Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080222564 | Hearing Aid Impression Buildability Index Computation Tool - A method and appertaining system implement the use of manufacturing protocols for hearing aid design such that the ability to build an instrument can be displayed as a numeric parameter based on the partial numerical and metrological contributions of all the essential parameters of the given impression, and a buildability index can be displayed as a 3D virtual image of the proposed shell or preferred shell types. The method utilizes a predefined parameter table comprising parameters to utilize for a buildability determination. The buildability index is computed based on impression shape data, selected shell type, selected number of device options, data obtained from the parameter table, and data obtained from a receiver table, and the buildability index is output to a display of a user interface device or an external system. | 09-11-2008 |
20080253597 | Computerized Automated Wax Design and Modeling for Hearing Instruments - A method and appertaining system provide for automatically adding a wax guard to a hearing aid shell impression. The location of a canal, tip of the canal, and central line of the impression are automatically identified in a digital 3D representation of a hearing aid shell impression. A first wax guard plane is determined at a predefined flip distance from the canal tip along the central line, and a second wax guard plane is determined at a predefined canal tip offset distance from the canal tip along the central line. A size and position for a feature of the wax guard is calculated based on predefined parameters, and the wax guard is constructed utilizing the calculated side and position. The type of wax guard can be a bell bore design, an open design, a Philip design, or a flip design. | 10-16-2008 |
20080260221 | System and Method for Lesion Segmentation in Whole Body Magnetic Resonance Images - A method for lesion segmentation in 3-dimensional (3D) digital images, includes selecting a 2D region of interest (ROI) from a 3D image, the ROI containing a suspected lesion, extending borders of the ROI to 3D forming a volume of interest (VOI), where voxels on the borders of the VOI are initialized as background voxels and voxels in an interior of the VOI are initialized as foreground voxels, propagating a foreground and background voxel competition where for each voxel in the VOI, having each neighbor voxel in a neighborhood of the voxel attack the voxel, and, if the attack is successful, updating a label and strength of the voxel with that of the successful attacking voxel, and evolving a surface between the foreground and background voxels in 3D until an energy functional associated with the surface converges in value, where the surface segments the suspected lesion from the image. | 10-23-2008 |
20080267474 | Layer Reconstruction From Dual-Energy Image Pairs - A system and method for layer reconstruction from dual-energy image pairs are provided, the method including: receiving a pair of dual-energy images, one having a relatively high energy dose and the other having a relatively low energy dose; ascertaining that a first relatively motionless layer is substantially aligned between the high and low dose images; computing a preliminary image of a second layer that has non-rigid motion relative to the first layer; detecting the relative motion of the second layer relative to the first layer; generating a mask in accordance with the detected motion; filling the motion area corresponding to the mask with gradients of the high-dose image; removing the first layer; and inpainting the motion area. | 10-30-2008 |
20080310728 | Method and system for side detection of 3D undetailed ear impressions - A method and system for side detection of an undetailed 3D ear impression is disclosed. In order to determine whether a received 3D undetailed ear impression is a left or right ear impression, a local coordinate system of the 3D undetailed ear is defined based on side independent features of the 3D undetailed ear impression. A skeleton (or center spline) of the 3D undetailed ear impression is detected, and it is determined whether the 3D undetailed ear impression is a left or right ear impression based on the skeleton and the local coordinate system. | 12-18-2008 |
20090016588 | Method and system for segmentation of tubular structures in 3D images - A method and system for segmenting tubular structures in 3D images is disclosed. User inputs identifying a first region on the image inside of a tubular structure and a second region of the image outside of the tubular structure are received. Based on this information, an ordered series of pearls are generated along the tubular structure. Pearls are spheres, each having a center location and a radius determined based on the center locations and radii of previous pearls and on local voxel intensities in the image. A continuous model of the tubular structure can be generated by interpolating the center locations and radii of the ordered series of pearls. The ordered series of pearls can be displayed and easily edited in response to user input, thus providing an efficient and flexible method for interactive segmentation of a potion of interest in a tubular structure. | 01-15-2009 |
