Synchronized Window/Level Control for Multi-Image Medical Displays
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current medical imaging systems face complexity in manually adjusting window/level settings for multiple images displayed simultaneously, which hinders efficient visualization and analysis, particularly in radiotherapy applications where precise image alignment and contrast are crucial.
Innovation Solution
A medical image control engine with synchronization modules that automatically adjust the transparency and window/level parameters of multiple images in real-time, allowing users to interactively control one image while synchronizing changes across all displayed images, enhancing visualization and analysis by maintaining image alignment and contrast consistency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If multiple images are displayed simultaneously with individual window/level controls, then each image can be optimized independently, but the complexity of manual adjustment increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the control mechanisms by linking window/level controls across multiple images through a blending factor. When a user adjusts the window/level of one image, the same adjustment is automatically applied to other images in the blended view, reducing the number of independent controls from N (for N images) to a shared control system that maintains both individual optimization capability and operational simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The blending factor control serves multiple functions simultaneously: it manages the transparency overlay of images and synchronizes window/level adjustments across all displayed images. This multi-functional control mechanism eliminates the need for separate window/level controls for each image while maintaining the ability to optimize each image's display parameters independently through the same control interface.
2Manufacturing precision
If manual window/level adjustment is used for each image, then precise control is achieved, but the time required for adjustment increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary synchronization by automatically applying window/level adjustments across all images in the blended view before the user completes their adjustment action. When a user modifies the window/level of one image, the system proactively updates the other images with the same parameters, eliminating the need for sequential manual adjustment of each image and significantly reducing total adjustment time while maintaining precision.
3Loss of information
If transparency blending is used for overlaid images, then visualization of multiple images is improved, but the complexity of managing both transparency and window/level parameters increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the transparency blending factor control with window/level adjustment controls into a unified management system. The blending factor that controls image overlay transparency is linked to the window/level parameters, so that adjusting either parameter type automatically coordinates with the other, reducing the perceived complexity by presenting a unified control interface rather than separate independent controls for each parameter type.
Data Source
AI summary
A technology enables interactive control of simultaneously displayed multiple images with high dynamic ranges, which software automation processes are programmed to reduce the complexity in managing and viewing the post window/level adjustment of the multiple images. An image control engine provides several synchronous functional capabilities, which comprises an input module, a blending factor synchronization module, a window/level synchronization module, a display module, and an image storage. For window/level adjustment of the images in blended views, the blending factor synchronization module automatically links the activation of a window/level control of one image with a transparency blending factor that affects both images. For synchronization of window/level adjustments of two or more images, a window/level synchronization module is configured to automatically change window/level parameters of all remaining images when the user makes an adjustment to a window/level control of one image such that all images with updated window/level parameters are displayed simultaneously.