Method and apparatus for detecting blood vessels and displaying an enhanced video image from an ultrasound scan
First Claim
1. An apparatus for detecting blood vessels and displaying enhanced video images thereof based upon video images of an ultrasound scanner of subcutaneous blood vessels comprising:
- means for receiving an input video image from said video images of said ultrasound scanner of subcutaneous blood vessels;
an edge detector, coupled to said means for receiving, sensing gradients in pixel values in a predetermined portion of said input video image and marking transitional pixels at predetermined gradients representing at least a portion of a vascular wall about a lumen of a blood vessel; and
means for concurrently displaying said video images of said ultrasound scan end the marked transitional pixels, said marked pixels being displayed in a contrasting color compared to the concurrently displayed images from said ultrasound scanner,wherein said video images from an ultrasound scanner are a sequential plurality of scan video images, said means for receiving, edge detector and means for displaying utilizing a sequential plurality of input video images, corresponding to said plurality of scan video images, and said edge detector marking respective, sequential transitional pixels for at least predetermined, periodic ones of said sequential plurality of input video images;
said means for displaying overwriting intermediate ones of said sequential plurality of input video images with the marked sequential transitional pixels.
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Abstract
The system for detecting blood vessels and displaying an enhanced video image from video images obtained from an ultrasound scanner includes, in one embodiment, a target filter which limits the area in the video image to a predetermined size and an edge detector which senses gradients in pixel values in that target area. The edge detector marks transitional pixels at gradients exceeding a certain level. The system also includes a monitor for displaying the video image obtained from the ultrasound scanner. The marked transitional pixels are displayed in a contrasting color compared to the concurrently displayed input video image. In one embodiment, the target filter detects motion by comparing moving image block target areas separated in both time and space, counting moving image blocks and further limiting the target area to areas having the highest number of moving image blocks. Accordingly, smaller target areas are processed with the edge detector. In another embodiment, the target filter includes a gross edge detector, a transitional pixel counter and a further target filter which prioritizes the various the initial target areas such that the target area having the highest number of maaraked pixels is selected as the area to be further processed by the edge detector. In both embodiments, the electronic processing occurs in real time. A method is disclosed for detecting blood vessels and displaying an enhanced video image from a plurality of video images obtained from an ultrasound scanner.
128 Citations
16 Claims
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1. An apparatus for detecting blood vessels and displaying enhanced video images thereof based upon video images of an ultrasound scanner of subcutaneous blood vessels comprising:
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means for receiving an input video image from said video images of said ultrasound scanner of subcutaneous blood vessels; an edge detector, coupled to said means for receiving, sensing gradients in pixel values in a predetermined portion of said input video image and marking transitional pixels at predetermined gradients representing at least a portion of a vascular wall about a lumen of a blood vessel; and means for concurrently displaying said video images of said ultrasound scan end the marked transitional pixels, said marked pixels being displayed in a contrasting color compared to the concurrently displayed images from said ultrasound scanner, wherein said video images from an ultrasound scanner are a sequential plurality of scan video images, said means for receiving, edge detector and means for displaying utilizing a sequential plurality of input video images, corresponding to said plurality of scan video images, and said edge detector marking respective, sequential transitional pixels for at least predetermined, periodic ones of said sequential plurality of input video images;
said means for displaying overwriting intermediate ones of said sequential plurality of input video images with the marked sequential transitional pixels. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method for detecting blood vessels and displaying enhanced video images from video images obtained from a ultrasound scan of subcutaneous blood vessels comprising the steps of:
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obtaining at least one electronic representation of said video image from said video images of an ultrasound scan of said blood vessels; identifying gradients in pixel values in the electronic video image exceeding a predetermined gradient representing vascular walls about a lumen of said blood vessel; electronically marking transitional pixels at those excessive gradients; and
,concurrently displaying said video images of said ultrasound scan and the marked transitional pixels, said marked pixels displayed in a contrasting color compared to the concurrently displayed video images. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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Specification