Patents by Inventor Stephane Nicolau

Stephane Nicolau has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 10736497
    Abstract: A method and a system for anatomical site relocalisation using dual data synchronisation. Method for repositioning, possibly several times, at a specific location, which has been already explored during a first or “reference exploration”, a flexible endoscope during one or more successive endoluminal or extraluminal subsequent or “new exploration”, or similar procedures, wherein the repositioning is realized either manually, by a human user, or automatically, by a robotic system, from or by way of a synchronisation process between a “new exploration” flexible endoscope video and the “reference exploration” flexible endoscope video displayed in parallel on or in two different windows, on one or more screens.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2020
    Assignees: INSTITUT HOSPITALO-UNIVERSITAIRE DE CHIRURGIE MINI-INVASIVE GUIDEE PAR L'IMAGE, INSTITUT DE RECHECHE SUR LES CANCERS DE L'APPAREIL DIGESTIF—IRCAD
    Inventors: Stephane Nicolau, Anant Suraj Vemuri, Luc Soler, Jacques Marescaux
  • Publication number: 20180040139
    Abstract: Disclosed is a method for determining the offset or misalignment between the central or rotational axis and the optical axis of a rigid endoscope or a similar imaging device including a rigid body having an outer casing cylindrically-shaped in the direction of the optical axis, or including at least one segment having a rigid end with such a casing. The method includes taking a plurality of images with a field of view limited by a contour, the positioning of which relative to the central axis is, for each image, physically defined and specific, a relative angular rotation between the contour and the endoscope taking place between two successive images, and of determining a point or a pixel in the successively acquired images whose position remains unchanged, the point corresponding to the projection in the image plane of the central or rotational axis of the rigid body of the endoscope.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 1, 2016
    Publication date: February 8, 2018
    Inventors: Sylvain BERNHARDT, Vincent AGNUS, Stephane NICOLAU
  • Patent number: 9717441
    Abstract: An automatic process of predictive determination of the position and movements of the skin of a subject in a zone of interest, with the subject breathing freely or in an assisted manner, includes preliminarily acquiring multiple configurations of the skin profile in axial planes, at given successive times, in different respiratory positions, and for each axial plane, constructing at least one deformable digital model starting from different skin profiles, then noting, in a repetitive manner, the actual position of a point on the skin at the level of each axial plane, whose position is significantly modified during inhalation and exhalation phases, and providing, essentially in real time, a simulation of the skin profile in each axial plane, as a function of the actual position noted, and an evolving three-dimensional representation of the skin at the level of the zone of interest, by interpolation between the different axial planes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2017
    Assignee: INSTITUT DE RECHERCHE SUR LES CANCERS DE L'APPAREIL DIGESTIF—IRCAD (ASSOCIATION REGIE PAR LES ARTICLES 21 A 79 DU CODE CIVIL ET LOCAL ET INSCRITE AU REGISTRE DES ASSOCIATIONS DU TRIBUNAL D'INSTANCE DE STRASBOURG)
    Inventors: Luc Soler, Jacques Marescaux, Stephane Nicolau, Alexandre Hostettler
  • Publication number: 20160022125
    Abstract: A method and a system for anatomical site relocalisation using dual data synchronisation. Method for repositioning, possibly several times, at a specific location, which has been already explored during a first or “reference exploration”, a flexible endoscope during one or more successive endoluminal or extraluminal subsequent or “new exploration”, or similar procedures, wherein the repositioning is realized either manually, by a human user, or automatically, by a robotic system, from or by way of a synchronisation process between a “new exploration” flexible endoscope video and the “reference exploration” flexible endoscope video displayed in parallel on or in two different windows, on one or more screens.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 11, 2014
    Publication date: January 28, 2016
    Inventors: Stephane NICOLAU, Anant Suraj VEMURI, Luc SOLER, Jacques MARESCAUX
  • Patent number: 9232982
    Abstract: A system for orientation assistance and display of an instrument that is inserted or present in the natural or artificially produced hollow cavity (human, animal, object), and that is equipped with one or more sensor units. Multiple measurements of the 3D position of the instrument equipped with one or more sensor units are performed by positioning a measuring system, so that a precise orientation and positioning of the instrument in the body can be computed. The 3D position data are used to compute a virtual image of the instrument synchronously. The virtual images are then either projected directly in exact position onto the body surface of a person or combined in a body surface image (real video camera image of the patient) onto a monitor or superimposed (virtual or augmented reality). The system is especially appropriate for displaying for a user a medical instrument, such as a catheter or a rigid or flexible endoscope, in the body of a person in real time, extracorporeally and in correct position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: Karl Storz GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Luc Soler, Jacques Francois Bernard Marescaux, Stephane Nicolau, Klaus-Martin Irion
  • Publication number: 20160000355
    Abstract: An automatic process of predictive determination of the position and movements of the skin of a subject in a zone of interest, with the subject breathing freely or in an assisted manner, includes preliminarily acquiring multiple configurations of the skin profile in axial planes, at given successive times, in different respiratory positions, and for each axial plane, constructing at least one deformable digital model starting from different skin profiles, then noting, in a repetitive manner, the actual position of a point on the skin at the level of each axial plane, whose position is significantly modified during inhalation and exhalation phases, and providing, essentially in real time, a simulation of the skin profile in each axial plane, as a function of the actual position noted, and an evolving three-dimensional representation of the skin at the level of the zone of interest, by interpolation between the different axial planes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 3, 2014
    Publication date: January 7, 2016
    Inventors: Luc SOLER, Jacques MARESCAUX, Stephane NICOLAU, Alexandre HOSTETTLER
  • Publication number: 20110069159
    Abstract: A system for orientation assistance and display of an instrument that is inserted or present in the natural or artificially produced hollow cavity (human, animal, object), and that is equipped with one or more sensor units. Multiple measurements of the 3D position of the instrument equipped with one or more sensor units are performed by positioning a measuring system, so that a precise orientation and positioning of the instrument in the body can be computed. The 3D position data are used to compute a virtual image of the instrument synchronously. The virtual images are then either projected directly in exact position onto the body surface of a person or combined in a body surface image (real video camera image of the patient) onto a monitor or superimposed (virtual or augmented reality). The system is especially appropriate for displaying for a user a medical instrument, such as a catheter or a rigid or flexible endoscope, in the body of a person in real time, extracorporeally and in correct position.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 9, 2010
    Publication date: March 24, 2011
    Inventors: Luc Soler, Jacques Francois Bernard Marescaux, Stephane Nicolau, Klaus-Martin Irion