Identification of areas of interest during intraoral scans

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10702164-B2
Application number	US-201816146870-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 28, 2018
Priority date	May 7, 2014
Publication date	Jul 7, 2020
Grant date	Jul 7, 2020

Abstract

A processing device performs image registration between a plurality of intraoral images of a dental site. The processing device identifies a candidate intraoral area of interest from a first intraoral image of the plurality of intraoral images. The processing device verifies the candidate intraoral area of interest as an intraoral area of interest based on a comparison of a second intraoral image to the first intraoral image. The processing device displays a view of the dental site where the intraoral area of interest is hidden and an indication of the hidden intraoral area of interest is visible.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to perform operations comprising:
performing image registration between a plurality of intraoral images of a dental site;
identifying a candidate intraoral area of interest from a first intraoral image of the plurality of intraoral images;
making a comparison of a second intraoral image to the first intraoral image;
determining whether to verify the candidate intraoral area of interest as an intraoral area of interest or to dismiss the candidate intraoral area of interest based on a result of the comparison;
verifying the candidate intraoral area of interest as an intraoral area of interest; and
displaying a view of the dental site where the intraoral area of interest is hidden and an indication of the hidden intraoral area of interest is visible.

2. The computer readable medium of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
determining a value associated with the candidate intraoral area of interest;
determining a threshold; and
verifying the candidate intraoral area of interest as an intraoral area of interest responsive to determining that a) a second intraoral image confirms the candidate intraoral area of interest and b) the value is above the threshold.

3. The computer readable medium of claim 2 , wherein determining the threshold comprises selecting the threshold based on one or more patient case details, wherein the one or more patient case details comprise a procedure for the dental site.

4. The computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the 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 candidate intraoral area of interest corresponds to a portion of a surface of the second intraoral image based on the comparison of the second intraoral image to the first intraoral image; and
modifying the 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.

5. The computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the candidate intraoral area of interest comprises a void in the first intraoral image, 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.

6. The computer readable 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.

7. The computer readable medium of claim 6 , 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.

8. The computer readable 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.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein verifying the 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. The computer readable medium of claim 1 , further comprising:
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 candidate intraoral area of interest.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the hidden intraoral area of interest is occluded by another area of the dental site in the view of the dental site.

12. A system comprising:
a scanner to generate a plurality of intraoral images of a dental site; and
a computing device operatively coupled to the scanner, the computing device to:
perform image registration between two or more of the plurality of intraoral images;
identify a candidate intraoral area of interest from a first intraoral image of the plurality of intraoral images;
make a comparison of a second intraoral image to the first intraoral image;
determine whether to verify the candidate intraoral area of interest as an intraoral area of interest or to dismiss the candidate intraoral area of interest based on a result of the comparison;
verify the candidate intraoral area of interest as an intraoral area of interest; and
display a view of the dental site where the intraoral area of interest is hidden and an indication of the hidden intraoral area of interest is visible.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the computing device is further to:
register the second intraoral image to the first intraoral image; and
determine that the second intraoral image confirms the candidate intraoral area of interest.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein to determine that the second intraoral image confirms the candidate intraoral area of interest the computing device is to determine that the second intraoral image does not comprise a surface corresponding to the candidate intraoral area of interest.

15. The system of claim 12 , wherein the computing device is further to:
receive a new intraoral image comprising a region corresponding to the intraoral area of interest;
determine an alignment between the new intraoral image and at least one of the first intraoral image or the second intraoral image;
determine that the intraoral area of interest corresponds to a surface of the region in the new intraoral image; and
remove the indication of the intraoral area of interest.

16. The system of claim 12 , wherein the candidate intraoral area of interest has a first shape and a first size, and wherein the computing device is further to:
make a determination that a portion of the candidate intraoral area of interest corresponds to a portion of a surface of the second intraoral image based on the comparison of the second intraoral image to the first intraoral image; and
modify the 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.

17. The system of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of intraoral images are to be generated during an intraoral scan session, wherein the indication of the intraoral area of interest is to be presented during the intraoral scan session, and wherein the computing device is further to:
compute a virtual model of the dental site after the intraoral scan session is complete based on the plurality of intraoral images.

18. The system of claim 12 , wherein to verify the candidate intraoral area of interest as an intraoral area of interest the computing device is to determine that the candidate intraoral area of interest has one or more dimensions tha

Assignees

• Align Technology Inc

Inventors

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

Classifications

• G06T2200/24

  involving graphical user interfaces [GUIs] · CPC title

• G06T7/0016

  involving temporal comparison · CPC title

• G06T2207/10028

  Range image; Depth image; 3D point clouds · CPC title

• A61B6/5241

  combining overlapping images of the same imaging modality, e.g. by stitching · CPC title

• A61C7/002

  Orthodontic computer assisted systems · CPC title