Medical Image Thumbnail Ungrouping for Specific View Review
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current medical image management systems group medical images by position and side, making it difficult for clinicians to quickly find specific views and potentially miss useful images due to technical repeats, leading to inefficient diagnosis and longer review times.
Innovation Solution
Implement user-selectable grouping and ungrouping of thumbnail images in a graphical user interface, allowing clinicians to switch between set-grouped and ungrouped thumbnail displays for easier navigation and viewing of medical images.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If medical images are grouped by position and side into sets, then the organization of images is improved and navigation structure is simplified, but it becomes difficult for clinicians to quickly find specific views and technical repeats may be missed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the image display into two distinct modes: set-grouped mode (organizing images by position and side for structured navigation) and ungrouped mode (displaying individual images separately for detailed inspection). This segmentation allows clinicians to switch between organizational structures based on their immediate needs, resolving the contradiction between structured navigation and detailed visibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a dynamic display system that allows clinicians to switch between set-grouped and ungrouped thumbnail modes using user interface elements. This dynamic adaptability enables the system to transition between different organizational states, allowing clinicians to optimize the display according to their current task - whether needing broad navigation or detailed inspection of specific views.
2Quantity of substance
If additional images in a set are displayed as additional pages, then complete image sets are made available, but clinicians need to page through multiple images which increases review time
Solution Approach 1:
The patent allows clinicians to view only the necessary portion of image sets by enabling ungrouped mode, where individual thumbnails can be selected and viewed without paging through entire sets. This partial action principle lets clinicians access only the specific images needed for their diagnostic task, rather than requiring sequential review of all images in a set, thereby reducing review time while maintaining access to complete image data when needed.
3Ease of operation
If images with the same position and side are grouped together, then organization is improved, but it becomes difficult to tell by looking at thumbnail images that a technical repeat has occurred
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the display into set-grouped mode (for organization) and ungrouped mode (for detection). In ungrouped mode, individual thumbnails are displayed separately, allowing clinicians to visually inspect each image and identify technical repeats based on image content rather than being obscured by grouping. This segmentation resolves the contradiction by providing separate optimization for organization versus detection.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a mode-switching mechanism as an intermediary between the organized grouped display and the detailed individual display. This intermediary allows clinicians to transition between views, using the grouped mode for initial organization and the ungrouped mode for detailed inspection of technical repeats, thereby mediating between the needs for organization and detection.
Data Source
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AI summary
Systems and methods are described that implement displaying grouped medical images for review. Current medical image management systems generally use thumbnail image grouping of images that have the same position and side. These groups of thumbnail images can be large, making it difficult for a clinician (e.g., a radiologist) to quickly find a particular view they are interested in reviewing. The disclosed systems and methods provide for user-selectable grouping and ungrouping of thumbnail images in a graphical user interface (300; 400), which makes it easier for a clinician to quickly find a particular view that they are interested in and enables a more-efficient review of an imaging study.