MOTION TRACKING SYSTEM FOR REAL TIME ADAPTIVE MOTION COMPENSATION IN BIOMEDICAL IMAGING

• US 20180070904A1
• Filed: 09/06/2017
• Published: 03/15/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/01/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: KinetiCor, Inc., Queen's Medical Center, Research Corporation of The University of Hawaii
• Original Assignee: KinetiCor, Inc., Queen's Medical Center, Research Corporation of The University of Hawaii
• Inventors: Yu, Jeffrey N., Ernst, Thomas Michael
• Granted Patent: US 10,653,381 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/055 involving electronic [EMR] or nuclear [NMR] magnetic resonance, e.g. magnetic resonance imaging
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/702 Posture restraints
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/721 using a separate sensor to detect motion or using motion information derived from signals other than the physiological signal to be measured
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/032 Transmission computed tomography [CT]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/037 Emission tomography
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/0492 using markers or indicia for aiding patient positioning
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/527 using data from a motion artifact sensor
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/283 Intercom or optical viewing arrangements, structurally associated with NMR apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/5608 Data processing and visualization specially adapted for MR, e.g. for feature analysis and pattern recognition on the basis of measured MR data, segmentation of measured MR data, edge contour detection on the basis of measured MR data, for enhancing measured MR data in terms of signal-to-noise ratio by means of noise filtering or apodization, for enhancing measured MR data in terms of resolution by means for deblurring, windowing, zero filling, or generation of gray-scaled images, colour-coded images or images displaying vectors instead of pixels image data processing or generation, in general G06T
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/56509 due to motion, displacement or flow, e.g. gradient moment nulling G01R33/567 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2200/04 involving 3D image data
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10072 Tomographic images
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30004 Biomedical image processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2211/428 Real-time
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0012 Biomedical image inspection
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/207 for motion estimation over a hierarchy of resolutions multi-resolution motion estimation or hierarchical motion estimation for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals H04N19/53
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/73 using feature-based methods

Abstract

The disclosure herein provides methods, systems, and devices for tracking motion of a patient or object of interest during biomedical imaging and for compensating for that motion in the biomedical imaging scanner and/or the resulting images to reduce or eliminate motion artifacts. In an embodiment, a motion tracking system is configured to overlay tracking data over biomedical imaging data in order to display the tracking data along with its associated image data. In an embodiment, a motion tracking system is configured to overlay tracking data over biomedical imaging data in order to display the tracking data along with its associated image data. In an embodiment, one or more detectors are configured to detect images of a patient, and a detector processing interface is configured to analyze the images to estimate motion or movement of the patient and to generate tracking data describing the patient'"'"'s motion. The detector processing interface is configured to send the tracking data to a scanner controller to enable adjustment of scanning parameters in real-time in response to the patient'"'"'s motion.

Claims

1-20. -20. (canceled)

21. A biomedical system for tracking motion of an object during biomedical imaging and for compensating for motion of the object, the biomedical system comprising:

a biomedical imaging scanner configured to perform scanning of the object to generate biomedical images of the object;

at least one detector for generating data describing at least a first landmark and a second landmark of the object;

one or more computer readable storage devices configured to store a plurality of computer executable instructions; and

one or more hardware computer processors in communication with the one or more computer readable storage devices and configured to execute the plurality of computer executable instructions in order to cause the biomedical system to;

determine motion of the first landmark using a first motion tracking technique;

determine motion of the second landmark using a second motion tracking technique, the second motion tracking technique being different than the first motion tracking technique;

generate motion tracking data of the object at least in part by combining the determined motions of the first and second landmarks; and

control one or more scanner parameters of the biomedical imaging scanner based on the generated motion tracking data, the scanner parameters configured for controlling the biomedical imaging scanner to account for motion of the object during the scanning of the object.

22. The biomedical system of claim 21, wherein the first and second landmarks comprise one or more of a facial feature of the subject, an organ of the subject, or an image projected onto the subject.

23. The biomedical system of claim 21, wherein the biomedical system is further caused to utilize an atlas-segmentation technique for identifying the first landmark or the second landmark of the object.

24. The biomedical system of claim 21, wherein the biomedical system is further caused to apply a first weighting factor to the determined motion of the first landmark and apply a second weighting factor to the determined motion of the second landmark, wherein the first weighting factor is based on a historical accuracy of the first motion tracking technique and the second weighting factor is based on a historical accuracy of the second motion tracking technique.

