JP4781346B2 - Image processing method and image processing apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus that determines the posture of a subject, and more particularly to an image processing device that determines the posture from contour information of a subject.

  With recent advancement of digital technology, a radiation image or the like is converted into a digital image signal (original image), gradation conversion processing is performed on the original image, and printing on a film or CRT is performed. . In these image processing apparatuses, the pixel value of the attention area of the subject of the original image may be extracted, and gradation conversion may be performed based on the extracted pixel value. For example, when the subject is a thigh, a histogram of the upper thigh (the upper part means a position close to the head side and the lower part means a position far from the head side) is calculated, and from the analysis result, the thigh that is the attention area The value of the upper bone region is calculated as a feature value, and the pixel value of the upper thigh bone region is converted to a density of 1.2 on the film.

  In such a method for extracting the attention area of the subject, it may be assumed that the area is either the upper or lower area.

  In addition, when a subject is lying on the photographing stand and photographing is performed, the top and bottom of the image may be reversed. That is, there are cases where the head is up and the head is down in the image after shooting. Therefore, the display of the image is reversed when the head is down.

  Therefore, in the conventional X-ray imaging apparatus, it is necessary to input the imaging position to the X-ray imaging apparatus when performing image processing for the reasons described above.

  However, inputting the up-and-down information of the imaging region one by one requires a lot of labor, and there is a problem that an input error may be made. Further, there has been a problem that when the body position information is not input or when an input error occurs, display of the image after gradation conversion does not work.

  In addition, there is a problem that the image is displayed in an inverted manner when the vertical information of the image is not input or when an input error is made.

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that it provides an image processing apparatus having a function of accurately determining a photographing position of an image.

An image processing method according to an aspect of the present invention includes a step of extracting one of the limbs as an area from an image obtained by imaging an object to be inspected, and the direction along the direction intersecting with the extending direction of the area. A step of extracting the width of the region, and a step of determining that the trunk of the object to be inspected exists in a direction in which the width of the region increases.

According to the present invention, it is possible to accurately determine the shooting posture.

Embodiments of an image processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
<First Embodiment>
FIG. 1 shows an X-ray imaging apparatus 100 which is a first embodiment of the image processing apparatus of the present invention. The X-ray imaging apparatus 100 is an X-ray imaging apparatus having an image processing circuit 112 having an image processing function, and includes a preprocessing circuit 106, a CPU 108, a main memory 109, an operation panel 110, and an image display 111. Data is exchanged with each other via the CPU bus 107.

  The X-ray imaging apparatus 100 includes a data acquisition circuit 105 connected to the preprocessing circuit 106, a two-dimensional X-ray sensor 104 and an X-ray generation circuit 101 connected to the data acquisition circuit 105, and these These circuits are also connected to the CPU bus 107.

  In the X-ray imaging apparatus 100 as described above, first, the main memory 109 stores various data necessary for processing by the CPU 108 and also includes a work memory for work of the CPU 108.

  The CPU 108 uses the main memory 109 to perform operation control of the entire apparatus according to an operation from the operation panel 110. Thereby, the X-ray imaging apparatus 100 operates as follows.

  First, the X-ray generation circuit 101 emits an X-ray beam 102 to the object 103 to be inspected. The X-ray beam 102 emitted from the X-ray generation circuit 101 passes through the object 103 while being attenuated, reaches the two-dimensional X-ray sensor 104, and is output as an X-ray image by the two-dimensional X-ray sensor 104. The Here, the X-ray image output from the two-dimensional X-ray sensor 104 is a human body image such as a thigh image, for example.

  The data acquisition circuit 105 converts the X-ray image output from the two-dimensional X-ray sensor 104 into an electrical signal and supplies it to the preprocessing circuit 106. The preprocessing circuit 106 performs preprocessing such as offset correction processing and gain correction processing on the signal (X-ray image signal) from the data acquisition circuit 105. The X-ray image signal preprocessed by the preprocessing circuit 106 is transferred as an original image to the main memory 109 and the contour extraction circuit 113 via the CPU bus 107 under the control of the CPU 108.

