Abstract: A method of assessing rupture risk of an aneurysm from time-resolved images includes injecting a contrast enhancing agent into a patient with an aneurysm, using an electrocardiogram (ECG) signal to trigger an image acquisition run, wherein a sequence of 2D X-ray fluoroscopic images is acquired along with a corresponding ECG signal value, rotating a C-arm attaching the X-ray fluoroscopic imaging apparatus during said image acquisition run, wherein the images in said X-ray fluoroscopic image sequence are acquired from a rotating viewpoint, sorting the images in said X-ray fluoroscopic image sequence into time windows of the cardiac cycle based on the ECG signal, and constructing one or more 3-dimensional (3D) angiography image volumes of said aneurysm from said 2D fluoroscopic image sequence.

Abstract: A method and system for locating an opaque region, such as a heart region in a chest X-ray radiograph is disclosed. In order to segment a heart region in a chest X-ray radiograph, a heart region boundary is generated based on lung boundaries in the chest X-ray radiograph and an average heart region model. A location of the lower boundary of the heart region in the chest X-ray radiograph is then determined. Left and right portions of the heart region boundary are independently registered to corresponding portions of the lung boundaries, and upper and lower portions of the heart region boundary are adjusted based on the left and right portions in order to form a smooth contour.

Abstract: A method for visualizing diffusion-tensor magnetic resonance images, including the steps of providing a diffusion-tensor magnetic resonance image (DT-MRI) volume, positioning and orienting a virtual camera for rendering the volume, the camera having an image plane, the camera's orientation being defined by its look, right and up vectors, associating a billboard with each voxel, each the billboard being parallel with the image plane of the camera, where the look, right and up vectors are used to orient each the billboard, applying a texture to each billboard, each the texture being transformed by the inverse of the diffusion tensor associated with the voxel to which the billboard is associated, and rendering the volume by rendering each visible billboard in the image volume, where a 2-dimensional (2D) visualization of the DT-MRI is produced.

Abstract: An orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) frame for transmitting data between a mobile station and a base station includes a downlink subframe including a region for transferring first data to the base station and second data to a relay station at substantially the same time and frequency, and an uplink subframe.

Abstract: A method and system for automatically detecting rib metastasis in a thoracic CT volume is disclosed. The ribs are segmented in said CT volume by recursive tracing. A series of cross-sectional images are then generated along a centerline of each rib. Cortical and trabecular bone structures are segmented in each of the cross-sectional images for each rib. Features are calculated for each cross-sectional image based on characteristics of the cortical and trabecular bone structures, and alterations are detected in the cross-sectional images based on the features. Rib metastasis is detected in a rib when an alteration is detected in a number of consecutive cross-sectional images along the centerline of the rib.

Abstract: A computer-implemented method for visualizing components of a 3D medical image includes the steps of performing a segmentation on the 3D medical image to generate a segmented structure, obtaining a surface definition based upon the segmented structure, and generating a series of 2D images using the surface definition and deformations of the surface definition.

Abstract: A fluoroscopy image is registered with data representing a volume, identifying a catheter position relative to a volume represented by preoperative volume data. The catheter position relative to a patient volume represented by data acquired without scanning the catheter is displayed. For example, a 2D fluoroscopy image is registered with respect to coordinates of a 3D preoperative CT or MRI volume by registering the fluoroscopy image and the preoperative volume to 3D ultrasound coordinates.

Abstract: A method and system for lymph node segmentation in computed tomography (CT) images is disclosed. A location of a lymph node in a CT image slice is received. Intensity constraints are determined based on a histogram analysis of the CT image slice, and a spatial analysis of the intensity constrained CT image slice is performed using edge detection. An initial contour is estimated based on the lymph node location and the spatial analysis. The lymph node is then segmented by propagating the initial contour using an evolving elliptical model to define the lymph node boundaries.

Abstract: Disclosed is a method and apparatus for computing the shading of a volume. A slice of the volume is rendered along a half-angle direction that is between a light direction and a view direction. A slice of the volume is then rendered along a light direction to assimilate shadow information of the slice in a shadow buffer. The shadow buffer is bled orthogonal to the light direction to shade the slice.

