Technique for generating a bone plate design

1. A method of designing a bone plate having at least one plate segment, the method comprising: visualizing a virtual bone model on a display device, the virtual bone model being based on patient-specific shape data of a bone; pre-operatively deriving plate design data representative of a plate-specific design property using the virtual bone model, wherein deriving the plate design data comprises: selecting at least a first point and a second point on the virtual bone model, the first point being representative of a center position of a first section of the bone plate and the second point being representative of a center position of a second section of the bone plate; and creating a curve on the virtual bone model, the curve at least interconnecting the first point and the second point and being representative of a length of the at least one plate segment; and generating a data set that geometrically defines the bone plate from at least the derived plate design data and one or more generic plate parameters, wherein the derived plate design data or the one or more generic plate parameters comprises a number of fixation openings of the bone plate;

wherein the data set that geometrically defines the bone plate is derived or generated at least in part based upon the patient-specific shape data of the bone and, wherein the patient-specific shape data is provided in scaled form and the data set that geometrically defines the bone plate is derived to inherit the scaling of the patient-specific shape data.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: selecting a third point on the virtual bone model, the third point being representative of a center position of a third section of the bone plate; and extending the curve on the virtual bone model to at least interconnect the first point, the second point and the third point.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plate design data is determined in a coordinate system associated with the virtual bone model.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first and second points lie on a surface defined by the virtual bone model.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: manipulating at least one of the first point or the second point, the manipulation comprising at least one of a deletion, insertion or a shifting of the first point or the second point; and adapting the plate design data in accordance with the manipulation.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first point is representative of a center position of a first fixation opening and the second point is representative of a center position of a second fixation opening.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising: visualizing a virtual plate model based on the plate design data, including the center position of the first and second fixation openings, and the one or more generic plate parameters on the virtual bone model.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more generic plate parameters comprises at least one of: —a geometric property of the fixation openings of the bone plate; —a number of the segments of the bone plate; —a geometric property of the at least one segment of the bone plate; —at least one of a local and a total thickness of the bone plate; —at least one of a local and a total width of the bone plate; or —at least one of a local and a total length of the bone plate.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising: providing a software-based parameter editing function configured to permit editing of the one or more geometric plate parameters.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the virtual bone model comprises at least one bone portion that is missing or to be removed and wherein the bone plate is adapted to extend at least partially over a bone gap previously filled by the at least one bone portion that is missing or to be removed and wherein, the method further comprises: generating reconstruction data for the at least one bone portion that is missing or to be removed, and the data set that geometrically defines the bone plate design is further generated from the reconstruction data.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the virtual bone model comprises at least one bone portion that is missing or to be removed and wherein the bone plate is adapted to extend at least partially over a bone gap previously filled by the at least one bone portion that is missing or to be removed and wherein, the method further comprises: generating the data set that geometrically defines the bone plate such that a first plate portion extending over the bone gap is offset into the bone gap and relative to a second plate portion adjacent to the bone gap.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the patient-specific shape data is obtained by medical imaging.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the bone plate is configured to be fixed to at least one of a cranial, facial or mandibular bone, or to a bone of an extremity.

14. A computer program product comprising program code portions for performing the steps of claim 1 when the computer program product is executed on a computing device or a set of interconnected computing devices, and wherein the computer program product is stored on one or more a non-transitory computer-readable recording media.

15. A device for designing a bone plate with at least one plate segment, the device comprising: a display device adapted to display a virtual bone model, based on patient-specific shape data of a bone, and a pointer, the pointer being positionable relative to the virtual bone model by a user interaction; at least one processor adapted to pre-operatively derive plate design data representative of a plate-specific design property from relationships between the pointer and the virtual bone model, wherein deriving the plate design data comprises: selecting at least a first point and a second point on the virtual bone model, the first point being representative of a center position of a first section of the bone plate and the second point being representative of a center position of a second section of the bone plate; and creating a curve on the virtual bone model, the curve at least interconnecting the first point and the second point and being representative of a length of at least the one plate segment, wherein the at least one processor is adapted to generate a data set that geometrically defines the bone plate from at least the plate design data and one or more generic plate parameters, and wherein the derived plate design data or the one or more generic plate parameters comprises a number of fixation openings of the bone plate;

wherein the data set that geometrically defines the bone plate is derived or generated at least in part based upon the patient-specific shape data of the bone and, wherein the patient-specific shape data is provided in scaled form and the data set that geometrically defines the bone plate is derived to inherit the scaling of the patient-specific shape data.