Identification of areas of interest during intraoral scans

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10117581-B2
Application number	US-201615347620-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 9, 2016
Priority date	May 7, 2014
Publication date	Nov 6, 2018
Grant date	Nov 6, 2018

Abstract

During an intraoral scan session, a processing device receives a first intraoral image of a dental site and identifies a candidate intraoral area of interest from the first intraoral image. The processing device receives a second intraoral image of the dental site and verifies the first candidate intraoral area of interest as an intraoral area of interest based on comparison of the second intraoral image to the first intraoral image. The processing device then provides an indication of the intraoral area of interest during the intraoral scan session.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to perform operations comprising:
receiving a plurality of intraoral images, the plurality of intraoral images comprising a first intraoral image of a dental site;
performing image registration between the plurality of intraoral images;
identifying, by the processing device, a first candidate intraoral area of interest from the first intraoral image;
determining a value associated with the first candidate intraoral area of interest;
selecting a threshold based on one or more patient case details, wherein the one or more patient case details comprise a procedure for the dental site;
receiving a second intraoral image of the dental site;
comparing the first intraoral image to the second intraoral image;
verifying, by the processing device, the first candidate intraoral area of interest as an intraoral area of interest responsive to determining that a) the second intraoral image confirms the first candidate intraoral area of interest and b) the value is above the threshold; and
providing an indication of the intraoral area of interest, wherein the intraoral area of interest is hidden in one or more views of the dental site, and wherein the indication of the intraoral area of interest is visible in the one or more views.

2. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein determining that the second intraoral image confirms the first candidate intraoral area of interest comprises:
determining an alignment between the first intraoral image and the second intraoral image based on geometric features shared by the first intraoral image and the second intraoral image; and
determining that the second intraoral image does not comprise a surface corresponding to the first candidate intraoral area of interest.

3. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the first candidate intraoral area of interest has a first shape and a first size, the operations further comprising:
making a determination that a portion of the first candidate intraoral area of interest corresponds to a portion of a surface of the second intraoral image based on a comparison of the second intraoral image to the first intraoral image; and
modifying the first candidate intraoral area of interest so that it has at least one of a second shape or a second size that is smaller than the first size.

4. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the first intraoral image and the second intraoral image are received during an intraoral scan session, and wherein the indication of the intraoral area of interest is provided during the intraoral scan session, the operations further comprising:
computing a virtual model of the dental site after the intraoral scan session is complete based on a plurality of intraoral images, the plurality of intraoral images including the first intraoral image and the second intraoral image.

5. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
receiving a new intraoral image comprising a region corresponding to the intraoral area of interest;
determining an alignment between the new intraoral image and at least one of the first intraoral image or the second intraoral image;
determining that the intraoral area of interest corresponds to a surface of the region in the new intraoral image; and
removing the indication of the intraoral area of interest.

6. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the indication of the intraoral area of interest comprises a flag that points to the intraoral area of interest.

7. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
providing feedback to a user of an intraoral scanner that generated the first intraoral image and the second intraoral image, wherein the feedback indicates a change in at least one of a motion of the intraoral scanner or a speed of the intraoral scanner that will improve a quality of a scan session.

8. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the intraoral area of interest comprises a conflicting surface between the first intraoral image and the second intraoral image.

9. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein verifying the first candidate intraoral area of interest as an intraoral area of interest further comprises:
determining that the candidate intraoral area of interest has one or more dimensions that violate a geometric criterion.

10. A computer readable storage medium, comprising instructions that, when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to perform operations comprising:
receiving a plurality of intraoral images, the plurality of intraoral images comprising a first intraoral image of a dental site;
performing image registration between the plurality of intraoral images;
identifying, by the processing device, a first candidate intraoral area of interest from the first intraoral image, wherein identifying the first candidate intraoral area of interest comprises:
identifying a plurality of voxels in the first intraoral image that satisfy a criterion;
determining a subset of the plurality of voxels that are proximate to one another; and
grouping the subset of the plurality of voxels into a volume that comprises the first candidate intraoral area of interest;

determining a value associated with the first candidate intraoral area of interest;
receiving a second intraoral image of the dental site;
comparing the first intraoral image to the second intraoral image;
verifying, by the processing device, the first candidate intraoral area of interest as an intraoral area of interest responsive to determining that a) the second intraoral image confirms the first candidate intraoral area of interest and b) the value is above a threshold; and
providing an indication of the intraoral area of interest, wherein the intraoral area of interest is hidden in one or more views of the dental site, and wherein the indication of the intraoral area of interest is visible in the one or more views.

11. The computer readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the criterion comprises lack of image data and wherein the first candidate intraoral area of interest comprises a void in the first intraoral image.

12. The computer readable storage medium of claim 11 , the operations further comprising:
interpolating a shape for the void based on geometric features surrounding the void in at least one of the first intraoral image or the second intraoral image, wherein the indication of the intraoral area of interest comprises the shape of the void.

13. A computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to perform operations comprising:
receiving a plurality of intraoral images of a dental site;
performing image registration between the plurality of intraoral images;
identifying, by the processing device and based on the plurality of intraoral images that have undergone image registration, a plurality of voxels satisfying a criterion;
determining a subset of the plurality of voxels that are proximate to one another;
grouping the subset of the plurality of voxels into an intraoral volume of interest; and
generating, by the processing device, an indication of the intraoral volume of interest, wherein the intraoral volume of interest is hidden in one or more views of the dental site, and wherein the indication of the intraoral volume of interest is visible in the one or more views.

Assignees

• Align Technology Inc

Inventors

• Kopelman Avi
• Sabina Michael
• Levin Adi
• Minchenkov Mikhail
• Anufrienko Maria

Classifications

• A61C13/34

  Making or working of models, e.g. preliminary castings, trial dentures; Dowel pins [4] · CPC title

• G06T7/55

  from multiple images · CPC title

• A61B6/469

  for selecting a region of interest [ROI] · CPC title

• A61B5/0088 Primary

  for oral or dental tissue · CPC title

• A61B5/7264

  Classification of physiological signals or data, e.g. using neural networks, statistical classifiers, expert systems or fuzzy systems · CPC title