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:
Apr. 26, 2016
Filed:
May. 22, 2012
Thomas Blaffert, Hamburg, DE;
Steffen Renisch, Hamburg, DE;
Bernd Schweizer, Ketsch, DE;
Zhiqiang HU, Twinsburg, OH (US);
Thomas Blaffert, Hamburg, DE;
Steffen Renisch, Hamburg, DE;
Bernd Schweizer, Ketsch, DE;
Zhiqiang Hu, Twinsburg, OH (US);
KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V., Eindhoven, NL;
Abstract
The invention relates to an apparatus for generating an attenuation correction map. An image providing unit () provides an image of an object comprising different element classes and a segmentation unit () applies a segmentation to the image for generating a segmented image comprising image regions corresponding to the element classes. The segmentation is based on at least one of a watershed segmentation and a body contour segmentation based on a contiguous skin and fat layers in the image. A feature determination unit () determines features of at least one of a) the image regions and b) boundaries between the image regions depending on image values of the image and an assigning unit () assigns attenuation values to the image regions based on the determined features for generating the attenuation correction map. The performed image processing steps can allow for producing a high quality attenuation correction map, even if the initial image does not comprise image values related to the attenuation of radiation like a CT image.