Patent Application
20080044068
These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the non-exhaustive and non-limiting embodiments described hereinafter. In the following drawings:
In the following description, numerous specific details are given to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize, however, that the invention can be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or with other methods, components, materials, etc. In other instances, well-known structures, materials, or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of the invention.
Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. Thus, the appearances of the phrases “in one embodiment” or “in an embodiment” in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments.
The headings provided herein are for convenience only and do not interpret the scope or meaning of the claimed invention.
The generated CAD marks are transferred from the CAD mark generation unit 3 to the apparatus 4 for displaying marks in an image data set.
The apparatus 4 for displaying marks in an image data set is, in more detail, schematically shown in
The apparatus 4 for displaying marks in an image data set comprises an image data set receiving unit 5 for receiving image data sets from the image data set generation unit 2. The apparatus 4 comprises further a CAD mark receiving unit 6 for receiving CAD marks from the CAD mark generation unit 3. The CAD marks are preferentially in one embodiment transferred and received in the DICOM format, in particular, as a DICOM CAD Structure Report (SR). The CAD marks, e.g., in particular, the SR, is transferred from the CAD mark receiving unit 6 to a list generation unit 7. The list generation unit 7 can forward the CAD marks to a control unit 8 without modifications, or the list generation unit 7 can generate a list of the marks by sorting the marks depending on a predetermined sorting criterion and the sorted CAD marks can be transferred from the list generation unit 7 to the control unit 8. The control unit 8 receives image data sets from the image data set receiving unit 5 and inputs from an input unit 9. The input unit 9 is, for example, a keyboard or a mouse. The control unit 8 is connected to a display unit 10 for displaying CAD marks and image data sets.
The apparatus 4 for displaying marks in an image data set further comprises a grouping unit 11, which receives sorted CAD marks from the list generation unit 7 for grouping these CAD marks into groups of CAD marks, which are transferred to the control unit 8. The control unit 8 controls the image data set receiving unit 5, the CAD mark receiving unit 6, the list generation unit 7, the input unit 9, the displaying unit 10 and the grouping unit 11 in accordance with a method for displaying marks in an image data set, which will be described further below.
The apparatus for displaying marks in an image data set is preferentially a computer system comprising the different units 5 to 11 in one embodiment. Theses units can be realised by computer programs and/or dedicated hardware. In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, the apparatus for displaying marks in an image data set can also comprise less, additional and/or other units, as long as the apparatus still allows to display not all marks within the image data set at the same time. For example, instead of separate list generation unit 7 and grouping unit 11, a single unit can be used having the same functional features as the list generation unit 7 and the grouping unit 11 together. Furthermore, the image data set receiving unit 5 and the CAD mark receiving unit 6 could be integrated into one receiving unit, which receives both, the image data set and the CAD marks. In addition, the invention is not limited to the data paths within the apparatus 4 for displaying an image data set, which have been described above. For example, the image data sets and CAD marks could be directly transferred to the display unit 10, and not via the control unit 8, while the control unit 8 still controls the data transfer within the apparatus 4 for displaying an image data set.
An embodiment of a method for displaying marks in an image data set in accordance with one embodiment of the invention will now be described in more detail with respect to a flowchart shown in
In step 101 the apparatus 4 for displaying marks in an image data set receives an image data set from the image data set generation unit 2 and CAD marks from the CAD mark generation unit 3. In another embodiment, the image data set and the corresponding CAD marks can already be present on the apparatus 4 for displaying marks in an image data set such that an acquisition and/or determination and/or receiving of these data is not necessary. Step 101 would therefore be omitted.
In step 102 the image data set and the CAD marks have been transferred to the displaying unit 10, which displays the image data set and the CAD marks. Such a visualization of the image data set containing the CAD marks can, for example, be performed after a user has requested such a visualization by using the input unit 9. If a user inputs such a request, in this embodiment, the control unit 8 receives this request and controls the displaying unit 10 such that it shows the image data set and the CAD marks, in particular, in an overview phase, all CAD marks, which haven been determined by the CAD mark generation unit 3. In other embodiments, step 102 can be omitted.
