US4751643A
Expired / Lapsed
US
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Method and apparatus for determining connected substructures within a body
Assignee: General Electric Co
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Filing: 1986-08-04
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Granted: 1988-06-14
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Expires: 2006-08-04
Abstract
Abstract An apparatus and method for determining connected substructures within a body is disclosed. The system and method are particularly advantageous for use in medical diagnostic imaging applications. In particular, three dimensional regions exhibiting the same tissue type are similarly labeled. Using the label information together with a seed location located in the substructure of interest, all similarly labeled connected data points are determined. The system and method of the present invention is operable in any situation in which three dimensional signal patterns representing the value of one or more physical properties associated with the substructures within a body at regularly grid locations within the body are presented. A subset of the original data is then provided to a display processor particularly one employing gradient normal shading for display of three dimensional images.
Inventors
- 👤 William E. Lorensen
- 👤 Harvey E. Cline
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-23 19:15
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06T; G06T17/00; G06T7/00; G06T7/10; G06T7/11; G06T7/174; G06T7/187; G06T2207/00; G06T2207/10; G06T2207/10072; G06T2207/10081; G06T2207/10088; G06T2207/20; G06T2207/20092; G06T2207/20101; G06T2207/30; G06T2207/30004; G06T2207/30016; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S378/00; Y10S378/901
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 40
Claim 1
Independent Claim
215 words
A method for determining, in three dimensions, connected substructures within a body, said method comprising the steps of: (a) storing, in a memory means, three-dimensional signal patterns representing the value of at least one physical property associated with substructures within said body at regularly spaced parallelopiped grid locations within said body; (b) labeling said stored signal patterns wherein those signal patterns representing values which lie within a specified range receive a same label; (c) storing and placing on a memory stack an initial grid location, said grid location corresponding to a position within or on a desired internal substructure of said body; (d) selecting and removing the grid location from the top of said memory stack; (e) comparing the label associated with said grid location selected from said memory stack with labels associated with adjacent grid locations to identify grid locations having the same label as said label associated with the grid location from said stack; (f) marking, as connected, those grid locations for which a selected arrangement of adjacent grid locations exhibit the same label; (g) storing on said memory stack a list of any of said marked grid locations; and (h) repeating steps (d), (e), (f) and (g) for a plurality of times not to extend beyond the occurrence of an empty stack.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
215 words
A method for determining, in three dimensions, connected substructures within a body, said method comprising the steps of: (a) storing, in a memory means, three-dimensional signal patterns representing the value of at least one physical property associated with substructures within said body at regularly spaced parallelopiped grid locations within said body; (b) labeling said stored signal patterns wherein those signal patterns representing values which lie within a specified range receive a same label; (c) storing and placing on a memory stack an initial grid location, said grid location corresponding to a position within or on a desired internal substructure of said body; (d) selecting and removing the grid location from the top of said memory stack; (e) comparing the label associated with said grid location selected from said memory stack with labels associated with adjacent grid locations to identify grid locations having the same label as said label associated with the grid location from said stack; (f) marking, as connected, those grid locations for which a selected arrangement of adjacent grid locations exhibit the same label; (g) storing on said memory stack a list of any of said marked grid locations; and (h) repeating steps (d), (e), (f) and (g) for a plurality of times not to extend beyond the occurrence of an empty stack.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
31 words
The method of claim 1 further including the step of (i) selecting those signal pattern values stored in step (a) having grid locations marked as connected in accordance with step (f).
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
33 words
The method of claim 2 further including the step of (j) supplying said selected signal pattern values from step (i) to a display processor for displaying a three-dimensional image of said connected substructure.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
18 words
The method of claim 1 in which, in step (f), said selected arrangement comprises a single 1-connected cell.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
23 words
The method of claim 1 in which, in step (f), said selected arrangement comprises a set of 9-connected cells lying in a plane.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
15 words
The method of claim 1 in which the number of adjacent grid locations is 6.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
15 words
The method of claim 1 in which the number of adjacent grid locations is 26.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
21 words
The method of claim 1 in which steps (d), (e), (f) and (g) are repeated until said memory stack is empty.
