Methods for suppression of items and areas of interest during visualization

• US 20050256399A1
• Filed: 05/12/2004
• Published: 11/17/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Sirohey, Saad Ahmed, Avinash, Gopal B.
• Granted Patent: US 7,868,900 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/425
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/00 Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis; Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis combined with radiation therapy equipment instruments measuring radiation intensity for application in the field of nuclear medicine, e.g. in vivo counting, G01T1/161; apparatus for taking X-ray photographs G03B42/02
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/03 Computed tomography [CT] echo-tomography A61B8/14
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/4035 the source being combined with a filter or grating
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/503 Blending, e.g. for anti-aliasing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2200/04 involving 3D image data
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10081 Computed x-ray tomography [CT]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20104 Interactive definition of region of interest [ROI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30028 Colon; Small intestine
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2210/41 Medical
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2210/62 Semi-transparency
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0012 Biomedical image inspection

Abstract

A method for generating an image includes accessing data of a scan of an object, using at least one characteristic of the accessed data to delineate at least one item of interest in the data and generating a 3D visualization image wherein transparency levels for at least some pixels not representing the item of interest are set according to a first set of rules, and transparency levels for at least some pixels representing an interior portion of the item of interest are set according to a second set of rules different than the first set of rules, and at least some pixels representative of a transition area are set according to a third set of rules different than the first and second sets of rules.

Claims

1. A method for generating an image, said method comprising:

accessing data of a scan of an object;

using at least one characteristic of the accessed data to delineate at least one item of interest in the data; and

generating a 3D visualization image wherein transparency levels for at least some pixels not representing the item of interest are set according to a first set of rules, and transparency levels for at least some pixels representing an interior portion of the item of interest are set according to a second set of rules different than the first set of rules, and at least some pixels representative of a transition area are set according to a third set of rules different than the first and second sets of rules.

2. A method in accordance with claim 1 wherein said generating comprises generating a 3D visualization image wherein transparency levels for at least some pixels not representing the item of interest are set according to the first set of rules, transparency levels for at least some pixels representing the interior portion of the item of interest are set according to the second set of rules different than the first set of rules such that at least some pixels representing the interior portion have a higher transparency level with the second set of rules than with the first set of rules.

3. A method in accordance with claim 1 wherein said generating comprises generating a 3D visualization image wherein transparency levels for at least some pixels not representing the item of interest are set according to the first set of rules, transparency levels for at least some pixels representing the interior portion of the item of interest are set according to the second set of rules different than the first set of rules such that at least some pixels representing the interior portion have a higher transparency level with the second set of rules than with the first set of rules, and at least some pixels representative of the transition area are set according to a third set of rules different than the first and second sets of rules such that a pixel in the transition area has a transparency level less with the third set of rules than with the first and second sets of rules.

4. A method in accordance with claim 1 wherein said generating comprises generating a 3D visualization image wherein transparency levels for at least some pixels not representing the item of interest are set according to the first set of rules, transparency levels for at least some pixels representing the interior portion of the item of interest are set according to the second set of rules different than the first set of rules such that at least some pixels representing the interior portion have a higher transparency level with the second set of rules than with the first set of rules, and at least some pixels representative of a transition area are set according to the third set of rules different than the first and second sets of rules such that some pixels in the transition area have a transparency level less with the third set of rules than with the second set of rules and greater with the third set of rules than with the first set of rules.

5. A method in accordance with claim 1 wherein said using at least one characteristic of the accessed data to delineate at least one item of interest in the data comprises using at least one characteristic of the accessed data to delineate at least one item of interest wherein a user has selected the item of interest.

6. A method in accordance with claim 1 wherein said using at least one characteristic of the accessed data to delineate at least one item of interest in the data comprises using at least one characteristic of the accessed data to delineate at least one item of interest comprising fecal matter.

7. A method in accordance with claim 1 wherein said using at least one characteristic of the accessed data to delineate at least one item of interest in the data comprises using at least one characteristic of the accessed data to delineate at least one item of interest comprising user selected fecal matter.