  Reference numeral 113 denotes a contour extraction circuit that extracts the void region, the outside of the void region, and the boundary as the contour line of the subject. 114 is an analysis circuit that determines the posture of the subject based on the information on the contour line extracted by the contour extraction circuit 113. It is.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing in the first embodiment. FIG. 3 shows a schematic image of the thigh, and the widths A and B of the contour line of the subject are shown.

Next, the operation of the image processing apparatus 100 will be described according to the processing flow shown in FIG.
The contour extraction circuit 112 that receives the original image (for example, the head and shoulder images) processed by the preprocessing circuit 106 via the CPU bus 107 under the control of the CPU 108 calculates the maximum value in the entire original image. Here, in order to calculate the maximum value, a histogram of the entire image may be created, for example, a 5% point from the top. Next, the pixel value from the calculated maximum value to, for example, the 95% point is replaced with a pixel value of, for example, 0 pixel value as a missing region, and the remaining region is held as the pixel value of the original image (s201).

  Next, the contour extraction circuit 112 searches for the value of the pixel value in the horizontal direction from the left side to the right side of the image. The changed boundary line is set as the right contour line of the subject, and the position information is stored (s202). This process corresponds to the extraction of the contour line. Here, any method can be used as long as the contour line of the subject is extracted. For example, a method of calculating the differential value, high-order differential value, and high-order difference value in the irradiation area for each vertical line and contouring the first peak value. Etc.

  Next, the analysis circuit 113 calculates the width of the contour line extracted by the contour extraction circuit 112 and compares the widths of the contour lines at regular intervals. Here, the width of the contour line refers to the width of the line segment that crosses the subject in the horizontal direction, and the horizontal direction is a direction that is approximately 90 degrees perpendicular to the line connecting the center of the head and the waist. In other words, in the present embodiment, the horizontal direction on the image is the width that crosses the subject in the horizontal direction as it is. This is because the thigh and the like tend to be photographed vertically with respect to the sensor.

  Further, the positions of the two points for calculating the subject width are 20% and 80% points from the upper end to the lower end of the subject at the respective coordinate positions in the vertical direction of the extracted subject. For example, the widths of the contour lines of the subject are assumed to be lines A and B in FIG. Then, the analysis circuit 114 compares the lengths of A and B (S204). If the width of A is larger than the width of B, it is determined that the A side is the upper side, that is, the head side, and vice versa. The lower side is determined (S204, 205, 206).

  As described above, in the first embodiment, the shape of the contour line of the subject has a characteristic for determining the posture, and based on the feature, there is an effect that the posture of the subject can be stably determined. Especially in the human body structure, the width of the outline of the subject's extremities is generally thicker as it is closer to the trunk, and narrower as it is farther from the trunk. It has an effect that can be determined.

<Second Embodiment>
In the second embodiment of the present invention, the posture of the subject is determined from the overall inclination of the width of the contour of the subject. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the flow of processing in the second embodiment. The same processes as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the value of the slope of the width of the thigh contour line. The horizontal axis represents the coordinates of the subject in the vertical direction (that is, the head and foot directions), and the vertical axis represents the inclination. When the value is negative, it indicates that the width of the subject becomes narrower toward the lower side of the subject, while when the value is positive, it indicates that the subject becomes thicker.

The processing of the second embodiment will be described according to the processing flow of FIG.
The contour extraction circuit 112 calculates the contour line of the subject in the horizontal direction of the subject by the same method as in the first embodiment (s201, 202).

  Next, the analysis circuit 113 calculates the width of the contour calculated by the contour extraction circuit 112 over the entire vertical range of the subject, and calculates the inclination of the width of the subject with respect to the vertical direction (S401, 402). The analysis circuit 113 integrates the width of this inclination over the entire vertical range of the subject. If the integration value is negative, the analysis circuit 113 determines that the image is on the upper side, that is, the head is on the upper side, and vice versa. The lower side is determined (S403, 404, 405).

  As described above, in the second embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to catch the tendency of the subject width variation of the entire subject by integrating the slope of the subject width over the entire subject. There is an effect that can be determined. For example, in a knee image, the width of the subject at the top and bottom near the knee may be reversed upside down, and the comparison of the subject width between two points may be misjudged. Since the inclination of the curve shows a certain tendency, the up / down determination can be performed accurately.

