Patents Represented by Attorney Peter Withstandley
-
Patent number: 8160336Abstract: A computer-implemented method for identifying an object of interest includes providing input data including an image and a candidate for the object of interest in the image, extracting a boundary of the candidate, and extracting a segment of a region of interest containing the candidate. The method further includes determining a plurality of features of an extracted segment of the region of interest containing the candidate, and outputting the object of interest, wherein the object of interest is characterized by the plurality of features, wherein the object of interest and the plurality of features are stored as computer-readable code.Type: GrantFiled: September 6, 2006Date of Patent: April 17, 2012Assignee: Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc.Inventors: Jianming Liang, Zhiyun Xue, Marcos Salganicoff, Matthias Wolf
-
Patent number: 8160322Abstract: A method for detecting and localizing multiple anatomical landmarks in medical images, including: receiving an input requesting identification of a plurality of anatomical landmarks in a medical image; applying a multi-landmark detector to the medical image to identify a plurality of candidate locations for each of the anatomical landmarks; for each of the anatomical landmarks, applying a landmark-specific detector to each of its candidate locations, wherein the landmark-specific detector assigns a score to each of the candidate locations, and wherein candidate locations having a score below a predetermined threshold are removed; applying spatial statistics to groups of the remaining candidate locations to determine, for each of the anatomical landmarks, the candidate location that most accurately identifies the anatomical landmark; and for each of the anatomical landmarks, outputting the candidate location that most accurately identifies the anatomical landmark.Type: GrantFiled: July 28, 2008Date of Patent: April 17, 2012Assignee: Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc.Inventors: Mert Dikmen, Yiqiang Zhan, Xiang Zhou
-
Patent number: 8160367Abstract: A method for characterizing a shape of an object surface includes acquiring image data including the object. The image data is analyzed at a locus of points that are at a predetermined distance from a point of interest proximate to the object surface to determine which of the locus of points represents a foreground and which of the locus of points represents a background. The shape of the object surface is characterized based on the characterization of the locus of points.Type: GrantFiled: January 23, 2008Date of Patent: April 17, 2012Assignee: Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc.Inventor: Sarang Lakare
-
Patent number: 8160323Abstract: A landmark location system for locating landmarks in volumes includes a medical image database including volumes of medical images, a learning unit that trains a multi-class classifier to locate a landmark point in each volume from extracted features of the volumes near a sample point offset from the landmark point and discrete displacements of the sample point to the landmark point, and a landmark locator that locates the landmark point in an input volume using the trained multi-class classifiers.Type: GrantFiled: August 29, 2008Date of Patent: April 17, 2012Assignee: Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc.Inventor: Xiang Zhou
-
Patent number: 8090178Abstract: A medical imaging system is used to recognize an internal structure from a three-dimensional image. The image includes image sub-volumes. An image sub-volume is selected using a non-linear search pattern. The selected image sub-volume is analyzed for the presence of the internal structure. The steps of selecting an image sub-volume using the non-linear search pattern and analyzing the selected sub-volume for the presence of the internal structure are repeated until the internal structure is found in an image sub-volume. Bounds of the internal structure are identified based on the location of the image sub-volume within which the internal structure is found.Type: GrantFiled: March 30, 2007Date of Patent: January 3, 2012Assignee: Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc.Inventors: Dinesh Mysore Siddu, Mausumi Acharyya, Jonathan Stoeckel
-
Patent number: 8090173Abstract: A method for detecting blood vessel bifurcations in digital medical images includes inflating a sphere from a first center point inside a segmented blood vessel until a surface of the sphere intersects a surface of the blood vessel, searching within the inflated sphere for a second center point that has a sphere intersecting a surface of the blood with a maximum radius, assigning all voxels of the maximal radius sphere to a root node of a shape-tree, increasing the radius of the maximal radius sphere and computing a voxel difference set with respect to the previous maximal radius sphere, computing one or more connected components Cm in the voxel difference set, assigning voxels of each connected components to a different child node of the shape tree, connecting each child node with the root node, and calculating features from the shape tree for training a classifier to detect blood vessel bifurcations.Type: GrantFiled: November 24, 2008Date of Patent: January 3, 2012Assignee: Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc.Inventor: Sangmin Park
-
