System and method for navigating a tomosynthesis stack including automatic focusing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12475992-B2
Application number	US-202318125860-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 24, 2023
Priority date	Mar 15, 2013
Publication date	Nov 18, 2025
Grant date	Nov 18, 2025

Abstract

A system and method for reviewing a tomosynthesis image data set comprising volumetric image data of a breast, the method comprising, in one embodiment, causing an image or a series of images from the data set to be displayed on a display monitor and selecting or indicating through a user interface an object or region of interest in a presently displayed image of the data set, thereby causing an image from the data set having a best focus measure of the user selected or indicated object or region of interest to be automatically displayed on the display monitor.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . A method for navigating and displaying breast tissue images, the method comprising:
obtaining a tomosynthesis image data set, the data set comprising a plurality of images collectively depicting volumetric image data of at least a portion of a breast, wherein the plurality of images includes at least three images; receiving a selection of a region of interest (ROI) in an image that is one of the plurality of images; highlighting on the image, in response to the selection, the ROI with a visual indicia comprising a color and representing a boundary of the ROI; and displaying on a display one or more images of the plurality of images, wherein each image displayed which includes an instance of the ROI further includes highlighting of the instance of the ROI, wherein the instance of the ROI in each image comprises a particular focus measure and the color of the highlighting includes a hue indicative of the particular focus measure of the instance of the ROI in each image, wherein the displaying includes displaying each of a first instance of the ROI with a highest focus measure and a highest highlighting, a second instance of the ROI with a medium focus measure and a medium highlighting, and a third instance of the ROI with a lowest focus measure and a lowest highlighting.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the respective focus measures comprising respective single focus measure values calculated for the region of interest in the respective images.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein each of the respective focus measures is computed using
a ratio between a measured magnitude of one or more high frequency components and a measured magnitude of one or more low frequency components.

4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein each of the respective focus measures is computed based using a contrast of the region of interest.

5 . The method of claim 2 , wherein each of the respective focus measures is computed using a sharpness of detected edges of the region of interest.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the displayed images of the image data set is a tomosynthesis reconstructed image, detecting user input comprises detecting user input selecting or indicating the region of interest in a currently displayed tomosynthesis reconstructed image, and each additional image that is displayed while continuing to highlight the region of interest in respective images is a tomosynthesis reconstructed image of the image data set.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the visual indicia further comprises a geometric shape, and wherein modifying the visual indicia comprises changing a size of the geometric shape.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the user selected or indicated region of interest is highlighted in a manner indicating that the region includes a specified type of tissue structure.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the display the images of the series of images comprises displaying the images in succession.

10 . A system for navigating and displaying breast tissue images, the workstation comprising:
an operatively associated user interface; a display; at least one processor; and a memory coupled to the at least one processor, the memory comprising computer executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, perform a method comprising:
obtaining a tomosynthesis image data set, the data set comprising volumetric image data of at least a portion of a breast;
displaying a series of images from the data set on the display, the series of images including at least three images;
detecting, through the user interface, an input by a user selecting or indicating a region of interest in an image that is one of the series of images and currently displayed on the display;
highlighting on the display, in response to the input by the user, the region of interest with a visual indicia comprising a color and representing a boundary of the highlighted region of interest; and
displaying on the display one or more images of the series while continuing to highlight each additional instance of the region of interest with the visual indicia in each of other images of the series as the each of the images is displayed,
wherein the highlighting each additional instance of the region of interest comprises modifying at least one visual characteristic of the color of the visual indicia based on respective focus measures of each additional instance of the region of interest such that each visual indicia provides an indication of the respective focus measures of each instance of the region of interest being displayed, wherein the displaying includes displaying each of a first instance of the ROI with a highest focus measure and a highest highlighting, a second instance of the ROI with a medium focus measure and a medium highlighting, and a third instance of the ROI with a lowest focus measure and a lowest highlighting.

11 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the respective focus measures comprising respective single focus measure values calculated for the region of interest in the respective images.

12 . The system of claim 11 , wherein each of the focus measures are computed based upon one or more of:
a sharpness of detected edges of the region of interest, a contrast of the region of interest, and a ratio between a measured magnitude of one or more high frequency components and a measured magnitude of one or more low frequency components.

13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the user selected region of interest is highlighted in a manner indicating that the region includes a specified type of tissue structure.

14 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the images of the series of images are displayed in succession.

15 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the visual indicia further comprises a geometric shape, and wherein modifying the visual indicia comprises changing a size of the geometric shape.

16 . An automated method employing a computer-controlled workstation for navigating and displaying breast tissue images, the workstation comprising an operatively associated user interface and display, the method comprising:
obtaining a tomosynthesis image data set, the data set comprising volumetric image data of at least a portion of a breast; displaying a series of images from the data set on the display, the series of images including at least three images; detecting, through the user interface, an input by a user selecting or indicating a region of interest in an image that is one of the series of images and currently displayed on the display; highlighting on the display, in response to the input by the user, the region of interest with a visual indicia comprising a color and representing a boundary of the highlighted region of interest; and displaying on the display other images of the series while continuing to highlight the region of interest with the visual indicia in each of other images of the series as the each of the images is displayed, wherein the highlighting the region of interest comprises modifying at least one visual characteristic of the color of the visual indicia based on respective focus measures of the region of interest in the respective ones of the series of images being displayed such that each visual indicia provides an indication of the respective focus measures of a particular image, of the series of images, being displayed, wherein the displaying includes displaying each of a first instance of the ROI with a highest focus measure and a highest highlighting, a second instance of the ROI with a medium focus me

Assignees

• Hologic Inc

Inventors

• Chen Jin-Long
• Chui Haili
• Kreeger Kevin
• Zhang Xiangwei

Classifications

• G06T11/10

  Texturing; Colouring; Generation of textures or colours (retouching, inpainting or scratch removal G06T5/77) · CPC title

• G06T2207/30168

  Image quality inspection · CPC title

• G06T2207/30068

  Mammography; Breast · CPC title

• G06T2207/10112

  Digital tomosynthesis [DTS] · CPC title

• G06T11/60

  Creating or editing images; Combining images with text · CPC title