Patent ID: 6453058
Filing Date: 2002-09-17
Classification: A61B,G06K,G06T

Abstract:
A computer assisted diagnosis method using change detection of salient features in a first and a second digital image, comprising the steps of:converting the first and the second digital image into a first and a second relational attribute graph, respectively, wherein each graph comprises nodes and arcs, each node corresponding to an identified salient feature and associated with information comprising a type and characteristics of the corresponding identified salient feature, and the arcs corresponding to a topological arrangement of the identified salient features; determining an optimal inexact structural match between the nodes of the first graph and the nodes of the second graph so as to form matched sets of nodes comprising one node from each graph, wherein a node lacking a determined match is matched with a null node; comparing the characteristics of each of the nodes in a matched set to one another to identify variances among the compared characteristics and generating a corresponding score for each of the nodes in the matched set based on each of the identified variances; and reporting as having changed the nodes whose appearances vary more than pre-specified thresholds based on the scores corresponding thereto and the nodes matched with the null nodes.