ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,307,581, issued on May 20, was assigned to INTUITIVE SURGICAL OPERATIONS INC. (Sunnyvale, Calif.).

"Elongate device references for image-guided procedures" was invented by Zachary F. Moller (San Francisco), Leah R. Muller (San Francisco) and Cynthia Warman (San Carlos, Calif.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "System and methods for providing an elongate device reference include a system configured determine a pose, within a workspace, of at least one of a distal portion of an elongate device, or an instrument extendable from the distal portion of the elongate device; acquire a reference pose of the at least one of the distal portion of the ...