Granted Patent B2

US 12,370,025 · App. 17/880,563 · Granted Jul 29, 2025

Inventors: Ofer Saphier (Rechovot, IL); Shai Ayal (Shoham, IL); Pavel Agniashvili (Moscow, RU); Pavel Veryovkin (Krasnogorsk, RU); Maxim Volgin (Moscow, RU)

Assignee: Align Technology, Inc.

A61C9/0053A61B1/00172A61B1/24

Abstract

Claims (121)

1. An intraoral scanning system, comprising:

an intraoral scanner, configured to generate a plurality of intraoral scans during an intraoral scanning session; and

a computing device, wherein the computing device is to:

receive the plurality of intraoral scans during the intraoral scanning session;

register the plurality of intraoral scans together based on overlapping features of the plurality of intraoral scans;

generate a first three-dimensional (3D) surface based on the plurality of intraoral scans;

receive one or more additional intraoral scans;

determine that the one or more additional intraoral scans fail to satisfy one or more registration criteria for registering to at least one of the plurality of intraoral scans or the first 3D surface;

generate a second 3D surface based on the one or more additional intraoral scans without interrupting the intraoral scanning session;

estimate, after failing to satisfy the one or more registration criteria, a position and orientation of the second 3D surface relative to the first 3D surface without successful registration of the second 3D surface or the first 3D surface to historical scan data and based at least in part on use of a trained machine learning model; and

output the first 3D surface and the second 3D surface to a display, wherein the second 3D surface is output with the estimated position and orientation relative to the first 3D surface.

2. The intraoral scanning system of claim 1 , wherein the computing device is further to:

receive a plurality of additional intraoral scans;

register the plurality of additional intraoral scans to the one or more additional intraoral scans;

update the second 3D surface based on the plurality of additional intraoral scans; and

determine an update to the position and orientation of the second 3D surface relative to the first 3D surface, wherein the update increases an accuracy of the relative position and orientation of the second 3D surface and the first 3D surface.

3. The intraoral scanning system of claim 1 , wherein the computing device is further to:

receive movement data from an intraoral scanner that generated the plurality of intraoral scans and the one or more additional intraoral scans, wherein the movement data indicates an amount of movement of the intraoral scanner between generation of a first intraoral scan of the plurality of intraoral scans and a second intraoral scan of the one or more additional intraoral scans; and

determine at least one of a position or orientation of the second 3D surface relative to the first 3D surface based at least in part on the movement data.

4. The intraoral scanning system of claim 3 , wherein the movement data is generated by an inertial measurement unit of the intraoral scanner, wherein the orientation of the second 3D surface relative to the first 3D surface is determined based on the movement data, and wherein the computing device is further to:

receive a plurality of two-dimensional (2D) images during the intraoral scanning session, wherein each of the plurality of 2D images is associated with one of the plurality of intraoral scans or one of the one or more additional intraoral scans;

estimate a position change between at least a first scan of the plurality of intraoral scans and the one or more additional intraoral scans using two or more of the plurality of 2D images; and

determine a position of the second 3D surface relative to the first 3D surface based on the estimated position change.

5. The intraoral scanning system of claim 1 , wherein the computing device is further to:

receive a plurality of two-dimensional (2D) images during the intraoral scanning session, wherein each of the plurality of 2D images is associated with one of the plurality of intraoral scans;

determine, based on a result of the registering, a position change or an orientation change between at least two 2D images of the plurality of 2D images;

determine, based on timing for the at least two 2D images and based on at least one of the position change or the orientation change, at least one of a rate of position change or a rate of orientation change;

receive one or more additional 2D images, wherein each of the one or more additional 2D images is associated with one of the one or more additional intraoral scans; and

determine, based at least in part on a timing of the one or more additional 2D images and at least one of the rate of position change or the rate of orientation change, a position and orientation of the second 3D surface relative to the first 3D surface.

6. The intraoral scanning system of claim 1 , wherein the computing device is further to:

input a first input based on the first 3D surface into the trained machine learning model, wherein the trained machine learning model outputs first canonical position coordinates for a first position and orientation of the first 3D surface relative to a canonical position of a jaw; and

input a second input based on the second 3D surface into the trained machine learning model, wherein the trained machine learning model outputs second canonical position coordinates for a second position and orientation of the second 3D surface relative to the canonical position of the jaw.

