Granted Patent B2

US 7,683,341 · App. 11/935,863 · Granted Mar 23, 2010

Abstract

Claims (43)

1. A method, comprising:

first obtaining a first image of an organ of interest in a biological body, using a small field of view detector, said first image being from a first scan type and having at least one truncated portion;

second obtaining a second image that includes said organ of interest in said biological body, said second image using a larger field of view detector than said small field of view detector and said second image also being from said first scan type so that said second image represents the same kind of information as said first image; and

stitching together said first image and said second image to reduce an effect of said at least one truncated portions.

2. A method as in claim 1 , wherein said first obtaining comprises obtaining said first image for a first number of counts, and said second obtaining obtains said second image for a second number of counts, wherein said second number of counts is less than said first number of counts.

3. A method as in claim 1 , wherein said stitching comprises using portions of said second image to compensate for the truncated portion in said first image.

4. A method as in claim 3 , wherein said stitching comprises re-projecting said second image to match said first image prior to said stitching.

5. A method as in claim 1 , wherein said first obtaining is carried out prior to said second obtaining.

6. A method as in claim 1 , wherein said second obtaining is carried out prior to said first obtaining.

7. A method, comprising:

first obtaining a first image of an organ of interest in a biological body, using a small field of view detector, said first image having at least one truncated portion;

second obtaining a second image that includes said organ of interest in said biological body, said second image using a larger field of view detector than said small field of view detector; and

stitching together said first image and said second image to reduce an effect of said at least one truncated Portions, wherein said first image and said second image are both obtained by the same detector, and further comprising reconfiguring said detector between a large field of view configuration and a small field of view configuration.

8. A method, comprising:

first obtaining a first image of an organ of interest in a biological body, using a small field of view detector, said first image having at least one truncated portion;

second obtaining a second image that includes said organ of interest in said biological body, said second image using a larger field of view detector than said small field of view detector;

stitching together said first image and said second image to reduce an effect of said at least one truncated portions, wherein said first obtaining comprises obtaining said first image for a first number of counts, and said second obtaining obtains said second image for a second number of counts, wherein said second number of counts is less than said first number of counts; and

optimizing an amount of time used between obtaining said first image and said second image to minimize an amount of noise in said first image and said second image.

9. A method, comprising:

first obtaining a first image of an organ of interest in a biological body, using a small field of view detector, said first image having at least one truncated portion;

second obtaining a second image that includes said organ of interest in said biological body, said second image using a larger field of view detector than said small field of view detector; and

stitching together said first image and said second image to reduce an effect of said at least one truncated portions

wherein said stitching comprises using portions of said second image to compensate for the truncated portion in said first image,

converting a configuration of said second image to match a configuration of said first image, and normalizing said second image to match at least one aspect of said first image, prior to said using portions of said second image to compensate for the truncation in the first image.

10. A method as in claim 9 , wherein said normalizing comprises normalizing count data between said second image and said first image.

11. An apparatus, comprising:

a medical detector, having a first configuration in which it detects a small field of view image which includes truncation therein, and a second configuration in which it detects a large field of view image which does not include any substantial truncation therein, said first image being from a first scan type and said second image also being from said first scan type so that said second image represents the same kind of information as said first image; and

a computer, receiving information from said medical detector, including both said small field of view image and said large field of view image, and stitching together information from said small field of view image and from said large field of view image to compensate for said truncation in said small field of view image.

12. An apparatus as in claim 11 , wherein said computer controls obtaining said small field of view image and said large field of view image, and controls said small field of view image to be obtained with higher count numbers then said large field of view image.

13. An apparatus as in claim 11 , wherein said computer uses information from said large field of view image to compensate said small field of view image.

14. An apparatus as in claim 13 , wherein said computer reprojects said large field of view image to match at least one aspect of said small field of view image.

15. An apparatus, comprising:

a medical detector, having a first configuration in which it detects a small field of view image which includes truncation therein, and a second configuration in which it detects a large field of view image which does not include any substantial truncation therein;

a computer, receiving information from said medical detector, including, both said small, field of view image and said large field of view image, and stitching together information from said small field of view image and from said large field of view image to compensate for said truncation in said small field of view image, wherein said computer uses information from said large field of view image to compensate said small field of view image,

wherein said computer reprojects said large, field of view image to match at least one aspect of said small field of view image,

wherein said computer reprojects by normalizing data within the image to take into account a count data between the large field of view image and the small field of view image.

16. A method as in claim 15 , wherein said small field of view detector is reconfigured to forms said large field of view detector.

17. A method, comprising:

obtaining a first image of a medical object using a small field of view detector that images over a first field of view, said first image having truncation errors therein caused by said imaging using said first field of view;

obtaining a second image of said medical object using a large field of view detector that images over a second field of view, larger than said first field of view, and which has fewer truncation errors than said first image;

said first image being from a first scan type and said second image also being from said first scan type so that said second image represents the same kind of information as said first image;

re-projecting said second image in a way that makes it include similar information to the first image, said re-projecting forming a re-projected image; and

using the re-projected image to compensate for truncation errors in the first image.

Assignments (11)