Abstract: A method and apparatus for multi-phase cardiac CT imaging includes an adaptive, selective reconstruction process that, when possible, implements an image or non-phase location driven reconstruction process to reconstruct cardiac CT images. If the hardware parameters support an image location driven reconstruction for the particular imaging session then the image location driven reconstruction is implemented. However, if image location driven reconstruction is not supported, a default phase location driven reconstruction is employed. Image location driven reconstruction improves system throughput and improves image quality as more cardiac phase locations can routinely be generated to better “freeze” the motion of the heart of a patient.

Abstract: A method and system are disclosed for rendering medical images for display on a medical imaging system. The method includes acquiring an image data set by way of an acquisitioning system, and entering a special mode of operation that is either an interactive mode of operation or a repetitive series rendering mode of operation. The method further includes pre-calculating pixel values based upon the image data set, and displaying an image on an output device based upon the pre-calculated pixel values. The method additionally includes altering at least one aspect of the displayed image, wherein the altered displayed image continues to be based upon the pre-calculated pixel values.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for tissue dependent filtering for digital image magnification includes using bilinear interpolation and digital convolution filters to approximate bicubic interpolation for digital image magnification. A library of set s of representative images may be created for particular anatomies and particular imaging modalities. Two-dimensional convolution filter coefficients may be estimated using a set of representative images chosen for a particular anatomy. The two-dimensional convolution filter coefficients may be employed to form a two-dimensional convolution filter to be used with bilinear interpolation to magnify a digital image.

Abstract: A computed tomography system includes an x-ray source, an x-ray detector aligned with the x-ray source, a processor coupled to the x-ray detector, and a display for displaying reconstructed images. The processor is programmed to perform at least one of: generating a partially reconstructed image for display on the display; dynamically reformatting images for display on the display; communicating the partially reconstructed image, the reformatted images, or data associated with the system to a remote facility.

Abstract: A method and system are disclosed for rendering medical images for display on a medical imaging system. The method includes acquiring an image data set by way of an acquisitioning system, and entering a special mode of operation that is either an interactive mode of operation or a repetitive series rendering mode of operation. The method further includes pre-calculating pixel values based upon the image data set, and displaying an image on an output device based upon the pre-calculated pixel values. The method additionally includes altering at least one aspect of the displayed image, wherein the altered displayed image continues to be based upon the pre-calculated pixel values.

Abstract: The present invention, in one form, includes methods and apparatus for altering the spatial characteristics of a digital image collected in a CT system using a real-time magnification algorithm. In accordance with one embodiment of the algorithm, once the digital image is collected, an enlarged image is generated by interpolating and filtering the original digital image data. In one aspect, two pass linear interpolation and one dimensional filtering is utilized to generate the enlarged image. The first pass performs interpolation in the x direction and the second pass performs interpolation in the y direction. The interpolations in the x and y directions are performed in two steps. Initially, linear interpolation is applied to the original digital image to generate interpolated data. A one dimensional convolution filter is then applied to the interpolated data. Utilizing this process, a high quality enlarged image may be generated for any integer zoom factor.