Patent · US Active

Method and apparatus for efficient automated re-contouring of four-dimensional medical imagery using surface displacement fields

US8265356B2 · kind B2 · utility

3Cited by
10References
70Claims
0Family size

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Key dates

Filing dateJan 30, 2008
Grant dateSep 11, 2012
Priority date
Expiry dateApr 15, 2031

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06V10/755
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A technique is disclosed for generating a new contour and/or a 3D surface from contour data using a surface displacement field. The technique is preferably applied to un-contoured target images within a 4D image sequence for which contour data is desired. The technique can be initialized with contour data related to a reference image that has already been contoured, e.g. by a doctor who manually enters contour information into a computer. Image registration (calculation of correspondence between the reference image and target image) can be performed simultaneously with segmentation (identifying regions of interest in the target image). This allows one to make use of segmentation information in a reference image to improve the accuracy of contouring within the target image.

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