7. The intraoral scanning system of claim 1 , wherein the computing device is further to:

receive a plurality of two-dimensional (2D) images during the intraoral scanning session, wherein each of the plurality of 2D images is associated with one of the plurality of intraoral scans;

receive one or more additional 2D images, wherein each of the one or more additional 2D images is associated with one of the one or more additional intraoral scans;

input a first input based on at least a subset of the plurality of 2D images into the trained machine learning model, wherein the trained machine learning model outputs first canonical position coordinates for a first position and orientation of the first 3D surface relative to a canonical position of a jaw; and

input a second input based on at least a subset of the one or more additional 2D images into the trained machine learning model, wherein the trained machine learning model outputs second canonical position coordinates for a second position and orientation of the second 3D surface relative to the canonical position of the jaw.

8. The intraoral scanning system of claim 1 , wherein the computing device is further to:

input an input based on the first 3D surface and the second 3D surface into the trained machine learning model, wherein the trained machine learning model outputs the relative position and orientation of the second 3D surface and the first 3D surface.

9. The intraoral scanning system of claim 1 , wherein the computing device is further to:

receive a further intraoral scan;

determine that the further intraoral scan satisfies the one or more registration criteria for registering to at least one of the one or more additional intraoral scans or the second 3D surface;

determine that the further intraoral scan satisfies the one or more registration criteria for registering to at least one of the plurality of intraoral scans or the first 3D surface; and

register the first 3D surface with the second 3D surface using the further intraoral scan.

10. The intraoral scanning system of claim 9 , wherein the computing device is further to:

merge the first 3D surface and the second 3D surface into a combined 3D surface.

11. The intraoral scanning system of claim 1 , wherein the computing device is further to:

determine one or more reasons that the one or more additional intraoral scans failed to satisfy the one or more registration criteria for registering to at least one of the plurality of intraoral scans or the first 3D surface; and

provide feedback regarding the one or more reasons.

12. The intraoral scanning system of claim 11 , wherein the one or more reasons are selected from the group consisting of: the intraoral scanner was moved too quickly, the intraoral scanner is too far from a dental site being scanned, the intraoral scanner is too close to the dental site being scanned, there is insufficient overlap between the one or more additional intraoral scans and at least one of the plurality of intraoral scans or the first 3D surface, a window of the intraoral scanner is dirty, the dental site is obstructed by moving tissue, the dental site is obstructed by blood or saliva, and the dental site lacks sufficient surface features.

13. The intraoral scanning system of claim 1 , wherein the computing device is further to:

determine one or more reasons why the one or more additional intraoral scans fail to satisfy the one or more registration criteria or are close to failing the one or more registration criteria; and

output, via a dashboard of a graphical user interface, a notice indicating the one or more reasons why the one or more additional intraoral scans fail to satisfy the one or more registration criteria or are close to failing the one or more registration criteria.

14. The intraoral scanning system of claim 13 , wherein the computing device is further to:

periodically determine values for a plurality of metrics associated with the one or more registration criteria; and

output the values for the plurality of metrics via the dashboard of the graphical user interface.

15. The intraoral scanning system of claim 1 , wherein the computing device is further to:

determine a speed of movement of the intraoral scanner that generated the plurality of intraoral scans;

determine whether the speed of movement exceeds a speed threshold; and

output a warning responsive to determining that the speed of movement exceeds the speed threshold.

16. The intraoral scanning system of claim 1 , wherein the computing device is further to:

determine a speed of movement of the intraoral scanner that generated the plurality of intraoral scans; and

output an indication of the speed of movement of the intraoral scanner.

17. The intraoral scanning system of claim 1 , wherein the computing device is further to:

determine a speed of movement of the intraoral scanner that generated the plurality of intraoral scans;

determine whether the speed of movement exceeds a speed threshold;

output a first indication of the speed of movement using a first visualization responsive to determining that the speed of movement is below the speed threshold; and

output a second indication of the speed of movement using a second visualization responsive to determining that the speed of movement exceeds the speed threshold.

18. The intraoral scanning system of claim 1 , wherein the computing device is further to:

determine a distance between one or more points in the one or more additional intraoral scans and a head of the intraoral scanner that generated the one or more additional intraoral scans;

determine that the distance is nearer than a distance threshold; and

output a notice to move the head of the intraoral scanner further from a dental site being scanned.

