US 6,983,063 B1
Computer-aided diagnosis method for aiding diagnosis of three dimensional digital image data
Carol Novak, Newtown, Pa. (US); Jianzhong Qian, Princeton, N.J. (US); and Aaron Bobick, Atlanta, Ga. (US)
Assigned to Siemens Corporate Research, Inc., Princeton, N.J. (US)
Filed on Jun. 29, 2000, as Appl. No. 9/606,564.
Int. Cl. G06K 9/00 (2006.01)
U.S. Cl. 382—131 24 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A computer-assisted diagnosis method for assisting diagnosis of three-dimensional digital medical image data, comprising the steps of:
receiving indicia identifying at least one region of interest in a digital medical image; and
identifying three-dimensional anatomical objects within the at least one region of interest;
for a given three-dimensional anatomical object within the at least one region performing the following computer-implemented steps:
determining an extent, a centroid, and a local spinning axis of the given anatomical object by examining connected voxels within a predefined volume on adjacent tomographic slices;
determining a local spinning plane for the given anatomical object, the local spinning plane being centered at the centroid and the local spinning axis;
rotating the local spinning plane at least a portion of 360 degrees, wherein said rotating step comprises the step of:
automatically creating a view of the given anatomical object at computer selected increments of rotation, so as to result in a plurality of views of the given anatomical object at predefined angles in the rotation that are displayed in sequence as a cine loop.