Method and system for processing scanned images

1. A system for locating one or more content portions of an image, the system comprising:

an illumination source;

a dichroic filter positioned between the illumination source and one or more computed radiography plates;

a two-dimensional imager configured to receive stimulated emission photons reflected from the dichroic filter, the two-dimensional imager coupled to a lens system;

a transport configured to operatively arrange the one or more computed radiography plates with respect to the two-dimensional imager so that an image of one or more plates can be captured by the two-dimensional imager;

a processor, operatively coupled to the two-dimensional imager, the processor configured to automatically:

receive a plurality of pixel values, the pixel values characterizing the image captured by the two-dimensional imager;

determine a pixel threshold value using the plurality of pixel values characterizing the image captured by the two-dimensional imager so that the pixel threshold value corresponds to a background range of the pixel values;

store a representation including individual pixel coordinate pairs in response to determining the pixel value threshold, the representation stored in a tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium coupled to the processor;

compare the determined pixel threshold value to the pixel values so that a background set of the pixel values and a content set of the pixel values are determined;

determine a plurality of boundaries between the background and content sets of pixel values;

determine the one or more content portions using the determined boundaries; and

determine respective bounding boxes for the determined one or more content portions.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the illumination source is a laser.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein a blue pass filter is disposed between the dichroic filter and the two-dimensional imager.

4. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a motion sub-system coupled to the processor, the motion sub-system including a data processor and configured to position the two-dimensional image and focus the lens system with regard to a region of interest associated with the computed radiography plates to perform sub-array imaging.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the two-dimensional imager includes a solid-state camera, a charge coupled device (CCD) camera, a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) camera, or a charge injection device (CID) camera.

6. The system of claim 2 , wherein a galvanometer scanner is used to direct a beam from the laser in a transverse direction with respect to a direction of travel of the transport.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to determine pixel threshold value by:

determining a histogram of the image, the histogram including pixel values and corresponding pixel counts and slopes; and

determining a peak pixel value using the slopes, so that the peak pixel value corresponds to a slope higher in magnitude than a median of magnitudes of the slopes.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein determining the histogram includes binning the histogram and determining the pixel counts as a sum of the pixel values in each bin.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the sum of the pixel values in each bin are weighted.

10. The system of claim 7 , wherein the processor is further configured to determine the peak pixel value by:

determining a plurality of peak pixel values using the slopes, so that each peak pixel value corresponds to a slope higher in magnitude than a median of magnitudes of the slopes; and

selecting the one of the peak pixel values closest to a background pixel value as the peak pixel value.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to automatically provide a visual indication of at least one of the determined bounding boxes on a display.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to automatically extract image data corresponding to one of the content portions from the image and storing the extracted image data in a tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage medium.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to automatically extract image data corresponding to one of the content portions from the image and store the extracted image data in a tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage medium coupled to the processor.

14. The system of claim 1 , wherein the representation includes individual pixel coordinate pairs associated with a content set of pixel values and individual pixel coordinate pairs associated with a background set of pixel values.

15. The system of claim 1 , wherein processor is further configured to divide the image into chunks and determine a content set of pixel values and a background set of pixel values for each image chunk in parallel.

16. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to reduce a bit depth of the pixel values in the image prior to determining the pixel value threshold.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the bit depth reduction is performed by shifting, dividing with truncation, or dividing with rounding.

18. The system of claim 1 , wherein the transport includes a belt for conveying the computed radiography plates into position with respect to the two-dimensional imager.

19. The system of claim 1 , wherein the transport includes a plurality of rollers for conveying the computed radiography plates into position with respect to the two-dimensional imager, the plurality of rollers including motorized rollers and/or passive conveyors.