Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080213418 | ALIGN-TRANSFER-IMPRINT SYSTEM FOR IMPRINT LITHOGRPHY - An imprint system for imprint lithography comprises an alignment subsystem and an imprint subsystem. The mask (mold) and the wafer for imprinting (substrate) are align on the alignment subsystem and contacted to each other to form a mask/wafer set. The mask/wafer set is then transferred onto the imprint subsystem while alignment is maintained. The mask/wafer set is then imprinted on the imprint subsystem. During transfer, the mask/wafer set can be held in alignment by surface. The surface adhesion can be enhanced by local pressing, local heating, or both. Alternatively, the mask/wafer set can be held in alignment by clamping. Advantageously, the imprinting is effected by fluid pressure imprinting. | 09-04-2008 |
20080275335 | Methods and apparatus for virtual coronary mapping - A virtual map of vessels of interest in medical procedures, such as coronary angioplasty is created so that doses of contrasting agent given to a patient may be reduced. A position of a coronary guidewire is determined and locations of vessel boundaries are found. When the contrast agent has dissipated, virtual maps of the vessels are created as new images. The locations of the determined vessel boundaries are imported to a mapping system and an image obtained without using a contrast agent is modified based on the imported locations of vessel boundaries. This creates a virtual map of the vessels. | 11-06-2008 |
20090010512 | System and method for coronary digital subtraction angiography - A method and system for extracting coronary vessels fluoroscopic image sequences using coronary digital subtraction angiography (DSA) are disclosed. A set of mask images of a coronary region is received, and a sequence of contrast images for the coronary region is received. For each contrast image, vessel regions are detected in the contrast image using learning-based vessel segment detection and a background region of the contrast image is determined based on the detected vessel regions. Background motion is estimated between one of the mask images and the background region of the contrast image, and the mask image is warped based on the estimated background motion to generate an estimated background layer. The estimated background layer is subtracted from the contrast image to extract a coronary vessel layer for the contrast image. | 01-08-2009 |
20090062641 | Method and system for catheter detection and tracking in a fluoroscopic image sequence - A method and system for detecting and tracking an ablation catheter tip in a fluoroscopic image sequence is disclosed. Catheter tip candidates are detected in each frame of the fluoroscopic image sequence using marginal space learning. The detected catheter tip candidates are then tracked over all the frames of the fluoroscopic image sequence in order to determine an ablation catheter tip location in each frame. | 03-05-2009 |
20090080728 | Method and system for vessel segmentation in fluoroscopic images - A method and system for vessel segmentation in fluoroscopic images is disclosed. Hierarchical learning-based detection is used to perform the vessel segmentation. A boundary classifier is trained and used to detect boundary pixels of a vessel in a fluoroscopic image. A cross-segment classifier is trained and used to detect cross-segments connecting the boundary pixels. A quadrilateral classifier is trained and used to detect quadrilaterals connecting the cross segments. Dynamic programming is then used to combine the quadrilaterals to generate a tubular structure representing the vessel. | 03-26-2009 |
20090080729 | Method and system for evaluating image segmentation based on visibility - A method and system for evaluating image segmentation is disclosed. In order to quantitatively evaluate an image segmentation technique, synthetic image data is generated and the synthetic image data is segmented to extract an object using the segmentation technique. This segmentation results in a foreground containing the extracted object and a background. The visibility of the extracted object is quantitatively measured based on the intensity distributions of the segmented foreground and background. The visibility is quantitatively measured by calculating the Jeffries-Matusita distance between the foreground and background intensity distributions. This method can be used to evaluate segmentation of vessels in fluoroscopic image sequences by coronary digital subtraction angiography (DSA). | 03-26-2009 |
20090090873 | Method and system for detection of contrast injection in fluoroscopic image sequences - A method and system for detecting a spatial and temporal location of a contrast injection in a fluoroscopic image sequence is disclosed. Training volumes generated by stacking a sequence of 2D fluoroscopic images in time order are annotated with ground truth contrast injection points. A heart rate is globally estimated for each training volume, and local frequency and phase is estimated in a neighborhood of the ground truth contrast injection point for each training volume. Frequency and phase invariant features are extracted from each training volume based on the heart rate, local frequency and phase, and a detector is trained based on the training volumes and the features extracted for each training volume. The detector can be used to detect the spatial and temporal location of a contrast injection in a fluoroscopic image sequence. | 04-09-2009 |
20100119641 | IMPRINT LITHOGRAPHY WITH IMPROVED SUBSTRATE/MOLD SEPARATION - In imprint lithography, a mold having a pattern of projecting and recessed regions is pressed into a moldable surface on a substrate. The thus-imprinted moldable surface is permitted to at least partially harden to retain the imprint, and the substrate and mold are separated. In accordance with the invention, the substrate is separated from the mold by bending laterally distal regions (regions away from the center toward the edges) of the mold transversely away from the interface and transversely restraining the substrate. The mold can then be easily separated from the substrate by transverse displacement. The separation can be facilitated by providing a mold having a lateral dimension that on at least two sides extends beyond the corresponding lateral dimension of the substrate. Alternatively, the substrate can have a greater lateral extent than the mold, and the mold can be restrained. The distal regions of the substrate can be bent in the transverse direction. Apparatus for effecting such separation is also described. | 05-13-2010 |
20100121181 | Method and System for Guidewire Tracking in Fluoroscopic Image Sequences - A method and system for tracking a guidewire in a fluoroscopic image sequence is disclosed. In order to track a guidewire in a fluoroscopic image sequence, guidewire segments are detected in each frame of the fluoroscopic image sequence. The guidewire in each frame of the fluoroscopic image sequence is then detected by rigidly tracking the guidewire from a previous frame of the fluoroscopic image sequence based on the detected guidewire segments in the current frame. The guidewire is then non-rigidly deformed in each frame based on the guidewire position in the previous frame. | 05-13-2010 |
20100289184 | Die Imprint By Double Side Force-Balanced Press For Step-And-Repeat Imprint Lithography - In accordance with the invention, step-and-repeat imprint lithography is effected by applying balanced pressing forces from both sides of a substrate. The pressing forces are substantially equal in amplitude and opposite in direction. With the pressing forces thus balanced, the fixture that steps and holds the substrate does not bear the load of imprinting. The balance allows use of a high resolution aligning stage to carry the substrate and to maintain high accuracy of positioning without being shifted by change of load. With this method, sufficient imprint pressure can be used to obtain high quality patterning, a thin and uniform residual layer, and a high fidelity pattern. | 11-18-2010 |