APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FOR EACH REGION OF INTEREST

• US 20150317794A1
• Filed: 04/30/2015
• Published: 11/05/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: SEONG, Yeong Kyeong, LEE, Chon Hee
• Granted Patent: US 9,842,270 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/06 Measuring blood flow measuring volume flow in general G01F, e.g. G01F1/66, G01F1/72; measuring speed of fluids in general G01P5/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/0825 for diagnosis of the breast, e.g. mammography
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4416 related to combined acquisition of different diagnostic modalities, e.g. combination of ultrasound and X-ray acquisitions
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/461 Displaying means of special interest
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/469 for selection of a region of interest
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/485 involving measuring strain or elastic properties
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/5246 combining images from the same or different imaging techniques, e.g. color Doppler and B-mode
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/5261 combining images from different diagnostic modalities, e.g. ultrasound and X-ray
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10081 Computed x-ray tomography [CT]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10088 Magnetic resonance imaging [MRI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10116 X-ray image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10132 Ultrasound image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20104 Interactive definition of region of interest [ROI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0012 Biomedical image inspection

Abstract

An apparatus and method for providing additional information for region of interest. The apparatus includes a region of interest extractor configured to extract regions of interest from a first medical image and at least one second medical image, a region of interest merger configured to merge a region of interest of the at least one second medical image into the first medical image, an additional information determiner configured to determine additional information required for each region of interest, and an additional information provider configured to provide the determined additional information for the each region of interest.

Claims

1. An apparatus for providing additional information for region of interest, the apparatus comprising:

a region of interest extractor configured to extract regions of interest from a first medical image and at least one second medical image;

a region of interest merger configured to merge a region of interest of the at least one second medical image into the first medical image;

an additional information determiner configured to determine additional information required for each region of interest; and

an additional information provider configured to provide the determined additional information for the each region of interest.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one second medical image is an image captured prior to the first image.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the region of interest merger is further configured to register the first medical image and the at least one second medical image.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the additional information determiner comprises:

a rule storage configured to store at least one rule that defines feature values of regions of interest and additional information required for the feature values;

a feature value extractor configured to extract feature values for each of the merged regions of interest;

a rule retriever configured to retrieve rules for the extracted feature values from the rule storage; and

an additional information selector configured to select additional information for each of the regions of interest based on the retrieved rules.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the additional information comprises new additional information that refers to information associated with examinations to be conducted for an accurate diagnosis, and previous additional information that refers to examination-related information stored in a medical database to be additionally provided for an accurate diagnosis.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising an additional information acquirer configured to acquire additional information required for the each region of interest.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the additional information for the each region of interest is retrieved from a medical database.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, which is installed in an ultrasonic imaging device comprising at least two imaging modes selected from a bloodstream imaging mode for obtaining a bloodstream image, an elastography mode for obtaining an elastography image, a general ultrasonic mode for obtaining a general ultrasonic mode, and a high-resolution ultrasonic mode for obtaining a high-resolution ultrasonic image.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the additional information acquirer is further configured to acquire the additional information for each of the regions of interest by changing an imaging mode of the ultrasonic imaging device based on the determined additional information.

10. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the additional information provider is further configured to provide a user with additional information acquired for the each region of interest.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one second medical image comprises an image of a portion identical to a portion captured by the first image.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first medical image and the at least one second medical image is acquired from a medical database.

13. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the feature values comprises features of the regions of interest.

14. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the feature value extractor is further configured to extract the feature values based on analyzing information on each of the merged regions of interest stored in a medical database.

15. A method for providing additional information for region of interest, the method comprising:

extracting regions of interest from each of a first medical image and at least one second medical image;

merging a region of interest of the at least one second medical image into the first medical image;

determining additional information required for each of the merged regions of interest; and

providing determined additional information for the each of the regions of interest.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the at least one second medical image is a medical image captured before the first medical image.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the merging comprises registering the first medical image and the at least one second medical image.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the determining comprises:

extracting feature values of each of the merged regions of interest by analyzing information on the merged regions of interest stored in a medical database;

retrieving one rule for the extracted feature values from one or more pre-stored rules; and

selecting additional information for each of the regions of interest according to the retrieved rule.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the additional information comprises new additional information that refers to information associated with examinations to be conducted for an accurate diagnosis, and previous additional information that refers to examination-related information stored in a medical database to be additionally provided for an accurate diagnosis.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising acquiring additional information for the each of the regions of interest based on the determination results.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the acquiring of the additional information comprises acquiring additional information for each of the regions of interest from a medical database.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the providing comprises providing a user with the additional information for each of the regions of interest.