20090080756 | Method and system for correcting butting artifacts in X-ray images - A method and system for correcting butting artifacts in x-ray images is disclosed. In order to correct a butting artifact in an x-ray image, a butting artifact region in the x-ray image is normalized. Multiple intensity shift estimators are calculated for each pixel of each line of the butting artifact. Confidence intervals are calculated for each intensity shift estimator. A multiple hypothesis hidden Markov model (MH-HMM) is formulated based on the intensity shift operators and confidence measures subject to a smoothness constraint, and the MH-HMM is solved to determine intensity shift values for each pixel. A corrected image is generated by adjusting the intensity of each pixel of the butting artifact based on the intensity shift value for that pixel. | 03-26-2009 |
20090087070 | Method and system for bone suppression based on a single x-ray image - A method and system for suppressing bone structures based on a single x-ray image is disclosed. The bone structure suppressing method predicts a soft-tissue image without bone structures from an input x-ray image. A set of features is extracted for each pixel of the input x-ray image. A soft-tissue image is then generated from the input x-ray image using a trained regression function to determine an intensity value for the soft-tissue image corresponding to each pixel of the input x-ray image based on the set of features extracted for each pixel of the input x-ray image. The extracted features can be wavelet features and the regression function can be trained using Bayesian Committee Machine (BCM) to approximate Gaussian process regression (GPR). | 04-02-2009 |
20090103682 | Method and system for intelligent digital subtraction - A method and system for intelligent digital subtraction is disclosed. The method and system for intelligent digital subtraction can be used in a roadmap application for a coronary intervention. A mask image is obtained with vessels highlighted by contrast media. A guide wire is inserted into the vessels, and a guide wire image is obtained. A direct subtraction image is generated from the guide wire image and the mask image. A reduced noise subtraction image is generated based on mutual image information between the subtraction image and the guide wire image and mutual image information between the subtraction image and the mask image. | 04-23-2009 |
20090116713 | Method and system for human vision model guided medical image quality assessment - A method and system for image quality assessment is disclosed. The image quality assessment method is a no-reference method for objectively assessing the quality of medical images. This method is guided by the human vision model in order to accurately reflect human perception. A region of interest (ROI) of medical image is divided into non-overlapping blocks of equal size. Each of the blocks is categorized as a smooth block, a texture block, or an edge block. A perceptual sharpness measure, which is weighted by local contrast, is calculated for each of the edge blocks. A perceptual noise level measure, which is weighted by background luminance, is calculated for each of the smooth blocks. A sharpness quality index is determined based on the perceptual sharpness measures of all of the edge blocks, and a noise level quality index is determined based on the perceptual noise level measures of all of the smooth blocks. An overall image quality index can be determined by using task specific machine learning of samples of annotated images. The image quality assessment method can be used in applications, such as video/image compression and storage in healthcare and homeland security, and band-width limited wireless communication. | 05-07-2009 |
20090116722 | Method and system for soft tissue image reconstruction in gradient domain - A method and system for soft tissue image reconstruction for dual x-ray imaging is disclosed. A multigrid PDE solver is used for solving a Poisson equation for soft tissue image reconstruction based on a soft tissue gradient field extracted from dual energy x-ray images. The divergence of the soft tissue gradient field is downsampled to a coarsest resolution level, and a soft tissue image is generated based on the divergence of the soft tissue gradient field at the coarsest level. The soft tissue image is interpolated to a next finest resolution level, and refined by at least one coarse grid correction cycle at the current resolution level. The coarse grid correction cycle calculates a defect based on the current soft tissue image, downsamples the defect to the coarsest level, calculates a correction based on the defect at the coarsest level, and upsamples the correction to the current resolution level to refine the current soft tissue image. The interpolation and refinement of the soft tissue image is repeated until the soft tissue image is refined at the finest resolution level. | 05-07-2009 |
20090148016 | Method and system for second bend plane detection of ear canal surfaces - A method and system for detecting the second bend plane of an ear canal surface is disclosed. A region of interest of the ear canal is defined between the first bend plane and the ear canal tip. A set of curves is defined in the region of interest and a set of high curvature points is detected from the set of curves. The second bend plane is detected using the set of high curvature points. | 06-11-2009 |
