Automatic identification of instruments used with a surgical navigation system

1. A method of using a system to determine information related to a plurality of surgical instruments used with a surgical navigation system for navigating a procedure relative to an anatomy, the method comprising:

providing a first surgical instrument having a first information member having data related to the first surgical instrument stored therewith;

providing a second surgical instrument having a second information member having data related to the second surgical instrument therewith;

facilitating the planning of a surgical procedure using a surgical navigation system having a localizer array, the surgical procedure including defining a set of instruments to be used at discrete portions of a surgical procedure as defined in the surgical plan;

prior to beginning the surgical procedure, transferring a set of data from the first and second information members through the localizer array to the surgical navigation system to compare the set of data from the first and second information members to the surgical plan;

if the data set from the first and second information members are the set of instruments to be used in the surgical plan, display the navigation of the first and second instruments according to the surgical plan; and

during the execution of the surgical plan, for each discrete portion of the surgical procedure, determining if a proposed instrument is within the defined set of instruments for the discrete portion of the surgical procedure.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising providing a third information member for an implant.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first information member is a radio frequency identification device tag.

4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising transferring the data related to the first surgical instrument to a workstation.

5. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising assembling the first and second surgical instruments.

6. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising reading data from the information members of both the first and second surgical instruments during the medical procedure.

7. The method according to claim 6 , further comprising transferring the read data from the information members of both the first and second surgical instruments to the surgical navigation system.

8. The method according to claim 6 , further comprising determining if the read data from the information members of both the first and second surgical instruments is appropriate for a particular portion of the plan.

9. The method according to claim 8 , further comprising navigating the instrument if the read data from the information member of at least one of the first and second surgical instruments is appropriate for a particular portion of the plan.

10. The method according to claim 8 , further comprising issuing a warning if the read data from the information members of at least one of the first and second surgical instruments is not appropriate for a particular portion of the plan.

11. A method of using a system to determine information related to a plurality of surgical instruments used with a surgical navigation system for navigating a procedure relative to an anatomy, the method comprising:

providing a navigation system having a localizer array with a plurality of coils;

associating identification information related to each of the surgical instruments to a member attached to each of the surgical instruments using the localizer array;

transferring into the surgical navigation system the information related to each of the surgical instruments;

facilitating the planning of a surgical procedure within the surgical navigation system using a first subset of the plurality of surgical instruments which are to be used in a surgical procedure;

transferring into the surgical navigation system information related to each of the surgical instruments in the first subset;

determining if the information related to each of the surgical instruments in the first subset is associated with a portion the surgical plan;

during the execution of the surgical plan determining if a proposed instrument is appropriate for a next discretely defined procedure in the surgical plan for use in using each of the surgical instruments in the first subset in a surgical procedure according to the surgical procedure.

12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein using the first subset of surgical instruments is chronologically using a plurality of individual surgical instruments as defined by the surgical plan.

13. The method according to claim 12 , further comprising associating an implant having a third information member with the surgical navigation system.

14. The method according to claim 11 , further comprising issuing a warning if determining if the information related to each of the surgical instruments in the first subset is associated with a portion the surgical plan is not appropriate for a particular portion of the surgical plan.

15. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the members are radio frequency identification device tags.

16. A method of using a system to determine information related to a plurality of surgical instruments used with a surgical navigation system having a localizer array for navigating a procedure relative to an anatomy, the method comprising:

associating first information related to a first surgical instrument to a first member attached to the first surgical instrument;

associating second information related to a second surgical instrument to a second member attached to the second surgical instrument;

transferring into the surgical navigation system the information related to the first and second surgical instruments;

facilitating the planning of a surgical procedure within the surgical navigation system using the first and second surgical instruments;

transferring into the surgical navigation system during the surgical procedure a set of information related to the first and second surgical instruments during the surgical procedure using the localizer array;

determining if the set of information related to the first and second surgical instruments is associated with a portion the surgical plan; and

during the surgical procedure, chronologically determining if one of the first and second surgical instruments is appropriate.

17. The method according to claim 16 , further comprising associating an implant having a third information member with the surgical navigation system.

18. The method according to claim 16 , further comprising issuing a warning if determining if the set of information related to the first and second surgical instruments is not appropriate for a particular portion of the surgical plan.

19. The method according to claim 16 , wherein the first member is a radio frequency identification device tag.