Patents Examined by Matthew L. Bella
  • Patent number: 5960102
    Abstract: An image processing method is provided to remove areas from an image made by x-irradiation, said areas corresponding to absorption filters in the x-ray beam. Because such filters, also known as x-ray shutters, are inserted into the x-ray beam from the outside of the x-ray beam, x-ray shutter-areas extend from the periphery of the image. Therefore, once the edge of an x-ray shutter-areas has been determined, the part of the image located between the periphery and the x-ray shutter-edge is removed. X-ray shutter-edges are determined by locating transition-points in the image having brightness-transitions having maxima of both the first and second spatial derivatives of the brightness-value. An x-ray shutter-edge is then determined by fitting a curve through the transition-points. The curve fitting is performed with the use of weight-factors that are representative of the likelihood that a transition-point is on an actual x-ray shutter-edge.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 1996
    Date of Patent: September 28, 1999
    Assignee: U.S. Philips Corporation
    Inventors: Alexander H.W. Van Eeuwijk, Steven Lobregt, Raoul Florent, Jacques Breitenstein