Abstract: An example apparatus includes a light source, first and second polarizers, an image sensor, a filter, and control circuitry. The light source outputs a light beam, and the first polarizer passes first polarized light from the output light beam and toward a sample. The image sensor collects light reflected from the sample responsive to the passed first polarized light. The second polarizer passes second polarized light from the reflected light and toward the image sensor. The filter selectively passes the reflected light in a visible light range and near infrared range (NIR) light range toward the image sensor. The control circuitry causes the first and second polarizers to adjust to different polarization angles, and collects the image data of the sample from the reflected light.

Abstract: A method and system for structure enhancement and noise reduction of medical images using adaptive filtering is disclosed. The method utilizes feature estimation methods to determine multiple feature values for each pixel in an input image. Each pixel is then filtered using a filter type selected based on the feature values for that pixel.

Abstract: A method of designing hearing aid molds is disclosed whereby two shapes corresponding to graphical images of ear impressions are registered with each other to facilitate joint processing of the hearing aid design. In a first embodiment, a first graphical representation of a first ear impression is received and a feature, such as the aperture of the ear impression, is identified on that graphical model. A first vector is generated that represents the orientation and shape of that first feature. The three-dimensional translation and rotation of that first vector are determined that are necessary to align the first vector with a second vector representing the orientation and a shape of a feature, once again such as the aperture, of a second ear impression. In another embodiment, this alignment is then refined by minimizing the sum of the distances between points on the first and second graphical representations.

Abstract: A method of designing hearing aid molds is disclosed whereby skeletons, or simplified models, of two ear impressions are used to register the graphical representations of the molds to facilitate the joint design of hearing aid shells. The center points of at least a portion of contour lines on the surface of each ear impression are identified. Then, for each ear impression, by connecting these center points to each adjacent center point, a skeleton that represents a simplified model of an ear impression is generated. Vectors describing the distance and direction from the points of each skeleton to an anatomical feature of each ear impression are identified to obtain a correspondence between the points of each skeleton. Three-dimensional translations and rotations of a feature vector of at least one of the skeletons are determined to achieve alignment of the skeleton of one ear impression with the skeleton of another impression.

Abstract: A method identifying apertures of ear impressions is disclosed. A plurality of contour lines associated with an ear impression are determined and a difference value between a value of a characteristic, such as the diameter, of each contour line and that characteristic of an adjacent contour line is determined. The aperture is identified as being that contour line having the greatest difference value. The contour lines are determined by identifying where a plane intersects the surface of the graphical representations. In another embodiment, the contour lines are assigned a weight. A contour index is then calculated for each contour line as a function of the difference value and these weights. According to this embodiment, the aperture is identified as being a contour line that is adjacent to that contour line having the greatest contour index.

Abstract: A system and method for image reconstruction is disclosed. The method divides iterative image reconstruction into two stages, in the image and Radon space, respectively. In the first stage, filtered back projection and adaptive filtering in the image space are combined to generate a refined reconstructed image of a sinogram residue. This reconstructed image represents an update direction in the image space. In the second stage, the update direction is transformed to the Radon space, and a step size is determined to minimize a difference between the sinogram residue and a Radon transform of the refined reconstructed image of the sinogram residue in the Radon space. These stages are repeated iteratively until the solution converges.

Abstract: A method for removing speckle noise from ultrasound images includes providing a plurality of digitized ultrasound (US) images, each image comprising a plurality of intensities corresponding to a domain of points on a 2-dimensional grid, initializing an initial gain associated with each of said plurality of US images, estimating a signal sub-space by averaging over each US image divided by its associated gain, and estimating an updated gain by projecting its associated image into said signal sub-space. If an absolute difference of said updated gain and said initial gain is less than a pre-determined quantity, obtaining an averaged image from said signal sub-space, estimating an optimal Wiener filter from said plurality of US images and said averaged image, and filtering said averaged image with said Wiener filter, wherein said speckle noise is substantially minimized.

Abstract: A method for registering two three-dimensional shapes is disclosed whereby the two shapes are represented as zero level set of signed distance functions and the energy between these two functions is minimized. In a first embodiment, two undetailed ear impression models are rigidly registered with each other. In another embodiment, a detailed ear impression is initially aligned with an undetailed ear impression model and, then, the detailed ear impression model is rigidly registered with the undetailed ear impression model as a function of the signed distance functions. In accordance with another embodiment, an undetailed ear impression model is non-rigidly registered with a template ear impression model as a function of the signed distance functions.

Abstract: A method for multiple image restoration includes receiving a plurality of images corrupted by noise, and initializing a reduced noise estimate of the plurality of images. The method further includes estimating a probability of distributions of noise around each pixel and the probability of the signal, estimating mutual information between noise on the plurality of images based on the probabilities of distributions of noise around each pixel and the joint distribution of noise, and updating each pixel within a search range to determine a restored image by reducing the mutual information between the noise on the plurality of images.

Abstract: A method for estimating feature values from a digitized image includes calculating a gradient of an image, defining a filter weighting function, convolving the gradient with the filter weighting function, integrating over a subdomain of the convolved gradient to calculate components of a cost matrix ?, wherein the cost matrix minimizes a distance metric in a frequency domain of the image, solving for the eigenvalues of the cost matrix, and calculating one or more features from the cost matrix eigenvalues. One or more predesigned bandpass filters can be applied to the image, and cost matrix eigenvalues are analyzed to select one or more appropriate bandpass filters to be applied to the image.

Abstract: A method of designing filters for filtering digitized images includes constructing a set of difference-of-Gaussian (DoG) filters that partition a frequency space, forming a linear combination of said DoG filters to form a trial filter, convolving said trial filter with a training image to obtain a trial image, summing a square difference of said trial image and a target image, wherein if said sum is a minimum, outputting said trial filter as a final filter, and using a singular value decomposition on said final filter wherein an eigenvector corresponding to the largest eigenvalue of the final filter is obtained.

Abstract: A gradient-based image enhancement and restoration method and system which applies an orientation-isotropy adaptive filter to the gradients of high structured regions, and directly suppresses the gradients in the noise or texture regions. A new gradient field is obtained from which image reconstruction can progress using least mean squares. The method generally comprises: inputting image data; calculating image gradients; defining the gradients as having large or small coherence; filtering the large coherence gradients for edge enhancement; suppressing the small coherence gradients for noise reduction; assembling an enhanced gradient field from the filtered large coherence and suppressed small coherence gradients; and optimizing the assembled gradient field into a restored image.

Abstract: A system and method for object inspection includes an object modeler; an iterative object segmentor in signal communication with the object modeler for receiving an input image and model parameters and producing a segmented image; a moment transformer in signal communication with the iterative object segmentor for receiving an input image, model parameters and a segmented image and producing estimates of object translation, rotation and scaling; an edge detector and interpolator in signal communication with the moment transformer for receiving an input image, model parameters and estimates and producing a set of line edges; and an iterative optimizer in signal communication with the edge detector and interpolator for receiving an input image, model parameters, estimates and line edges and producing refined estimates of object translation, rotation and scaling.

Abstract: A method and system for improving image quality by compounding a plurality of images to mitigate the effects of image noise. The method utilizes the independency between noise components for multiple image compounding. An effective measurement is designed to regularize the independency between noise in a traditional generative model based filtering framework, thereby enabling a more robust algorithmic solution to inaccurate signal/noise modeling. The method generally comprises selecting a plurality of images, calculating the residual error on each image; calculating the noise likelihood of each image, calculating the signal likelihood of the image, performing an independence analysis to regularize an independence constraint between the residual errors of the images, and summing the signal likelihood, noise likelihood and pairwise independency to approximate the joint independency between the residual errors.

Abstract: A method for three dimensional image segmentation of a volume of interest includes providing a three dimensional image of the volume of interest, providing an initial polyhedron having a plurality of mesh vertices within the three dimension image and determining an image-based speed at each vertex of the polyhedron using an ordinary differential equation (ODE) that describes the vertex motion of the polyhedron. The method further includes determining a regularization term at each vertex of the polyhedron, updating the plurality of mesh vertices of the polyhedron, integrating the image-based speed of each vertex over a face of the polyhedron, and determining an output polyhedron approximating a shape of the volume of interest.

Abstract: A system and method for synchronously processing ear shells for hearing aids comprising: loading data associated with a first and second ear shell; determining whether to perform a rigid or non-rigid registration of the data associated with the first and second ear shells, wherein the rigid registration is performed when shapes of the first and second ear shells are within a predetermined threshold, and the non-rigid registration is performed when the shapes of the first and second ear shells are not within the predetermined threshold; registering the data associated with the first and second ear shells; processing the first and second ear shells, wherein the processing is synchronously performed; and outputting the processed first and second ear shells to a display device.

Abstract: A system and method for modeling binaural shells for hearing aids, wherein the system is configured to load data associated with a first and a second ear shell. The system is further configured to register the data associated with the first and the second ear shells and process the first ear shell and the second ear shells, wherein the processing on the first ear shell is automatically performed on the second ear shell.

Abstract: A system and method for electronic archival of paper-based technical drawings includes a system having a processor, a form learning unit in signal communication with the processor for learning the form of a model drawing image, a form localization unit in signal communication with the processor for localizing the form of an input drawing image, an optical character recognition unit in signal communication with the processor for optically recognizing identification text of the input drawing image, and a result verification unit in signal communication with the processor for verifying the results of the recognized identification text of the input drawing image; and further includes a method for providing a model drawing image, learning the form of the provided model drawing image, receiving an input drawing image, localizing the form of the input drawing image, optically recognizing identification text of the input drawing image, verifying the results of the recognized identification text of the input drawing i

Abstract: A system and method for modeling binaural shells for hearing aids, wherein the system is configured to load data associated with a first and a second ear shell. The system is further configured to register the data associated with the first and the second ear shells and process the first ear shell. The system is also configured to store data associated with processing the first ear shell and then map the data associated with processing the first ear shell to the second ear shell. Subsequently, the mapped second ear shell is interactively adjusted by an operator to compensate for an inconsistency in the mapped second ear shell.

Abstract: A system and method for electronic archival of paper-based technical drawings includes a system having a processor, a form learning unit in signal communication with the processor for learning the form of a model drawing image, a form localization unit in signal communication with the processor for localizing the form of an input drawing image, an optical character recognition unit in signal communication with the processor for optically recognizing identification text of the input drawing image, and a result verification unit in signal communication with the processor for verifying the results of the recognized identification text of the input drawing image; and further includes a method for providing a model drawing image, learning the form of the provided model drawing image, receiving an input drawing image, localizing the form of the input drawing image, optically recognizing identification text of the input drawing image, verifying the results of the recognized identification text of the input drawing i