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:
Mar. 07, 2000
Filed:
Feb. 11, 1998
Muzaffer Hiraoglu, Woburn, MA (US);
Ibrahim M Bechwati, Roslindale, MA (US);
Sergey Simanovsky, Lynn, MA (US);
Carl R Crawford, Brookline, MA (US);
Analogic Corporation, Peabody, MA (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for detecting objects in computed tomography (CT) data are disclosed. Sheet-shaped objects such as sheet explosives can be detected by analyzing a neighborhood of voxels surrounding a test voxel. If the density of the test voxel is sufficiently different from the mean density of the neighboring voxels, then it is concluded that the test voxel is associated with a sheet object. Sheet objects can also be detected by eroding the CT data so as to eliminate voxels associated with thin objects. Remaining objects are then subtracted from the original data, leaving only thin sheet-shaped objects. Bulk objects can be detected by a modified morphological connected components labeling (CCL) approach which performs a series of erosion and dilation steps to separate adjacent objects in the data such that they can be individually labeled and analyzed. The process of the invention can be carried out in multiple paths. That is, for example, a sheet object detection process and a bulk object detection process can be implemented separately and in parallel. During the sheet object detection process, the data can be analyzed to identify bulk objects. Those objects can then be removed from the data and the remaining data can then be analyzed to identify any remaining sheets. Redundant analysis of data is eliminated.