Method for diagnosing disease from tongue image
View Patent ↗A digital image processing method for a centralized multi-mode medical tongue image inspection system, comprising the steps of: forming at least one service unit ( 300 ) for performing tongue record ( 220 ) construction; forming a processing unit ( 320 ) for tongue record inspection ( 308 ); and providing communication links ( 330 ) between the service units and the processing unit.
1. A method for diagnosing diseases by inspecting images of an individual's tongue comprising:
forming a first image of said tongue, a color checker, and a portion of said individual's face;
forming a second image of said tongue and said portion of said individual's face;
performing a color comparison of said portion of said individual's face in said second image to said portion of said individual's face in said first image;
matching the colors in said second image to the colors in said first image based on said color comparison; and
diagnosing at least one disease based on changes in said first tongue image and said second tongue image.
2. The method as in claim 1 wherein a color calibration is performed on said first image prior to said color comparison step.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein said diagnosis is aided by comparison to reference images of other individuals tongues.
4. A method for diagnosing diseases by inspecting images of an individual's tongue comprising:
forming a first image of said tongue and a portion of said individual's face;
forming a second image of said tongue and said portion of said individual's face;
performing a color comparison of said portion of said individual's face in said second image to said portion of said individual's face in said first image;
matching the colors in said second image to the colors in said first image based on said color comparison; and
diagnosing at least one disease based on changes in said first tongue image and said second tongue image.
5. The method of claim 4 comprising the additional steps of:
forming a third image of said tongue, said portion of said individual's face, and a color checker;
performing a color calibration on said third image;
performing a color comparison of said portion of said individual's face in said third image to said portion of said individual's face in said first and second image; and
matching the colors in said first and second image to the colors in said third image based on said color comparison.
6. The method of claim 4 comprising the additional steps of:
transmitting said first image and said second image to a process unit; and
performing said diagnosis step at said process unit.
7. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:
retrieving the patient's tongue history records from an image storage facility;
reviewing and classifying the first or second image of said tongue and the retrieved history records;
transmitting, displaying, or storing the classification, or tongue records.
8. The method of claim 7 wherein the step of classifying the acquired and retrieved tongue images using an inspection mode further comprises the steps of:
collecting a plurality of sample tongue images from healthy and unhealthy individuals;
extracting relevant color information from said plurality of sample tongue images in a transformed color space;
extracting relevant non-color information from said plurality of sample tongue images;
training classifiers with the extracted color and non-color information; and
applying the trained classifiers to the acquired at least one image of a patient tongue.