FIELD OF INVENTION
The present invention relates to imaging apparatus in general and to ultrasound systems in particular.
BACKGROUND
With fast evolution of technology, the life of electronic and electrical devices is decreasing day by day. Typically, new products introduced in the market with additional or new functionality/capability in a short span of time, obsoletes the available products. For low end products such as mobile phones, consumers may choose to replace the old product with new product. However, for high end products, it may not be possible for the user to replace the old product with new product due to cost implications.
Particularly in healthcare sector, it is important to use the upgraded equipment's to get the best results, however replacement of old equipment's with new equipment's results in huge cost implications that in turn results in increase in cost of medical services. With the evolution of technology, it is now possible to upgrade the functionality of some of the electronic devices such as mobile phones, without changing the equipment by upgrading the software. However, this is restricted to very few devices such as mobile phones and computers. For high end costly equipment's such as ultrasound scanners, it is not possible to upgrade the functionality/capability of the existing equipment's. For example it is not possible to upgrade the existing ultrasound scanners with features like Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) for handling, storing, printing, and transmitting medical imaging information of the patients.
An objective of the present invention is to provide a low cost system and method for making use of the old electronic/electrical product with latest technology. Another object of the invention is to provide a Surrogate Medical Imaging System that may receive different video input formats from various imaging devices instead of taking input from one particular imaging unit and stream the processed video in a surrogate system with advance features.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to one of the embodiment of the invention, a surrogate medical image processing system capable of being detachably connect with any medical imaging device is disclosed. The medical imaging device has a medical image capture instrument attached thereto. Wherein the disclosed system is being capable of providing enhance image processing and/or storage functionality to the medical imaging device.
According to another embodiment, a surrogate system for medical imaging devices having a medical image capture instrument is disclosed. The disclosed system have a video decoder for receives video images captured by the medical image capture instrument. The video decoder is configured to identify and differentiate different type of video images and decode the images accordingly. The system further have a media processing unit for receiving the decoded video images from the video decoder, processing the images and routing the processed images to one or more output unit and one or more storage unit. The storage unit is configured to associate information related to the received images in a predefined format and storing the images with information in a preconfigured database. Further the system has an input module connected to the media processing and storage unit. The input module is configured to control and update the functionality of the media processing and reconfigure the storage structure of the storage unit.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description when read with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, wherein like reference numerals denote corresponding parts throughout the several views:
Figure 1 illustrates an exemplary Surrogate Medical Imaging System according to an embodiment of the invention; and
Figure 2 illustrates an exemplary flow chart demonstrating the working of the surrogate system according to an embodiment of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
According to embodiments of the invention, a Surrogate Medical Imaging System is disclosed. The disclosed Surrogate Medical Imaging System may receive video signals such as, but not limited, to S-Video, DVi, Composite, VGA etc. from any standard scanner. The received video signals maybe identified and decoded by a video decoder and forwarded to a digital media processor. The digital media processor may forward the decoded video signals to a display unit such as, but not limited to, a monitor. The processor may further combine inputs received from an Ultrasound/MR/CT scanner with any other diagnostic equipment. According to embodiments of the invention, the surrogate medical imaging system may further allow a user to apply video and image processing techniques on the stored video.
Figure 1 illustrates an exemplary Surrogate Medical Imaging System 100 according to an embodiment of the invention. As illustrated the System 100 is capable of being coupled to any known standard scanner 102 and receiving video inputs. According to an embodiment,
r-the video inputs may be any standard video signals such as, but not limited to, S-Video, DVi, Composite, VGA etc. The received video inputs are identified and processed by a video decoder 104. The video decoder 104 decodes the video format and transfers the decoded content to a media processing unit 106. The decoded video signals may be further processed by a video processing unit 108 of the media processing unit 106 for different applications. According to an embodiment, the media processing unit 106 may compress the video signals and route the compressed signals to a display unit 110 such as, but not limited to, Monitor, PMS output, ECG output etc. A user may operate the system 100 to freeze the video output or to record the output if required. The media processing unit 106 may further have one or more object detection unit 112 and one or more image processing unit 114.
The object detection unit 112 may be configured to identify one or more objects in the video streaming during a medical examination process such as while conducting an ultrasound. For detecting objects, an object detection algorithm may be applied to the streamed video to identify one or more objects. The object detection may be done directly from the video stream. According to an embodiment, the object detection may be done on the stored video stream. According to another embodiment, the image processing algorithm may be selected from any known object detection algorithms.
