Apparatus and method for detecting objects in computed tomography data using erosion and dilation of objects
US6067366A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Feb 11, 1998 |
| Grant date | May 23, 2000 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Feb 11, 2018 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06V2201/05
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A method and apparatus for detecting objects in computed tomography (CT) data are disclosed. Erosion of the data can be performed by identifying a neighborhood of voxels surrounding a voxel of interest. If the number of voxels having densities below a predetermined threshold exceeds a predetermined number, then it is assumed that the voxel of interest is a surface voxel of an object and is removed from the object. A connectivity process is then applied to remaining voxels to combine them into objects. A dilation function can then be performed on the eroded object to replace surface voxels removed by erosion. This morphological connected components labeling (CCL) approach separates adjacent objects in the data such that they can be individually labeled and analyzed.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.