Patents Examined by Michael A Newman
  • Patent number: 8938110
    Abstract: A method includes generating enhanced image data based on lower dose image data and a predetermined image quality threshold, wherein an image quality of the enhanced image data is substantially similar to an image quality of higher dose image data, and a system includes an image quality enhancer (128) that generates enhanced image data based on lower dose image data and a predetermined image quality threshold, wherein an image quality of the enhanced image data is substantially similar to an image quality of higher dose image data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 20, 2015
    Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
    Inventors: Liran Goshen, Kevin M. Brown, Stanislav Zabic, Jens Wiegert, Asher Gringauz
  • Patent number: 8934691
    Abstract: An MR system compensates for patient movement by generating a magnetic field for acquiring, first data representing individual frequency components of a segment of a k-space storage array during a first time period and second data representing individual frequency components of the segment of the k-space storage array during a subsequent second time period. The first and second data comprise individual frequency components of different images of a portion of the anatomy of a patient. The system uses the first and second data in calculating a measure representing degree of patient related motion occurring between acquisition of the first data and second data and generates an image by excluding frequency components of the first data and second data in response to the calculated measure exceeding the predetermined threshold value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 13, 2015
    Assignees: Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc., The Regents of the University of California
    Inventors: Daniel James Sheltraw, Vibhas S. Despande, Benjamin Alastair Inglis
  • Patent number: 8934665
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for tracking an object, and a method and apparatus for calculating object pose information are provided. The method of tracking the object obtains object feature point candidates by using a difference between pixel values of neighboring frames. A template matching process is performed in a predetermined region having the object feature point candidates as the center. Accordingly, it is possible to reduce a processing time needed for the template matching process. The method of tracking the object is robust in terms of sudden changes in lighting and partial occlusion. In addition, it is possible to track the object in real time. In addition, since the pose of the object, the pattern of the object, and the occlusion of the object are determined, detailed information on action patterns of the object can be obtained in real time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 13, 2015
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Jung-bae Kim, Haitao Wang
  • Patent number: 8929635
    Abstract: A method for segmenting a feature of interest from a volume image acquires image data elements from the image of a subject. One or more boundary points along a boundary of the feature of interest are identified according to one or more geometric primitives with reference to the displayed view. A foreground seed curve is defined according to the one or more identified boundary points. A background field array that lies outside of, and is spaced from, the foreground seed curve by a predetermined distance, is defined. Segmentation is applied to the volume image according to foreground values obtained according to image data elements that are spatially bounded on or within the foreground seed curve and according to background field array values to create a segmented feature of interest.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 6, 2015
    Assignee: Carestream Health, Inc.
    Inventors: Shoupu Chen, Lawrence A. Ray
  • Patent number: 8929640
    Abstract: Currency bills are transported past an image scanner to one or more output receptacles. Each of the bills is imaged to produce image data from which a visually readable image of each bill can be reproduced. The serial number, denomination, and/or secondary identifiers of a bill is attempted to be extracted and/or determined from the image data associated with the bill. The serial number of the bill has an integer number, X, of characters. One or more of the X characters of the serial number of the currency bill is not extracted with a predetermined confidence. In response to failing to extract all of the X characters of the serial number of the bill with the predetermined confidence, a serial number field in an electronic record associated with the bill is populated with a serial number snippet image. The electronic record is stored in a non-transitory memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 6, 2015
    Assignee: Cummins-Allison Corp.
