Medical Image Annotation Visibility Toggle via Alt Key
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current image processing methods for medical images are cumbersome and non-intuitive, requiring users to navigate dialog boxes or menus to switch annotations between visible and invisible, leading to poor usability and increased operation time during medical diagnosis.
Innovation Solution
An image processing method that allows users to switch between visible and invisible modes by pressing a predetermined key (e.g., Alt key), enabling objects to be designated for visibility changes directly on the image without needing dialog boxes or menus, with objects distinguished by transparency or color based on their visibility properties.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If users navigate dialog boxes or menus to switch annotation visibility, then visibility properties can be changed, but operation time and effort increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically responds to user intent by detecting cursor position over annotations and providing visibility toggle options without requiring manual menu navigation. The context menu appears automatically when the cursor hovers over an annotation, enabling users to change visibility settings through simple clicking rather than complex dialog box navigation.
Solution Approach 2:
A context menu acts as an intermediary between the user and the annotation visibility control system. This menu provides a simplified interface that translates user clicking actions into visibility property changes, eliminating the need for users to navigate through multiple dialog boxes and menu layers while maintaining reliable control over annotation display.
2Reliability
If dialog boxes or menus are used for annotation visibility control, then visibility can be switched, but device complexity and ease of operation deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically provides the context menu when the cursor hovers over an annotation, eliminating the need for users to manually search for or navigate to visibility control options. This self-activating interface significantly improves ease of operation while maintaining reliable visibility control.
Solution Approach 2:
The visibility control interface is segmented into context-specific menus that appear only when needed near relevant annotations. This segmentation prevents the interface from being overwhelmed by a single large dialog box containing all possible controls, making the system both reliable and easy to operate.
3Adaptability or versatility
If comprehensive annotation controls are provided in dialog boxes, then all visibility options are available, but interface complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The comprehensive annotation control functionality is segmented into multiple small context menus distributed around the image, with each menu containing only the relevant controls for nearby annotations. This segmentation maintains adaptability and versatility while dramatically reducing interface complexity compared to a single comprehensive dialog box.
Solution Approach 2:
The interface transitions from a two-dimensional dialog box layout to a spatially-distributed set of context menus positioned in the third dimension of the image display space. This dimensional change allows comprehensive controls to be accessed contextually without creating a complex centralized interface.
Data Source
AI summary
When the user presses an Alt key, the mode makes a transition to a property value switching mode and all annotations are made visible. At this time, the originally invisible annotations with the visibility properties set to invisible are drawn translucently. That is, a scanner name, a color bar, and a patient name which are not visible in a normal mode are drawn translucently. Thus, the user presses the Alt key, whereby the mode can be switched to the visible switching mode of drawing all objects, so that the user can promptly designate the annotation whose visibility property is to be changed and can smoothly conduct a medical diagnosis with an image.