8. A method in accordance with claim 1 wherein at least one of the first, second, and third set of rules is received from a user.

9. A method in accordance with claim 1 further comprising:

receiving an transparency level from a user; and

generating a second 3D visualization image wherein transparency levels for at least some pixels representing the interior portion of the item of interest are set according to the received transparency level.

10. A method in accordance with claim 1 further comprising:

receiving an transparency level from a user; and

generating a second 3D visualization image wherein transparency levels for at least some pixels representing the transition area are set according to the received transparency level.

11. A method in accordance with claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a first transparency level from a user;

receiving a second transparency level from a user;

generating a second 3D visualization image wherein transparency levels for at least some pixels representing the interior portion of the item of interest are set according to the received first transparency level and at least some pixels representing the transition area are set according to the received second transparency level.

12. A method for generating an image, said method comprising:

accessing data of a scan of an object;

delineating items of interest from said data; and

generating a 2D reformatted view using the accessed data and the generated delineation such that the intensity of the area of interest is changed according to a set of rules.

13. A method in accordance with claim 12 further comprising generating a 2D reformatted view using the accessed data and the generated delineation such that the area of interest is at least partially removed from the 2D view.

14. A method in accordance with claim 12 wherein generating a 2D reformatted view using the accessed data and the generated delineation such that the intensity of the area of interest is changed according to a set of rules comprises changing transparency values for pixels within the area of interest.

15. A method in accordance with claim 14 further comprising receiving from a user a selection of the item of interest.

16. A method in accordance with claim 14 further comprising receiving from a user a selection of the item of interest comprising bone.

17. A method for generating an image, said method comprising:

accessing data of a scan of an object;

detecting and delineating items of interest from said data; and

generating a 3D visualization image wherein transparency values are varied based upon delineated items of interest and a set of rules.

18. A method in accordance with claim 17 wherein said varying transparency values based upon the segmentation comprises varying transparency values based upon the segmentation such that the interior of the items of interest is substantially transparent.

19. A method in accordance with claim 17 wherein said varying transparency values based upon the segmentation comprises varying transparency values based upon the segmentation such that the interior of the items of interest is substantially transparent and a transition area is delineated such that a viewer of the 3D visualization image can identify the items of interest.

20. A method for generating an image, said method comprising:

accessing data of a scan of an object;

generating a 3D visualization image of the object;

receiving an indication of an area of interest;

mapping area of interest from 3D visualization image to said data to obtain a mapped volume of interest;

performing a segmentation process on the mapped volume of interest; and

varying transparency values of the 3D visualization image based upon the segmentation and a set of rules.

21. A computer readable medium encoded with a program configured to instruct a computer to:

access scan data;

delineate the scanned data into at least three classes of voxels;

apply a transparency level to each class of voxels based on a set of rules; and

render the data to form a 3D image.

22. A computer readable medium encoded with a program configured to instruct a computer to:

access scan data;

delineate the scanned data into at least three classes of regions;

change intensity in at least one delineated region according to a set of rules; and

generate an image using the changed intensity.

23. A medium in accordance with claim 22, wherein said program further configured to instruct the computer to render the date to generate a 3D image.

24. A medium in accordance with claim 22, wherein said program further configured to instruct the computer to reformat the date to generate a 2D image.

25. A computer readable medium encoded with a program configured to instruct a computer to:

access scan data;

perform a computer aided detection to identify at least one item of interest

vary transparency levels based on the item of interest and a set of rules; and

render the data to form a 3D image.

26. A computer readable medium encoded with a program configured to instruct a computer to:

access scan data;

render the data to form a 3D image;

receive from a user an indication of at least one region of interest;

map the region of interest onto the accessed scan data to generate a volume of interest;

segment the volume of interest;

vary transparency levels based on the segmented volume of interest; and

render the data to generate an image.