A visualization of the image data set and the CAD marks is exemplary shown in
In step 103 the list generation unit 7 generates a list of the CAD marks by sorting the marks depending on a predetermined sorting criterion. This sorting criterion is in this embodiment the suspiciousness. The suspiciousness is also known as the certainty of finding. A mark having a large suspiciousness has a large probability of marking illness, in particular, of marking cancer. The suspiciousness is contained in the SR, which has in step 101 been transferred from the CAD mark generation unit 3 to the apparatus 4 for displaying marks in an image data set. Thus, in step 101 a SR has been transferred containing the CAD marks and further information, which is defined in the corresponding DICOM standard. In this exemplary embodiment, the CAD marks' degree of suspiciousness decreases in the following order: C1, M1, C2, C3.
In step 104 the CAD marks are displayed temporally one after another within the image data set on the displaying unit 10 in accordance with the generated list, e.g., in this embodiment, at first the CAD mark C1 is displayed. The displaying unit 10 displays in this embodiment the respective CAD mark on a first display area and on a second display area. In the first display area the respective CAD mark is displayed within a view of the respective image of the image data set showing the whole image containing the respective CAD mark. In the second display area the respective CAD mark is shown in a magnified view. Such a visualization on the displaying unit 10 is exemplarily shown in
In step 105 the user has the possibility to select the present CAD mark. In this embodiment, a selected CAD mark is discarded. The selection of a CAD mark can be performed by using the input unit 9.
In other embodiments in accordance with the invention, step 105 can be omitted.
After the apparatus for displaying marks in an image data set has received a signal from the input unit 9 indicating that the next CAD mark can be displayed, it is determined whether a next CAD mark exists in the list, which has been generated in step 103. If such a next CAD mark exists, the method continues with the next CAD mark with step 104. If a next CAD mark does not exist, all selected CAD marks are displayed on the displaying unit 10 in an overview phase in step 107. Step 107 can be omitted.
The next CAD mark can, for example, be displayed on the display unit 10, if a user pushes with a mouse pointer the letter “A”, which is shown in the second display area 23 in
The steps 103 to 106 define the review phase, during which not all marks within the image data set are displayed at the same time, wherein the attention of the user is focused on the respective CAD mark and wherein, thus, the probability of overlooking an important CAD mark is decreased.
During the method for displaying marks in an image data set a user can add additional marks, which can be displayed within the image data set.
The method for displaying marks within an image data set can be modified such that during performing this method a user can input a signal to the apparatus 4 indicating that now all marks, which have been reviewed and which have not been discarded, shall be shown on the displaying unit 10. The method for displaying marks within an image data set can further be modified such that, after all of these marks have been shown, the method continues, if a further signal is inputted to the apparatus 4 by using the input unit 9 indicating that the review of the marks should continue.
A further embodiment of the method for displaying marks in an image data set in accordance with the invention will in the following be described with reference to a flowchart shown in
Steps 201 and 202 are identical to steps 101 and 102.
In step 203 only CAD marks are displayed at the same time during the review phase, which fulfil a predetermined displaying criterion. This displaying criterion can, for example, be a microcalcification criterion, a mass criterion or an operating point criterion. The displaying criterion can also be a combination of these criterions. It can be configured, for example, by the user, which of these criterions or which combination of these criterion form the displaying criterion.
Step 204 corresponds to step 105 and can be omitted. Furthermore, as already described in more detail with respect to step 107, in step 205 all marks are displayed within the image data set, which have not been selected, e.g., in this embodiment, which have not been discarded.
A further embodiment of the method for imaging marks within an image data set in accordance with the invention will in the following be described with respect to a flowchart shown in
Steps 301 and 302 correspond to steps 101 and 102. In step 303 the CAD marks are restricted as described with respect to step 203. The following steps 304 to 308 are performed only with the CAD marks, which fulfil the displaying criterion of step 303. Except for the restriction to CAD marks, which fulfil the displaying criterion, the steps 304 to 308 correspond to the above described steps 103 to 107. Also step 306 can be omitted.
