METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR TRANSFER OF IMAGE DATA FILES

• US 20120087560A1
• Filed: 02/05/2010
• Published: 04/12/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/05/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Research Foundation for The State University of New York (State University of New York)
• Original Assignee: The Research Foundation for The State University of New York (State University of New York)
• Inventors: Poon, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 9,474,500 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/131
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/032 Transmission computed tomography [CT]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/503 for diagnosis of the heart
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/563 involving image data transmission via a network
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/20 for handling medical images, e.g. DICOM, HL7 or PACS

Abstract

A system and method is provided which allows for the transfer of an image data file such as a medical image data file. Device scan slices of an object are acquired per time point. A portion of the device scan slices of the object, e.g., live body organ, per time point which illustrate a change in the object from a previous time point is selected. At least one optical temporal image in spiral fashion per time interval is formed from the selected portion. The at least one optical temporal image is transmittable as an image data file to a location.

Claims

1. A method for the transfer of an image data file, comprising:

acquiring device scan slices of an object per time point;

selecting a portion of the device scan slices of the object per time point which illustrate a change in the object from a previous time point;

forming at least one optical temporal image in spiral fashion per time interval from the selected portion; and

transmitting the at least one optical temporal image as an image data file to a location.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the forming of the optical temporal image includes compressing the device scan slices.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein at least one of a 3-dimensional and differential 2-dimensional lossless compression technique is used.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the forming of the optical temporal image includes transcoding the device scan slices from motion-JPEG to H.264.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the device is a computed tomography machine.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the object is at least one of a body organ, a heart, a lung, a liver, a gall bladder, an eye, an artery, and a brain.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the portion is made of one scan slice from every ten scan slices acquired in succession.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

extracting a specific area of interest from each of the at least one optical temporal images for transmission as the image data file.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmission occurs via at least one of a wired network and a wireless network.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

evaluating the transmitted image data file by the location;

determining full diagnostics from the transmitted medical imaging data; and

transmitting the full diagnostics to at least one of a storage location and a use location.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the storage location is at least one of a server, a plurality of servers, a storage device, a magnetic strip storage device, a chip storage device.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the use location is at least one of a hospital, a location from where the image data file was acquired, a university, a clinic, and another evaluation location to check accuracy of the full diagnostics.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the evaluation of the transmitted image data is effected by at least one of an urgent care clinic, a large cardiology practice group, a primary care practice group, a hospital, a university, and a location remote from where the image data was acquired.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the image data file is compressed further for faster transfer of data via at least one of the Internet and a video conference system, and/or via download to a storage device.

15. A system for the remote evaluation of medical imaging data, comprising:

an imaging device, the imaging device generating imaging device scan slices of an object per time point;

a processor, the processor being configured to select a portion of the imaging device scan slices which illustrate change in the object from a previous time point; and

a compression device, the compression device forming at least one optical temporal image in spiral fashion per time interval from the selected portion;

wherein the at least one optical temporal image is transmitted as an image data file having sufficient resolution required for its intended review use.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the image data file is transmitted to a remote location for at least one of storage and review.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the imaging device includes at least one multi-detector computed tomography scan.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the compression device includes a transcoder for transcoding the imaging device scan slices from motion-JPEG to H.264.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the portion is made of one scan slice from every ten scan slices acquired in succession.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein at least one of the processor and a separate processor extracts a specific area of interest from each of the at least one optical temporal images for transmission as the image data file.