Method and system for indicating light direction for a volume-rendered image
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorGerald Schroecker
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and system for volume-rendering. The method and system include generating a volume-rendered image that is shaded from a light direction, displaying the volume-rendered image, displaying a model of a solid at the same time as the volume-rendered image, and displaying a light direction indicator with respect to the model of the solid, wherein the position of the light direction indicator corresponds to the light direction used for shading the volume-rendered image.
Claims20
A method of volume-rendering 3D medical imaging data comprising:
- generating a volume-rendered image from a 3D dataset acquired with a medical imaging device, wherein the volume-rendered image is shaded from a light direction;
- displaying the volume-rendered image;
- displaying a scale volume-rendered image at the same time as the volume-rendered image;
- and
- displaying a light direction indicator with respect to the scale volume-rendered image, wherein the position of the light direction indicator with respect to the scale volume-rendered image corresponds to the light direction used for shading the volume-rendered image.
A method of volume-rendering 3D medical imaging data comprising:
- displaying a volume-rendered image that is shaded from a first light direction, wherein the volume-rendered image is based on a 3D dataset acquired from a medical imaging device;
- displaying a scale volume-rendered image at the same time as displaying the volume-rendered image;
- displaying a light source indicator at a first position with respect to the scale volume-rendered image, wherein the first position of the light source indicator corresponds to the first light direction used to shade the volume-rendered image;
- moving with a user interface the light source indicator to a second position with respect to the scale volume-rendered image;
- and
- automatically updating the shading on the volume-rendered image to correspond with the second position of the light source indicator with respect to the scale volume-rendered image.
The method of 17, wherein the model of the solid comprises a representation of a polygonal model and is transparent or semi-transparent, wherein the model of the solid is a different shape than the volume-rendered image, and further comprising displaying the model of the solid at the same time as but separate from the volume-rendered image on a display device.
A system for interacting with a 3D dataset comprising:
- a display device;
- a memory;
- a user input;
- and
- a processor communicatively connected to the display device, the memory and the user input, wherein the processor is configured to:
- access a 3D dataset from the memory, where the 3D dataset was acquired with a medical imaging device;
- generate a volume-rendered image from the 3D dataset that is shaded from a light direction;
- display the volume-rendered image on the display device;
- display a scale volume-rendered image at the same time as the volume-rendered image, where the scale volume-rendered image is smaller representation of the volume-rendered image;
- and
- display a light source indicator at a position with respect to the scale volume-rendered image to indicate the light direction used for shading the volume-rendered image.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.