System and method for annotation on a moving image

• US 20020171669A1
• Filed: 05/20/2002
• Published: 11/21/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 05/18/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Given Imaging Limited (Medtronic Plc)
• Original Assignee: Given Imaging Limited (Medtronic Plc)
• Inventors: Meron, Gavriel, Glukhovsky, Arkady
• Granted Patent: US 7,119,814 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/619
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/00009 of image signals during a use of endoscope
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/0004 for electronic operation
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/041 Capsule endoscopes for imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/78 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually

Abstract

A system and method allows for the annotation of an image stream, which may be produced by, for example, an ingestible capsule. A workstation accepts images acquired by the capsule and displays the images on a monitor as a moving image. A user inputs an annotation which corresponds to a portion of the moving image, and the annotation is recorded in a database associated with the selected portion. The annotation may include, for example, textual notes regarding the image portion. The annotations may be displayed at a later time.

Claims

1. A method for annotating an image stream, the method comprising:

accepting images acquired by a vehicle disposed within a body lumen;

displaying the images on a monitor in the form of a moving image;

accepting an annotation from a user, the annotation corresponding to a portion of the moving image;

recording the annotation in a database; and

associating the annotation with the portion of the moving image.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the portion of the moving image comprises a single image.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the portion of the moving image comprises a subset of the moving image.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of accepting the annotation includes at least the step of accepting a text comment.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of accepting the annotation includes at least the step of marking a portion of the moving image.

6. The method as in claim 1, wherein the vehicle is a capsule.

7. The method as in claim 1 wherein the images are images from a gastrointestinal tract.

8. The method as in claim 1, wherein the step of accepting the annotation includes at least the steps of:

accepting a create annotation command from a user;

marking a set of frames of the moving image;

accepting text from the user; and

storing the text in a record associated with the set of frames.

9. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

accepting from a user an indication of an annotation to view; and

displaying the annotation.

10. The method as in claim 1, comprising:

displaying to a user a time chart of the moving image; and

displaying to the user annotation summaries corresponding to times on the time chart.

11. The method as in claim 10, further comprising:

accepting from a user an indication of an annotation to view; and

displaying the annotation.

13. The system of claim 12, comprising a set of links linking each annotation with a subset of the images.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein each annotation includes at least a text comment.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein each annotation includes at least a marker.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the vehicle is a capsule.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the images are images from a gastrointestinal tract.

12. A system for storing and retrieving annotations for an image stream, the system comprising:

an image storage memory capable of accepting a set of images acquired by a vehicle disposed within a body lumen; and

an annotation memory capable of storing a set of annotations, each annotation associated with a subset of the set of images.

18. A system for storing and retrieving annotations for an image stream, the system comprising:

an image storage means for accepting a set of images acquired by a vehicle disposed within a body lumen; and

an annotation memory means for storing a set of annotations, each annotation associated with a subset of the set of images.