METHOD OF PROCESSING RADIOGRAPH AND APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING RADIOGRAPH USING THE METHOD

• US 20130163843A1
• Filed: 12/27/2012
• Published: 06/27/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: PARK, Jong-geun, KANG, Ho-kyung, LEE, Jae-chool, LEE, Hyun-seung, JUNG, Hae-kyung
• Granted Patent: US 9,183,625 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/132
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10116 X-ray image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20061 Hough transform
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20132 Image cropping
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30008 Bone
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0012 Biomedical image inspection
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/12 Edge-based segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/168 involving transform domain methods

Abstract

Provided are an apparatus and a method for processing a radiograph which is capable of precisely detecting a region of interest. The apparatus includes: an inputter that outputs an input image obtained by irradiating radioactive rays; and a line detector that performs a Hough transform on the input image, senses at least one edge line based on the Hough-transformed input image, performs a Radon transform in a region in which the at least one edge line is sensed, and obtains an edge line of the at least one edge line as a first collimation line one based on a result of the Radon transform.

Claims

1. An apparatus for processing a radiograph, the apparatus comprising:

an inputter which outputs an image obtained by irradiating radioactive rays; and

a line detector which performs a Hough transform on the image output from the inputter, senses at least one first edge line based on the Hough-transformed input image, performs a first Radon transform on a region in which the at least one first edge line is sensed, and obtains, as a first collimation line, an edge line of the at least first one edge line based on a result of the first Radon transform.

2. The apparatus for processing a radiograph of claim 1, wherein the line detector senses the at least first one edge line by using a first Hough peak value generated by the Hough transform.

3. The apparatus for processing a radiograph of claim 2, wherein the line detector performs the first Radon transform on the region in which the at least one first edge line is sensed and obtains edge information of the image based on the result of the first Radon transform.

4. The apparatus for processing a radiograph of claim 3, wherein the line detector chooses, as the first collimation line, one edge line corresponding to the obtained edge information among the at least one first edge line.

5. The apparatus for processing a radiograph of claim 1, wherein:

the line detector obtains a second collimation line based on a second Hough peak value in a region spaced apart from the first collimation line by a predetermined distance, obtains a third collimation line based on a third Hough peak value in a region spaced apart from the first collimation line by a predetermined phase, and obtains a fourth collimation line based on a fourth Hough peak value in a region spaced apart from the third collimation line by the predetermined distance; and

the first collimation line, the second collimation line, the third collimation line, and the fourth collimation line are obtained on a Hough domain.

6. The apparatus for processing a radiograph of claim 5, further comprising a region of interest (ROI) detector which obtains an ROI based on the obtained first collimation line, the obtained second collimation line, the obtained third collimation line, and the obtained fourth collimation line.

7. The apparatus for processing a radiograph of claim 5, wherein the predetermined phase is +90 degrees or −

90 degrees.

8. The apparatus for processing a radiograph of claim 5, wherein the predetermined distance is greater than a vertical distance from a direct exposure region in the image.

9. The apparatus for processing a radiograph of claim 5, wherein the line detector comprises:

a first detector which detects the first collimation line;

a second detector which detects the second collimation line;

a third detector which detects the third collimation line; and

a fourth detector which detects the fourth collimation line.

10. The apparatus for processing a radiograph of claim 9, wherein:

the first detector senses a first Hough peak value in the Hough domain which is obtained by using the Hough transform of the image, senses the at least one first edge line corresponding to the at least one first Hough peak value, performs the first Radon transform on the region in which the at least first one edge line is sensed, and obtains, as the first collimation line, the edge line corresponding to edge information of the image obtained by using the result of the first Radon transform; and

the second detector senses the second Hough peak value in the region that is spaced apart from the first collimation line by the predetermined distance in the Hough domain, senses at least one second edge line corresponding to the second Hough peak value, performs a second Radon transform on a region in which the at least one second edge line is sensed, and obtains, as the second collimation line, an edge line of the at least one second edge line corresponding to edge information of the image obtained by using the result of the second Radon transform.

11. The apparatus for processing a radiograph of claim 6, wherein the ROI detector obtains the ROI formed by the first collimation line, the second collimation line, the third collimation line, and the fourth collimation line.

12. The apparatus for processing a radiograph of claim 1, wherein the inputter comprises a radiographyer which irradiates x-rays to a subject for radiography to obtain the image that is an original x-ray image.

