IP Library Granted Patent US 12,727,951
Granted Patent B2
US 12,727,951 · App. 18/071,450 · Granted Sep 8, 2026

Robotic bronchoscopy navigation method and system

Inventors: An-Peng Wang (Kaohsiung City, TW); Chien-Yu Wu (Yunlin County, TW); Cheng-Peng Kuan (Zhubei City, TW); Shu Huang (Hsinchu County, TW)
Assignee: INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE
A61B34/30A61B1/00149A61B1/2676A61B2034/2055A61B2034/2065A61B2034/301A61B2034/303
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,727,951
App. No.
18/071,450
Granted
Sep 8, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

A robotic bronchoscopy navigation method, performed by a processing control device, includes: performing a navigation procedure according to obtained navigation image, the navigation procedure including: determining whether the navigation image has a node, if the navigation image does not have the node, controlling a bending part of a robotic bronchoscopy to move toward an image center of the navigation image, if the navigation image has the node, calculating a distance between the bronchoscopy and the node, controlling the bending part to move according to a default branch when the distance is smaller than a threshold of distance, and determining whether the default branch is a destination branch where a destination is located, if the default branch is not the destination branch, obtaining another navigation image, and performing the navigation procedure on the another navigation image, and if the default branch is the destination branch, outputting a notification.

Claims (24)

1 . A robotic bronchoscopy navigation system, comprising:

a robotic arm configured to control a robotic bronchoscopy; and

a processing control device connected to the robotic arm to control the robotic bronchoscopy through the robotic arm, wherein the processing control device is configured to:

obtaining a navigation image, and performing a navigation procedure according to the navigation image, the navigation procedure comprising:

determining whether the navigation image has a node;

if the navigation image does not have the node, controlling a bending part of the robotic bronchoscopy to move toward an image center of the navigation image;

if the navigation image has the node, calculating a distance between the robotic bronchoscopy and the node; and

controlling the bending part to move according to a default branch when the distance is smaller than a threshold of distance

wherein the default branch is generated by identifying a change of a bifurcation node between a previous image and a current image taken by the robotic bronchoscopy during a path planning procedure, and is recorded in an event record where a node index is added by 1 when the bifurcation node does not exist in the previous image and exists in the current image;

wherein the processing control device performing controlling the bending part to move according to the default branch comprises:

calculating a virtual attraction force according to: (i) a virtual vector of the bending part relative to the image center, (ii) a speed obtained by performing first order differentiation on the virtual vector, (iii) an acceleration obtained by performing second order differentiation on the virtual vector, and (iv) a first distance between the bending part and the image center;

calculating a virtual repulsive force according to the virtual vector, the speed, the acceleration and a second distance between the bending part and an inner wall of the default branch; and

controlling the robotic arm to control the bending part according to the virtual attraction force and the virtual repulsive force based on a controlling standard, wherein the controlling standard is to make the virtual vector approach zero.

2 . The robotic bronchoscopy navigation system according to claim 1 , wherein the processing control device is further configured to perform:

controlling the bending part to move a default distance toward the node;

determining whether the distance between the bending part and the node is smaller than the threshold of distance; and

when the distance between the bending part and the node is not smaller than the threshold of distance, controlling the bending part to move according to a current movement direction.

3 . The robotic bronchoscopy navigation system according to claim 2 , wherein the processing control device performing controlling the bending part to move the default distance toward the node comprises:

calculating a vector of the node relative to the image center; and

controlling the bending part to move toward the node according to the vector, for the node to be aligned with the image center.

4 . The robotic bronchoscopy navigation system according to claim 1 , wherein

the processing control device performing calculating the virtual attraction force comprises: calculating the virtual attraction force based on the virtual vector, a generation coefficient and the first distance; and

the processing control device performing calculating the virtual repulsive force comprises: using a distance between the bending part and a virtual inner wall as the second distance, and calculating the virtual repulsive force based on the virtual vector, another generation coefficient and the second distance, wherein a diameter of the virtual inner wall is smaller than a diameter of the default branch.

5 . The robotic bronchoscopy navigation system according to claim 1 , further comprising a horizontal level measuring mechanism provided on the robotic bronchoscopy, a horizontal level measurement index of the horizontal level measuring mechanism is presented on the navigation image, and before determining whether the navigation image has the node, the processing control device is further configured to control a direction of the bending part according to the horizontal level measurement index, for the horizontal level measurement index to represent a horizontal state.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 1, 2022
From: WANG, AN-PENG; WU, CHIEN-YU; KUAN, CHENG-PENG; HUANG, SHU
To: INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Reel/Frame 061947/0068 →
Priority Claims (1)
TW 111133314 · Sep 2, 2022 · national
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20240074823A1 · Mar 7, 2024
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