Radiography Room Guide Projection for Intuitive Subject Positioning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing medical imaging systems struggle to provide guide information that subjects can intuitively understand, leading to operator burden and potential confusion during radiography procedures.
Innovation Solution
An imaging support apparatus that projects guide information onto a preset projection surface in the imaging room, using a processor to control projection based on progress status information, including movement routes and subject positioning, with warnings for deviations, and adjusting room brightness for clarity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If guide information is displayed on a monitor, then the operator burden is reduced, but the subject cannot intuitively understand the guide information
Solution Approach 1:
The guide information is projected from a two-dimensional monitor display onto the three-dimensional floor surface, creating a spatial mapping that allows subjects to intuitively understand their movement route and positioning in the imaging room. This dimensional transformation makes the abstract guide information concrete and visually intuitive.
Solution Approach 2:
A projector is introduced as an intermediary device between the control system and the subject. The projector translates digital guide information into visual projections on the floor, serving as a mediator that bridges the gap between the operator's control system and the subject's understanding.
2Productivity
If multiple guide information are provided, then the imaging procedure is more comprehensive, but the information becomes harder to understand
Solution Approach 1:
The guide information is segmented into distinct functional components: movement route guidance (arrows), positioning markers (circles with numbers), and precaution notices. Each segment serves a specific purpose and is visually differentiated, allowing subjects to process information in manageable chunks rather than as a single complex message.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the floor surface are assigned different types of guide information based on local needs. Movement routes are projected on pathways, positioning markers are placed at specific standing locations, and precautions are displayed near relevant areas. This localized distribution of information reduces overall complexity by presenting only relevant information at each location.
3Illumination intensity
If the imaging room brightness is high, then the room is more comfortable for subjects, but the projected guide information becomes less visible
Solution Approach 1:
The lighting system dynamically adjusts its brightness based on the projection phase. During guide information projection, the room lights are dimmed to enhance visibility of the projected information. After subjects have acknowledged or moved along the guide route, the lighting returns to normal comfort levels. This dynamic adjustment resolves the contradiction between comfort and visibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The lighting follows a periodic pattern: high brightness during normal operation for subject comfort, switched to low brightness during guide information projection phases. This periodic alternation between comfort mode and visibility mode allows both requirements to be met at different times in the imaging procedure.
Data Source
AI summary
A CPU of a console includes a status recognition unit and a projector controller. The status recognition unit acquires subject position information, an adjustment end signal, and an irradiation end signal, which are progress status information indicating a progress status of radiography. The projector controller performs control of causing a projector to project guide information which is related to imaging aimed at a subject, the guide information corresponding to the progress status information, onto a preset projection surface of a radiography room.