Patent · US Active

Image super enhancement

US9974509B2 · kind B2 · utility

4Cited by
216References
17Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateSep 8, 2011
Grant dateMay 22, 2018
Priority date
Expiry dateSep 30, 2032

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC A)Human Necessities
  • CPC primaryA61F2250/0098
  • WIPO fieldMedical technology
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

Apparatus and methods are provided for imaging a tool inside a portion of a subject's body that undergoes motion. A plurality of image frames of the portion are acquired. An image frame in which the tool is enhanced is generated by (a) identifying radiopaque markers in the image frames, (b) identifying edge lines in a vicinity of the markers within the image frames, the edge lines corresponding to contours of the tool, (c) in response to the identifying of the edge lines, selecting a subset of the image frames that are based upon the acquired image frames, based upon a level of similarity between the edge lines in the selected image frames to one another, (d) aligning the contours in a plurality of the selected image frames, and (e) averaging the plurality of aligned frames to generate an averaged image frame. Other applications are also described.

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