The image processing unit 114 may be configured to detect one or more medical conditions such as breast tumor, stones, fetus, prostrate etc. According to an embodiment, the image processing unit 114 may be operated when the host scanner is in a freeze mode.
The system 100 may further have a storage unit 116 for storing the video's received from the scanner 102. The video storage unit 114 may receive the videos from the media processing
unit 106 in any standard format. According to an embodiment, the storage unit 116 may further have a format converter unit (not shown) for converting the format of the received video in a desired format before storing the video. According to another embodiment, the storage unit 116 may store and process video images as per DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) or HL7 standards. The DICOM is a standard for handling, storing, printing, and transmitting information in medical imaging (ISO 12052). It defines the formats for medical images that can be exchanged with the data and quality necessary for clinical use. The storage unit 116 may further have a DICOM server 118 for achieving the records.
According to another embodiment the storage unit 116 may have structured database 120 for storing additional information linked with the video such as patient contact information, medical history, past records etc. Existence of the database allows keeping track of patient record. The data from the database 120 may be exported to an external storage or may be imported from an external storage in the database 120. According to an embodiment, the data from the database 120 may be achieved in a server.
The system may further have an input interface 122 and a controller 124 linked thereto. The input interface may be any standard input device such as keyboard, joystick, optical encoder, voice recognizable input system, touch screen etc. for receiving inputs from any user. According to an embodiment, the system may further have kinetic sensors 126 for receiving inputs by gesture control system. The controller 124 may be configured to receive input from the input interface 122 and may route the input to a required unit. The controller 124 may further be configured to interact with any other unit of the system 100 and upgrade the functionality. According to an embodiment, the functionality of any component may be
upgraded by the user. According another embodiment, the controller 124 may identify and upgrade the functionality of any component of the system 100 automatically by communicating with the required source using a communication interface such as internet, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth etc.
According to another embodiment, the system 100 may receive inputs from different scanning and imaging systems and display result on a single display screen. According to this embodiment, the system 100 (11) may be connected to one or more imaging/scanning systems such as but not limited to Ultrasound, MRI, CT or PET system. The output from various imaging systems may be united or fused in one surrogate system so that it can provide better image analysis. Ultrasound system has high frame rate in visualizing dynamic changes while high resolution MRI captures volumetric structures with high tissue contrast. Both the images can be stored as one hybrid image in DICOM format for future references in the disclosed system 100.
Figure 2 illustrates an exemplary flow chart 200 demonstrating the working of the surrogate system 100 according to an embodiment of the invention. As illustrated, at step 202, the system may acquire video signals from form one or more imaging and scanning system. At step 204 the acquired video signals may be decoded by the video decoder 104. At step 206 the decoded signals may be further processed or modified at the media processor 106 for different media applications. At step 208, the processed signals may be converted to one or more specific video format as per output requirements. At step 210, the video signals are streamed to a display unit. At step 212, the displayed images may be used by a medical practitioner for reference or may be recorded on a storage medium. At step 214, the user may select to freeze the video at any time during streaming. At step 216, the user may enable
video processing on the freeze video and at step 218 objection detection may be enabled to detect one or more medical conditions. At step 220, the user may enable image processing on the freeze video and at step 222 DICOM may be enabled for storing the images in a database.
Claim:
A surrogate medical image processing system (100) capable of being detachably connect with any medical imaging device having a medical image capture instrument (102), wherein the system provides an enhance image processing and/or storage functionality to the medical imaging device.
The surrogate medical image processing system (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the medical imaging device is an ultrasound machine.
A surrogate system (100) for medical imaging devices having a medical image capture instrument (102), the system comprising:
a video decoder (104) for receives video images captured by the medical image capture instrument (102), the video decoder being so configured to identify and differentiate different type of video images and decode the images accordingly;
a media processing unit (106) for receiving the decoded video images from the video decoder (104), processing the images and routing the processed images to one or more output unit (110) and one or more storage unit;
the storage unit being configured to associate information related to the received images in a predefined format and storing the images with information in a preconfigured database; and
an input module connected to the media processing and storage unit, the input module being configured to control and update the functionality of the media processing and reconfigure the storage structure of the storage unit.
4. The surrogate system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the video inputs is selected from
a group comprising S-Video, DVi, Composite or VGA.
The surrogate system as claimed in claim 1, wherein media processing unit (106) have an object detection unit 112.
The surrogate system as claimed in claim 1, wherein media processing unit (106) have a video processing unit and an image processing unit.
The surrogate system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the medical imaging device is an ultrasound machine.
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