AUTOMATIC MOVIE FLY-PATH CALCULATION

• US 20100259542A1
• Filed: 10/27/2008
• Published: 10/14/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/02/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Visser, Cornelis Pieter, De Bliek, Hubrecht Lambertus Tjalling
• Granted Patent: US 10,217,282 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/427
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/003 Navigation within 3D models or images
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30048 Heart; Cardiac
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2210/41 Medical

Abstract

Movies of volume rendered medical images, that give an impression of the anatomy, become more and more important, because this type of visualization comes close to reality. However it is time consuming to compose these movies, if another path than geometrical primitives (like a circle) is preferred. Besides this it is virtually impossible to reproduce comparable complex, manually composed, fly-paths. The proposed apparatus focuses on volume rendered movies of whole heart MR scans. It solves the problems mentioned above, by automatically deriving a fly-path from the segmentation data of the coronary arteries. A method, computer-readable medium and use are also provided.

Claims

1. An apparatus (20) for processing of an image dataset comprising an object, said apparatus comprising:

a segmentation unit (21) configured to perform image segmentation of said object,

a calculation unit (22) configured to;

calculate a first location defining a first start point (31, S1) of a first sub object of said object;

calculate a second location defining an first end point (32, E1, AE1) of said first sub object;

calculate a third location defining a center point (35, C) of said image dataset;

calculate a first projected start point (S1′

) by projecting said first start point onto a projection surface using said center point;

calculate a first projected end point (E1′

, AE1′

) by projecting said first start point onto a projection surface using said center point; and

calculate a path (F1) between said first projected start point and said first projected end point,

a movie creation unit (23) configured to calculate at least two successive images along said path, wherein each of said images has a projection plane defined by a predetermined relation to said path and center point.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said path is a closed loop path.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said path is located on the surface of a virtual sphere comprising said object, and wherein said center point is the center point of said virtual sphere.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said calculation unit 22 is further configured to calculate a first intermediate point (I1) located between said first start point and said first end point, and wherein said calculation unit is configured to:

calculate a projected intermediate point (I1′

) by projecting said intermediate point onto the projection surface using said center point, and

calculate a path (F1) between said first projected start point and said first projected end point via said projected intermediate point.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said intermediate point is located on a centerline of said sub object.

6. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said intermediate point is located on a straight line between said first start point and said first end point.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said end point is an averaged end point.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said object is a heart and said first sub object is a coronary artery.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said calculation unit (22) is further configured to:

calculate a first location defining a second start point (33, S2) of a second sub object of said object;

calculate a second location defining a second end point (34, E2, AE2) of said second sub object; and

calculate a second projected start point (S2′

) by projecting said second start point onto a projection surface using said center point,

calculate a second projected end point (E1′

, AE1′

) by projecting said second start point onto a projection surface using said center point,

calculate a path (F1) between said first projected start point, said first projected end point, said second projected start point, and said second projected end point.

10. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said center point (35) is calculated using said first start point, said first end point, said second start point, and said second end point.

11. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said projection plane of each image is oriented such that the normal vector for a point of the projection plane intersect with said center point.

12. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an input unit (24) configured to receive information regarding a preferred fly-path from a user, and wherein the calculation unit is configured to:

calculate at least one additional point from the user-defined fly-path in relation to the first start point (31, S1, 33, S2) and first end point (32, E1, AE1, 34, E2, A22) based on said information; and

calculate a path based on said first projected start point, first projected end point, center point and the relation of said at least one additional point with respect to the position of the first start point and first end point.

15. Use of the apparatus according to claim 1 for facilitating diagnosis or subsequent treatment or surgical treatment of an anatomical structure in a patient.

13. A method for processing of an image dataset comprising an object, said method comprising:

performing (51) image segmentation of said object,

calculating (52) a first location defining a first start point (31, S1) of a first sub object of said object,

calculating (53) a second location defining an first end point (32, E1, AE1) of said first sub object,

calculating (54) a third location defining a center point (35, C) of said image dataset,

calculating (55) a first projected start point (S1′

) by projecting said first start point onto a projection surface using said center point,

calculating (56) a first projected end point (E1′

, AE1′

) by projecting said first start point onto a projection surface using said center point,

calculating (57) a path (F1) between said first projected start point and said first projected end point,

calculating (58) at least two successive images along said path, wherein each of said images has a projection plane defined by a predetermined relation to said path and center point.

14. A computer-readable medium having embodied thereon a computer program for processing by a processor, said computer program comprising:

a segmentation code segment (61) configured to perform image segmentation of an object being comprised in an image dataset,

a calculation code segment (62) configured to;

calculate a first location defining a first start point (31, S1) of a first sub object of said object;

calculate a second location defining an first end point (32, E1, AE1) of said first sub object;

calculate a third location defining a center point (35, C) of said image dataset;

calculate a first projected start point (S1′

) by projecting said first start point onto a projection surface using said center point;

calculate a first projected end point (E1′

, AE1′

) by projecting said first start point onto a projection surface using said center point; and

calculate a path (F1) between said first projected start point and said first projected end point, and

a movie creation code segment (63) configured to calculate at least two successive images along said path, wherein each of said images has a projection plane defined by a predetermined relation to said path and center point.