Virtual Reality Medical Image Overlay and Manipulation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current medical image visualization methods, particularly in 2D displays, limit user interaction and understanding of complex anatomical structures by separating anatomical and functional information, leading to distorted mental images and increased mental workload for clinicians.
Innovation Solution
A 3D and 4D immersive virtual reality environment that overlays and manipulates multiple medical images, including anatomical and functional data, using VR goggles and sensors for interactive visualization and planning, allowing users to rotate, zoom, and annotate images for enhanced context and precision.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If medical images are displayed on a 2D monitor, then rapid navigation and zooming capabilities are provided, but the user cannot truly interact with the image data and the view is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from 2D monitor display to 3D virtual reality environment, adding a spatial dimension to medical image visualization. This allows users to interact with images from multiple angles and depths, transforming flat 2D images into immersive 3D representations that enable true interaction while maintaining navigation capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces virtual reality headsets and haptic feedback devices as intermediary tools between the user and medical images. These intermediaries enable natural hand movements and gestures to manipulate images in 3D space, providing true interaction capability that was impossible with direct 2D monitor interaction.
2Loss of information
If anatomical and functional information are displayed separately in 2D, then image clarity is maintained, but user understanding is limited and mental workload increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges anatomical and functional information into a unified 3D virtual reality environment where both types of data can be visualized simultaneously in their proper spatial context. This integration allows clinicians to understand the relationship between structure and function without the cognitive burden of mentally integrating separate 2D displays.
Solution Approach 2:
By moving from 2D to 3D visualization, the patent adds spatial depth that naturally organizes anatomical and functional information in their correct spatial relationships. This dimensional change eliminates the need for mental reconstruction of spatial relationships, reducing cognitive load while preserving information clarity.
3Loss of information
If multiple medical images are overlaid in a 3D virtual environment, then a unified view of anatomical and functional information is achieved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates virtual copies of medical images and places them in a 3D virtual environment where they can be manipulated independently. These digital copies can be overlaid, rotated, and positioned without affecting the original source data, enabling complex information integration while keeping the source system simple and unchanged.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments different medical images and data types into separate manipulable objects within the 3D virtual environment. Each image type (anatomical, functional, etc.) can be independently controlled, overlaid, and adjusted, allowing complex information integration through modular organization rather than monolithic system complexity.
Data Source
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AI summary
Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture are disclosed to enable medical image visualization and interaction in a virtual environment. An example apparatus includes at least one processor and at least one memory including instructions. The instructions, when executed, cause the at least one processor to at least: generate a virtual environment for display of image content via a virtual reality display device, the image content to include a two-dimensional image overlaid on a three-dimensional volume; enable interaction with the image content in the virtual environment via an avatar, movement of the avatar to be correlated with an external input; adjust the image content in the virtual environment based on the interaction; and generate an output of image content from the virtual environment.