System and method for 4D reconstruction and visualization
First Claim
1. A method for producing an interactive virtual reality replica of an object, comprising the steps of:
- (a) forming a sequence of images of an object, the images being separated from one another in time, and each of the images comprising a plurality of image elements;
(b) dividing one of said images of said sequence of images into regions, each of said regions corresponding to a component of said object, by (i) estimating local statistical properties for said image in each of said image elements in the image and (ii) Joining said image elements into said regions in accordance with similarities among said local statistical 410 properties of said image elements; and
(c) defining said regions in all of said images by (i) providing a database of characteristics of the components of said object, (ii) estimating a movement of each of said regions in accordance with said database, and (iii) determining locations of said regions in all of said images in accordance with said movement.
9 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
From raw image data obtained through magnetic resonance imaging or the like, an object is reconstructed and visualized in four dimensions (both space and time) by first dividing the first image in the sequence of images into regions through statistical estimation of the mean value and variance of the image data and joining of picture elements (voxels) that are sufficiently similar and then extrapolating the regions to the remainder of the images by using known motion characteristics of components of the image (e.g., spring constants of muscles and tendons) to estimate the rigid and deformational motion of each region from image to image. The object and its regions can be rendered and interacted with in a four-dimensional virtual reality environment.
-
Citations
37 Claims
-
1. A method for producing an interactive virtual reality replica of an object, comprising the steps of:
-
(a) forming a sequence of images of an object, the images being separated from one another in time, and each of the images comprising a plurality of image elements;
(b) dividing one of said images of said sequence of images into regions, each of said regions corresponding to a component of said object, by (i) estimating local statistical properties for said image in each of said image elements in the image and (ii) Joining said image elements into said regions in accordance with similarities among said local statistical 410 properties of said image elements; and
(c) defining said regions in all of said images by (i) providing a database of characteristics of the components of said object, (ii) estimating a movement of each of said regions in accordance with said database, and (iii) determining locations of said regions in all of said images in accordance with said movement. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 28, 29)
-
-
14. A system for reconstructing an image in both space and time from raw image data, the image data comprising a sequence of images of an object, the images being separated from one another in time, and each of the images comprising a plurality of image elements, the system comprising:
-
input means for receiving an input of the raw image data and of a database of characteristics of components of the object;
processing means for (a) dividing an image from among the images into regions, each of the regions corresponding to a component of the object, by (i) estimating local statistical properties for the image in each of the image elements in the image and (ii) joining the image elements into the regions in accordance with similarities among said local statistical properties of the image elements and for (b) defining the regions in all of the images by (i) estimating a movement of each of the regions in accordance with the database and (ii) determining locations of the regions in all of the images in accordance with the movement; and
graphical rendering means for providing a virtual reality representation and visualization of all of the images with the regions located in all of the images. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 30, 31)
-
-
27. A method for producing, in a computing device, a virtual reality replica of a complex entity, comprising the steps of:
-
(a) forming a sequence of images of said complex entity, the images being separated from one another in time, and each of said images comprising a plurality of image elements;
(b) dividing one of said images of said sequence of images into regions, each of said regions corresponding to a component of said complex entity, by (i) estimating local statistical properties for said image in each of said image elements in the image and (ii) joining said image elements into said regions in accordance with similarities among said local statistical properties of said image elements;
(c) defining said regions in all of said images by (i) providing a database of characteristics of the components of said complex entity, (ii) estimating a movement of each of said regions in accordance with said database, and (iii) determining locations of said regions in all of said images in accordance with said movement; and
(d) rendering said regions in three spatial dimensions and one time dimension in a virtual reality environment. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33)
-
-
34. A method for producing an interactive virtual reality replica of an object, comprising the steps of:
-
a) forming an image of an object, the image comprising a plurality of image elements;
b) dividing said image into regions, each of said regions corresponding to a component of said object, by i) estimating local statistical properties for said image in each of said image elements in the image; and
ii) joining said image elements into said regions in accordance with similarities among said local statistical properties of said image elements; and
(c) defining said regions in said image by i) estimating statistical properties of each region; and
ii) joining and splitting said regions in accordance with the similarities among said statistical properties of said regions. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37)
-
Specification