Patent · US Expired

Apparatus and method for eroding objects in computed tomography data

US6075871A · kind A · utility

89Cited by
38References
36Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateFeb 11, 1998
Grant dateJun 13, 2000
Priority date
Expiry dateFeb 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, including sheet-shaped objects such as sheet explosives, analyze a neighborhood of voxels surrounding a test voxel. 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 test voxel is a surface voxel and is removed from the object. A connectivity process can be applied to voxels to combine them into objects after sheets are detected to prevent sheets from being inadvertently removed from the data by erosion. A dilation function can then be performed on the eroded object to replace surface voxels removed by erosion.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.