A further embodiment of the method for displaying marks within an image data set will now be described with respect to a flowchart shown in
Steps 401 and 402 correspond to steps 101 and 102. The restriction in step 403 corresponds to the restriction of step 203. This restriction step 403 can be omitted in this embodiment. The list generation step 404 corresponds to step 103. In step 405 the grouping unit 11 groups CAD marks into groups, wherein each group contains CAD marks being successive in the list, generated in step 404. In the above mentioned example, in which four CAD marks C1, C2, C3, M1 are present within the image data set, a first group could contain the marks Cl, M1 and a second group could contain the marks C2, C3. The steps 406 to 408 correspond to steps 104 to 106, except for the difference that in step 406 all marks of the group are displayed at the same time and that, in step 408, it is checked, whether a next group exists. Step 409 corresponds to step 107.
The order of the above described steps is not strict. For example, the viewing step 102, 202, 303, the restriction step 203, 303 and the list generation step 103, 304 can be mixed in the respective flowcharts shown in
If the image data set comprises several images and if a mark is displayed in one of these image, being a first image, in at least one of the other images, being at least one target image, of the image data set a corridor is in one embodiment preferentially displayed, which includes a location, which corresponds to the location in the starting image, which is marked by the respective mark.
If the display criterion is an operating point criterion, preferentially only CAD marks are displayed in one embodiment, which correspond to a given operating point. This operating point can be entered into an apparatus for displaying marks in an image data set, for example, by using a graphical user interface comprising a sliding scale, wherein, preferentially in one embodiment, by using the sliding scale one of three operating points can be selected.
The sorting criterion and/or the displaying criterion can also be a value, which is or depends on the architectural noise. The architectural noise is related to the probability of marking illness, in particular, the probability of marking cancer. The architectural noise can be formed by a seemingly random pattern, which is formed by various tissues in the breast (ducts, lobules and connective tissue). In the science of image analysis there are various measures for noise (entropy, Fourier power spectrum, fractal dimension, etc.). In combination with some image processing, such as edge enhancement, and enhancement of linear structures etc., this mathematical concepts can be used to quantify the architectural noise in mammograms.
Although some embodiments of the invention, which have been described above, use CAD marks, these embodiments are not limited to a certain CAD mark generation unit. These embodiments can be performed independent of the respective CAD mark algorithm used by the CAD mark generation unit. These embodiments only require CAD marks, but it is not important how these CAD marks have been determined.
While one or more embodiments of the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description, such illustration and description are to be considered illustrative or exemplary and not restrictive. The invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments.
Other variations to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art in practicing the claimed invention, from a study of the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims.
In the claims, the word “comprising” does not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite article “a” or “an” does not exclude a plurality.
A computer program may be stored/distributed on a suitable medium, such as an optical storage medium or a solid-state medium supplied together with or as part of other hardware, but may also be distributed in other forms, such as via the Internet or other wired or wireless telecommunication systems.
Any reference signs in the claims should not be construed as limiting the scope.
It is apparent for a skilled person that the features of the dependent claims can be combined and added to the corresponding independent claims.
U.S. application Ser. No. 11/465,078, Attorney Docket No. 650069.401, entitled “METHOD, APPARATUS AND COMPUTER PROGRAM FOR PRESENTING CASES COMPRISING IMAGES,” filed Aug. 16, 2006, with inventors Dr. Carl J. G. Evertsz and Dr. Anke Bodicker; and U.S. application Ser. No. 11/465,074, Attorney Docket No. 650069.402, entitled “PRESENTATION METHOD, PRESENTATION DEVICE AND COMPUTER PROGRAM FOR PRESENTING AN IMAGE OF AN OBJECT,” filed Aug. 16, 2006, with inventors Dr. Carl J. G. Evertsz and Dr. Anke Bodicker, both provide additional disclosure and are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
All of the U.S. patents, U.S. patent application publications, U.S. patent applications, foreign patents, foreign patent applications and non-patent publications referred to in this specification and/or listed in the Application Data Sheet are incorporated herein by reference, in their entirety
