Informational data indicative of a possible non-imaged portion of a region of interest

• US 8,634,647 B2
• Filed: 12/07/2011
• Issued: 01/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Elwha LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Elwha LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Hyde, Roderick A., Kare, Jordin T., Leuthardt, Eric C., Lieberman, Erez, Rivet, Dennis J., Sweeney, Elizabeth A., Wood, Lowell L. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Seth, Manav
• Application Number:
  US13/374,002
• Publication Number:
  US 20130148902A1
• Time in Patent Office: 776 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 382/190
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2200/24 involving graphical user interfaces [GUIs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30028 Colon; Small intestine
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30088 Skin; Dermal
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0012 Biomedical image inspection
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/33 using feature-based methods

Abstract

Described embodiments include a system, method, and computer program product. A described system includes a feature-detection circuit that extracts a perceivable feature included in each digital image of a plurality of digital images. Each digital image includes a respective portion of a region of interest of a surface. A feature-matching circuit determines a substantial correspondence between (x) a perceivable feature included in a border region segment of a selected digital image and (y) at least one perceivable feature included in each digital image of the plurality of digital images other than the selected digital image. A data collection circuit gathers the determined substantial correspondences for the perceivable feature included in the border region segment of the selected digital image. A reporting circuit outputs informational data indicative of a possible non-imaged portion of the region of interest of the surface.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

(a) a feature-detection circuit configured to extract at least one respective perceivable feature included in each digital image of a plurality of digital images, the each digital image of the plurality of digital images includes a respective portion of a region of interest of a surface;

(b) a feature-matching circuit configured to determine a substantial correspondence between

(x) an extracted perceivable feature included in a border region segment of a selected digital image of the plurality of digital images and

(y) an extracted at least one respective perceivable feature included in the each digital image of the plurality of digital images other than the selected digital image;

(c) a data collection circuit configured to gather the determined substantial correspondences for the extracted perceivable feature included in the border region segment of the selected digital image; and

(d) a reporting circuit configured to output informational data indicative of a possible non-imaged portion of the region of interest of the surface, the informational data responsive to an absence of a determined substantial correspondence between the extracted perceivable feature included in the border region segment of the selected digital image and the extracted at least one respective perceivable feature included in the each digital image of the plurality of digital images other than the selected digital image.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the perceivable feature included in each digital image includes a human-vision perceivable feature.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the perceivable feature included in each digital image includes an augmented human-vision perceivable feature.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the perceivable feature included in each digital image includes a machine-vision perceivable feature.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein each digital image of the plurality of digital images includes an indication of a position or location relative to the region of interest of the surface.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein each digital image of the plurality of digital images respectively includes a medical image of a plurality of medical images of a portion of a region of interest of a surface of an individual mammal.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein each medical image of the plurality of medical images of an internal surface of an individual mammalian body part was acquired by an ex vivo device.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein each medical image of the plurality of medical images respectively includes a portion of a region of interest of an external surface of an individual mammal.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein each digital image of the plurality of digital images respectively includes a portion of a region of interest of a surface of an object.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein each digital image of the plurality of digital images includes a respective identifier.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the feature-matching circuit includes:

a feature-matching circuit configured to determine a substantial correspondence between

(x) an extracted perceivable feature included in a border region segment of a selected digital image of the plurality of digital images and

(y) an extracted at least one respective perceivable feature of a border region segment of the each digital image of the plurality of digital images other than the selected digital image.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the feature-matching circuit includes:

a feature-matching circuit configured to determine a substantial correspondence between

(x) an extracted perceivable feature included in a border region segment of a selected digital image and

(y) an extracted at least one respective perceivable feature included in a field of view of each digital image of the plurality of digital images other than the selected digital image.

13. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

an image receiver circuit configured to receive the plurality of digital images.

14. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a border region detection circuit configured to detect the border region segment of a digital image.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the border region detection circuit includes:

a border region detection circuit configured to select a length and/or a width parameter for the border regions, and to detect the border region segment of a digital image having the selected length and/or width parameter.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the border region detection circuit includes:

a border region detection circuit configured to receive a selected length and/or a width parameter for the border regions, and to detect the border region segment of a digital image having the selected length and/or width parameter.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the feature-matching circuit includes:

a feature-matching circuit configured to determine a substantial correspondence between

(x) an extracted perceivable feature included in the detected border region segment of a selected digital image of the plurality of digital images and

(y) an extracted at least one respective perceivable feature included in each digital image of the plurality of digital images other than the selected digital image.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the feature-matching circuit includes:

a feature-matching circuit configured to

(i) determine a substantial correspondence between

(x) an extracted perceivable feature included in a border region segment of at least two border region segments of a selected digital image of the plurality of digital images and

(y) an extracted at least one respective perceivable feature included in each digital image of the plurality of digital images other than the selected digital image,

(ii) iteratively designate a next perceivable feature included in a next border region segment of the at least two border region segments of the selected digital image, and

(iii) initiate a determination of a substantial correspondence of the iteratively designated next perceivable feature included in the next border region segment pursuant to element (i).

