Patents by Inventor James M. Balter

James M. Balter has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Three-dimensional forward and back projection methods
    Patent number: 8913805
    Abstract: Methods provided for forward and back-projection, which are referred to as separable footprint (SF) projectors: exemplified by the SF-TR and SF-TT projectors. These methods approximate the voxel footprint functions as 2D separable functions. Because of the separability of these footprint functions, calculating their integrals over a detector cell is greatly simplified and can be implemented efficiently. In some embodiments, the SF-TR projector uses trapezoid functions in the transaxial direction and rectangular functions in the axial direction. In some embodiments, the SF-TT projector uses trapezoid functions in both the axial and transaxial directions. Simulations and experiments showed that both SF projector methods are more accurate than conventional distance-driven (DD) projectors. Moreover, the SF-TT projector is more accurate than the SF-TR projector for rays associated with large cone angles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 16, 2014
    Assignee: The Regents of The University of Michigan
    Inventors: Yong Long, Jeffrey A. Fessler, James M. Balter
  • THREE-DIMENSIONAL FORWARD AND BACK PROJECTION METHODS
    Publication number: 20120051626
    Abstract: Methods provided for forward and back-projection, which are referred to as separable footprint (SF) projectors: exemplified by the SF-TR and SF-TT projectors. These methods approximate the voxel footprint functions as 2D separable functions. Because of the separability of these footprint functions, calculating their integrals over a detector cell is greatly simplified and can be implemented efficiently. In some embodiments, the SF-TR projector uses trapezoid functions in the transaxial direction and rectangular functions in the axial direction. In some embodiments, the SF-TT projector uses trapezoid functions in both the axial and transaxial directions. Simulations and experiments showed that both SF projector methods are more accurate than conventional distance-driven (DD) projectors. Moreover, the SF-TT projector is more accurate than the SF-TR projector for rays associated with large cone angles.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 29, 2011
    Publication date: March 1, 2012
    Inventors: Yong Long, Jeffrey A. Fessler, James M. Balter