Visualization of relevance for content-based image retrieval
First Claim
1. A system for assisting diagnoses, the system comprising:
- a memory which stores a plurality of reference images which have been standardized to have a common scale and position, the reference images being made up of one of pixels and voxels;
one or more processors programmed to;
receive a query image depicting anatomy of a patient to be diagnosed, the query image being made up of one of pixels and voxels;
standardize the query image to the common scale and position,divide the query image and the reference images with a common grid to define corresponding portions of the query image and the reference images, each portion including a plurality of at least one of pixels and voxels,receiving an input selecting a plurality of the corresponding, portions,compute a degree of similarity of each of the selected corresponding portions of the query image with the selected corresponding portions of the reference images,based on the computed degrees of similarity, select relevant ones of the reference images,control a display device to display the query image and the selected relevant ones of the reference images with the selected corresponding portions of the selected relevant ones of the reference images marked to indicate the computed degree of similarity with the selected corresponding portion of the query image.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system (100) includes a retrieval unit (110) for retrieving an image from the storage of images, on the basis of the similarity of images from the storage of images to a query image. The similarity is defined by means of a similarity function. A relevance unit (120) computes the relevance of a first portion of the retrieved image to a respective first portion of the query image and of a second portion of the retrieved image to the respective second portion of the query image. A visualization unit (130) visualizes the relevance of the first and second portion of the retrieved image to the respective first and second portion of the query image. The relevance of the first and second portion of the retrieved image to the respective first and second portion of the query image is computed using a first and second relevance function. The computed values of the relevance are visualized, e.g. using a color coding and coloring the first and second portion of each retrieved image. The colored portions are easy to see and analyze. Thus, the system facilitates visualizing and comparing retrieved images with respect to each other as well as with the query image.
26 Citations
14 Claims
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1. A system for assisting diagnoses, the system comprising:
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a memory which stores a plurality of reference images which have been standardized to have a common scale and position, the reference images being made up of one of pixels and voxels; one or more processors programmed to; receive a query image depicting anatomy of a patient to be diagnosed, the query image being made up of one of pixels and voxels; standardize the query image to the common scale and position, divide the query image and the reference images with a common grid to define corresponding portions of the query image and the reference images, each portion including a plurality of at least one of pixels and voxels, receiving an input selecting a plurality of the corresponding, portions, compute a degree of similarity of each of the selected corresponding portions of the query image with the selected corresponding portions of the reference images, based on the computed degrees of similarity, select relevant ones of the reference images, control a display device to display the query image and the selected relevant ones of the reference images with the selected corresponding portions of the selected relevant ones of the reference images marked to indicate the computed degree of similarity with the selected corresponding portion of the query image. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method of retrieving reference images from an image memory, the method comprising, with one or more processor;
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(a) receiving a query image, the query image and the reference images have corresponding portions; (b) selecting a plurality of the corresponding portions of the query image and the reference images; (c) registering the query image with the reference images; (d) retrieving one of the reference images from the image memory; (e) comparing the selected corresponding portions of the query image and the one of the reference images using a similarity function to determine a degree of similarity score of each of the corresponding portions; (f) weighting the degree of similarity scores based on positions of the selected corresponding portions such that similarity of at least one of the selected corresponding portions is weighted more heavily than at least one other of the selected corresponding portions; (g) combining the weighted degree of similarity scores to generate a relevance value for the retrieved one of the reference images such that the relevance values are positionally weighted; (h) repeating steps (d)-(g) for a plurality of the reference images; (i) ranking the reference images based on the relevance values; (j) selecting a plural number of the reference images based on the ranking; (k) controlling a display device to display the query image and the selected plural number of reference images with the corresponding portions of the query image of each of displayed reference images denoted, such that as viewer can compare the corresponding portions of the query image and the displayed reference images. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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Specification