US 7,613,337 B2Granted

Method and apparatus for identifying mole growth

AssigneeIntel Corporation

InventorBradley W. Corrion

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Abstract

A mole analysis program generates a digital signature for a first mole, based on a digital image of first, second, and third moles. The program may then determine whether the first mole matches a previously imaged mole, based on the digital signature for the first mole and baseline data with baseline signatures for previously imaged moles. In response to determining that the first mole matches a previously imaged mole, the program may automatically determine whether the first mole has changed. In various embodiments, the digital signature may include angle entries for the digital signature and/or distance entries for the first signature. An angle entry may represent an angle between two lines to connect the first mole with the second mole and the third mole. A distance entry may correspond to the distance between the first mole and the second mole. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Claims25

Dependent claims

A method comprising using a processor to perform steps of:

generating a digital signature for a first mole, based at least in part on a digital image of first, second, and third moles;
accessing baseline data that contains baseline signatures for previously imaged moles;
and
determining whether the first mole matches a previously imaged mole, based at least in part on the digital signature for the first mole and at least one of the baseline signatures in the baseline data;
displaying a visual representation of a body, the visual representation including multiple body regions;
receiving user input that associates a selected mole with one of the displayed body regions;
and
storing body region data in a digital signature for the selected mole, the body region data to identify the body region associated with the selected mole;
wherein the operation of generating a digital signature for a first mole comprises at least one operation from the group consisting of:
recording an angle entry for the digital signature, the angle entry representing an angle between (a) a first line to connect the first mole with the second mole in the digital image and (b) a second line to connect the first mole with the third mole in the digital image;
and
recording a distance entry for the digital signature, the distance entry corresponding to a distance between the first mole and the second mole.

9 more elements

A processing system comprising:

a processor;
a machine-accessible storage medium responsive to the processor;
and
instructions in the machine accessible storage medium, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processing system, cause the processing system to perform operations comprising:
generating a digital signature for a first mole, based at least in part on a digital image of first, second, and third moles;
accessing baseline data that contains baseline signatures for previously imaged moles;
determining whether the first mole matches a previously imaged mole, based at least in part on the digital signature for the first mole and at least one of the baseline signatures in the baseline data;
displaying a visual representation of a body, the visual representation including multiple body regions;
receiving user input that associates a selected mole with one of the displayed body regions;
and
storing body region data in a digital signature for the selected mole, the body region data to identify the body region associated with the selected mole;
wherein the operation of generating a digital signature for a first mole comprises at least one operation from the group consisting of:
recording an angle entry for the digital signature, the angle entry representing an angle between (a) a first line to connect the first mole with the second mole in the digital image and (b) a second line to connect the first mole with the third mole in the digital image;
and
recording a distance entry for the digital signature, the distance entry corresponding to a distance between the first mole and the second mole.

12 more elements

An apparatus comprising:

a machine accessible storage medium;
and
instructions in the machine accessible storage medium, wherein the instructions, when executed by a processing system, cause the processing system to perform operations comprising:
generating a digital signature for a first mole, based at least in part on a digital image of first, second, and third moles;
accessing baseline data that contains baseline signatures for previously imaged moles;
determining whether the first mole matches a previously imaged mole, based at least in part on the digital signature for the first mole and at least one of the baseline signatures in the baseline data;
displaying a visual representation of a body, the visual representation including multiple body regions;
receiving user input that associates a selected mole with one of the displayed body regions;
and
storing body region data in a digital signature for the selected mole, the body region data to identify the body region associated with the selected mole;
wherein the operation of generating a digital signature for a first mole comprises at least one operation from the group consisting of:
recording an angle entry for the digital signature, the angle entry representing an angle between (a) a first line to connect the first mole with the second mole in the digital image and (b) a second line to connect the first mole with the third mole in the digital image;
and
recording a distance entry for the digital signature, the distance entry corresponding to a distance between the first mole and the second mole.

11 more elements

A processing system comprising:

a processor;
a machine-accessible storage medium responsive to the processor;
and
instructions in the machine accessible storage medium, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processing system, cause the processing system to perform operations comprising:
generating a digital signature for a first mole, based at least in part on a digital image of first, second, and third moles;
accessing baseline data that contains baseline signatures for previously imaged moles;
determining whether the first mole matches a previously imaged mole, based at least in part on the digital signature for the first mole and at least one of the baseline signatures in the baseline data;
wherein the operation of generating a digital signature for a first mole comprises at least one operation from the group consisting of:
recording an angle entry for the digital signature, the angle entry representing an angle between (a) a first line to connect the first mole with the second mole in the digital image and (b) a second line to connect the first mole with the third mole in the digital image;
and
recording a distance entry for the digital signature, the distance entry corresponding to a distance between the first mole and the second mole;
and
performing one or more operations from the group consisting of:
receiving user input that associates a selected mole with an image of a baseline mole, the baseline mole having a predetermined identifier;
and, in response to receiving the user input, assigning the identifier of the baseline mole to the selected mole;
presenting a sequence of substantially vertical lines across a substantially horizontal row, the vertical lines representing changes to the largest diameter of a selected mole, according to a sequence of baseline images;
and
in a user interface, using a warm color to highlight moles with changes;
receiving user input to select one or more of the highlighted moles;
and producing output with images of the selected moles, the images for at least one selected mole including at least two images selected from the group consisting of a before image, an after image, and a delta image.

17 more elements

An apparatus comprising:

a machine accessible storage medium;
and
instructions in the machine accessible storage medium, wherein the instructions, when executed by a processing system, cause the processing system to perform operations comprising:
generating a digital signature for a first mole, based at least in part on a digital image of first, second, and third moles;
accessing baseline data that contains baseline signatures for previously imaged moles;
determining whether the first mole matches a previously imaged mole, based at least in part on the digital signature for the first mole and at least one of the baseline signatures in the baseline data;
wherein the operation of generating a digital signature for a first mole comprises at least one operation from the group consisting of:
recording an angle entry for the digital signature, the angle entry representing an angle between (a) a first line to connect the first mole with the second mole in the digital image and (b) a second line to connect the first mole with the third mole in the digital image;
and
recording a distance entry for the digital signature, the distance entry corresponding to a distance between the first mole and the second mole;
and
performing one or more operations from the group consisting of:
receiving user input that associates a selected mole with an image of a baseline mole, the baseline mole having a predetermined identifier;
and, in response to receiving the user input, assigning the identifier of the baseline mole to the selected mole;
presenting a sequence of substantially vertical lines across a substantially horizontal row, the vertical lines representing changes to the largest diameter of a selected mole, according to a sequence of baseline images;
and
in a user interface, using a warm color to highlight moles with changes;
receiving user input to select one or more of the highlighted moles;
and producing output with images of the selected moles, the images for at least one selected mole including at least two images selected from the group consisting of a before image, an after image, and a delta image.

16 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 11/251,391Filed 14 Oct 2005 · continuation in part
Priority: 6 Sep 2005
Published: US 2007/0053559 A18 Mar 2007
Granted: 3 Nov 2009
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification4 codes

G06T 7/0012
Inspection of images, e.g. flaw detection: biomedical image inspection
G06V 40/168
Human faces, e.g. facial parts, sketches or expressions: feature extraction; Face representation
G06T
Image data processing or generation, in general
G06V
Image and video recognition

Family

Application11/220,635Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 6 Sep 2005
US 2007/0053561 A1Pre-grant publication · published 8 Mar 2007
US 7,539,334 B2Parent of this continuation-in-part
US 2007/0053559 A1Published application
US 7,613,337 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.

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