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the data collection circuit includes:

a data collection circuit configured to gather the determined substantial correspondences for the respective perceivable feature included in the respective border region segments of the at least two border region segments of the selected digital image.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the reporting circuit includes:

a reporting circuit configured to output informational data indicative of a possible non-imaged portion of the region of interest of the surface, the informational data responsive to an absence of a determined substantial correspondences between the extracted respective perceivable feature included in the respective border region segments of the at least two border region segments of the selected digital image and the extracted at least one respective perceivable feature included in the each digital image of the plurality of digital images other than the selected digital image.

21. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

an overlap-analysis circuit configured to generate data indicative of a border region-overlap status of the selected digital image, the data generated at least partially in response to the determined substantial correspondence between the extracted perceivable feature included in the border region segment of the selected digital image and the extracted at least one respective perceivable feature included in the each digital image of the plurality of digital images other than the selected digital image.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the reporting circuit includes:

a reporting circuit configured to output informational data indicative of the border region-overlap status of the selected digital image, the informational data at least partially based on the data indicative of a border region-overlap status of the selected digital image.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the data indicative of a border region-overlap status of the selected digital image includes data indicative of a possible non-imaged portion of the region of interest adjacent to the selected digital image.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the reporting circuit includes:

a reporting circuit configured to output informational data indicative of the possible non-imaged portion of the region of interest adjacent to the selected digital image, the informational data at least partially based on the data indicative of the possible non-imaged portion of the region of interest adjacent to the selected digital image.

25. The system of claim 21, wherein the data indicative of a border region-overlap status of the selected digital image includes data indicative of a possible non-imaged portion of the region of interest adjacent to both the selected digital image and another selected digital image.

26. The system of claim 21, wherein the data indicative of a border region-overlap status of the selected digital image includes data indicative of a predicted possible non-imaged portion of the region of interest adjacent to the selected digital image.

27. The system of claim 21, wherein the data indicative of a border region-overlap status of the selected digital image includes data indicative of a possible imaged portion of the region of interest adjacent to the selected digital image.

28. The system of claim 21, wherein the data indicative of a border region-overlap status of the selected digital image includes data indicative of a possible non-imaged portion of the region of interest adjacent to the selected digital image and indicative of a spatial relationship between the possible non-imaged portion of the region of interest and the extracted perceivable feature included in the border region segment of the selected digital image.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the spatial relationship is indicated by a line anchored by a feature, site, center, or quadrant of the selected digital image.

30. The system of claim 21, wherein the data indicative of a border region-overlap status of the selected digital image includes data indicative of a possible non-imaged portion of the region of interest adjacent to the selected digital image and indicative of a spatial relationship between the possible non-imaged portion of the region of interest and a human-perceivable feature included in the border region segment of the selected digital image.

31. The system of claim 1, wherein the reporting circuit includes:

a reporting circuit configured to output informational data indicative of a possible non-imaged portion of the region of interest of the surface adjacent to the selected digital image.

32. The system of claim 1, wherein the reporting circuit includes:

a reporting circuit configured to output informational data indicative of a possible non-imaged portion of the region of interest of the surface, the informational data responsive to (i) an absence of a determined substantial correspondence between the extracted perceivable feature included in the border region segment of the selected digital image and a first extracted perceivable feature included in a first digital image of the plurality of digital images other than the selected digital image, and to (ii) an absence of a determined substantial correspondence between the extracted perceivable feature included in the border region segment of the selected digital image and a second extracted perceivable feature included in a second digital image of the plurality of digital images other than the selected digital image.

33. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a communication device configured to provide a notification at least partially based on the informational data to at least one of a human, computer, or system.

