Object-order multi-planar reformatting

• US 20030055328A1
• Filed: 03/21/2002
• Published: 03/20/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens Corp. (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens Corporate Research Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Paladini, Gianluca
• Granted Patent: US 7,003,175 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/407
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/001 Texturing; Colouring; Generation of texture or colour inpainting G06T5/77

Abstract

A system and method for object-order reformatting of a volume having data slices includes a coordinate transformation unit for transforming coordinates of an oblique surface through the volume from image-order to object-order, an object-order slice traversal unit for traversing the slices in accordance with the object-order of the transformed coordinates, and a slice-pair interpolation unit for interpolating voxel values of a pair of adjacent slices to render pixel values for an image of the oblique plane.

Claims

1. A method for object-order reformatting of a volume comprising a plurality of slices, the method comprising:

transforming coordinates of an oblique surface through the volume from image-order to object-order;

traversing the slices in accordance with the object-order of the transformed coordinates; and

interpolating voxel values of a pair of adjacent slices to render pixel values for an image of the oblique surface.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising:

visualizing at least one of the plurality of interpolated pixels in the order in which it was rendered.

3. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the plurality of slices corresponds to a medical image.

4. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the oblique surface is a planar oblique plane.

5. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the oblique surface is a curved oblique plane.

6. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein transforming coordinates comprises sorting the coordinates from image-order to object-order.

7. A system (100) for object-order reformatting of a volume comprising a plurality of slices, the system comprising:

a coordinate transformation unit (170) for transforming coordinates of an oblique surface through the volume from image-order to object-order;

an object-order slice traversal unit (180) for traversing the slices in accordance with the object-order of the transformed coordinates; and

a slice-pair interpolation unit (190) for interpolating voxel values of a pair of adjacent slices to render pixel values for an image of the oblique surface.

8. A system (100) as defined in claim 7 wherein the plurality of slices comprise medical images.

9. A system (100) as defined in claim 7, further comprising:

a CPU (102) in signal communication with said object-order slice traversal unit (180) for processing slices.

10. A system (100) as defined in claim 9, further comprising:

a display adapter (110) in signal communication with the CPU (102) for displaying the image of the oblique plane; and

an I/O adapter (112) in signal communication with the CPU (102) for recalling the locations of the voxels visualized from the image of the oblique plane to provide an indication of the location of a visualized object within the image of the oblique plane.

11. A system (100) as defined in claim 9, further comprising:

a user interface adapter (114) in signal communication with the CPU (102) for at least receiving a selection decision for at least one image of the oblique plane from a user.

12. A system for object-order reformatting of a volume comprising a plurality of slices, the system comprising:

transforming means for transforming coordinates of an oblique surface through the volume from image-order to object-order;

traversing means for traversing the slices in accordance with the object-order of the transformed coordinates; and

interpolating means for interpolating voxel values of a pair of adjacent slices to render pixel values for an image of the oblique surface.

13. A system as defined in claim 12, further comprising:

visualization means for visualizing at least one of the plurality of interpolated pixels in the order in which it was rendered.

14. A system as defined in claim 12 wherein the plurality of slices correspond to medical images.

15. A system as defined in claim 12 wherein the oblique surface is a planar oblique plane.

16. A system as defined in claim 12 wherein the oblique surface is a curved oblique plane.

17. A system as defined in claim 12 wherein said transforming means comprises sorting means for sorting the coordinates from image-order to object-order.

18. A program storage device readable by machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for object-order reformatting of a volume comprising a plurality of slices, the method steps comprising:

transforming coordinates of an oblique surface through the volume from image-order to object-order;

traversing the slices in accordance with the object-order of the transformed coordinates; and

interpolating voxel values of a pair of adjacent slices to render pixel values for an image of the oblique surface.

19. A program storage device as defined in claim 18, the method steps further comprising:

visualizing at least one of the plurality of interpolated pixels in the order in which it was rendered.

20. A program storage device as defined in claim 18 wherein the plurality of slices correspond to medical images.