Patents Assigned to Align Technologies, Inc.
  • Publication number: 20220028536
    Abstract: A method for dental treatment may include receiving photos capturing a state of a patient's dentition of a patient at a specific time, retrieving a first treatment plan to treat the patient's dentition, identifying an intended arrangement of the first treatment plan at the specific time, evaluating the photo parameters of the photos to generate alignment data to align the intended arrangement of the first treatment plan and the photos, generating an alignment mesh using the alignment data, the alignment mesh comprising a three-dimensional (3D) mesh representation of the patient's dentition at the specific time, performing an evaluation of the first treatment plan for modifications using the alignment mesh, and identifying proposed modifications to the first treatment plan based on the evaluation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 22, 2021
    Publication date: January 27, 2022
    Applicant: ALIGN TECHNOLOGY, INC.
    Inventors: Christopher E. CRAMER, Rajiv VENKATA, Leela PARVATHANENI, Phillip Thomas HARRIS, Sravani GURIJALA, Svetozar HUBENOV, Sebastien HARENG, Guotu LI, Yun GAO, Chad Clayton BROWN
  • Publication number: 20220023008
    Abstract: A method for dental treatment may include receiving photos of a patient's dentition, gathering treatment parameters for at treatment plan. The treatment parameters may represent attributes of the treatment plan selected by a doctor for the patient's dentition of a patient. The method may include generating, using the photos and the treatment parameters, one or more intelligent guidance rules to guide application of at least a portion of the treatment parameters to the patient's dentition, generating instructions to apply the intelligent patient guidance rules to the patient's dentition, and providing the instructions to the patient to apply the at least a portion of the treatment plan in accordance with the intelligent patient guidance rules.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 22, 2021
    Publication date: January 27, 2022
    Applicant: ALIGN TECHNOLOGY, INC.
    Inventors: Christopher E. CRAMER, Rajiv VENKATA, Leela PARVATHANENI, Phillip Thomas HARRIS, Sravani GURIJALA, Svetozar HUBENOV, Sebastien HARENG, Guotu LI, Yun GAO, Chad Clayton BROWN
  • Publication number: 20220028071
    Abstract: A method for image-based orthodontic treatment may include receiving image data of a patient's dentition and an orthodontic appliance, identifying, from the image data, the orthodontic appliance, calculating a misalignment height of a misalignment of the orthodontic appliance with respect to the patient's dentition, determining whether the misalignment height satisfies a misalignment threshold, and in response to satisfying the misalignment threshold, providing a notification.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 22, 2021
    Publication date: January 27, 2022
    Applicant: ALIGN TECHNOLOGY, INC.
    Inventors: Christopher E. CRAMER, Rajiv VENKATA, Leela PARVATHANENI, Phillip Thomas HARRIS, Sravani GURIJALA, Svetozar HUBENOV, Sebastien HARENG, Guotu LI, Yun GAO, Chad Clayton BROWN
  • Publication number: 20220028532
    Abstract: A system for generating missing data for 3D models of intraoral structures of a patient. The system may include a hand-held intraoral scanner and a computer having instructions that the system to scan the intraoral structure of a patient to generate first 3D data of the surface of a prepared tooth, generate a 3D virtual model of the prepared tooth based on the first 3D data, determine the 3D virtual model is missing a surface associated with the prepared, generate second 3D data approximating the surface that is determined to be missing from the 3D virtual model intraoral structure that is missing, and combine the second 3D data with the 3D virtual model such that the 3D virtual model includes the approximated surface, wherein the approximated surface approximates the prepared tooth associated with the surface determined to be missing from the 3D virtual model.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 6, 2021
    Publication date: January 27, 2022
    Applicant: ALIGN TECHNOLOGY, INC.
    Inventors: Avi KOPELMAN, Eldad TAUB
  • Publication number: 20220023003
    Abstract: A method of dental treatment may include receiving photos of a person's dentition, identifying a stage of a treatment plan administered to the person's dentition, gathering a three-dimensional (3D) model of the person's dentition corresponding to the stage of the treatment plan, projecting attributes of the 3D model of the person's dentition onto an image plane to get a projected representation of the person's dentition at the stage of the treatment plan, comparing the photos to the projected representation to derive an error image representing the comparison, and analyzing the error image for discrepancies, wherein the discrepancies represent one or more deviations of the person's dentition from the stage of the treatment plan.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 22, 2021
    Publication date: January 27, 2022
    Applicant: ALIGN TECHNOLOGY, INC.
    Inventors: Christopher E. CRAMER, Rajiv VENKATA, Leela PARVATHANENI, Phillip Thomas HARRIS, Sravani GURIJALA, Svetozar HUBENOV, Sebastien HARENG, Guotu LI, Yun GAO, Chad Clayton BROWN
  • Publication number: 20220030162
    Abstract: A method for treatment-based photo guidance may include receiving a treatment plan, determining the movement of a first one or more teeth based on the movement of tooth models in the treatment plan, and determining one or more photo views for capturing the movement of the first one or more teeth.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 22, 2021
    Publication date: January 27, 2022
    Applicant: ALIGN TECHNOLOGY, INC.
    Inventors: Christopher E. CRAMER, Rajiv VENKATA, Leela PARVATHANENI, Phillip Thomas HARRIS, Sravani GURIJALA, Svetozar HUBENOV, Sebastien HARENG, Guotu LI, Yun GAO, Chad Clayton BROWN
  • Patent number: 11232573
    Abstract: Methods and apparatuses (including systems and devices) for modifying a three-dimensional (3D) model of a subject's oral cavity to determine individual components such as teeth, gingiva, tongue, palate, etc. In some implementations one or more automated machine learning agents may modify one or more subsets of 3D models of the subject's oral cavity using height map data to identify, segment and/or modify to mesh regions of a 3D model constructed from a plurality of 2D images of the subject's dental cavity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 25, 2022
    Assignee: Align Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Chad C. Brown, Yun Gao, Pavel Agniashvili, Avraham Zulti, Jonathan Coslovsky, Christopher E. Cramer, Roman Gudchenko, Ofer Saphier, Adi Levin, Maayan Moshe, Doron Malka
  • Patent number: 11232867
    Abstract: Various methods and systems for designing a restored smile are provided. One method includes receiving scan data of a patient's teeth, developing a digital model of the patient's teeth via a computing device, where the model represents the patient's teeth based upon the scan data, creating a dental treatment plan to restore one or more teeth from an initial condition to a successive condition, and wherein a final condition of the one or more is based on the one or more teeth having at least one planned additional restorative tooth structure provided therewith.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 25, 2022
    Assignee: Align Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Michelle Stone-Collonge, Eric E. Kuo, Rick M. Matty, Fabio Pettinati, Thomas Maurer, Dzmitry Sanko
  • Patent number: 11227074
    Abstract: System and method for developing a treatment plan for achieving a treatment goal including creating a virtual model of a dental patient's dentition; transforming the virtual model of the dentition using virtual prosthodontics to facilitate achievement of the treatment goal; transforming the virtual model of the dentition using virtual orthodontics to facilitate achievement of the treatment goal; iterating on the transforming steps until substantially achieving the treatment goal; and generating an orthodontic treatment plan and a prosthodontic treatment plan based upon the substantially achieved treatment goal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 18, 2022
    Assignee: Align Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Eric Kuo, Jihua Cheng, Vadim Matov, Juan Carlos Alvarez, Ali Kakavand
  • Patent number: 11219506
    Abstract: Detection of a state of an oral appliance (such as an aligner, palatal expander, mandibular repositioning device, etc.) to determine if the oral appliance is functioning properly and/or if it has developed a defect.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2022
    Assignee: Align Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Yaser Shanjani, Bruce Cam, Jun Sato
  • Patent number: 11213369
    Abstract: Multilayer polymer sheets are provided, as well as related methods, systems, and appliances.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 4, 2022
    Assignee: Align Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Chunhua Li, Yan Chen, Heinz Pudleiner, Klaus Meyer, Joerg Nickel, Craig Pehlert
  • Patent number: 11213368
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method for modeling a complete tooth of a patient to facilitate dental and/or orthodontic treatment. The method includes generating a first set of digital data representing a clinical crown; generating a second set of digital data representing a plurality of digital tooth models of a particular tooth type each having a first parameterization; processing the second set of digital data to obtain a third set of digital data representing an average tooth model of the particular tooth type having a second parameterization which is less than the first parameterization; fitting the third set of digital data to the first set of digital data to create a set of digital data representing an interim tooth model; and morphing the set of digital data representing the interim tooth model to substantially mimic the anatomical shape of the clinical crown of the first set of digital data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 4, 2022
    Assignee: Align Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Fedor Chelnokov, Roman A. Roschin, Petr Ushanov
  • Patent number: 11207156
    Abstract: A virtual model of an intraoral cavity is provided, wherein this process is initialized by a dental clinic, and the design and manufacture of a suitable dental prosthesis for the intraoral cavity is shared between a dental lab and a service center.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 28, 2021
    Assignee: Align Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Eldad Taub, Avi Kopelman
  • Patent number: 11207208
    Abstract: Systems, methods, devices, and apparatus for positioning a patient's mandible in response to sleep apnea status are provided herein. In one aspect, a system for monitoring and treating sleep apnea in a patient comprises one or more sensors configured to monitor the patient for symptoms associated with sleep apnea; an intraoral appliance worn by the patient, one or more processors, and memory comprising instructions executable by the one or more processors to cause the one or more processors to: receive a set of sensor data from the one or more sensors, detect, using a machine learning algorithm, onset of a sleep apnea event based on the set of sensor data, and transmit a control signal to the intraoral appliance to cause the intraoral appliance to displace a lower jaw of the patient from a first position to a second position in order to treat the sleep apnea event.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 28, 2021
    Assignee: Align Technology, Inc.
