METHOD OF DISPLAYING VIRTUAL RULER ON SEPARATE IMAGE OR MEDICAL IMAGE OF OBJECT, MEDICAL IMAGE OBTAINING APPARATUS, AND METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DISPLAYING SEPARATE IMAGE OR MEDICAL IMAGE WITH VIRTUAL RULER

• US 20150145890A1
• Filed: 02/02/2015
• Published: 05/28/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: MOON, Heeyeon, SHIN, Seung Hoon, HAN, Woosup
• Granted Patent: US 9,788,808 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/634
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1075 for measuring dimensions by non-invasive methods, e.g. for determining thickness of tissue layer A61B8/0858 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/743 Displaying an image simultaneously with additional graphical information, e.g. symbols, charts, function plots
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/461 Displaying means of special interest
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/463 characterised by displaying multiple images or images and diagnostic data on one display
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/5241 combining overlapping images of the same imaging modality, e.g. by stitching
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/5294 involving using additional data, e.g. patient information, image labeling, acquisition parameters
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/206 Drawing of charts or graphs
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10116 X-ray image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20212 Image combination
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30004 Biomedical image processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0012 Biomedical image inspection

Abstract

A medical image displaying apparatus includes: an image obtainer that obtains a medical image of an object without placing a physical ruler beside the object; a controller that generates a virtual ruler based on a location of the image obtainer when the medical image is obtained; and a display that displays the virtual ruler on the medical image.

Claims

1. A medical image displaying apparatus comprising:

an image obtainer that obtains a medical image of an object without placing a physical ruler beside the object;

a controller that generates a virtual ruler based on a location of the image obtainer when the medical image is obtained; and

a display that displays the virtual ruler on the medical image.

2. The medical image displaying apparatus of claim 1, wherein the image obtainer comprises an X-ray emitter for emitting X-rays to the object and an X-ray detector for detecting the X-rays, and

the medical image displaying apparatus further comprises a location obtainer that obtains the location of the X-ray detector when the medical image is obtained.

3. The medical image displaying apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a location obtainer that obtains a first value for a first side of the medical image and a second value for a second side of the medical image, by using a distance from a reference point to the location of the image obtainer,

wherein the virtual ruler indicates distance values between the first value and the second value.

4. The medical image displaying apparatus of claim 3, wherein the first value corresponds to a distance from the reference point to a first side of the image obtainer, and the second value corresponds to a distance from the reference point to the second side of the image obtainer.

5. The medical image displaying apparatus of claim 3, wherein the controller obtains an actual distance for each pixel of the medical image as a quotient of a difference value between the first value and the second value of the medical image and a number of pixels in the medical image, and

the display displays the virtual ruler on the medical image by using the first value and the actual distance of each pixel, or the second value and the actual distance of each pixel.

6. The medical image displaying apparatus of claim 3, wherein the controller divides the medical image into a plurality of areas in a predetermined direction, and

the display displays the virtual ruler on the medical image by using the first value and a third value which is obtained by dividing a difference value between the first value and the second value of the medical image by a number of the plurality of areas, or by using the second value and the third value.

7. The medical image displaying apparatus of claim 1, wherein the image obtainer comprises an X-ray emitter for emitting X-rays to the object and an X-ray detector for detecting the X-rays,

the medical image displaying apparatus further comprises a location obtainer that obtains a first value for a first side of the medical image and a second value for a second side of the medical image, by using a distance between the X-ray emitter and the X-ray detector, a distance between the object and the X-ray detector, a distance from a reference point to a first side of the X-ray detector, and a distance from the reference point to a second side of the X-ray detector, and

the display displays the virtual ruler indicating values between the first value and the second value.

8. The medical image displaying apparatus of claim 1, wherein the controller moves a position of the virtual ruler so that the virtual ruler is not outside a predetermined area, when the medical image is magnified based on a zoom-in input of a user.

9. A method of displaying a medical image, the method comprising:

obtaining a medical image of an object without placing a physical ruler beside the object;

generating a virtual ruler based on a location of the image obtainer when the medical image is obtained; and

displaying the virtual ruler on the medical image.

10. A medical image displaying apparatus comprising:

an image obtainer that obtains a first X-ray image and a second X-ray image corresponding to a plurality of areas of an object;

a controller that generates a first virtual ruler corresponding to the first X-ray image and a second virtual ruler corresponding to the second X-ray image, and obtains a composite image by combining the first X-ray image and the second X-ray image based on the first virtual ruler and the second virtual ruler; and

a display that displays the composite image.

11. The medical image displaying apparatus of claim 10, wherein the image obtainer comprises an X-ray emitter for emitting X-rays to the object and an X-ray detector for detecting the X-rays, and

the medical image displaying apparatus further comprises a location obtainer that obtains a location of the X-ray detector.

12. The medical image displaying apparatus of claim 10, further comprising a location obtainer that obtains a first distance from a reference point to the image obtainer when the first X-ray image is obtained, and a second distance from the reference point to the image obtainer when the second X-ray image is obtained, and

the first virtual ruler is associated with the first distance and the second virtual ruler is associated with the second distance.

13. The medical image displaying apparatus of claim 10, wherein the controller generates the first virtual ruler associated with a first distance corresponding to a first location of the image obtainer when the first X-ray image is obtained and the second virtual ruler associated with a second distance corresponding to a second location of the image obtainer when the second X-ray image is obtained.

14. The medical image displaying apparatus of claim 13, wherein the controller obtains a first value for a first side of the first X-ray image and a second value for a second side of the first X-ray image, by using the first distance, generates the first virtual ruler which indicates distance values between the first value and the second value, obtains a third value for a first side of the second X-ray image and a fourth value for a second side of the second X-ray image, by using the second distance, and generates the second virtual ruler which indicates distance values between the third value and the fourth value.

15. The medical image displaying apparatus of claim 10, wherein the controller combines the first X-ray image and the second X-ray image by overlapping the first X-ray image with the second X-ray image between points with the same distance values indicated on the first virtual ruler and the second virtual ruler.

16. The medical image displaying apparatus of claim 10, wherein the display displays the composite image on which the first virtual ruler and the second virtual ruler are displayed, and the controller eliminates the first virtual ruler and the second virtual ruler from the composite image based on a input of a user, so that only the composite image is displayed without the first virtual ruler and the second virtual ruler.

17. The medical image displaying apparatus of claim 10, wherein the controller moves the first virtual ruler displayed on the composite image along a first direction based on a movement of the first X-ray image, when the first X-ray image of the composite image is moved along the first direction based on a user input.

18. The medical image displaying apparatus of claim 10, wherein the controller moves the first X-ray image along a second direction without moving the first virtual ruler, when a user input for moving the first X-ray image of the composite image along the second direction is received.

19. The medical image displaying apparatus of claim 10, wherein the controller moves the first virtual ruler and the second virtual ruler displayed on the composite image along a second direction based on a movement of the first X-ray image, simultaneously, when the first X-ray image of the composite image is moved along the second direction based on a user input.

20. A method of displaying a medical image, the method comprising:

obtaining a first X-ray image and a second X-ray image corresponding to a plurality of areas of an object;

generating a first virtual ruler corresponding to the first X-ray image and a second virtual ruler corresponding to the second X-ray image;

obtaining a composite image by combining the first X-ray image and the second X-ray image based on the first virtual ruler and the second virtual ruler; and

displaying the composite image.