20100045671 | 3D BALL SKINNING USING PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS FOR GENERATION OF SMOOTH TUBULAR SURFACES - A method of computing a continuous interpolation of a discrete set of three-dimensional (3D) balls, including generating an initial skin, wherein the initial skin is a surface comprised of splines and wherein the splines touch each ball along a circle that is tangent to the ball, solving a first differential equation to minimize the initial skin's surface area or solving a second differential equation to minimize a squared mean curvature of the initial skin's surface, wherein the result of solving the first or second differential equations is an updated skin; and repeating the steps of solving the first or second differential equations for the updated skin, and then, repeating the steps of solving the first or second differential equations for each subsequently updated skin until a desired skin is realized. | 02-25-2010 |
20100092061 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DECOMPOSED TEMPORAL FILTERING FOR X-RAY GUIDED INTERVENTION APPLICATION - A method for temporally filtering medical images during a fluoroscopy guided intervention procedure includes providing a mask image, a fluoroscopy intervention image acquired at a current time during a medical intervention procedure, forming a subtraction image by subtracting the mask image from the intervention image, calculating a motion image of a moving structure in the subtraction image, forming a residual image by subtracting the motion image from the subtraction image, temporally filtering the residual image with a filtered image from a previous time, and adding the motion image to the temporally filtered residual image. | 04-15-2010 |
20100094446 | FEATURE DRIVEN RULE-BASED FRAMEWORK FOR AUTOMATION OF MODELING WORKFLOWS IN DIGITAL MANUFACTURING - A method for designing a prosthetic device includes acquiring a three-dimensional image of an anatomical surface. A rules script for automatically performing a plurality of image processing rules using a script interpreter is executed. For each particular rule of the plurality of rules, one or more anatomical features that are relevant to the particular rule using a surface shaping engine are determined, the one or more determined anatomical features are automatically segmented from the acquired three-dimensional image using a feature detector, and the particular image processing rule is performed on the acquired three-dimensional image based on the automatically segmented anatomical features using a CAD tool. A prosthetic device design is produced based on the three-dimensional image upon which the rules of the plurality of image processing rules have been performed. | 04-15-2010 |
20100100362 | Point-Based Shape Matching And Distance Applied To Ear Canal Models - A method for determining a degree of similarity between ear canal models includes receiving a first mesh model representing an inner surface of a first ear. A set of points is sampled within the first mesh model. Each of the sampled set of points is matched to a corresponding point of a second mesh model representing an inner surface of a second ear. A shape distance between the first mesh model and the second mesh model is calculated based on the matched sets of points. A determination of the degree of similarity between the inner surface of the first ear and the inner surface of the second ear is provided based on the calculated shape distance. | 04-22-2010 |
20100103170 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATIC DETECTION OF ANATOMICAL FEATURES ON 3D EAR IMPRESSIONS - A method for detecting anatomical features in 3D ear impressions includes receiving a 3D digital image of a 3D ear impression, obtaining a surface of the ear impression from the 3D image, analyzing the surface with one or more feature detectors, the detectors adapted to detecting generic features, including peak features, concavity features, elbow features, ridge features, and bump features, and derived features that depend on generic features or other derived features, and forming a canonical ear signature from results of the detectors, where the canonical ear signature characterizes the 3D ear impression. | 04-29-2010 |
20100142789 | METHOD FOR CORRECTING MOTION ARTIFACTS IN MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGES - For resonance image data of an imaged subject, a method that first detects and estimates the dominant motions of k-space data (i.e., the motion vectors) and then constructs a graphical model for each estimated motion vector. The segments of the k-space that are determined to be corrupted by motion are restored by minimizing the energy associated with the corresponding graphical model. Consequently, the MR image of the imaged subject becomes free of motion artifacts. | 06-10-2010 |
