Method and Apparatus for Efficient Three-Dimensional Contouring of Medical Images
AssigneeImpac Medical Systems, Inc.
InventorsLyndon S. Hibbard, Xiao Han
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A technique is disclosed for generating a new contour and/or a 3D surface such as a variational implicit surface from contour data. In one embodiment, a point reduction operation is performed on data sets corresponding to any combination of transverse, sagittal, or coronal contour data prior to processing those data sets to generate a 3D surface such as a variational implicit surface. A new contour can also be generated by the intersection of this surface with an appropriately placed and oriented plane. In this manner, the computation of the variational implicit surface becomes sufficiently efficient to make its use for new contour generation practical.
Claims27
A computer-implemented method for generating a three-dimensional (3D) surface corresponding to a region of interest within an image, the method comprising:
- generating a second plurality of data points from a first plurality of data points, the second plurality being less than the first plurality, the first plurality of data points being representative of a plurality of contours corresponding to the region of interest;
- and
- generating a 3D surface representative of the region of interest based on the second plurality of data points;
- and
- wherein the method steps are performed by a processor.
An apparatus for generating a three-dimensional (3D) surface corresponding to a region of interest within an image, the apparatus comprising:
- a processor configured to (1) generate a second plurality of data points from a first plurality of data points, the second plurality being less than the first plurality, the first plurality of data points being representative of a plurality of contours corresponding to the region of interest, and (2) generate a 3D surface representative of the region of interest based on the second plurality of data points.
A computer-readable storage medium for generating a three-dimensional (3D) surface corresponding to a region of interest within an image, the computer-readable storage medium comprising:
- a plurality of computer-executable instructions for (1) generating a second plurality of data points from a first plurality of data points, the second plurality being less than the first plurality, the first plurality of data points being representative of a plurality of contours corresponding to the region of interest, and (2) generating a 3D surface representative of the region of interest based on the second plurality of data points, and wherein the instructions are resident on the computer-readable storage medium.
A computer-implemented method for processing a plurality of data point sets, each data point set comprising a plurality of data points that are representative of a contour corresponding to a region of interest within an image volume, each contour having a corresponding plane, the method comprising:
- for at least one of the data points sets, interpolating a contour from the points within the at least one data point set;
- determining a plurality of shape-salient points from the interpolated contour;
- and
- processing a portion of the data points within the data point sets to thereby generate a new contour in a new plane, the new contour corresponding to the region of interest, and wherein the portion includes the determined shape-salient points;
- and
- wherein the method steps are performed by a processor.
A computer-implemented method for processing contour data, the method comprising:
- performing a compression operation on a plurality of contour representations to thereby generate a plurality of compressed contour representations, each contour representation comprising data corresponding to a contour of a region of interest within an image, each contour residing in a plane;
- and
- processing the compressed contour representations to thereby generate a new contour in a new plane, the new contour corresponding to the region of interest;
- and
- wherein the method steps are performed by a processor.
A computer-implemented method for processing a plurality of data point sets, each data point set comprising a plurality of data points that are representative of a contour corresponding to a region of interest within an image volume, each contour having a corresponding plane, the method comprising:
- for at least one of the data points sets, interpolating a contour from the points within the at least one data point set;
- determining a plurality of shape-salient points from the interpolated contour;
- and
- processing a portion of the data points within the data point sets to thereby generate a variational implicit surface that corresponds to the region of interest, and wherein the portion includes the determined shape-salient points;
- and
- wherein the method steps are performed by a processor.
A computer-implemented method for processing contour data, the method comprising:
- performing a compression operation on a plurality of contour representations to thereby generate a plurality of compressed contour representations, each contour representation comprising data corresponding to a contour of a region of interest within an image, each contour residing in a plane;
- and
- processing the compressed contour representations to thereby generate a variational implicit surface corresponding to the region of interest;
- and
- wherein the method steps are performed by a processor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.