Patent ID: 7983456
Filing Date: 2011-07-19
Classification: G06T

Abstract:
1. A method for speckle adaptive medical image processing, the method comprising: obtaining image data comprising intensities as a function of spatial location along at least one dimension in an image plane, the intensities as a function of spatial location providing a waveform; identifying, in the waveform of the intensities as a function of spatial location, at least two spatial transitions in variation of the intensities; calculating a spatial distance between the at least two spatial transitions of the waveform of intensity values as a function of spatial location along the at least one dimension in the image plane; estimating a value quantifying a speckle characteristic of at least a spatial region represented by the image data, the value calculated as a function of the spatial distance on the image plane between the at least two spatial transitions; and image processing the image data or subsequent image data as a function of the value quantifying the speckle characteristic, the image processing operating differently when the value differs.