20100217417 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROTOTYPING BY LEARNING FROM EXAMPLES - A method for specifying design rules for a manufacturing process includes providing a training set of 3D point meshes that represent an anatomical structure, for each 3D point mesh, finding groupings of points that define clusters for each shape class of the anatomical structure, calculating a prototype for each shape class cluster, and associating one or more manufacturing design rules with each shape class prototype. The method includes providing a new 3D point mesh that represents an anatomical structure, calculating a correspondence function that maps the new 3D point mesh to a candidate shape class prototype by minimizing a cost function, calculating a transformation that aligns points in the new 3D point mesh with points in the candidate shape class prototype, and using the rules associated with the shape class prototype, if the candidate shape class prototype is successfully aligned with the new 3D point mesh. | 08-26-2010 |
20110064285 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MULTI-IMAGE BASED STENT VISIBILITY ENHANCEMENT - A method for enhancing stent visibility in digital medical images includes providing a time series of 2-dimensional (2D) images of a stent in a vessel, estimating motion of the stent in a subset of images of the time series of images, estimating motion of clutter in the subset of images, where clutter comprises anatomical structures other than the stent, estimating a clutter layer in the subset of images from the estimated clutter motion, estimating a stent layer in the subset of images from the clutter layer and the estimated clutter motion, and minimizing a functional of the estimated stent motion, the estimated stent layer, the estimated clutter motion, and the estimated clutter layer to in calculate a refined stent layer image, where the refined stent layer image has enhanced visibility of the stent. | 03-17-2011 |
20110064292 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MULTI-IMAGE BASED VIRTUAL NON-CONTRAST IMAGE ENHANCEMENT FOR DUAL SOURCE CT - A method for enhancing a virtual non-contrast image, includes receiving a pair of dual scan CT images and calculating a virtual non-contrast image from the pair of CT images using known tissue attenuation coefficients. A conditional probability distribution is estimated for tissue at first and second points in each of the pair of CT images and the virtual non-contrast image as being the same type. A conditional probability distribution for tissue is estimated at the first and second points in each of the pair of CT images and the virtual non-contrast image as being of different types. An a posteriori probability of the tissue at the first and second points as being the same type is calculated from the conditional probability distributions, and an enhanced virtual non-contrast image is calculated using the a posteriori probability of the tissue at the first and second points as being the same type. | 03-17-2011 |
20110102432 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATIC DETECTION OF TIP PLANE ON 3D DETAILED EAR IMPRESSIONS - A method for detecting the tip plane in digitized 3D ear impressions includes receiving a digitized mesh representation of an undetailed 3D ear impression and a digitized mesh representation of a detailed 3D ear impression, finding faces on the detailed ear impression mesh that are modified with respect to corresponding faces on the undetailed ear impression mesh, forming regions of connected modified faces, eliminating those regions that are not around an ear canal, and creating a tip plane by averaging vertices of those remaining faces in a tip region of the detailed impression to find a mass center point, averaging face normal vectors over all faces in the tip region to find an average face normal, and extending the average face normal from the mass center point to find the intersection on the detailed ear impression. | 05-05-2011 |
20110103674 | MARKER DETECTION IN X-RAY IMAGES - A method for detecting markers within X-ray images includes applying directional filters to a sequence of X-ray image frames. Marker candidate pixels are determined based on the output of the directional filters. Candidate pixels are grouped into clusters and distances between each possible pair of clusters is determined and the most frequently occurring distance is considered an estimated distance between markers. A first marker is detected at the cluster that most closely resembles a marker based on certain criteria and a second marker is then detected at a cluster that is the estimated distance from the first marker. The pair of first and second marker detections is scored to determine detection quality. If the detected marker pair has an acceptable score then the detected marker pair is used. | 05-05-2011 |
20120321169 | Shape Based Conditional Random Fields for Segmenting Intracranial Aneurysms - A method for segmenting intracranial aneurysms in digital medical images includes extracting a mesh representing a vessel surface from a volumetric digital image, the mesh comprising a set of points {p | 12-20-2012 |
20130297265 | FEATURE-DRIVEN RULE-BASED FRAMEWORK FOR ORTHOPEDIC SURGICAL PLANNING - The design process for the surgical plan in orthopedics and/or the design of a personalized cutting guide and/or implant are automated in a workflow frame work. Abstracted rules are scripted through a sequence of operations to alter a bone surface or model for fitting an implant. Using bone information for a specific patient, the proper implant and series of cuts are determined using the rules. A corresponding cutting guide may be fitted to the bone information for the specific patient. Surgical planning of bone replacement implants is performed automatically. | 11-07-2013 |