34. A method implemented in a computing device, the method comprising:

(a) extracting at least one respective perceivable feature included in each digital image of a plurality of digital images, the each digital image of the plurality of digital images includes a respective portion of a region of interest of a surface;

(b) determining a substantial correspondence between

(x) an extracted perceivable feature included in a border region segment of a selected digital image of the plurality of digital images and

(y) an extracted at least one respective perceivable feature included in each digital image of the plurality of digital images other than the selected digital image;

(c) gathering the determined substantial correspondences for the extracted perceivable feature included in the border region segment of the selected digital image; and

(d) outputting informational data indicative of a possible non-imaged portion of the region of interest of the surface, the informational data responsive to an absence of a determined substantial correspondence between the extracted perceivable feature included in the border region segment of the selected digital image and the extracted at least one respective perceivable feature included in the each digital image of the plurality of digital images other than the selected digital image.

35. The method of claim 34, further comprising:

receiving the plurality of digital images.

36. The method of claim 34, further comprising:

detecting the border region segment of the selected digital image.

37. The method of claim 34, further comprising:

generating data indicative of a border region-overlap status of the selected digital image, the data generated at least partially in response to the determined substantial correspondences between the extracted perceivable feature included in the border region segment of the selected digital image and the extracted at least one respective perceivable feature included in the each digital image of the plurality of digital images other than the selected digital image.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the outputting informational data includes:

outputting informational data indicative of a possible non-imaged portion of the region of interest of the surface, the informational data at least partially based on the data indicative of a border region-overlap status of the selected digital image.

39. The method of claim 37, wherein the generating data indicative of a border region-overlap status includes:

generating data indicative of a possible non-imaged portion of the region of interest adjacent to the selected digital image, the data generated at least partially in response to the determined substantial correspondences between the extracted perceivable feature included in the border region segment of the selected digital image and the extracted at least one respective perceivable feature included in the each digital image of the plurality of digital images other than the selected digital image.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein the outputting informational data includes:

outputting informational data indicative of the possible non-imaged portion of the region of interest adjacent to the selected digital image, the informational data at least partially based on the data indicative of the possible non-imaged portion of the region of interest adjacent to the selected digital image.

41. The method of claim 34, further comprising:

iteratively designating a next digital image from the plurality of digital images as the selected digital image until each digital image of the plurality of digital images has been designated, and

initiating a processing of each of the iteratively designated next digital images, the processing including operations (b), (c), and (d) of claim 34.

42. A computer program product comprising:

(a) a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing program instructions thereon which, when executed by a processor of a computing device, cause the computing device to perform a process including;

(i) extracting at least one respective perceivable feature included in each digital image of a plurality of digital images, the each digital image of the plurality of digital images includes a respective portion of a region of interest of a surface;

(ii) determining a substantial correspondence between

(x) an extracted perceivable feature included in a border region segment of a selected digital image of the plurality of digital images and

(y) an extracted at least one respective perceivable feature included in each digital image of the plurality of digital images other than the selected digital image;

(iii) gathering the determined substantial correspondences for the extracted perceivable feature included in the border region segment of the selected digital image; and

(iv) outputting informational data indicative of a possible non-imaged portion of the region of interest of the surface, the informational data responsive to an absence of a determined substantial correspondence between the extracted perceivable feature included in the border region segment of the selected digital image and the extracted at least one respective perceivable feature included in each digital image of the plurality of digital images other than the selected digital image.

43. The computer program product of claim 42, wherein the outputting informational data includes:

transforming the informational data into a particular visual depiction of a possible non-imaged portion of the region of interest of the surface, and outputting the transformed informational data.

44. The computer program product of claim 42, further comprising:

providing a notification at least partially based on the informational data to at least one of a human, computer, or system.

45. The computer program product of claim 42, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium includes a tangible computer-readable medium.

46. A system comprising:

(a) means for extracting at least one respective perceivable feature included in each digital image of a plurality of digital images, the each digital image of the plurality of digital images includes a respective portion of a region of interest of a surface;

(b) means for determining a substantial correspondence between

(x) an extracted perceivable feature included in a border region segment of a selected digital image of the plurality of digital images and

(y) an extracted at least one respective perceivable feature included in each digital image of the plurality of digital images other than the selected digital image;

(c) means for gathering the determined substantial correspondences for the extracted perceivable feature included in the border region segment of the selected digital image; and

(d) means for outputting informational data indicative of a possible non-imaged portion of the region of interest of the surface, the informational data responsive to an absence of a determined substantial correspondence between the extracted perceivable feature included in the border region segment of the selected digital image and the extracted at least one respective perceivable feature included in the each digital image of the plurality of digital images other than the selected digital image.

47. The system of claim 46, further comprising:

means for detecting the border region segment of the selected digital image.

48. The system of claim 46, further comprising:

means for displaying the informational data.