13. A method of processing a radiograph for detecting a region of interest (ROI) of the radiograph, the method comprising:

receiving an image obtained by irradiating radioactive rays;

performing a Hough transform on the image and sensing at least one first edge line based on the Hough-transformed image;

performing a first Radon transform on a region in which the at least one first edge line is sensed; and

obtaining, as a first collimation line, an edge line of the at least one first edge line based on a result of the first Radon transform,

wherein the image is obtained by irradiating radioactive rays.

14. The method of processing a radiograph of claim 13, wherein the sensing the at least one first edge line comprises sensing the at least one first edge line by using a first Hough peak value generated by the Hough transform.

15. The method of processing a radiograph of claim 14, wherein the obtaining, as the first collimation line, the edge line of the at least one first edge line comprises:

performing the first Radon transform on the region in which the at least one first edge line is sensed; and

obtaining edge information of the image based on the result of the first Radon transform.

16. The method of processing a radiograph of claim 15, wherein the obtaining, as the first collimation line, the edge line of the at least one first edge line further comprises obtaining, as the first collimation line, one edge line of the at least one first edge line corresponding to the edge information.

17. The method of processing a radiograph of claim 14, further comprising:

determining whether all of collimation lines used to form the ROI are obtained; and

adjusting a location of a Hough domain in the image to detect the first Hough peak value, and repeating the sensing, the performing the Radon transform, and the obtaining, if all of the collimation lines used to form the ROI are not obtained.

18. The method of processing a radiograph of claim 13, further comprising:

obtaining a second collimation line based on a second Hough peak value in a region spaced apart from the first collimation line by a predetermined distance;

obtaining a third collimation line based on a third Hough peak value in a region that is spaced apart from the first collimation line by a predetermined phase; and

obtaining a fourth collimation line based on a fourth Hough peak value in a region that is spaced apart from the third collimation line by the predetermined distance,

wherein the first collimation line, the second collimation line, the third collimation line, and the fourth collimation line are obtained in a Hough domain.

19. The method of processing a radiograph of claim 18, further comprising obtaining the ROI based on the obtained first collimation line, the obtained second collimation line, the obtained third collimation line, and the obtained fourth collimation line.

20. The method of processing a radiograph of claim 18, wherein the predetermined phase is +90 degrees or −

90 degrees, and the predetermined distance is greater than a vertical distance from a direct exposure region corresponding to the image.

21. The method of processing a radiograph of claim 18, wherein the obtaining the second collimation line comprises:

sensing the second Hough peak value in the region that is spaced apart from the first collimation line by the predetermined distance in the Hough domain;

sensing at least one second edge line corresponding to the second Hough peak value;

performing a second Radon transform on a region in which the at least one second edge line is sensed; and

obtaining, as the second collimation line, an edge line, of the at least one second edge line, corresponding to edge information of the image obtained by using a result of the second Radon transform.

22. The method of processing a radiograph of claim 18, wherein the obtaining the third collimation line comprises:

sensing the third Hough peak value in the region that is spaced apart from the first collimation line by the predetermined phase in the Hough domain;

sensing at least one third edge line corresponding to the third Hough peak value;

performing a third Radon transform on a region in which the at least one third edge line is sensed; and

obtaining, as the third collimation line, an edge line, of the at least one third edge line, corresponding to edge information of the image obtained by using a result of the third Radon transform.

24. A computer readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program executable by a computer for performing the method of claim 13.

23. The method of processing a radiograph of 18, wherein the obtaining the fourth collimation line comprises:

sensing the fourth Hough peak value in the region that is spaced apart from the third collimation line by the predetermined distance in the Hough domain;

sensing at least one fourth edge line corresponding to the fourth Hough peak value;

performing a fourth Radon transform on a region in which the at least one fourth edge line is sensed; and

obtaining, as the fourth collimation line, an edge line, of the at least one fourth edge line, corresponding to edge information of the image obtained by using a result of the fourth Radon transform.

25. A method of processing a radiograph for detecting a region of interest (ROI) of the radiograph, the method comprising:

sensing at least one first edge line based on a Hough-transformed image;

performing a first Radon transform on a region in which the at least one first edge line is sensed; and

obtaining, as a first collimation line, an edge line of the at least one first edge line based on a result of the first Radon transform.

26. A computer readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program executable by a computer for performing the method of claim 25.