Region of interest high resolution reconstruction for display purposes and a novel bookmarking capability

• US 20020044696A1
• Filed: 11/21/2001
• Published: 04/18/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/1999
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: GE Medical Systems Information Technologies Incorporated (General Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: GE Medical Systems Information Technologies Incorporated (General Electric Company)
• Inventors: Vaan, Jan de, Wheeler, Frederick Wilson, Sirohey, Saad A., Mukhopadhyay, Sudipta, Barnes, Robert D.
• Application Number:
  US09/996,327
• Publication Number:
  US 20020044696A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/240
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/4084 in the transform domain, e.g. fast Fourier transform [FFT] domain scaling
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/4092 Image resolution transcoding, e.g. by using client-server architectures
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/10 using adaptive coding
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/103 Selection of coding mode or of prediction mode
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/105 Selection of the reference unit for prediction within a chosen coding or prediction mode, e.g. adaptive choice of position and number of pixels used for prediction
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/127 Prioritisation of hardware or computational resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/13 Adaptive entropy coding, e.g. adaptive variable length coding [AVLC] or context adaptive binary arithmetic coding [CABAC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/132 Sampling, masking or truncation of coding units, e.g. adaptive resampling, frame skipping, frame interpolation or high-frequency transform coefficient masking
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/136 Incoming video signal characteristics or properties
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/14 Coding unit complexity, e.g. amount of activity or edge presence estimation H04N19/146 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/146 Data rate or code amount at the encoder output
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/156 Availability of hardware or computational resources, e.g. encoding based on power-saving criteria
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/17 the unit being an image region, e.g. an object
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/184 the unit being bits, e.g. of the compressed video stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/186 the unit being a colour or a chrominance component
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/46 Embedding additional information in the video signal during the compression process H04N19/517, H04N19/68, H04N19/70 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/593 involving spatial prediction techniques
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/61 in combination with predictive coding
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/63 using sub-band based transform, e.g. wavelets
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/70 characterised by syntax aspects related to video coding, e.g. related to compression standards
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234327 : by decomposing into layers, e.g. base layer and one or more enhancement layers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25808 : Management of client data terminal profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/303
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2662 : Controlling the complexity of the video stream, e.g. by scaling the resolution or bitrate of the video stream based on the client capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6373 : for rate control , e.g. request to the server to modify its transmission rate flow control in packet networks H04L47/10

Abstract

The present technique addressably handles image data, which is decomposed and tessellated into a plurality of tessellated sub-band blocks. The tessellated sub-band blocks may be addressed by an array of indices, which identify specific data blocks of the image data by decomposition level and spatial coordinates of the tessellated sub-band blocks. Accordingly, a desired region of the image data at multiple resolutions can be identified and individually handled for storage, transmission, retrieval, and display. The desired region also can be reference marked based on the array of indices.

Claims

1. A method for selective handling of image data, the method comprising:

addressing data according to a decomposition level index and tessellation block indices, wherein the decomposition level index refers to data sets generated by lossless wavelet decomposition, and the tessellation block indices refer to blocks tessellated from the data sets;

identifying an area of interest of the image according to the decomposition level index and the tessellation block indices; and

handling the area of interest identified by the decomposition level index and the tessellation block indices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the decomposition level index corresponds to a resolution level.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the tessellation block indices comprise a row index and a column index for addressing spatial coordinates of the blocks.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the lossless wavelet decomposition comprises lossless integer wavelet decomposition.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the blocks comprise a fixed block size.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein addressing comprises creating a plurality of addressable data blocks comprising a plurality of the blocks.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the data sets comprises a hierarchical set of sub-bands, one set comprising a low frequency component at a lowest resolution level and each remaining set comprising high frequency components at successively higher resolution levels.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the high frequency components of at least one of the successively higher resolution levels are tessellated into sets of the blocks for each of the high frequency components.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the decomposition level index corresponds to a resolution level of the respective data sets.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein addressing comprises addressing the blocks for each of the sub-bands.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the tessellation block indices correspond to spatial coordinates of the blocks within each of the sub-bands.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein identifying the area of interest comprises selecting at least one block of the blocks encompassing a selected area of interest.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein handling the area of interest comprises retrieving the at least one block.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein retrieving the at least one block comprises retrieving the at least one block for the high frequency components at the successively higher resolution level relative to a current local resolution level at a client.

16. The method of claim 15, comprising combining the at least one block for each of the high frequency components with the current local resolution level to reconstruct the area of interest at the successively higher resolution level.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein handling comprises reference marking the area of interest using the decomposition level index and the tessellation block indices.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein handling comprises reconstructing the image in the area of interest using the tessellation block indices to retrieve the blocks selectively from storage.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein handling comprises selectively transmitting data for at least one of the blocks corresponding to the area of interest using the decomposition level index and the tessellation block indices.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein handling comprises forming an image data stream comprising data for at least one of the blocks encompassing the area of interest.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein forming the data stream comprises creating an addressable superblock of the data for the blocks using the decomposition level index and the tessellation block indices, each of the blocks for each of the data sets being individually addressable within the addressable superblock.

