Method and device for controlling image data acquisition and image reconstruction

• US 20060285735A1
• Filed: 06/09/2006
• Published: 12/21/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens Healthcare GMBH (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens AG
• Inventors: Hagen, Ulrich, Vester, Markus, Heid, Oliver, Kluge, Thomas
• Granted Patent: US 8,073,225 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/128
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/3621 NMR receivers or demodulators, e.g. preamplifiers, means for frequency modulation of the MR signal using a digital down converter, means for analog to digital conversion [ADC] or for filtering or processing of the MR signal such as bandpass filtering, resampling, decimation or interpolation
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/54 Signal processing systems, e.g. using pulse sequences ; Generation or control of pulse sequences; Operator console
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/5608 Data processing and visualization specially adapted for MR, e.g. for feature analysis and pattern recognition on the basis of measured MR data, segmentation of measured MR data, edge contour detection on the basis of measured MR data, for enhancing measured MR data in terms of signal-to-noise ratio by means of noise filtering or apodization, for enhancing measured MR data in terms of resolution by means for deblurring, windowing, zero filling, or generation of gray-scaled images, colour-coded images or images displaying vectors instead of pixels image data processing or generation, in general G06T
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/005 General purpose rendering architectures
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/20 for handling medical images, e.g. DICOM, HL7 or PACS
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/40 for processing medical images, e.g. editing

Abstract

In a method and a device for optimization of a combined system for the acquisition of magnetic resonance tomographic measurement data and an image reconstruction process, the image reconstruction process is already executed during the acquisition of the measurement data, by the calculation process being deconstructed into calculation packets, and rules are defined that establish which requirements must be met for the execution of the respective calculation packet. The calculation process is reorganized into a workflow structure based on the calculation packets and the rules. The calculation process is controlled using the generated workflow structure synchronized to the acquisition process. The rules entirely describe the calculation process, i.e. inclusive of all calculation packets and their logical dependencies. The stability of the calculation process is thus entirely independent of the chronological order of the measurement data acquisition.

Claims

1. A method for computerized optimization of a combined data acquisition and calculation procedure, comprising the steps of:

acquiring measurement data in a data acquisition process;

operating on said measurement data by performing an electronic calculation based on acquired measurement data in a calculation process, while acquiring further measurement data in said data acquisition process in parallel with said calculation process;

electronically deconstructing said calculation process into a plurality of calculation packets;

for each of said calculation packets, electronically defining a rule set that designates logical dependencies among all of said calculation packets, said logical dependencies comprising at least one of requirements that must be fulfilled before a calculation packet can be executed, and an amount of said measurement data that must be acquired before a calculation packet can be executed;

electronically restructuring said calculation process into a workflow structure based on said calculation packets and said rule sets; and

controlling said calculation process using the workflow structure of said calculation process and automatically executing the respective calculation packets at respective earliest points in time permitted by the rule set defined therefore.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the step of electronically defining a rule set for each calculation packet comprises:

electronically defining exactly two synchronization points consisting of a blocker that monitors all of said requirements for the execution of the calculation packet and all of said logical dependencies of the calculation packet, and a detector that detects execution of the calculation packet, and wherein the step of automatically executing the respective calculation packet comprises automatically executing the respective calculation packet as soon as said blocker for that calculation packet is not blocked.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said data acquisition process proceeds in a sequence and at a speed, and wherein the step of controlling said calculation process comprises controlling said calculation process independently of said sequence and speed of said data acquisition.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1 comprising employing an arbitrary calculation algorithm for executing said calculation process.

5. A method as claimed in claim 1 comprising, in said data acquisition process, acquiring medical imaging data, selected from the group consisting of magnetic resonance image data, ultrasound image data, and computed tomography image data, as said measurement data, and comprising, in said calculation process, reconstructing an image from said medical imagings.

6. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said calculation process has an associated underlying problem to be solved by said calculation process, and wherein the step of electronically defining a rule set for each calculation packet comprises electronically defining respective rule sets that, in combination, represent a complete description of said problem.

7. A method as claimed in claim 1 comprising electronically dividing said calculation packets among a plurality of threads proceeding in parallel in said calculation process.

8. A method as claimed in claim 1 comprising dividing said data acquisition process into a plurality of threads proceeding in parallel.

9. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the step of controlling said calculation process comprises controlling said calculation process in a self-organizing manner with no external synchronization between said data acquisition data process and said calculation process.

10. A method as claimed in claim 1 comprising additionally controlling said data acquisition process to trigger acquisition of said measurement data dependent on said rule sets in said workflow structure so that said measurement data are available, as needed, in said workflow structure.

11. A method as claimed in claim 1 comprising conducting said calculation process with a computer architecture selected from the group consisting of single processor architectures and multi-processor architectures.

12. A method as claimed in claim 1 comprising executing the steps of deconstructing said calculation process, electronically defining a rule set for each calculation packet, restructuring the calculation process, and controlling the calculation process automatically in a sequence.

13. A method as claimed in claim 1 comprising electronically generating a visual display of said workflow structure in a graphical format selected from the group consisting of a dependency tree and a table.

14. A method as claimed in claim 1 comprising electronically storing intermediate results of at least one of said data acquisition process and said calculation process in a buffer storage, and using the intermediate results in said buffer storage for real-time control of said data acquisition process.

15. A computer readable medium encoded with a data structure to perform a calculation by operating on acquired data, said data structure comprising:

a plurality of calculation packets that, in combination, execute said calculation process;

for each of said calculation packets, exactly two synchronization points that define all logical dependencies among said plurality of calculation packets and that, when fulfilled, permit a calculation packet to be executed; and

a programmed association between each calculation packet and the two synchronization points thereof.

16. A computerized device for optimizing a combined data acquisition and calculation procedure, wherein measurement data are acquired in a data acquisition process and the acquired measurement data are operated on by performing an electronic calculation in a calculation process while acquiring further measurement data in said data acquisition process in parallel with said calculation process, said device comprising:

a calculation unit in which said calculation is executed, said calculation unit comprising a plurality of calculation modules and said calculation being deconstructed into a plurality of calculation packets respectively performed by said calculation modules, said calculation packets being divided among a plurality of threads in said calculation process;

a synchronization unit that establishes, for each of said calculation packets, logical dependencies with respect to other calculation packets in said plurality of calculation packets and requirements for execution of that calculation packet;

a computer-readable medium encoded with a data structure representing a workflow that is a reorganization of said calculation process according to said calculation packets, said logical dependencies and said requirements; and

a control unit in which said computer-readable medium is loaded, causing said control unit to control said calculation unit to execute said calculation process according to said workflow, to cause the respective calculation modules to executed the respective calculation packets thereof automatically at an earliest possible point-in-time, initiated by said synchronization unit, according to said logical dependencies and when said synchronization unit determines that said requirements are fulfilled.