    Inventors: Douglas U. Mennie, Antony D. Susai, William J. Jones, Frank M. Csulits, Matthew L. Anderson, Robert J. Klein, Ralf H. Jaeger, David R. Badalamenti, Dale E. Beutel
  • Patent number: 8929642
    Abstract: A three-dimensional scanner according to one aspect of the embodiments includes an irradiation unit, an imaging unit, a position detecting unit, and a scanning-region determining unit. The irradiation unit emits a slit-shaped light beam while changing an irradiation position with respect to a measuring object. The imaging unit sequentially captures images of the measuring object irradiated with the light beam. The position detecting unit detects a position of the light beam in an image captured by the imaging unit by scanning the image. The scanning-region determining unit determines a scanning region in an image as a scanning target by the position detecting unit based on a position of the light beam in an image captured by the imaging unit before the image as a scanning target.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 6, 2015
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Yasakawa Denki
    Inventor: Yuji Ichimaru
  • Patent number: 8923595
    Abstract: A method is described for distinguishing between cancerous and normal human cells. The method includes collecting cells; preparing cells for scanning; scanning of the prepared cells by means of atomic force microscopy; processing of the obtained images through specific algorithms; wherein the algorithms allowing one to identify whether the cell is cancerous or normal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 30, 2014
    Assignee: Clarkson University
    Inventors: Igor Sokolov, Maxim Dokukin
  • Patent number: 8917905
    Abstract: A method for controlling an object space having an associated object environment includes the steps of, defining a target set of coordinates in the object space, recognizing the presence of a predetermined object in the object space, and determining a coordinate location of the recognized predetermined object in the object space. The method further includes determining the spatial relationship between the recognized predetermined object and the target set of coordinates, comparing the spatial relationship with predetermined spatial relationship criteria, and if the determined spatial relationship criteria falls within the predetermined spatial relationship criteria, modifying the object space environment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 23, 2014
    Inventor: Don K. Dill
  • Patent number: 8908902
    Abstract: A device for verifying the integrity of an item of data displayed on a display device controlled by a video controller, the video controller being connected to the display device by an appropriate connection and transmitting to it a video signal including an input interface which allows the device to be connected at a branch of the connection between the video controller and the display device, a reconstruction device which is capable, from the derived video signal, of reconstructing an image corresponding to the image displayed on the display device; an analysis device which is capable of extracting an item of reconstructed data from the reconstructed image, a comparison device which is capable of comparing the reconstructed data with a reference value of the item of data to be displayed and an alarm means which is capable of activating a malfunction alarm in accordance with the result at the output of the comparison device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 9, 2014
    Assignee: ALSTOM Transport SA
    Inventors: Jacques Fifis, Christian Louis Georges Henri Euvrard
  • Patent number: 8908911
    Abstract: Systems and methods are described herein for identifying and filtering redundant database entries associated with a visual search system. An example of a method of managing a database associated with a mobile device described herein includes identifying a captured image; obtaining an external database record from an external database corresponding to an object identified from the captured image; comparing the external database record to a locally stored database record; and locally discarding one of the external database record or the locally stored database record if the comparing indicates overlap between the external database record and the locally stored database record.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 9, 2014
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Charles Wheeler Sweet, III, Prince Gupta
  • Patent number: 8891848
    Abstract: A method is disclosed for fully automated segmentation of human vertebral body images in a CT (computerized tomography) study with no user interaction and no phantoms, which has resiliency to anatomical abnormalities, and protocol and scanner variations. The method was developed to enable automated detection of osteoporosis in CT studies performed for other clinical reasons. Testing with 1,044 abdominal CTs from multiple sites, resulted in detection of 96.3% of the vertebral bodies and 1% false positives. Of the detected vertebral bodies, 83.3% were segmented adequately for sagittal plane quantitative evaluation of vertebral fractures indicative of osteoporosis. Improved results were observed when selecting the best sagittal plane of 3 for each vertebra, yielding a segmentation success rate of 85.4%. The method is preferably implemented in software as a building block in a system for automated osteoporosis detection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 18, 2014
    Assignee: Radnostics, LLC
    Inventors: Anthony Blumfield, Einat Blumfield
  • Patent number: 8885879
    Abstract: In a technology of acquiring an object position by a visual cone intersection method, an object position estimation device which reduces estimation of incorrect position due to ghost image objects is provided, wherein an object candidate acquisition means estimates an object position by a visual cone intersection method and acquires a candidate object, an object candidate information storage means which stores information on overlap among the candidate objects for the visual cone of the object which is acquired based on the captured image, a degree of co-movement acquisition means acquires an index as a degree of co-movement which is calculated based on number of visual cones including other candidate objects which co-move with a movement of the candidate object and indicates interrelation among candidate objects for candidate objects, and a candidate object determination means identifies said candidate object as either an object or a non-object by a posteriori probability based on the acquired index and outp
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2010
    Date of Patent: November 11, 2014
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventor: Hiroo Ikeda
  • Patent number: 8873798