25. The biomedical system of claim 21, wherein the biomedical system is further caused to perform calculations of a characteristic of the object.

26. The biomedical system of claim 25, wherein the biomedical system is further caused to perform the calculations of the characteristic of the object by measuring distances of points on the object to the at least one detector.

27. The biomedical system of claim 21, wherein the biomedical system is further caused to characterize different types of body organs and/or facial features of the object.

28. The biomedical system of claim 21, wherein the biomedical system is further caused to measure at least the first and second landmarks of the object in coordinates of the at least one detector.

29. The biomedical system of claim 21, wherein the biomedical system is further caused to calculate geometry of the object or a portion of the object.

30. The biomedical system of claim 29, wherein the calculated geometry of the object or the portion of the object is used for creating a three-dimensional surface model of the object or the portion of the object.

31. A computer implemented-method for tracking motion of an object during biomedical imaging by a scanner and for compensating for motion of the object, the computer implemented-method comprising:

accessing, by a computer system, an image of the object;

identifying, by the computer system, a first landmark of the object in the image, the first landmark being a feature naturally existing in the object, the identifying of the first landmark performed by utilizing a first motion tracking technique to determine motion of the first landmark;

identifying, by the computer system, a second landmark of the object in the image, the identifying of the second landmark performed by utilizing a second motion tracking technique to determine motion of the second landmark, the second motion tracking technique being different than the first motion tracking technique;

accessing, by the computer system, a plurality of images of the object;

tracking, by the computer system, movement of the first landmark and the second landmark in the plurality of images of the object at least in part by combining the determined motion of the first landmark and the determined motion of the second landmark;

translating, by the computer system, the movement in a first reference plane to a second reference plane of the scanner;

generating, by the computer system, data parameters based on the movement in the second reference plane, the data parameters configured to adjust the scanning parameters of the scanner to account for motion of the object; and

transmitting, by the computer system, the data parameters to a scanner controller, the scanner controller configured to control the scanning parameters of the scanner,

wherein the computer system comprises a computer processor and an electronic storage medium.

32. The computer-implemented method of claim 31, further comprising measuring the first and second landmarks of the object in coordinates of at least one detector, wherein the accessing of the image of the object is from the at least one detector.

33. The computer-implemented method of claim 31, wherein the first and second landmarks comprise one or more of a facial feature of the subject, an organ of the subject, or an image projected onto the subject.

34. The computer-implemented method of claim 31, wherein the identifying the first landmark comprises utilizing an atlas-segmentation technique.

35. The computer-implemented method of claim 31, further comprising performing calculations of a characteristic of the object by measuring distances of points on the object to the at least one detector.

36. The computer-implemented method of claim 31, further comprising calculating geometry of the object or a portion of the object for creating a three-dimensional surface model of the object or the portion of the object.

37. A biomedical system for tracking motion of an object during biomedical imaging and for compensating for motion of the object, the biomedical system comprising:

a biomedical imaging scanner configured to perform scanning of the object to generate biomedical images of the object;

at least one detector for generating data describing at least a first landmark and a second landmark of the object,

one or more computer readable storage devices configured to store a plurality of computer executable instructions; and

one or more hardware computer processors in communication with the one or more computer readable storage devices and configured to execute the plurality of computer executable instructions in order to cause the biomedical system to;

determine motion of the first landmark using a first motion tracking technique;

determine motion of the second landmark using a second motion tracking technique;

adjust the determined motion of the first landmark and the determined motion of the second landmark to account for skin movement;

generate motion tracking data of the object at least in part by combining the adjusted motions of the first and second landmarks; and

control one or more scanner parameters of the biomedical imaging scanner based on the generated motion tracking data, the scanner parameters configured for controlling the biomedical imaging scanner to account for motion of the object during the scanning of the object.

38. The biomedical system of claim 37, wherein the skin movement is calculated based on determining whether a difference between the determined motion of the first landmark and the determined motion of the second landmark is above a threshold level.

39. The biomedical system of claim 37, wherein the first motion tracking technique and the second motion tracking technique are the same.

40. The biomedical system of claim 37, wherein the first motion tracking technique and the second motion tracking technique are different.