Claim 10
Independent Claim
234 words
A method for determining, in three dimensions, connected substructures within a body, said method comprising the steps of: (a) storing, in a memory means, three-dimensional signal patterns representing the value of at least one physical property associated with substructures within said body at regularly spaced parallelopiped grid locations within said body; (b) selecting an initial grid location and storing said initial location on a memory stack; (c) selecting and removing the grid location from the top of said memory stack; (d) retrieving, from said memory means, a signal pattern value associated with the grid location indicated by the top of said stack, said grid location designated by the top of said stack being referred to as the central grid location, and also retrieving from said memory means signal pattern values associated with grid locations adjacent to said central location; (e) comparing the signal pattern values of said adjacent grid locations to determine which of said values lie within a specified range; (f) marking as connected those grid locations with associated values within said range and for which a selected arrangement of adjacent grid locations exhibit values in the same range as said central grid location; (g) storing on said memory stack a list of any of said marked grid locations; and (h) repeating steps (d), (e), (f) and (g) for a plurality of times not to extend beyond the occurrence of an empty stack.
Claim 11
Independent Claim
234 words
A method for determining, in three dimensions, connected substructures within a body, said method comprising the steps of: (a) storing, in a memory means, three-dimensional signal patterns representing the value of at least one physical property associated with substructures within said body at regularly spaced parallelopiped grid locations within said body; (b) selecting an initial grid location and storing said initial location on a memory stack; (c) selecting and removing the grid location from the top of said memory stack; (d) retrieving, from said memory means, a signal pattern value associated with the grid location indicated by the top of said stack, said grid location designated by the top of said stack being referred to as the central grid location, and also retrieving from said memory means signal pattern values associated with grid locations adjacent to said central location; (e) comparing the signal pattern values of said adjacent grid locations to determine which of said values lie within a specified range; (f) marking as connected those grid locations with associated values within said range and for which a selected arrangement of adjacent grid locations exhibit values in the same range as said central grid location; (g) storing on said memory stack a list of any of said marked grid locations; and (h) repeating steps (d), (e), (f) and (g) for a plurality of times not to extend beyond the occurrence of an empty stack.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
31 words
The method of claim 9 further including the step of (i) selecting those signal pattern values stored in step (a) having grid locations marked as connected in accordance with step (f).
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
33 words
The method of claim 10 further including the step of (j) supplying said selected signal pattern values from step (i) to a display processor for displaying a three-dimensional image of said connected substructure.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
18 words
The method of claim 9 in which, in step (f), said selected arrangement comprises a single 1-connected cell.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
25 words
The method of claim 9 in which, in step (f), said selected arrangement comprises a set of nine connected grid locations lying in a plane.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
15 words
The method of claim 9 in which the number of adjacent grid locations is 6.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
15 words
The method of claim 9 in which the number of adjacent grid locations is 26.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
21 words
The method of claim 9 in which steps (d), (e), (f) and (g) are repeated until said memory stack is empty.
Claim 19
Independent Claim
208 words
A system for determining, in three dimensions, connected substructures within a body, said system comprising: memory means for storing three-dimensional signal patterns representing the value of at least one physical property associated with substructures within said body at regularly spaced parallelopiped grid locations within said body; means for labeling said grid locations wherein those grid locations having signal pattern values which lie within a specified set of range values receive a same label; memory stack means for storing an initial grid location and subsequent grid locations, the top of said stack thus identifying a central grid location for determination of connectedness thereto; means for selecting and removing the central grid location from the top of said memory stack; means for supplying said labels associated with grid locations which are adjacent to the grid locations specified by said memory stack; means for comparing the labels associated with selected ones of said adjacent grid locations; means for marking, as connected, those grid locations which exhibit the same label as said grid location associated with the grid location from said stack and for which a selected arrangement of adjacent grid locations exhibit the same label; means for storing on said memory stack a list of any of said marked grid locations.
