Abstract: A method and a system for simulating the minimally invasive medical procedure of urological endoscopy. The system is designed to simulate the actual medical procedure of urological endoscopy as closely as possible by providing both a simulated medical instrument, and tactile and visual feedback as the simulated procedure is performed on the simulated patient. Particularly preferred features include a multi-path solution for virtual navigation in a complex anatomy, the simulation of the effect of the beating heart on the urethra as it crosses the illiac vessel, and the simulated operation of a guidewire within the urethra In addition, the system and method optionally and more preferably incorporate the effect of dynamic contrast injection of dye into the urethra for fluoroscopy. The injection of such dye, and the subsequent visualization of the urological organ system in the presence of the endoscope, must be accurately simulated in terms of accurate visual feedback.

Abstract: A method for using multi-spline models for data mapping, particularly for more efficiently transmitting data over a network. Three-dimensional data can be mapped to a model in which one dimension is time. Such data is then transmitted only as required to the user, for example according to the position of the viewed data in time. Thus, the present invention is more efficient and requires lower bandwidth in order to transmit large amounts of data over a network.