METHOD, AN APPARATUS, A SYSTEM AND A COMPUTER PROGRAM FOR TRANSFERRING SCAN GEOMETRY BETWEEN SUBSEQUENT SCANS

• US 20090208105A1
• Filed: 06/28/2007
• Published: 08/20/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/06/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Inventors: Bergmans, Cornelis Johannes Fransiscus Maria, Young, Stewart, Pekar, Vladimir, Bystrov, Daniel, Van Muiswinkel, Arianne
• Granted Patent: US 8,620,056 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/173
• 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 33/543 Control of the operation of the MR system, e.g. setting of acquisition parameters prior to or during MR data acquisition, dynamic shimming, use of one or more scout images for scan plane prescription G01R33/546 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30004 Biomedical image processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30244 Camera pose
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/74 involving reference images or patches

Abstract

The invention relates to a method, an apparatus and a computer program for transferring scan geometry between a first region and a second region, similar to the first region. In the method according to the invention the first region and the second region are being identified (4), preferably in the overview image, followed by determination (6) of the first scan geometry corresponding to the first region. Then, the first scan geometry is being transferred into the second scan geometry corresponding to the second region, whereby information on geometrical correspondence between the first region and the second region is used. Preferably, the step of transferring comprises establishing corresponding mappings between similar regions and their respective scan geometries.

Claims

1. A method for transferring scan geometry from a first scan to a second scan for similar regions, the method comprising the steps of:

loading an overview scan of an object comprising a first region and a second region;

identifying the first region and the second region in the overview scan;

determining first scan geometry corresponding to the first region;

transferring the first scan geometry into the second scan geometry corresponding to the second region using information on geometrical correspondence between the first region and the second region.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the step of identifying the first region and the second region is performed automatically by means of image segmentation.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the step of determining the first scan geometry is performed by analyzing preceding scans of similar regions.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the first scan geometry is determined based on a pre-stored model.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein the step of transferring comprises establishing correspondence mappings between similar regions and their respective scan geometries.

6. A method according to claim 5, wherein the method further comprises a preparatory step of:

pre-processing a geometry database comprising a plurality of regions with corresponding scan geometries for establishing samples of scan geometry.

7. A method according to claim 6, wherein a weighting factor is used to distinguish between samples of scan geometries and the first scan geometry for determining the second scan geometry.

10. A computer program comprising instructions for causing a processor to carry out the steps of the method according to claim 1.

8. An apparatus for transferring scan geometry from a first scan to a second scan for similar regions, the system comprising:

an input for loading an overview scan of an object comprising a first region and a second region;

a processor for;

identifying the first region and the second region in the overview scan;

determining first scan geometry corresponding to the first region;

transferring the first scan geometry into the second scan geometry corresponding to the second region using information on geometrical correspondence between the first region and the second region.

9. An image acquisition system, comprising an apparatus with an imaging module for obtaining scan data, said system further comprising an apparatus according to claim 8.