Method of digital image analysis for isolating a region of interest within a tongue image and health monitoring method and apparatus using the tongue image

• US 20040151379A1
• Filed: 12/29/2003
• Published: 08/05/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Kim, Tae-woo, Shin, Sang-hoon, Lee, Jeong-whan, Yoon, Gil-won
• Granted Patent: US 7,764,815 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/209
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/416 the spleen
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4854 Diagnosis based on concepts of traditional oriental medicine
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20132 Image cropping
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30004 Biomedical image processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/50 using two or more images, e.g. averaging or subtraction
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0012 Biomedical image inspection

Abstract

A health monitoring method using a tongue image including constructing a database in which a tongue image obtained from a person, a template image set for the person, and a result of determining a health condition of the person with respect to at least one characteristic factor are linked together; isolating a region of interest within the tongue image, which is acquired from a person whose health condition is to be determined, using template matching; detecting at least one characteristic factor from the isolated region of interest; and determining a health condition of the person based on a change in an appearance of the tongue, which is detected by a comparison between the detected characteristic factor and a characteristic factor searched from the database with respect to the region of interest in different health conditions.

Claims

1. A method of digital image analysis for isolating a region of interest within a tongue image, comprising:

constructing a database in which a plurality of template images are stored, each template image corresponding to personal information and having regions of interest indicated thereon;

acquiring a tongue image from a person whose health condition is to be determined;

segmenting a tongue area within the tongue image acquired from the person whose health condition is to be determined;

matching the tongue area with one of the plurality of template images stored in the database; and

isolating a region of interest from the matched template image.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

compensating for color distortion of the tongue image by using a color checker before segmenting the tongue area.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein compensating for color distortion comprises:

generating and storing a color checker including a plurality of colors to be displayed on the tongue image during the acquisition of the tongue image;

comparing the color checker included in the tongue image with a color checker provided from the tongue image acquisition unit;

obtaining a color difference value between the two color checkers; and

determining a degree of compensation based on the color difference value.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein segmenting the tongue area comprises:

performing thresholding on each pixel in the tongue image using a predetermined threshold value to define an inner mouth area and a tongue area; and

segmenting the tongue area within the tongue image.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the thresholding is performed using at least one among Red/Green/Blue (RGB) color values of each pixel in the tongue image.

6. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the thresholding is performed using an intensity (I) value obtained by converting RGB color values of each pixel in the tongue image into Hue Saturation Intensity (HSI) color values.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein matching the tongue area comprises:

calculating a tongue width, a rotation angle of a tongue, and a tongue length with respect to the segmented tongue area; and

matching the tongue image with the template image using the tongue width, the rotation angle, and the tongue length.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the region of interest is at least one region of the tongue selected from the group consisting of:

a tongue middle, a tongue root, a tongue edge, and a tongue tip.

9. A computer readable recording medium, comprising:

a first program for constructing a database in which template images are stored, each template image corresponding to personal information and having regions of interest indicated thereon recorded on the medium;

a second program for performing thresholding using a predetermined threshold value on a tongue image, which is acquired from a person whose health condition is to be determined, to segment the tongue image into an inner mouth area and a tongue area recorded on the medium;

a third program for matching the acquired tongue image with the template image using a tongue width, a rotation angle of the tongue, and a tongue length which are calculated from the tongue area recorded on the medium; and

a fourth program for isolating a region of interest from the matched tongue image recorded on the medium.

10. A health monitoring method using a tongue image, comprising:

constructing a database in which a tongue image obtained from a person, a template image set for the person, and a result of determining a health condition of the person with respect to at least one characteristic factor are linked together;

isolating a region of interest within the tongue image, which is acquired from a person whose health condition is to be determined, by using template matching;

detecting at least one characteristic factor from the isolated region of interest; and

determining the health condition of the person based on a change in an appearance of the tongue, which is detected by a comparison between the detected characteristic factor and a characteristic factor searched from the database with respect to the region of interest in different health conditions.

11. The health monitoring method as claimed in claim 10, wherein isolating the region of interest comprises:

performing thresholding on each pixel in the acquired tongue image using a predetermined threshold value to segment the tongue area from the tongue image.

12. The health monitoring method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the thresholding is performed using at least one among Red/Green/Blue (RGB) color values of each pixel in the tongue image.

13. The health monitoring method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the thresholding is performed using an intensity (I) value obtained by converting RGB color values of each pixel in the tongue image into Hue Saturation Intensity (HSI) color values.

14. The health monitoring method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the characteristic factor is an average of H, S, or I values obtained from a histogram of an HSI color coordinate system for the region of interest.

15. The health monitoring method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the region of interest is at least one region selected from the group consisting of:

a tongue middle, a tongue root, a tongue edge, and a tongue tip.

16. The health monitoring method as claimed in claim 10, further comprising:

informing the person of the result of determining the health condition via a wired connection or wirelessly.

17. A computer readable recording medium, comprising:

a first program for constructing a database in which a tongue image obtained from a person, a template image set for the person, and a result of determining a health condition of the person with respect to at least one characteristic factor are linked together recorded on the medium;

a second program for isolating a region of interest from the tongue image, which is acquired from a person whose health condition is to be determined, using template matching recorded on the medium;

a third program for detecting at least one characteristic factor from the isolated region of interest recorded on the medium; and

a fourth program for determining the health condition of the person based on a change in an appearance of the tongue, which is detected by a comparison between the detected characteristic factor and a characteristic factor searched from the database with respect to the region of interest in different health conditions recorded on the medium.

18. A health monitoring apparatus using a tongue image, comprising:

a tongue image database in which a tongue image obtained from a person, a template image set for the person, and a result of determining a health condition of the person with respect to at least one characteristic factor are linked together;

a tongue image acquisition unit for acquiring the tongue image from a person whose health condition is to be determined;

a region of interest isolator for segmenting a tongue area within the tongue image provided from the tongue image acquisition unit and for isolating a region of interest from the tongue area using template matching between the tongue area and a template image stored in the tongue image database;

a characteristic detector for generating data regarding at least one characteristic factor with respect to the region of interest isolated by the region of interest isolator;

a comparator for comparing the data regarding the characteristic factor generated with respect to the region of interest by the characteristic detector with a characteristic factor stored in the tongue image database with respect to the region of interest; and

a health condition determiner for determining the health condition of the person based on the result of comparison provided from the comparator and for informing the person of the result of the determination.

19. The health monitoring apparatus as claimed in claim 18, further comprising:

a color compensator for compensating for color distortion of the tongue image acquired by the tongue image acquisition unit by using a color checker and for providing the compensated tongue image to the region of interest isolator.

20. The health monitoring apparatus as claimed in claim 18, wherein the region of interest isolator performs template matching using a tongue width, a rotation angle of a tongue, and a tongue length, which are calculated from the tongue area.

21. The health monitoring apparatus as claimed in claim 18, wherein the health monitoring apparatus is integrated into a mobile communication equipment having a digital camera.

22. The health monitoring apparatus as claimed in claim 18, wherein the health monitoring apparatus is integrated into a personal computer having a digital camera.

23. The health monitoring apparatus as claimed in claim 18, wherein the tongue image database, the region of interest isolator, the characteristic detector, the comparator, and the health condition determiner are implemented in a remote health care service center, and the tongue image acquired by the tongue image acquisition unit is transmitted via a wired connection or wirelessly to the health care service center.

24. The health monitoring apparatus as claimed in claim 23, wherein the health care service center is a computer server of a mobile communication equipment company or a hospital.