<Third Embodiment>
In the third embodiment of the present invention, the posture of the subject is determined from the overall inclination of the middle line of the contour of the subject. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the flow of processing in the third embodiment. The same processing as in the first embodiment is denoted by the same reference numeral and description thereof is omitted. FIG. 7 shows the pixel value of the middle line of the thigh outline. The horizontal axis represents the coordinates of the subject in the vertical direction (that is, the head and foot directions), and the vertical axis represents the pixel value. In the figure, points C and D indicate the positions of 20, 80% points on the coordinates of the subject in the vertical direction of the subject. E and F indicate pixel values in one.

The processing of the third embodiment will be described according to the processing flow of FIG.
The contour extraction circuit 112 calculates the contour line of the subject in the horizontal direction of the subject by the same method as in the first embodiment (s201, 202).

  Next, the analysis circuit 113 calculates the width of the contour calculated by the contour extraction circuit 112 over the entire range in the vertical direction of the subject, along the pixel value at the middle line position of the width, that is, along the center line of the subject. The calculated pixel value is calculated. Then, the upper and lower sides are discriminated by comparing the pixel values of two points representing the pixel values along the center line, E and F. That is, if E <F, it is determined that the upper side, that is, the upper side of the image is the head side, and vice versa, the lower side is determined (s603, 604, 605).

  As described above, in the second embodiment, there is an effect that the upper and lower sides can be determined stably by comparing the pixel value values at two points representing the middle line of the subject.

  Especially in the human body structure, the thickness of the subject's extremities is generally thicker as it is closer to the trunk, and thinner as it is farther from the trunk, so it can be accurately determined by comparing the pixel values of the subject. Has an effect.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image processing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the flow of a process of the image processing apparatus which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the schematic diagram of a thigh and its outline. It is a figure which shows the flow of a process of the image processing apparatus which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the inclination of an outline. It is a figure which shows the flow of a process of the image processing apparatus which concerns on the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the pixel value along a middle line.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 X-ray imaging apparatus 101 X-ray generation circuit 102 X-ray beam 103 Subject 104 Two-dimensional X-ray sensor 105 Data acquisition circuit 106 Pre-processing circuit 107 CPU bus 108 CPU
109 Main memory 110 Operation panel 111 Display 112 Image processing circuit 113 Contour extraction circuit 114 Analysis circuit

Claims (9)

Extracting one of the limbs as an area from an image obtained by photographing the object to be inspected;
Extracting the width of the region along a direction intersecting the direction in which the region extends; and
Determining that there is a trunk of the subject in the direction in which the width of the region increases;
An image processing method comprising: In the step of extracting the width of the region, the width of the region along the direction intersecting the extending direction of the region is extracted at a plurality of positions of the region,
The image processing method according to claim 1, wherein in the determination step, the widths at the plurality of extracted positions are compared to specify a direction in which the width of the region increases.   The width of the region is extracted from a position of 20% and 80% from one end to the other end along the extending direction of the region in the step of extracting the width of the region. The image processing method as described.   The image according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein in the step of extracting the region, a region is extracted from the image based on a void region and a region that contacts the void region with a predetermined width. Processing method. Means for extracting one of the extremities as an area from an image obtained by imaging the inspected object;
Means for extracting a width of the region along a direction intersecting a direction in which the region extends;
Means for determining that there is a trunk of the subject in a direction in which the width of the region increases;
An image processing apparatus comprising: The means for extracting the width of the region extracts the width of the region along the direction intersecting the extending direction of the region at a plurality of positions in the region,
The image processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the discriminating unit compares widths at the extracted positions and specifies a direction in which the width of the region increases.   The means for extracting the width of the region extracts the width of the region from a position of 20% and 80% from one end to the other end along the extending direction of the region. The image processing apparatus described.   The image according to any one of claims 5 to 7, wherein the means for extracting the region extracts a region from the image based on a void region and a region that contacts the void region with a predetermined width. Processing equipment. The image processing apparatus according to any one of claims 5 to 8,
X-ray generation means for generating X-rays;
A two-dimensional X-ray sensor that receives the X-ray and obtains the image;
An X-ray imaging apparatus comprising:

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