Patents by Inventor Michelle Xiao-Hong Yan

Michelle Xiao-Hong Yan 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).

  • Patent number: 8170642
    Abstract: A method and system for detecting lymph nodes in multiple complementary magnetic resonance (MR) sequences is disclosed. Anatomical landmarks, such as blood vessels, are extracted in a first MR sequence, such as an MR angiography (MRA) image. A search area is defined in at least one second MR sequence, such as a T1 weighted VIBE image, based on the anatomical landmarks extracted the first MR sequence. Lymph nodes are then detected in the search area of the second MR sequence. The lymph nodes can be detected by segmenting the search area into homogenous regions and determining whether each region is a lymph node using feature analysis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 8, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2012
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Michelle Xiao-Hong Yan, Yue Lu, Martin Requardt
  • Patent number: 8086007
    Abstract: A method and system for image quality assessment is disclosed. The image quality assessment method is a no-reference method for objectively assessing the quality of medical images. This method is guided by the human vision model in order to accurately reflect human perception. A region of interest (ROI) of medical image is divided into non-overlapping blocks of equal size. Each of the blocks is categorized as a smooth block, a texture block, or an edge block. A perceptual sharpness measure, which is weighted by local contrast, is calculated for each of the edge blocks. A perceptual noise level measure, which is weighted by background luminance, is calculated for each of the smooth blocks. A sharpness quality index is determined based on the perceptual sharpness measures of all of the edge blocks, and a noise level quality index is determined based on the perceptual noise level measures of all of the smooth blocks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 3, 2008
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2011
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Michelle Xiao-Hong Yan, Ti-chiun Chang, Markus Lendl, Stefan Boehm, Tong Fang, Peter Durlak
  • Publication number: 20090116713
    Abstract: A method and system for image quality assessment is disclosed. The image quality assessment method is a no-reference method for objectively assessing the quality of medical images. This method is guided by the human vision model in order to accurately reflect human perception. A region of interest (ROI) of medical image is divided into non-overlapping blocks of equal size. Each of the blocks is categorized as a smooth block, a texture block, or an edge block. A perceptual sharpness measure, which is weighted by local contrast, is calculated for each of the edge blocks. A perceptual noise level measure, which is weighted by background luminance, is calculated for each of the smooth blocks. A sharpness quality index is determined based on the perceptual sharpness measures of all of the edge blocks, and a noise level quality index is determined based on the perceptual noise level measures of all of the smooth blocks.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 3, 2008
    Publication date: May 7, 2009
    Inventors: Michelle Xiao-Hong Yan, Ti-Chiun Chang, Markus Lendl, Stefan Boehm, Tong Fang, Peter Durlak
  • Patent number: 7524061
    Abstract: A method for optic disk detection in retinal images, includes: extracting a vessel tree from a retinal image; locating an optic disk in the retinal image using the vessel tree; enhancing a contrast of the optic disk; removing vessels from the contrast enhanced optic disk; detecting a boundary of the optic disk with vessels removed by generating an edge map; projecting the edge map at a plurality of angles by using a radon transform; and estimating a radius and center of the optic disk using the projections.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2006
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2009
    Assignee: Siemens Corporate Research, Inc.
    Inventors: Michelle Xiao-Hong Yan, Ke Huang, Hans Schüll
  • Publication number: 20080171932
    Abstract: A method and system for detecting lymph nodes in multiple complementary magnetic resonance (MR) sequences is disclosed. Anatomical landmarks, such as blood vessels, are extracted in a first MR sequence, such as an MR angiography (MRA) image. A search area is defined in at least one second MR sequence, such as a T1 weighted VIBE image, based on the anatomical landmarks extracted the first MR sequence. Lymph nodes are then detected in the search area of the second MR sequence. The lymph nodes can be detected by segmenting the search area into homogenous regions and determining whether each region is a lymph node using feature analysis.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 8, 2008
    Publication date: July 17, 2008
    Applicant: Siemens Corporate Research, Inc.
    Inventors: Michelle Xiao-Hong Yan, Yue Lu, Martin Requardt