The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 11, 2000
Filed:
Jul. 28, 1997
Wei Zhang, Mountain View, CA (US);
Harlan M Romsdahl, Half Moon Bay, CA (US);
Jimmy R Roehrig, Palo Alto, CA (US);
R2 Technology, Inc., Los Altos, CA (US);
Abstract
A method an system for using a local attention threshold to aid in the detection of clustered abnormalities in digitized medical images is disclosed. The local attention threshold is applied to locate spots within a predetermined distance from previously identified spots. More specifically, seed pixels are identified by applying a first seed threshold function to the output of a shift-invariant neural network and adaptive threshold. The seed pixels are then segmented into spots by applying a segmentation threshold function to each seed pixel. False-positive spots are removed using various techniques. Additional seed pixels are then identified by applying a local attention threshold to pixels within a predetermined distance to previously identified spots. The local attention threshold disclosed is less selective for pixels which are closer to the nearest spot than for pixels which are further from the nearest spot. The new seed pixels are then segmented into spots, and potential abnormalities are identified in the medical image based in part on the closeness of the identified spots.