Patent number: 8090172Abstract: A method for segmenting an anatomical structure within medical image data includes acquiring medical image data. The medical image data is transformed from an original image space into a projective dual image space. A boundary of an anatomical structure is identified within the transformed medical image data based on a set of preexisting training data. An inverse transform is performed on the transformed medical image data and the identified boundary to convert the transformed medical image data and the identified boundary into the original image space. The inverse transformed identified boundary of the anatomical structure is used to segment the anatomical structure within the acquired medical image data.Type: GrantFiled: September 10, 2008Date of Patent: January 3, 2012Assignee: Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc.Inventors: Yoshihisa Shinagawa, Gerardo Hermosillo Valadez
-
Patent number: 8090208Abstract: An iterative method for segmentation of an object appearing in a digital image, where the object is defined by a difference in intensity from its immediate surrounding region. The method may also be used for segmenting tissue masses found in a digital image, including masses found in digital mammography.Type: GrantFiled: September 24, 2007Date of Patent: January 3, 2012Assignee: Siemens Computer Aided Diagnosis Ltd.Inventors: Eliahu Ratner, Philippe Nathan Bamberger
-
Patent number: 8073217Abstract: A method for segmenting image data includes creating a plurality of marching regions within the medical image data. Region-wise segmentation is performed on the plurality of marching regions. Region-wise segmentation may include a normalized cut performed on a graph wherein each marching region represents a node. Region-wise segmentation may also include or may alternatively include a min cut performed on a graph wherein each marching region represents a node. Voxel-wise segmentation is performed on a subset of the plurality of marching regions.Type: GrantFiled: October 28, 2008Date of Patent: December 6, 2011Assignee: Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc.Inventors: Hui Sun, Sangmin Park, Sarang Lakare
-
Patent number: 8068650Abstract: A method for lesion detection includes acquiring pre-therapy medical image data from a first modality. Post-therapy medical image data is acquired from a second modality. A transformation matrix for transforming from an image space of the first modality to an image space of the second modality is calculated. A volume of interest is defined from the medical image data of the first modality. The volume of interest includes one or more lesions. The volume of interest is automatically copied to the medical image data of the second modality using the calculated transformation matrix. Treatment is directed to the lesion using the medical image data of the second modality including the copied volume of interest data.Type: GrantFiled: March 27, 2008Date of Patent: November 29, 2011Assignees: Siemens Information Systems, Ltd., Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc.Inventors: Shashi Kumar, Xiang Zhou, Karthikeyan Kaliyamoorthi, Venkat Raghavan Ramamurthy, Arun Krishnan
-
Patent number: 8064662Abstract: A method for modeling an image for multiple tasks includes providing an image with n image features, providing an indicator matrix which has m non-zero components corresponding to m selected features selected from the n image features, constructing a model of the image using the in selected features for each specific labeling task. There is a variable for a specific task to be performed on the image and a variable for a plurality of tasks to be performed on the image.Type: GrantFiled: July 12, 2007Date of Patent: November 22, 2011Assignee: Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc.Inventor: Jinbo Bi
-
Patent number: 8036440Abstract: A method for detecting pulmonary embolisms in computed tomographic (CT) angiography includes providing a digitized (CT) image acquired from inside a pulmonary vessel, the image comprising a plurality of intensities corresponding to a 3-dimensional grid of voxels, for each voxel in the image, extracting a first pulmonary embolism (PE) candidate and PE boundary from the voxel, and for each voxel in the PE boundary, selecting a voxel from the PE boundary, extracting a subsequent PE candidate and PE boundary from the voxel, merging the subsequent PE candidate with the first PE candidate, and merging the subsequent PE boundary with the first PE boundary.Type: GrantFiled: January 30, 2008Date of Patent: October 11, 2011Assignee: Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc.Inventors: Jianming Liang, Jinbo Bi
-
Patent number: 8031917Abstract: A method for displaying computer aided detection markers from a digitized image includes marking a first set of locations of interest during a first read of the image, producing a first set of markers, receiving a second set of markers of locations of interest on the image from a CAD algorithm, combining the first set of markers with the second set of markers, sorting the combined set of markers according to a predetermined criteria, and presenting the sorted set of markers to a user for a second read of the image.Type: GrantFiled: March 21, 2006Date of Patent: October 4, 2011Assignee: Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc.Inventor: Sarang Lakare
-
Patent number: 8014581Abstract: A method for segmenting a tubular structure includes providing a three-dimensional image containing the tubular structure, providing at least one seed point within the tubular structure, fitting an initial cylinder into the tubular structure at the seed point, adding cylinder segments to the initial cylinder in forward and backward directions within the three-dimensional image of the tubular structure by tracking the cylinder model over the tubular structure, modeling each cylinder segment using parameters to account for a three-dimensional orientation, a radius, a length and a curvature, describing an intensity image of the tubular structure using a second model to represent an edge and intensity distribution of the tubular structure, fitting the parameters as the cylinder segment is added to the intensity image, and outputting cylinder segments as a segmentation of the tube.Type: GrantFiled: February 5, 2008Date of Patent: September 6, 2011Assignee: Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc.Inventors: Zhen Qian, Matthias Wolf, Luca Bogoni
