Image processing apparatus, control method therefor, and program

• US 20060033728A1
• Filed: 08/11/2005
• Published: 02/16/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/11/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Sako, Tsukasa
• Granted Patent: US 7,852,332 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/204
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/463 characterised by displaying multiple images or images and diagnostic data on one display
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/467 characterised by special input means
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records

Abstract

Range information associated with the range of an image group of a plurality of image which is to be displayed is designated. The designated range information is stored. Image processing is performed for each image of the image group corresponding to the stored range information to generate a display image group. The images of the generated display image group are switched to display an iamge on a display unit.

Claims

1. An image processing apparatus which switches a plurality of images to display an image, comprising:

designate means for designating range information associated with a range of an image group of the plurality of images which are to be displayed;

storage means for storing the range information designated by said designate means;

image generation means for generating a display image group by performing image processing for each image group corresponding to the range information stored in said storage means; and

display control means for switching display image groups generated by said image generation means to display an image on a display unit.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

said designate means designates, as the range information, start image identification information of a start image of the range and a range image count equivalent to the range, and

said storage means stores the start image identification information and the range image count as the range information.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising control means for controlling a change made by said designate means, and

said control means, when a change of the range of the image group to be displayed is to be executed by changing the start image identification information using said designate means, controlling the change such that the ranges before and after the change become continuous.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein when a change of the start image identification information is to be executed by said designate means, said control means controls the change such that an image count from an image corresponding to the start image identification information before the change to an image corresponding to the start image identification information after the change falls within the range image count.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising timer means for generating a timer event,

wherein said display control means repeatedly executes displaying, on said display unit, the display image group consecutively arranged in the range of the range image count while sequentially switching the images in the arranging order of the images in a forward direction in accordance with the timer event.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising timer means for generating a timer event,

wherein said display control means repeatedly and alternately executes displaying, on said display unit, the display image group consecutively arranged in the range of the range image count while sequentially switching the images in the arranging order of the images in a forward direction in accordance with the timer event, and displaying, on said display unit, the display image group while sequentially switching the images in the arranging direction in a backward direction.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein image processing executed by said image generation means includes gradation processing and enlargement/reduction processing.

8. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein when a change of the start image identification information is executed by said designate means, start image identification information before the change which is stored in said storage means is updated to start image identification information after the change.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

said designate means further designates an image processing method for image processing to be executed with respect to images in a predetermined range which includes at least one image of an image group corresponding to the range information, and

said image generation means generates a display image by performing image processing for the images in the predetermined range by using the image processing method designated by said designate means.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the image processing method includes image processing of generating an average image of images in the predetermined range by performing averaging processing for each of corresponding pixels between the images in the predetermined range.

11. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the image processing method includes image processing of generating an MIP (Maximum Intensity Projection) image of a predetermined number of images in the predetermined range by using a maximum pixel value of each of corresponding pixels between the images in the predetermined range.

12. The apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising timer means for generating a timer event,

wherein said image generation means sequentially switches images as start images in the predetermined range, performs image processing for an image group in each predetermined range in which the switched image serves as a start image, and generates a display image corresponding to each predetermined range, and

said display control means alternately and repeatedly executes displaying, on said display unit, display images corresponding to said each predetermined range which are arranged in the range of the range image count while sequentially switching the images in an arranging order in a forward direction with respect to a start image in said each predetermined range, and displaying, on said display unit, the images while sequentially switching the images in the arranging order in a backward direction.

13. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of images include at least one cross section image group of three cross section image groups in arbitrary orthogonal directions crossing solid data.

14. The apparatus according to claim 13, further comprising timer means for generating a timer event,

wherein said image generation means generates a display image group by performing image processing for each image of at least one cross section image group of the three cross section image groups corresponding to range information stored in said storage means in accordance with the timer event.

15. An image processing apparatus which switches a plurality of images to display an image, comprising:

setting means for setting an image range to be displayed in accordance with start image identification information and an image count;

display control means for performing display control to repeatedly display images included in the image range in a predetermined order; and

image range changing means for changing the image range by changing the start image identification information.

16. A control method for an image processing apparatus which switches a plurality of images to display an image, comprising:

a setting step of setting an image range to be displayed in accordance with start image identification information and an image count;

a display control step of performing display control to repeatedly display images included in the image range in a predetermined order; and

an image range changing step of changing the image range by changing the start image identification information.

17. A control method for an image processing apparatus which a plurality of images to display an image, comprising:

a designating step of designating range information associated with a range of an image group of the plurality of images which are to be displayed;

a storage step of storing the range information designated in the designating step in a storage unit;

an image generating step of generating a display image group by performing image processing for each image group corresponding to the range information stored in the storage unit; and

a display control step of switching display image groups generated in the image generating step to display an image on a display unit.

18. A program for realizing control of an image processing apparatus which switches a plurality of images to display an image, comprising:

a program code for a designating step of designating range information associated with a range of an image group of the plurality of images which are to be displayed;

a program code for a storage step of storing the range information designated in the designating step in a storage unit;

a program code for an image generating step of generating a display image group by performing image processing for each image group corresponding to the range information stored in the storage unit; and

a program code for a display control step of switching display image groups generated in the image generating step to display an image on a display unit.