Database and imaging processing system and methods for analyzing images acquired using an image acquisition system

An image analysis system for acquiring, storing, and analyzing images, the system comprising:

• an image acquisition system configured to acquire and store a plurality of images;
• a database for storing metadata associated with a plurality of images;
• a query system for retrieving stored images based on one or more metadata filters;
• an image analysis module configured to:
• receive a plurality of images from at least one image acquisition system based on a query to the database;
• select at least a portion of a set of images for analysis using at least one attribute of image metadata;
• select at least one method for deriving quantitative information from the at least a portion of the set of images;
• process the selected at least a portion of the set of images with the selected at least one method for deriving quantitative information;
• associate the derived quantitative information with the at least a portion of the set of images via a data structure;
• select at least one method for aggregating at least a portion of a set of derived quantitative information into a reduced set of results;
• generate at least one report to represent the reduced set of results for one of an individual image and the set of images as a pool;
• mark one of a structural measurement, a functional measurement, a descriptor and an annotation;
• and
• identify one of a boundary of a layer, an area and a volume within the structure of the image,
• wherein the image analysis module is configured to perform functions thereof using user intervention with a representation of the image displayed on graphical display;
• automatically using computer algorithms without user intervention;
• using a combination of user intervention and computer algorithms;
• wherein the reduced set of results comprises a measurement of distances between boundaries identified within the structure of an image and a statistical summarization of the measurement data according to a sector map defined for the image;
• wherein the statistical summarization comprises one or more of a count, an average, a variance, a standard deviation, and a higher order moment and the computation of a confidence interval;
• and
• wherein the confidence interval expresses a measure of a degree of goodness of the performance of an algorithm used to generate the reduced results.

A computer program product for analyzing a set of images, wherein the images are acquired using at least one an image acquisition system and stored such as to be accessible through query to a database, the computer program product comprising:

• a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code embodied in the medium, the computer-readable program code comprising:
• computer readable program code configured to receive a plurality of images from at least one image acquisition system;
• computer readable program code configured to store the received plurality of images in a data storage system, wherein the images are accessible through query to a database;
• computer readable program code configured to select at least a portion of the set of images through query to a database for analysis using at least one attribute of image metadata in the query;
• computer readable program code configured to select at least one method for deriving quantitative information from the at least a portion of the set of images;
• computer readable program code configured to process the selected at least a portion of the set of images with the selected at least one method for deriving quantitative information;
• computer readable program code configured to associate the derived quantitative information with the at least a portion of the set of images via a data structure;
• computer readable program code configured to select at least one method for aggregating at least a portion of a set of derived quantitative information into a reduced set of results;
• computer readable program code configured to generate at least one report to represent the reduced set of results for one of an individual image and the set of images as a pool;
• computer readable program code configured to mark one of a structural measurement, a functional measurement, a descriptor, and an annotation;
• computer readable program code configured to involve user intervention with a representation of the image displayed on graphical display;
• be fully automated through computer algorithms without user intervention;
• or to involve both user intervention and computer algorithms;
• and
• computer readable program code configured to identify a boundary of a layer, an area and/or a volume within the structure of the image,
• wherein the reduced set of results comprises a measurement of distances between boundaries identified within the structure of an image and a statistical summarization of the measurement data according to a sector map defined for the image;
• wherein the statistical summarization comprises one or more of a count, an average, a variance, a standard deviation, and a higher order moment and the computation of a confidence interval;
• and
• wherein the confidence interval expresses a measure of a degree of goodness of the performance of an algorithm used to generate the reduced results.