Claim 20
Independent Claim
208 words
A system for determining, in three dimensions, connected substructures within a body, said system comprising: memory means for storing three-dimensional signal patterns representing the value of at least one physical property associated with substructures within said body at regularly spaced parallelopiped grid locations within said body; means for labeling said grid locations wherein those grid locations having signal pattern values which lie within a specified set of range values receive a same label; memory stack means for storing an initial grid location and subsequent grid locations, the top of said stack thus identifying a central grid location for determination of connectedness thereto; means for selecting and removing the central grid location from the top of said memory stack; means for supplying said labels associated with grid locations which are adjacent to the grid locations specified by said memory stack; means for comparing the labels associated with selected ones of said adjacent grid locations; means for marking, as connected, those grid locations which exhibit the same label as said grid location associated with the grid location from said stack and for which a selected arrangement of adjacent grid locations exhibit the same label; means for storing on said memory stack a list of any of said marked grid locations.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
15 words
The system of claim 17 in which said adjacent grid locations are six in number.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
15 words
The system of claim 17 in which said adjacent grid locations are twenty-six in number.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
19 words
The system of claim 17 further including means for selecting signal pattern values associated with said marked grid locations.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
24 words
The system of claim 20 further including display processor means for display of said connected substructure as specified by said selected marked grid locations.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
15 words
The system of claim 17 in which said selected arrangement comprises a single grid location.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
21 words
The system of claim 17 in which said selected arrangement comprises a set of nine grid locations lying in a plane.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
27 words
The system of claim 17 further including means for generating said three-dimensional signal pattern values and for supplying signal patterns representing said values to said memory means.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
14 words
The system of claim 24 in which said generating means includes an x-ray scanner.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
16 words
The system of claim 24 in which said generating means includes a magnetic resonance imaging device.
Claim 30
Independent Claim
209 words
A system for determining in three dimensions, connected substructures within a body, said system comprising: means for storing three-dimensional signal patterns representing the value of at least one physical property associated with substructures contained within said body at regularly spaced parallelopiped grid locations; memory stack means for storing an initial grid location and subsequent grid locations the top of said stack thus identifying a central grid location for determination of connectedness thereto; means for retrieving the signal pattern value associated with the central grid location specified by said memory stack means and the signal pattern values associated with grid locations adjacent to said central grid location as specified by said memory stack; means for comparing the signal values associated with said central grid location and said adjacent grid locations to determine which of said values lie within the same specified range as said central grid location value; means for marking, as connected, those grid locations which exhibit values lying in the same range as said central grid location value and for which a selected arrangement of adjacent grid locations also exhibits values lying in the same range as said central grid location value; and means for storing, on said memory stack, a list of any of marked grid locations.
Claim 31
Independent Claim
209 words
A system for determining in three dimensions, connected substructures within a body, said system comprising: means for storing three-dimensional signal patterns representing the value of at least one physical property associated with substructures contained within said body at regularly spaced parallelopiped grid locations; memory stack means for storing an initial grid location and subsequent grid locations the top of said stack thus identifying a central grid location for determination of connectedness thereto; means for retrieving the signal pattern value associated with the central grid location specified by said memory stack means and the signal pattern values associated with grid locations adjacent to said central grid location as specified by said memory stack; means for comparing the signal values associated with said central grid location and said adjacent grid locations to determine which of said values lie within the same specified range as said central grid location value; means for marking, as connected, those grid locations which exhibit values lying in the same range as said central grid location value and for which a selected arrangement of adjacent grid locations also exhibits values lying in the same range as said central grid location value; and means for storing, on said memory stack, a list of any of marked grid locations.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
15 words
The system of claim 27 in which said adjacent grid locations are six in number.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
15 words
The system of claim 27 in which said adjacent grid locations are twenty-six in number.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
19 words
The system of claim 27 further including means for selecting signal pattern values associated with said marked grid locations.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
24 words
The system of claim 30 further including display processor means for display of said connected substructure as specified by said selected marked grid locations.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
15 words
The system of claim 27 in which said selected arrangement comprises a single grid location.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
21 words
The system of claim 27 in which said selected arrangement comprises a set of nine grid locations lying in a plane.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
27 words
The system of claim 27 further including means for generating said three-dimensional signal pattern values and for supplying signal patterns representing said values to said storing means.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
14 words
The system of claim 34 in which said generating means includes an x-ray scanner.
Claim 40
Dependent Claim
16 words
The system of claim 34 in which said generating means includes a magnetic resonance imaging device.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1991-06-14 | 1991-12-14 | 1992-06-14 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1995-06-14 | 1995-12-14 | 1996-06-14 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 1999-06-14 | 1999-12-14 | 2000-06-14 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |