously related position data in the first set and the second set;

generating a look-up table of the determined vectors; and

interpolating position data collected with the first tracking system to register the first coordinate system to the second coordinate system of the second tracking system.

21. The method of claim 20 , further comprising:

obtaining image data of a patient having an image data coordinate system; and

registering the second coordinate system to the image data coordinate system;

wherein interpolating the position data includes displaying the position data on a display device relative to the image data.

22. The method of claim 21 , further comprising:

determining a position of an instrument with only the second tracking system.

23. The method of claim 22 , further comprising:

illustrating an icon super-imposed on the obtained image data of the patient based on the determined position of the instrument with the second tracking system and the registration of the second coordinate system to the image data coordinate system and the interpolated position data collected with the first tracking system.

24. The method of claim 21 , further comprising:

determining a transformation between the first registration position data and the second registration position data determined with the respective first and second tracking systems.

25. The method of claim 24 , wherein determining the transformation includes optimizing an affine transformation including translating the first registration position data to center at an origin, scaling the first registration position data, rotating the first registration position data around a selected axis, and translating the first registration position data from the origin to a center of the second registration position data.

26. The method of claim 25 , further comprising:

determining a relative position between a first tracking device trackable with the first tracking system and a second tracking device trackable with the second tracking system;

wherein the first registration position data is determined with the first tracking device and the second registration position data is determined with the second tracking device.

27. The method of claim 26 , wherein collecting the first set of position data and collecting the second set of position data is collected respectively with the first tracking device and the second tracking device;

wherein determining the plurality of vectors includes determining a vector based upon a known position of the first tracking device and the second tracking device;

wherein generating the look-up table includes storing the plurality of the vectors in a memory device.

28. The method of claim 27 , wherein generating a look-up table includes storing the plurality of vectors in an octree arrangement.

29. The method of claim 28 , further comprising:

collecting a map set of position data with the second tracking system;

wherein interpolating position data includes accessing the octree to determine the eight (8) nearest cells of a selected position and interpolating a displacement of the map set of position data points in the map position data;

wherein the interpolation of the map position data determines the position of the map position data relative to the first coordinate system.

30. The method of claim 28 , wherein interpolating position data includes interpolating the collected second set of position data to determine an interpolated coordinate of at least a selected sub-plurality of the second set of position data;

wherein the interpolated coordinate is a coordinate of the interpolated second position data point in the first tracking system coordinate system.

31. A method of correlating a first coordinate system of a first tracking system and a second coordinate system of a second tracking system, comprising:

obtaining image data of a patient having an image data coordinate system;

registering the image data coordinate system with the second coordinate system of the second tracking system, wherein the second coordinate system of the second tracking system is substantially Euclidean and generated by an electromagnetic localizer;

synchronously collecting a first position data with the first tracking system and a second position data with the second tracking system;

determining a transformation between the first position data and the second position data;

synchronously collecting a plurality of third position data with the first tracking system and a plurality of fourth position data with the second tracking system;

determining a plurality of vectors between synchronously related third position data and fourth position data;

generating a three-dimensional look-up table of the determined vectors;

collecting fifth position data with the first tracking system; and

interpolating the fifth position data relative to the second coordinate system to relate the fifth position data to the registration of the second coordinate system and the image coordinate system.

32. The method of claim 31 , wherein registering the image data coordinate system with the second coordinate system includes locating positions in a patient space with the second tracking system and identifying the same related locations in an image space of the obtained image data;

wherein obtaining a location in patient space includes tracking a second tracking device with the second tracking system.

33. The method of claim 31 , further comprising:

synchronizing the collection of the first position data with the second position data and the third position data with the fourth position data by at least one of inputting a signal into the first tracking system and the second tracking system substantially simultaneously, measuring a physical change in a patient with the both the first tracking system and the second tracking system, transmitting a timing signal from one of the first tracking system and the second tracking system to the other of the first tracking system and the second tracking system, or combinations thereof;

wherein synchronously collecting a first position data and a second position data and synchronously collecting a plurality of third position data and plurality of fourth position data includes collecting position data with the first tracking system and the second tracking system substantially simultaneously.

34. The method of claim 33 , wherein the first position data and the plurality of third position data are collected with a first tracking device and the second position data and the plurality of fourth position data are collected with a second tracking device;

wherein the first tracking device and the second tracking device are substantially fixed relative to one another on a single instrument.

35. The method of claim 34 , further comprising:

determining the fixed relative position of the first tracking device to the second tracking device, the second tracking device to the first tracking device or combinations thereof.

36. The method of claim 31 , wherein determining the transformation between the first position data and the second position data includes,

determining a transformation between a plurality of first position data wherein each of the plurality of the first position data is collected synchronously with each of a plurality of second position data;

wherein the transformation of the plurality of first position data to the second position data includes determining a best fit transformation of each of the synchronously related first position data and second position data.

37. The method of claim 36 , wherein the synchronously collected plurality of first position data, second position data, third position data, and fourth position data are all used to determine a plurality of vectors between the synchronously related plurality of first position data and third position data with the respective plurality of second position data and fourth position data;

wherein the determined plurality of vectors identifies a distance and orientation between the plurality of first position data and third position data and the respective plurality of second position data and plurality of fourth position data.

38. The method of claim 37 , wherein interpolating the fifth position data includes accessing the generated three-dimensional look-up table of the determined vectors, determining a location of the fifth position data, determining the eight (8) nearest cells to the position of the fifth position data in the look-up table, and interpolating the fifth position data to the second coordinate system.

39. The method of claim 38 , further comprising:

displaying on a display device the obtained image data; and

super-imposing on the displayed obtained image data a graphical representation of an instrument based on the interpolated position of the fifth position data;

wherein collecting the fifth position data with the first tracking system includes determining the position of the instrument only with a first tracking device tracked with the first tracking system.