System and method for preparing spatially related medical digital image data sets for image compression and storage prior to image reconstruction
System and method for preparing spatially related medical digital image data sets for image compression and storage prior to image reconstruction. The system and method exploit the similarities between spatially adjacent digital image data sets to reduce the amount of data to be compressed and stored. The spatially adjacent digital image data sets correspond to a plurality of spatially contiguous digital image data sets acquired over, for example, a current anatomical portion of a patient using a medical imaging modality or, for example, a current portion of a man-made structure or a current portion of a geological feature using an imaging modality.
1. A method of processing acquired image data, said method comprising:
(a) performing a comparison operation on a current digital image data set and a next spatially adjacent digital image data set across a plurality of spatially contiguous digital image data sets associated with a designated keystone digital image data set to form a plurality of comparative image data sets;
(b) performing a first image compression operation on the designated keystone digital image data set of said plurality of spatially contiguous digital image data sets to form a compressed keystone data set;
(c) performing a second image compression operation on each of said plurality of comparative image data sets to form a plurality of compressed comparative data sets; and
(d) storing said compressed keystone data set and said plurality of compressed comparative data sets.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein said plurality of spatially contiguous digital image data sets were acquired over a current anatomical portion of a patient using a medical imaging modality.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein said plurality of spatially contiguous digital image data sets were acquired over a current portion of a man-made structure using an imaging modality.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein said plurality of spatially contiguous digital image data sets were acquired over a current portion of a geological feature using an imaging modality.
5. The method of claim 1 further comprising applying at least one thresholding operation to each of said plurality of comparative image data sets before performing said second image compression operation.
6. The method of claim 1 further comprising applying at least one spatial filtering operation to each of said plurality of comparative image data sets before performing said second image compression operation.
7. The method of claim 1 further comprising applying at least one data scaling operation to each of said plurality of comparative image data sets before performing said second image compression operation.
8. The method of claim 2 wherein said spatially contiguous digital image data sets correspond to spatially contiguous slices across said current anatomical portion of said patient.
9. The method of claim 2 wherein said spatially contiguous digital image data sets correspond to spatially contiguous views around said current anatomical portion of said patient.
10. The method of claim 1 wherein said comparison operation includes a simple pixel-by-pixel subtraction between said current digital image data set and said next spatially adjacent digital image data set.
11. The method of claim 1 wherein said comparison operation includes a simple voxel-by-voxel subtraction between said current digital image data set and said next spatially adjacent digital image data set.
12. The method of claim 1 wherein said storing includes electronically saving to an electronic digital memory.
13. The method of claim 2 further comprising repeating steps (a) through (d) for a next anatomical portion of said patient, wherein said next anatomical portion of said patient is spatially adjacent to said current anatomical portion of said patient.
14. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
performing a first image decompression operation on said stored compressed keystone data set to form an uncompressed designated keystone digital image data set; and
performing a second image decompression operation on said stored plurality of compressed comparative data sets to form an uncompressed plurality of comparative image data sets.
15. The method of claim 14 further comprising performing a re-building operation on said uncompressed designated keystone digital image data set and said uncompressed plurality of comparative image data sets to form a re-built plurality of spatially contiguous digital image data sets.
16. The method of claim 15 further comprising applying a set of image processing parameters to said re-built plurality of spatially contiguous digital image data sets during an image processing operation to form an image processed plurality of spatially contiguous digital image data sets.
17. The method of claim 16 further comprising performing an image reconstruction operation on said image processed plurality of spatially contiguous digital image data sets to form a reconstructed image.
18. The method of claim 17 wherein said reconstructed image is a two-dimensional image.
19. The method of claim 17 wherein said reconstructed image is a three-dimensional image.
20. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of said image compression operations comprises a wavelet-based image compression scheme.
21. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of said image compression operations comprises a fractal-type image compression scheme.
22. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of said image compression operations comprises a JPEG-type image compression scheme.
23. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of said image compression operations comprises a superstring compression scheme.
24. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of said image compression operations comprises a run-length encoding compression scheme.
25. The method of claim 1 wherein said first image compression operation is the same as said second image compression operation.
26. The method of claim 14 wherein said first image decompression operation is the same as said second image decompression operation.
27. A system for processing acquired image data, said system comprising:
means for performing a comparison operation on a current digital image data set and a next spatially adjacent digital image data set across a plurality of spatially contiguous digital image data sets associated with a designated keystone digital image data set to form a plurality of comparative image data sets;
means for performing a first image compression operation on the designated keystone digital image data set of said plurality of spatially contiguous digital image data sets to form a compressed keystone data set;
means for performing a second image compression operation on each of said plurality of comparative image data sets to form a plurality of compressed comparative data sets; and
means for storing said compressed keystone data set and said plurality of compressed comparative data sets.
28. The system of claim 27 wherein said plurality of spatially contiguous digital image data sets were acquired over a current anatomical portion of a patient using a medical imaging modality.
29. The system of claim 27 wherein said plurality of spatially contiguous digital image data sets were acquired over a current portion of a man-made structure using an imaging modality.
30. The system of claim 27 wherein said plurality of spatially contiguous digital image data sets were acquired over a current portion of a geological feature using an imaging modality.
31. The system of claim 27 further comprising means for applying at least one thresholding operation to each of said plurality of comparative image data sets before performing said second image compression operation.
32. The system of claim 27 further comprising means for applying at least one spatial filtering operation to each of said plurality of comparative image data sets before performing said second image compression operation.
33. The system of claim 27 further comprising means for applying at least one data scaling operation to each of said plurality of comparative image data sets before performing said second image compression operation.
34. The system of claim 28 wherein said spatially contiguous digital image data sets correspond to spatially contiguous slices across said current anatomical portion of said patient.
35. The system of claim 28 wherein said spatially contiguous digital image data sets correspond to spatially contiguous views around said current anatomical portion of said patient.
36. The system of claim 27 wherein said comparison operation includes a simple pixel-by-pixel subtraction between said current digital image data set and said next spatially adjacent digital image data set.
37. The system of claim 27 wherein said comparison operation includes a simple voxel-by-voxel subtraction between said current digital image data set and said next spatially adjacent digital image data set.
38. The system of claim 27 wherein said means for storing includes an electronic digital memory.
39. The system of claim 27 further comprising:
means for performing a first image decompression operation on said stored compressed keystone data set to form an uncompressed designated keystone digital image data set; and
means for performing a second image decompression operation on said stored plurality of compressed comparative data sets to form an uncompressed plurality of comparative image data sets.
40. The system of claim 39 further comprising means for performing a re-building operation on said uncompressed designated keystone digital image data set and said uncompressed plurality of comparative image data sets to form a re-built plurality of spatially contiguous digital image data sets.
41. The system of claim 40 further comprising means for applying a set of image processing parameters to said re-built plurality of spatially contiguous digital image data sets during an image processing operation to form an image processed plurality of spatially contiguous digital image data sets.
42. The system of claim 41 further comprising means for performing an image reconstruction operation on said image processed plurality of spatially contiguous digital image data sets to form a reconstructed image.
43. The system of claim 42 wherein said reconstructed image is a two-dimensional image.
44. The system of claim 42 wherein said reconstructed image is a three-dimensional image.
45. The system of claim 27 wherein at least one of said image compression operations comprises a wavelet-based image compression scheme.
46. The system of claim 27 wherein at least one of said image compression operations comprises a fractal-type image compression scheme.
47. The system of claim 27 wherein at least one of said image compression operations comprises a JPEG-type image compression scheme.
48. The system of claim 27 wherein at least one of said image compression operations comprises a superstring compression scheme.
49. The system of claim 27 wherein at least one of said image compression operations comprises a run-length encoding compression scheme.
50. The system of claim 27 wherein said first image compression operation is the same as said second image compression operation.
51. The system of claim 39 wherein said first image decompression operation is the same as said second image decompression operation.