    Abstract: A method, non-transitory computer readable medium, and apparatus that tracks an object includes utilizing random projections to represent an object in a region of an initial frame in a transformed space with at least one less dimension. One of a plurality of regions in a subsequent frame with a closest similarity between the represented object and one or more of plurality of templates is identified as a location for the object in the subsequent frame. A learned distance is applied for template matching, and techniques that incrementally update the distance metric online are utilized in order to model the appearance of the object and increase the discrimination between the object and the background. A hybrid template library, with stable templates and hybrid templates that contains appearances of the object during the initial stage of tracking as well as more recent ones is utilized to achieve robustness with respect to pose variation and illumination changes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 28, 2014
    Assignee: Rochester Institue of Technology
    Inventors: Grigorios Tsagkatakis, Andreas Savakis
  • Patent number: 8849043
    Abstract: A system for automatically selecting a template and a number of secondary images for display with a primary preselected image based on analyzing the primary image's attribute information and comparing the template's required image attributes and secondary image's attribute information. The attribute information is used to evaluate and arithmetically score a compatibility of the images and template so that a best compatibility fit can be obtained when displaying the image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 30, 2014
    Assignee: Intellectual Ventures Fund 83 LLC
    Inventors: Raymond W. Ptucha, Laura R. Whitby, William Bogart
  • Patent number: 8831379
    Abstract: Embodiments that provide cartoon personalization are disclosed. In accordance with one embodiment, cartoon personalization includes selecting a face image having a pose orientation that substantially matches an original pose orientation of a character in a cartoon image. The method also includes replacing a face of the character in the cartoon image with the face image. The method further includes blending the face image with a remainder of the character in the cartoon image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 9, 2014
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Fang Wen, Xiao-Ou Tang, Ying-Qing Xu
  • Patent number: 8824798
    Abstract: An information processing device includes: a document receiving unit that receives a document containing at least one page, wherein positions of document components of a page of the at least one page are fixed within the page; a page dividing unit that divides the document received by the document receiving unit into at least one page; a page heading determining unit that determines a heading of a page of the at least one page divided by the page dividing unit based on components included in the page; and a processing unit that assigns the heading determined by the page heading determining unit to the page divided by the page dividing unit as first level outline information of the page.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2010
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2014
    Assignee: Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shunichi Kimura, Satoshi Kubota, Ikken So, Masanori Sekino
  • Patent number: 8818027
    Abstract: A computing device configured for providing an interface is described. The computing device includes a processor and instructions stored in memory. The computing device projects a projected image from a projector. The computing device also captures an image including the projected image using a camera. The camera operates in a visible spectrum. The computing device calibrates itself, detects a hand and tracks the hand based on a tracking pattern in a search space. The computing device also performs an operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 26, 2014
    Assignee: Qualcomm Incorporated
    Inventors: Babak Forutanpour, Jianfeng Ren
  • Patent number: 8811708
    Abstract: A system is provided for quantification of medical image data. First image obtaining means (1) are for obtaining a first image (A). Second image obtaining means (2) are for obtaining a second image (B). Spatial transformation obtaining means (3) are for obtaining spatial transformation information representing a correspondence between points in the first image and corresponding points in the second image. Identifying means (4) are for identifying a first image region (C) in the first image (A). Transforming means (5) are for transforming the first image region (C) into a corresponding second image region C?) in the second image (B) based on the spatial transformation information. Quantification means (6) are for computing a quantification relating to the second image region (C?) by accessing image values of the second image (B) within the second image region (C?).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 19, 2014
    Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
    Inventors: Alexander Fischer, Uma Satya Ranjan, Utpal Kumar
  • Patent number: 8811706
    Abstract: Exemplary method, system, and computer-accessible medium can be provided for determining a measure of diffusional kurtosis by receiving data relating to at least one diffusion weighted image, and determining a measure of a diffusional kurtosis as a function of the received data using a closed form solution procedure. In accordance with certain exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, provided herein are computer-accessible medium, systems and methods for, e.g., imaging in an MRI system, and, more particularly for facilitating estimation of tensors and tensor-derived measures in diffusional kurtosis imaging (DKI). For example, DKI can facilitate a characterization of non-Gaussian diffusion of water molecules in biological tissues. The diffusion and kurtosis tensors parameterizing the DKI model can typically be estimated via unconstrained least squares (LS) methods.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 19, 2014
    Assignee: New York University
    Inventors: Jens Jensen, Joseph Helpern, Ali Tabesh, Els Fieremans
  • Patent number: 8798356
    Abstract: An apparatus and method for encoding and decoding a multi-view image including a stereoscopic image are provided. The apparatus for encoding a multi-view image includes a base layer encoding unit that encodes a base layer image to generate a base layer bit stream, a view-based conversion unit that performs view-based conversion of the base layer image to generate a view-converted base layer image, a subtractor obtaining a residual between a enhancement layer image and the view-converted base layer image, and an enhancement layer encoding unit that encodes the obtained residual to generate an enhancement layer bit stream.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 5, 2014
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Dae-Hee Kim, Jae-Woo Jung