Automated crystal identification achieved via watershed segmentation

A crystal identification system, comprising:

• an image memory which receives a flood image which includes a plurality of peaks, each peak responsive to radiation detected by a corresponding scintillator crystal;
• a crystal identification processor configured to:
• identify candidate regions with an identification processor implementing a watershed transform;
• assign a crystal for each candidate region;
• align the candidate regions according to a rectangular grid for the flood image.

An apparatus for crystal identification in nuclear imaging systems with a crystal identification processor configured to:

• generate a flood image;
• generating watershed lines along local intensity minima within the flood image to create candidate regions;
• partition the flood image into a plurality of candidate regions;
• identify maxima within each candidate region;
• assign the candidate regions to corresponding crystals;
• and
• assign the identified maxima to a crystal having crystal coordinates.