Systems, methods and devices for use in filter-based assessment of carcass grading
AssigneeBiotronics
InventorsDoyle E. Wilson, Viren R. Amin
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods, systems and devices are implemented in connection with measuring the relative content of intramuscular fat (IMF) in a portion of muscle tissue. Consistent with one such method a probe is presented to the portion of muscle tissue. The probe produces a response-provoking signal in the muscle tissue. A resulting signal is used to determine the relative content of IMF in the portion of muscle tissue as a function of a selected filter.
Claims19
A method of measuring relative content of intramuscular fat (IMF) in a portion of muscle tissue of a food animal, the method comprising:
- presenting a probe to the food animal to carry a response-provoking signal to the portion of muscle tissue and capture images of the portion of muscle tissue;
- applying an appropriate filter to the captured images of the portion of muscle tissue, the applied filter configured to exclude images of the captured images based on a pressure exerted between the probe and the food animal being within a desired pressure range;
- and
- measuring, as a function of the applied filter, the relative content of IMF in the portion of muscle tissue.
A system for measuring relative content of intramuscular fat (IMF) in a portion of muscle tissue, the system comprising:
- a probe for carrying a response-provoking signal to the portion of muscle tissue;
- pressure sensors configured and arranged to detect pressure exerted from the probe;
- and
- a data processor configured and arranged to apply a selected filter configured and arranged to select IMF data collected by the probe for analysis based on pressure data from the pressure sensors, and to measure the relative content of IMF in the portion of muscle tissue using the selected IMF data, wherein the relative content of IMF is determined as a function of the response-provoking signal.
A device assessing characteristics of a portion of muscle tissue from a food animal, comprising:
- an image sensor for imaging the portion of muscle tissue;
- an image processing arrangement for generating image parameters from images obtained from the image sensor, for selecting a subset of the generated image parameters based on indicia of image usability and for generating an assessment of characteristics of the portion of muscle tissue as a function of the selected subset;
- a user interface for allowing human interaction with the device being configured and arranged to indicate an operation status of the device to a human;
- and
- a filter configured and arranged for application to the obtained images and for excluding images of the obtained images based on a pressure exerted between a probe and the food animal being within a desired pressure range.
A method of assessing tissue characteristics in a portion of muscle tissue, the method including at least one processing circuit carrying out a set of steps comprising:
- capturing a set of image frames of the portion of muscle tissue;
- performing frame editing or selection of the captured sets of image frames;
- performing automatic image quality detection relative to an image quality criterion;
- determining fat thickness and muscle depth;
- applying image texture processing to images of the set of image frames;
- and
- extracting, from the set of image frames, tissue characteristics of the portion of muscle tissue, including applying an appropriate filter to the captured images to exclude certain of the captured images based on a pressure exerted between a probe and the food animal being within a desired pressure range.
A method of measuring a relative content of intramuscular fat (IMF) in a portion of muscle tissue in a food animal, the method including at least one processing circuit carrying out a set of steps comprising:
- presenting an ultrasound signal to the portion of muscle tissue using a probe;
- capturing image data corresponding to image frames of the portion of muscle tissue from the ultrasound signal;
- determining image-based parameters from the captured image data;
- filtering the image-based parameters in response to a statistical correlation between values of the parameters and an accuracy of IMF determinations, including applying an appropriate filter to the captured image data to exclude certain of the captured image data based on a pressure exerted between a probe and the food animal being within a desired pressure range;
- and
- measuring the relative content of IMF in the portion of muscle tissue as a function of at least one IMF determination algorithm that uses the filtered image-based parameters.
A method of measuring percent lean in a food animal, the method comprising:
- presenting an ultrasound signal to a tissue region of a food animal using a probe;
- capturing image data corresponding to one or more image frames of the tissue region from the ultrasound signal;
- performing filter-based editing to discard frames of the captured one or more image frames to produce selected frames;
- determining image-based landmarks and tissue interfaces from the selected frames;
- calculating fat depth and muscle depth parameters by applying a statistical filter to the selected frames, wherein the filter is applied to the captured images of the portion of muscle tissue, the applied filter configured to exclude images of the captured image data based on a pressure exerted between the probe and the food animal being within a desired pressure range;
- and
- measuring the percent lean in the food animal as a function of the calculated fat depth and muscle depth parameters using a pressure sensor based filter and a statistical filter.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.