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:
Aug. 21, 2012
Filed:
Nov. 21, 2008
Stefan Böhm, Oberasbach, DE;
Sandra Martin, Herzogenaurauch, DE;
Stefan Böhm, Oberasbach, DE;
Sandra Martin, Herzogenaurauch, DE;
Siemens Aktiengesellschaft, München, DE;
Abstract
The invention relates to a method for noise suppression in medical images comprising steps of measuring the gradient field strength of an image pixel and selecting a suitable filter mask for noise suppression as a function of the gradient field strength, with the value of the gradient field strength being compared with a predetermined threshold value. The method is repeated when an additional image pixel is selected. A decision is made per read-in image pixel as to which type of filter mask is used for filtering. A selection can be made between filter masks of different sizes or isotropic or anisotropic or directional filter masks. The decision is based on the measured gradient field strength of the respective pixel. The use of different filter masks allows the signal-to-noise ratio to be improved, without distorting structures like edges for instance and without generating artificial structures in homogenous noise regions.