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 Title: |
US4719585:
Dividing cubes system and method for the display of surface structures contained within the interior region of a solid body
[ Derwent Title ]
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| Country: |
US United States of America
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| Inventor: |
Cline, Harvey E.; Schenectady, NY
Ludke, Siegwalt; Scotia, NY
Lorensen, William E.; Ballston Lake, NY
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| Assignee: |
General Electric Company, Schenectady, NY
other patents from GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY (218550) (approx. 30,796)
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| Published / Filed: |
1988-01-12
/ 1985-08-28
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| Application Number: |
US1985000770164
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| IPC Code: |
Advanced:
G06T 1/00;
G06T 15/00;
G06T 17/00;
Core:
more...
IPC-7:
G06F 3/14;
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| U.S. Class: |
Current:
345/424;
345/419;
345/426;
600/425;
Original:
364/518;
340/729;
340/734;
364/521;
364/522;
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| Field of Search: |
364/518-522
340/703,747,728,741,723,729,739
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| Priority Number: |
| 1985-08-28 |
US1985000770164 |
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| Abstract: |
A system for displaying three dimensional surface structures employs the analysis of voxel elements defined by eight cubically adjacent grid locations which are associated with at least one physical property defined throughout a three dimensional body. The physical property measurements may be made with such systems as computerized tomographic x-ray systems, or magnetic resonance imaging devices. Surface structures are defined by a user selected threshhold value such as distinct values for skin and bone in medical diagnostic applications. Selected voxels are subdivided and means are provided for generating signal values associated with intermediate additional grid locations. Means are also provided for generating surface normal vectors associated with these grid locations. The system of the present invention produces a sequence of signals representative of grid locations throughout the object being investigated together with associated surface normal vectors at these locations, the locations lying on a user selected surface. The system provides smooth, high resolution images which particularly useful for medical diagnostic applications and is particularly useful with conventional display processor hardware used for electronic graphics display. The capabilities of the system additionally provide enhanced flexibility and speed for the convenience of interactive users.
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| Attorney, Agent or Firm: |
Cutter, Lawrence D. ;
Davis, Jr., James C. ;
Snyder, Marvin ;
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| Primary / Asst. Examiners: |
Kemeny, Emanuel S.; Herndon, H. R.
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| INPADOC Legal Status: |
None
Family Legal Status Report
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| Designated Country: |
DE FR GB NL
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| Family: |
Show 8 known family members
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First Claim:
Show all 8 claims |
The invention claimed is:
1. A system for displaying three dimensional surface structures, said system comprising:
- means for storing three-dimensional signal patterns representing the value of at least one physical property associated with a three dimensional body at regularly spaced parallelopiped grid locations defining volume elements within said body;
- means for retrieving the thirty-two three dimensional signal pattern values associated with each set of eight cubically adjacent grid locations and the twenty-four additional grid locations adjacent to said eight cubically adjacent grid locations, each of said cubically adjacent grid locations being associated with three of said additional grid locations;
- first comparison means for comparing the signal values associated with said eight adjacent grid locations with a predetermined threshhold value to determine those volume elements for which at least one of said eight comparison results is distinct from the other seven comparison results so as to identify selected volume elements through which a surface determined by said threshhold value passes;
- first generating means for generating normal vectors from said thirty-two signal pattern values for each of said eight cubically adjacent grid locations associated with each selected volume element;
- second generating means for generating, for each selected volume element defined by said eight cubically adjacent grid locations, a plurality of additional signal values associated with additional spacial locations defined along the edges and within the interior of said selected volume element, said additional spacial locations corresponding to subdivision of said volume element;
- second comparison means for comparing the signal values associated with each set of eight cubically adjacent spacial locations associated with each of said volume element subdivisions with said predetermined threshhold value to determine those subdivided volume elements for which at least one of said subdivision comparison results is distinct from the other seven comparison results, so as to generate a sequence of values identifying selected grid and additional spacial locations which at least approximately lie on a surface determined by said threshhold value;
- third generating means for generating normal vectors associated with said additional spacial locations, said selected grid locations and additionally selected spacial locations being generated so as to be associated with the corresponding normal vectors for said locations; and
- display processor means for receiving said associated location values and normal vectors and providing a shaded image on a screen, said image representing said surface determined by said threshhold.
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| Background / Summary: |
Show background / summary
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| Drawing Descriptions: |
Show drawing descriptions
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| Description: |
Show description
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| Forward References: |
Show 104 U.S. patent(s) that reference this one
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| Foreign References: |
None
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| Other Abstract Info: |
DERABS G87-087915
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| Other References: |
Machover, C., and Myers, W., "Interactive Computer Graphics", Computer Magazine, IEEE Computer Society Publication, (Oct. 1984), pp. 145-161.
(17 pages)
Cited by 5 patents
Paul, J. Lawrence, "Three Dimensional Display of Objects from Planar Contours", Graphics Interface '83, pp. 129-131.
Gideon Frieder et al., "Back-to-Front Display of Voxel-Based Objects", IEEE CG&A, Jan. 1985, pp. 52-60.
(9 pages)
Cited by 11 patents
Karl H. Hohne et al., "Shading 3D Images from CT Using Gray-Level Gradients", IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging"(Short Papers), vol. MI-5, No. 1, Mar. 1986, pp. 45-47.
(3 pages)
Cited by 3 patents
Wolff, Carlo, "Surgeon Repairs Skull Fractures With Help of 3-D Computer Images", Schenectady Gazette, 1985.
Johnson, Ken, "Here's Looking at You", The times Union, Jun. 5, 1985.
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