Granted Patent B2

US 8,866,894 · App. 12/017,400 · Granted Oct 21, 2014

Abstract

Claims (42)

1. A method for displaying live video of a caries condition of a tooth, the method comprising:

identifying a tooth tissue region of a single color plane in a single viewable image frame obtained from a video image stream of the tooth;

processing pixel data within the tooth tissue region of the single color plane to identify pixels that correspond to a suspected caries site, wherein processing the pixel data comprises inverting pixel values of the pixels that correspond to the suspected caries site;

modifying intensity values for the pixels that correspond to the suspected caries site;

forming a single highlighted viewable image frame by adding the modified intensity values for the pixels to other pixel values in the single viewable image frame; and

displaying the live video including the single highlighted viewable image frame.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein processing the pixel data comprises subtracting a fixed value from the pixel values that correspond to the suspected caries site.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein modifying the intensity values generates a synthetic color not normally found within human mouth tissue.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein processing the pixel data comprises comparing the pixel values of the pixels that correspond to the suspected caries site against one or more threshold values.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein processing the pixel data comprises comparing the pixel values from the single color plane against one or more threshold values and wherein modifying the intensity values comprises modifying pixel values from a second color plane.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising sub-sampling the pixel data within the viewable imaging frame prior to processing the pixel data to identify the pixels that correspond to the suspected caries site.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein processing the pixel data further comprises multiplying the inverted pixel values by a constant value.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein processing the pixel data further comprises subtracting or adding a constant value from the pixel values in the viewable imaging frame.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein steps of processing the pixel data, modifying the intensity values, and forming the highlighted viewable image comprise processing each pixel value within the tooth tissue region by testing the pixel value against a darkness threshold and, if the pixel value is less than the darkness threshold, adding a first value to the pixel value in at least one color plane, forming the highlighted viewable image thereby.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising testing the pixel values against a brightness threshold and, if the pixel values exceed the brightness threshold, subtracting the first value from the pixel values in at least a second color plane.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein inverting the pixel values further comprises inverting a first set of the pixel values that corresponds to a first suspected caries site, and wherein processing the pixel data further comprises:

subtracting a first amount from the first set of pixel values after the first set of pixel values has been inverted; and

multiplying the first set of pixel values by a second amount after the first amount has been subtracted.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein processing the pixel data further comprises:

subtracting a third amount from a second set of the pixel values, the second set of pixel values corresponding to a second suspected caries site; and

multiplying the second set of pixel values by a fourth amount after the third amount has been subtracted.

13. A method for displaying live video of a caries condition of a tooth, the method comprising:

obtaining a viewable image frame from a video image stream of the tooth;

processing a first color plane of the viewable image frame by:

identifying a tooth tissue region within a first color plane of the viewable image frame, and

processing selected pixels within the tooth tissue region of the first color plane to generate pixel values that are indicative of one or more caries sites, wherein processing the pixel data comprises inverting the pixel values;

modifying a second color plane of the viewable image frame by combining the pixel values that are indicative of the one or more caries sites with corresponding pixel values of the second color plane; and

re-combining the first and second color planes, and any additional color planes, to provide a highlighted viewable image frame for video display.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein processing the first color plane comprises obtaining a fluorescence image from the viewable image frame.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the fluorescence image is generated from combined processing of reflectance and fluorescence image captures.

16. The method of claim 13 wherein processing the first color plane comprises obtaining a reflectance image from the viewable image frame.

17. A method for displaying live video of a caries condition of a tooth, the method comprising:

obtaining a reflectance viewable image frame from a reflectance video stream of the tooth;

obtaining a fluorescence viewable image frame from a fluorescence video stream of the tooth;

processing a color plane of the fluorescence viewable image frame by:

identifying a tooth tissue region within the color plane of the fluorescence viewable image frame, and

processing selected pixels within the tooth tissue region of the color plane to generate pixel values that are indicative of one or more caries sites,

wherein processing the pixel data comprises inverting the pixel values;

modifying a color plane of the reflectance viewable image frame by combining the pixel values that are indicative of the one or more caries sites with corresponding pixel values of the color plane from the reflectance viewable image frame to form a highlighted viewable image frame; and

displaying the highlighted viewable image frame.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the reflectance viewable image frame is obtained with white light illumination.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein the fluorescence image frame is generated from combined processing of reflectance and fluorescence image captures.

Assignments (11)