ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 21 -- United States Patent no. 12,688,792, issued on July 21, was assigned to 25SEGMENTS AG (Zurich).

"Computer implemented method, a computing device and a system for assisting bending of a reinforcing rod for attachment to a plurality of chirurgical implants" was invented by Philipp Furnstahl (Eglisau, Switzerland), Mazda Farshad (Zumikon, Switzerland) and Marco Von Atzigen (Alpnach, Switzerland).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A computer implemented method of assisting bending of a reinforcing rod (10) includes the steps of receiving spatial positions (P1-n) of chirurgical implants (201-n), in particular pedicle screws, captured by a camera-based positioning device (50)...