22. A method for selectively displaying image data, the method comprising:

identifying a spatial region of interest within an image based on a plurality of addressable blocks comprising a decomposition level index and tessellation block indices, wherein the decomposition level index refers to data sets generated from the image by lossless wavelet decomposition, and the tessellation block indices refer to spatial blocks tessellated from the data sets;

requesting a spatial group of the plurality of addressable blocks encompassing the spatial region of interest by referencing the blocks by the decomposition level index and the tessellation block indices; and

reconstructing the image within the spatial region of interest using the requested spatial group.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the decomposition level index corresponds to a resolution level, the data sets comprising a plurality of different resolution levels.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the tessellation block indices comprise a row index and a column index for addressing spatial coordinates of the spatial blocks.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein the lossless wavelet decomposition comprises lossless integer wavelet decomposition.

26. The method of claim 22, wherein the spatial blocks comprise a fixed block size.

27. The method of claim 22, wherein each of the data sets comprises a hierarchical set of sub-bands, one set comprising a low frequency component at a lowest resolution level and each remaining set comprising high frequency components at successively higher resolution levels.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the high frequency components of at least one of the successively higher resolution levels are tessellated into sets of the spatial blocks for each of the high frequency components.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein the addressable blocks comprise a sub-band reference for addressing a desired one of the hierarchical set of sub-bands.

30. The method of claim 27, wherein requesting the spatial group comprises requesting at least one block of the spatial blocks for each of the high frequency components at one of the successively higher resolution levels relative to a current lower resolution level of the image data.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein reconstructing the image comprises combining the at least one block for each of the high frequency components with the current lower resolution level to reconstruct the spatial region of interest at the successively higher resolution level.

32. The method of claim 22, wherein requesting the spatial group comprises locating and retrieving each block of the spatial group from a remote storage device based on the decomposition level index and the tessellation block indices.

33. The method of claim 22, wherein requesting the spatial group comprises recalling a local portion of the spatial group from local storage and retrieving a missing portion of the spatial group from remote storage.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein requesting the spatial group comprises tracking local presence or absence of each of the plurality of addressable blocks.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein requesting the spatial group comprises tracking local presence or absence of each of the data sets, which correspond to different image resolution levels of the image.

36. The method of claim 22, comprising reference marking the spatial region of interest using the decomposition level index and the tessellation block indices of the plurality of addressable blocks.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the decomposition level index corresponds to a resolution level, the data sets comprising a plurality of different resolution levels.

39. The method of claim 37, wherein the tessellation block indices comprise a row index and a column index for addressing spatial coordinates of the spatial blocks.

40. The method of claim 37, wherein each of the data sets comprises a hierarchical set of sub-bands, one set comprising a low frequency component at a lowest resolution level and each remaining set comprising high frequency components at successively higher resolution levels.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein the high frequency components of at least one of the successively higher resolution levels are tessellated into sets of the spatial blocks for each of the high frequency components.

42. The method of claim 40, wherein the addressable blocks comprise a sub-band reference for addressing a desired one of the hierarchical set of sub-bands.

43. The method of claim 37, wherein tracking comprises tracking local presence or absence of each set of the data sets, which correspond to different image resolution levels of the image.

44. The method of claim 37, wherein tracking comprises toggling a Boolean flag.

45. The method of claim 37, wherein handing data communication comprises requesting a spatial group of the plurality of addressable blocks, as needed based on the at least one tracking indicator, by referencing each block of the spatial group by decomposition level index and tessellation block indices.

46. The method of claim 45, wherein requesting the spatial group comprises requesting at least one block of the spatial blocks for each high frequency component of at least one of the data sets, the at least one having an image resolution relatively higher than a local portion of the data sets stored at the client.

47. The method of claim 37, comprising displaying the image within a spatial region of interest using the data that has been addressed, tracked and handled.

48. The method of claim 47, wherein displaying the image data comprises combining at least one of the spatial blocks for each high frequency component of at least one set of the data sets with a low frequency component formed by at least one different set of the data sets, the at least one set having a higher image resolution than the at least one different set.

49. The method of claim 47, comprising reference marking the spatial region of interest using the decomposition level index and the tessellation block indices of the plurality of addressable blocks.

37. A method for tracking image data, the method comprising:

addressing data using a plurality of addressable blocks comprising a decomposition level index and tessellation block indices, wherein the decomposition level index refers to data sets generated from an image by lossless wavelet decomposition, and the tessellation block indices refer to spatial blocks tessellated from the data sets;

tracking presence or absence of the plurality of addressable blocks at a client via at least one tracking indicator; and

handling data communication between the client and a server via the decomposition level index, the tessellation block indices and the at least one tracking indicator.

