Image Volume Analysis Subsystem for Region Identification
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing image analysis methods, such as those described in US 6,127,669 and "Generation of transfer functions with stochastic search techniques" by Taosong He, insufficiently facilitate users in studying image volumes by not effectively identifying and highlighting regions of interest within the image data, leading to inefficiencies in navigation and visualization.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that analyze image data to identify regions of interest by mapping different sub-ranges of the signal dynamic range to a display dynamic range, generating analysis data to highlight meaningful visual information, and providing navigation aids to guide users towards these regions, thereby reducing cognitive burden and improving study efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If automatic window width and window level calculation is applied to display image data, then display optimization is improved, but the user still faces difficulty in efficiently studying large image volumes due to lack of region identification
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary analysis of the image volume before display to pre-identify regions of interest and pre-calculate optimal window width and window level settings for those regions. This preliminary action allows the display system to present only the most relevant regions with optimized settings, eliminating the need for users to manually navigate through entire image volumes and reducing study time while maintaining display optimization.
2Reliability
If manual navigation through image slices is performed to study anatomical structures, then comprehensive analysis is improved, but the complexity of operation increases and time consumption rises
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts and isolates regions of interest from the complete image volume by analyzing image intensities and identifying areas that fall within optimized dynamic range sub-ranges. By extracting only these relevant regions and presenting them to the user with pre-calculated display settings, the system reduces operational complexity while maintaining comprehensive analysis capability, as users no longer need to manually navigate through irrelevant image slices.
3Manufacturing precision
If multiple display settings are provided for different tissue types, then visualization quality is improved, but the difficulty in selecting appropriate settings increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs self-service by automatically analyzing the image volume data and autonomously identifying regions of interest and calculating optimal window width and window level settings for each region based on their specific intensity characteristics. This self-service capability eliminates the need for users to manually select appropriate display settings, as the system automatically presents the most suitable settings for each identified region, thereby maintaining high visualization quality while simplifying operation.
Data Source
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AI summary
A system (100) is provided for analyzing image data representing image intensities of an image volume, the image intensities having a signal dynamic range. The system (100) comprises an analysis subsystem (140) for accessing display data defining a set of display settings for display of the image volume, each one of the set of display settings causing a different sub-range of the signal dynamic range to be mapped to a display dynamic range during the display. During operation, the analysis subsystem (140) analyzes the image data to identify, for each one of the set of display settings, a region of the image volume which comprises image intensities within the respective sub-range, thereby identifying a set of regions of interest, and generating analysis data (142) identifying the set of regions of interest. As such, the user is enabled to quickly navigate to regions in the image volume which contain meaningful visual information when displayed using the respective display settings.