    Inventor: Avi Kopelman
  • Patent number: 11202691
    Abstract: The present invention provides methods and systems including orthodontic tooth positioning appliances. An exemplary appliance can include teeth receiving cavities shaped such that, when worn by a patient, repositioning the patient's teeth from a first arrangement toward a subsequent or target arrangement. Appliances can include a cavity having one or more shaped features or protrusions shaped and/or positioned so as to apply a desired force to a patient's tooth received in the cavity and move the tooth along a desired path or direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 21, 2021
    Assignee: Align Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Heng Cao, Vadim Matov, John Y. Morton, Jon Moss, Ryan Kimura
  • Patent number: 11202574
    Abstract: An apparatus for dental imaging comprises a light source for generating light, an optics system for focusing the light, and a probe head. The light source, the optics system and the probe head are arranged such that the light passes through the optics system, passes through the probe head, and exits the probe head. The optics system is configured such that, upon entering the probe head, an outermost chief ray of the light with respect to an optical axis of the optics system is divergent to the optical axis and an outermost marginal ray of the light with respect to the optical axis is parallel or divergent to the optical axis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 21, 2021
    Assignee: Align Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Yossef Atiya, Tal Verker, Nir Makmel
  • Patent number: 11197739
    Abstract: A dental prosthesis is made by externally machining successive layers of wax, each of which is formed on a previous prosthesis layer and/or on a coping. Each wax layer is used to form a mold in situ over the previous prosthesis layer/coping, and the appropriate prosthesis material is cast or otherwise molded to conform to the wax layer by the mold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 14, 2021
    Assignee: Align Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Avi Kopelman, Eldad Taub
  • Patent number: 11194312
    Abstract: The example systems, methods, and/or computer-readable media described herein help with design of highly accurate models of un-erupted or partially erupted teeth and help fabricate of aligners for un-erupted or partially erupted teeth. Automated agents that use machine learning models to parametrically represent three-dimensional (3d) virtual representations of teeth as 3D descriptors in a 3D descriptor space are provided herein. In some implementations, the automated agents described herein provide instructions to fabricate aligners for at least partially un-erupted teeth using representative 3D descriptor(s) of a tooth type.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 7, 2021
    Assignee: Align Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher Eric Cramer, Jeeyoung Choi
  • Patent number: 11191617
    Abstract: Described herein are methods and apparatuses to obtain an image, or a set of images, of a patient's teeth from one or more predetermined viewing angles. These methods and apparatuses may include the use an overlay comprising an outline of teeth for each predetermined viewing angle. The overlay may be used for automatically capturing, focusing and/or illuminating the teeth. Also described herein are methods and apparatuses for using a series of images of the patient's teeth including a set of predetermined views to determine if a patient is a candidate for an orthopedic procedure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 7, 2021
    Assignee: ALIGN TECHNOLOGY, INC.
    Inventors: Maurice K. Carrier, Jr., Phillip Thomas Harris, Sergey Vinnichenko, Samuel Blanco, Aleksandr Sergeevich Karsakov, Sebastien Hareng, Leon Rasovsky
  • Patent number: 11189021
    Abstract: Implementations describe systems and methods for machine based defect detection of three-dimensional (3D) printed objects. A method of one embodiment of the disclosure includes providing a first illumination of a 3D printed object using a first light source arrangement. A plurality of images of the 3D printed object are then generated using one or more imaging devices. Each image may depict a distinct region of the 3D printed object. The plurality of images may then be processed by a processing device using a machine learning model trained to identify one or more types of manufacturing defects of a 3D printing process. The machine learning model may provide a probability that an image contains a manufacturing defect. The processing device may then determine, without user input, whether the 3D printed object contains one or more manufacturing defects based on the results provided by the machine learning model.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 30, 2021
    Assignee: Align Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Paren Indravadan Shah, Anatoliy Parpara, Andrey Cherkas, Alexey Kalinichenko