50. A system comprising:

an interface comprising;

an addressing module configured for addressing image data using a plurality of addressable blocks comprising a decomposition level index and tessellation block indices, wherein the decomposition level index refers to data sets generated from an image by lossless wavelet decomposition, and the tessellation block indices refer to spatial blocks tessellated from the data sets; and

a tracking module configured for tracking presence or absence of the plurality of addressable blocks at a client via at least one tracking indicator; and

a memory device configured to store the plurality of addressable blocks.

51. The system of claim 50, wherein the decomposition level index corresponds to a resolution level, the data sets comprising a plurality of different resolution levels.

52. The system of claim 50, wherein the tessellation block indices comprise a row index and a column index for addressing spatial coordinates of the spatial blocks.

53. The system of claim 50, wherein each of the data sets comprises a hierarchical set of sub-bands, one set comprising a low frequency component at a lowest resolution level and each remaining set comprising high frequency components at successively higher resolution levels.

54. The system of claim 50, wherein the tracking module is configured for tracking local presence or absence of each set of the data sets, which correspond to different image resolution levels of the image.

55. The system of claim 50, wherein the tracking module comprises a display tracking module configured for tracking displayed images that are reconstructed from the data sets by using the addressable blocks, each of the data sets corresponding to a different resolution level of the image.

56. The system of claim 55, wherein the display tracking module comprises a region tracking module configured for tracking a spatial area of interest within the displayed images using the addressable blocks.

57. The system of claim 50, wherein the tracking module comprises a reference marking module configured for reference marking a spatial area of interest identified by the addressable blocks.

58. The system of claim 50, wherein the interface comprises a communication handling module configured for selectively communicating the data between the client and a server via the decomposition level index, the tessellation block indices and the at least one tracking indicator.

59. The system of claim 58, wherein the communication handling module comprises a selective retrieval module configured for retrieving at least one of the plurality of addressable blocks as needed for image reconstruction based on the at least one tracking indicator, the decomposition level index and the tessellation block indices.

60. The method of claim 50, wherein the interface comprises an image reconstruction module configured for combining at least one of the spatial blocks for each high frequency component from at least one set of the data sets with a low frequency component formed by at least one different set of the data sets, the at least one set having a higher image resolution than the at least one different set.

61. The system of claim 50, wherein the interface comprises a decompression module configured for decompressing each of the addressable blocks.

62. The system of claim 50, wherein the system comprises a picture archiving and communication system.

63. The system of claim 50, further comprising one or more imaging systems.

64. The system of claim 63, wherein the one or more imaging systems comprise an MRI system.

65. The system of claim 63, wherein the one or more imaging systems comprise a computed tomography system.

66. The system of claim 63, wherein the one or more imaging systems comprise a positron emission tomography system.

67. The system of claim 63, wherein the one or more imaging systems comprise a radio fluoroscopy system.

68. The system of claim 63, wherein the one or more imaging systems comprise a computed radiography system.

69. The system of claim 63, wherein the one or more imaging systems comprise an ultrasound system.

70. A computer program comprising:

a machine readable medium;

an addressing module stored on the machine readable medium, wherein the addressing module is configured for indexing data by decomposition level and spatial coordinates of tessellation, wherein the decomposition level refers to data sets generated from an image by lossless wavelet decomposition, and the spatial coordinates refer to blocks tessellated from the data sets; and

a tracking module stored on the machine readable medium, comprising

a tessellated block tracking module configured for tracking presence or absence of each of the plurality of addressable blocks at a client via a first Boolean tag; and

a decomposed level tracking module configured for tracking complete presence or complete absence of each of the data sets at a client via a second Boolean tag.

71. The computer program of claim 70, wherein the decomposition level corresponds to a resolution level, the data sets comprising a plurality of different resolution levels.

72. The computer program of claim 70, wherein the spatial coordinates comprise a row number and a column number for spatially identifying blocks of the tessellated data sets.

73. The computer program of claim 70, wherein each of the data sets comprises a hierarchical set of sub-bands, one set comprising a low frequency component at a lowest resolution level and each remaining set comprising high frequency components at successively higher resolution levels.

74. The computer program of claim 70, wherein the tracking module comprises a region tracking module configured for tracking a spatial area of interest by referencing the data that is indexed by decomposition level and spatial coordinates.

75. The computer program of claim 74, wherein the tracking module comprises a reference marking module configured for reference marking the spatial area of interest by decomposition level and spatial coordinates.

76. The computer program of claim 74, wherein the interface comprises a communication handling module configured for selectively communicating the spatial area of interest between the client and a server based on the decomposition level and spatial coordinates.

77. The computer program of claim 70, wherein the tracking module comprises an ordering module configured for handling the data in a desired order based on the decomposition level and spatial coordinates.