Abstract: A method is provided for segmenting a magnetic resonance image of interest of a left ventricle. The method includes determining a myocardium contour according to a graph cut of candidate endocardium contours, and a spline fitting to candidate epicardium contours in the absence of shape propagation. The method further includes applying a plurality of shape constraints to candidate endocardium contours and candidate epicardium contours to determine the myocardium contour, wherein a template is determined by shape propagation of a plurality of magnetic resonance images in a sequence including the magnetic resonance image of interest in the presence of shape propagation.

Abstract: Disclosed is an apparatus for and a method of filtering noise from a mixed sound signal to obtained a filtered target signal, comprising the steps of inputting the mixed signal through a pair of microphones into a first channel and a second channel, separately Fourier transforming each said mixed signal into the frequency domain, computing a signal short-time spectral amplitude |?| from said transformed signals, computing a signal short-time spectral complex exponential ei arg(S) from said transformed signals, where arg(S) is the phase of the target signal in the frequency domain, computing said target signal S in the frequency domain from said spectral amplitude and said complex exponential.

Abstract: A system and method for object inspection includes an object modeler; an iterative object segmentor in signal communication with the object modeler for receiving an input image and model parameters and producing a segmented image; a moment transformer in signal communication with the iterative object segmentor for receiving an input image, model parameters and a segmented image and producing estimates of object translation, rotation and scaling; an edge detector and interpolator in signal communication with the moment transformer for receiving an input image, model parameters and estimates and producing a set of line edges; and an iterative optimizer in signal communication with the edge detector and interpolator for receiving an input image, model parameters, estimates and line edges and producing refined estimates of object translation, rotation and scaling.

Abstract: A blind image restoration system uses total variational (TV) regularization to allow discontinuities in a true image function. The system first updates image blur parameters to minimize the energy function with the motion parameters and restored image. The motion parameters between subsequent frames in the image sequence are then updated to minimize the energy function with the blur parameters and restored image. The restored image is then updated by using a preconditioned conjugate gradient algorithm to minimize the energy function derived from the TV regularization formulation. The TV-based energy function is then computed by using the currently updated parameter values. If the relative difference between the current energy function value and the energy value computed in the previous iteration is within a threshold, then it is converged and the restored image is outputted. If it has not converged, the signal flows back to update the parameters.

Abstract: A system that reconstructs independent signals from degenerate mixtures estimates independent Auto Regressive (AR) processes from their sum. The system includes an identification system and an estimator. A mixture of two signals is inputted into the system and through the identifying and filtering processes, two estimates of the original signals are outputted. The identification system includes an ARMA identifier, a computation of autocovariance coefficients, an initializer and a gradient descent system. The estimator includes filtering.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for three dimensional (3D) computerized tomographic (CT) imaging of an object, wherein image reconstruction processing is applied to a plurality of sets of 2D cone beam projection data, each set being acquired on a 2D detector at a corresponding plurality of scan path source positions. A first image reconstruction processing step comprises applying a mask to each set of the projection data so that data inside the boundaries of each mask form a corresponding plurality of masked 2D data sets. Next, the data inside each masked 2D data set is processed along line segments formed in the masked 2D data set, and having their endpoints determined by the mask boundaries, to develop a first 2D estimate of data determined from a given set of the 2D cone beam projection data. The next step comprises identifying portions of said line segments which is not used to develop said first 2D estimate of data, to develop 2D correction data for each of the first 2D estimates of data.

Abstract: Apparatus for C-arm calibration for 3D reconstruction in an imaging system comprising an imaging source and an imaging plane, and utilizing a planar transformation for relating voxels in a voxel space and pixels in the imaging plane, comprises data storage apparatus for storing a definition of a source coordinate system in reference to the imaging source; data storage apparatus for storing a definition of a normal plane in the voxel space, not including the origin of the source coordinate system and being substantially normal to an optical axis from the source to the imaging plane; data storage apparatus for storing a definition of a relationship between the source coordinate system and another coordinate system, herein referred to as a world coordinate system, by transformation parameters; apparatus for identifying pixel location coordinates for a respective pixel corresponding to each voxel in the normal plane by utilizing planar to planar transformation parameters; data storage apparatus for storing a valu

Abstract: The model of the present invention incorporates incompressibility constraints to infer 3-D motion. Discrete, projected 2-D motion information from two different views of an object are input into the system. A model is realized via the tessellation component, and the material property of incompressibility is imposed on model movement. The output of the system is a continuous 3-D motion model which has interpolated the projected 2-D data.