19. The intraoral scanning system of claim 1 , wherein the second 3D surface is disconnected from the first 3D surface.

20. The intraoral scanning system of claim 1 , wherein the computing device is further to:

determine, based on a result of the registering, a position change or an orientation change between at least two intraoral scans of the plurality of intraoral scans;

determine, based on timing for the at least two intraoral scans and based on at least one of the position change or the orientation change, at least one of a rate of position change or a rate of orientation change; and

determine, based on a timing of the one or more additional intraoral scans and at least one of the rate of position change or the rate of orientation change, a position and orientation of the second 3D surface relative to the first 3D surface.

21. The intraoral scanning system of claim 1 , wherein the computing device is further to:

display the first 3D surface in a first region of the display and the second 3D surface in a second region of the display.

22. An intraoral scanning system comprising:

an intraoral scanner, configured to generate a plurality of intraoral scans during an intraoral scanning session; and

a computing device, wherein the computing device is to:

receive the plurality of intraoral scans during the intraoral scanning session;

register the plurality of intraoral scans together based on overlapping features of the plurality of intraoral scans;

generate a first three-dimensional (3D) surface based on the plurality of intraoral scans;

receive one or more additional intraoral scans;

determine that the one or more additional intraoral scans fail to satisfy one or more registration criteria for registering to at least one of the plurality of intraoral scans or the first 3D surface;

determine that the one or more additional intraoral scans failed to satisfy the one or more registration criteria because of a dirty window of the intraoral scanner that generated the plurality of intraoral scans;

output a notice that the intraoral scanner has the dirty window; and

generate a second 3D surface based on the one or more additional intraoral scans without interrupting the intraoral scanning session.

23. The intraoral scanning system of claim 22 , wherein the computing device is further to:

determine an amount of the dirty window that is dirty; and

output an indication of the amount of the dirty window that is dirty.

24. An intraoral scanning system comprising:

an intraoral scanner, configured to generate a plurality of intraoral scans during an intraoral scanning session; and

a computing device, wherein the computing device is to:

receive the plurality of intraoral scans during the intraoral scanning session;

register the plurality of intraoral scans together based on overlapping features of the plurality of intraoral scans;

generate a first three-dimensional (3D) surface based on the plurality of intraoral scans;

receive one or more additional intraoral scans;

determine that the one or more additional intraoral scans fail to satisfy one or more registration criteria for registering to at least one of the plurality of intraoral scans or the first 3D surface;

determine that the one or more additional intraoral scans failed to satisfy the one or more registration criteria because of an amount of detected moving tissue exceeding a threshold amount of moving tissue;

output a notice that an excessive amount of moving tissue was detected; and

generate a second 3D surface based on the one or more additional intraoral scans without interrupting the intraoral scanning session.

25. The intraoral scanning system of claim 24 , wherein the computing device is further to:

input an input based on at least one of the one or more additional intraoral scans or one or more two-dimensional (2D) images associated with the one or more additional intraoral scans into a trained machine learning model, wherein the trained machine learning model outputs an indication of moving tissue that was detected.

26. The intraoral scanning system of claim 24 , wherein the computing device is further to:

determine a percentage of the one or more additional intraoral scans that depicts the detected moving tissue; and

output an indication of the percentage of the one or more additional intraoral scans that depicts the detected moving tissue.

27. An intraoral scanning system comprising:

an intraoral scanner, configured to generate a plurality of intraoral scans during an intraoral scanning session; and

a computing device, wherein the computing device is to:

receive the plurality of intraoral scans during the intraoral scanning session;

register the plurality of intraoral scans together based on overlapping features of the plurality of intraoral scans;

generate a first three-dimensional (3D) surface based on the plurality of intraoral scans;

receive one or more additional intraoral scans;

determine that the one or more additional intraoral scans fail to satisfy one or more registration criteria for registering to at least one of the plurality of intraoral scans or the first 3D surface;

generate a second 3D surface based on the one or more additional intraoral scans without interrupting the intraoral scanning session;

determine a distance between one or more points in the one or more additional intraoral scans and a head of the intraoral scanner that generated the one or more additional intraoral scans;

determine that the distance is further than a distance threshold; and

output a notice to move the head of the intraoral scanner closer to a dental site being scanned.

Assignments (3)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (97)