-
Patent number: 7986827Abstract: A method of training a classifier for computer aided detection of digitized medical image, includes providing a plurality of bags, each bag containing a plurality of feature samples of a single region-of-interest in a medical image, where each region-of-interest has been labeled as either malignant or healthy. The training uses candidates that are spatially adjacent to each other, modeled by a “bag”, rather than each candidate by itself. A classifier is trained on the plurality of bags of feature samples, subject to the constraint that at least one point in a convex hull of each bag, corresponding to a feature sample, is correctly classified according to the label of the associated region-of-interest, rather than a large set of discrete constraints where at least one instance in each bag has to be correctly classified.Type: GrantFiled: February 6, 2007Date of Patent: July 26, 2011Assignee: Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc.Inventors: R. Bharat Rao, Murat Dundar, Balaji Krishnapuram, Glenn Fung
-
Patent number: 7961923Abstract: A method for detecting a substantially cylindrical internal structures and dark structures surrounded by bright intensity values (contrast) in a medical image includes acquiring a medical image. A gradient of the medical image is calculated. Local shape index information for the calculated gradient of the medical image is calculated. Gradient information having a local shape index not indicative of a ridge and rut shapes is removed. Diverging gradient field responses (DGFR) are calculated based on the remaining gradient information. The DGFR responses and relative amount of DGFR responses for the rut and ridge areas is used as a discriminative feature in detecting the substantially cylindrical internal structure as well as darker occluding structures within cylindrical structures such as Pulmonary Emboli.Type: GrantFiled: August 20, 2007Date of Patent: June 14, 2011Assignee: Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc.Inventors: Senthil Periaswamy, Marcos Salganicoff
-
Patent number: 7962428Abstract: A method for training classifiers for Computer-Aided Detection in medical images includes providing an image feature training set {(xi, yi)}i=1l, wherein xi?Rd are input feature variables and yi?{?1,1} are class labels, and a cascade of K classifiers to be trained, minimizing, for each classifier k, a first cost function to initialize an ?k0 associated with each classifier k, fixing all classifiers except classifier k and minimizing a second cost function to solve for ?kc for a counter value c using the training dataset {(xik, yi)}i=1l, calculating a third cost function Jc(?lc, . . . , ?Kc) for each classifier k, and comparing Jc with a previous iteration Jc?1, wherein if Jc?Jc?1 is less than a predetermined tolerance, said classifier training is completed.Type: GrantFiled: November 29, 2007Date of Patent: June 14, 2011Assignee: Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc.Inventors: Jinbo Bi, Murat Dundar
-
Patent number: 7949167Abstract: A method for training a computer system for automatic detection of regions of interest includes receiving patient records. For each of the received patient records a text field and a medical image are identified from within the patient record and the medical image is automatically segmented to identify a structure of interest. The text field is searched for one or more keywords indicative of a particular abnormality associated with the structure of interest. The medical image is added to a grouping representing the particular abnormality when the text field indicates that the patient has the particular abnormality and the medical image is added to a grouping representing the absence of the particular abnormality when the text field does not indicate that the patient has the particular abnormality. The groupings of medical images are used to automatically train a computer system for the subsequent detection of the particular abnormality.Type: GrantFiled: April 22, 2009Date of Patent: May 24, 2011Assignees: Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc., Siemens AktiengesellschaftInventors: Arun Krishnan, Xiang Zhou, Martin Huber, Michael Kelm, Joerg Freund
-
Patent number: 7945117Abstract: A method for registering images, for example medical images, includes acquiring a first image. A second image is acquired. A deformation field for registering the second image to the first image is calculated. The deformation field includes a sum of a plurality of weighted distortion vectors each of which has a substantially Gaussian distribution. The calculated deformation field is applied to the second image to register it to the first image.Type: GrantFiled: August 20, 2007Date of Patent: May 17, 2011Assignee: Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc.Inventors: Gerardo Hermosillo Valadez, Senthil Periaswamy
-
Patent number: 7925065Abstract: A method for determining a blob-like structure in a target image includes receiving an input target image is received, determining a mean curvature of the input target image, smoothing the mean curvature is smoothed using a scale that determines a size of the blobs to be found, finding a blob-like structure in the input target image as a portion of the input target image where a smoothed curvature is higher than a threshold value, and outputting a result including an indication of the blob-like structure.Type: GrantFiled: August 20, 2007Date of Patent: April 12, 2011Assignee: Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc.Inventors: Gerardo Hermosillo Valadez, Senthil Periaswamy