Patent ID: 6704439
Filing Date: 2004-03-09
Classification: A61B,A61C,G06T

Abstract:
A method of identifying an alveolar nerve region in a mandible image, comprising the steps of:(a) slicing a 3-dimensional mandible image into a number of 2-dimensional slice images; (b) detecting a binary image object corresponding to a mandible region from one of the slice images; (c) grouping pixels of the binary image object of the mandible region into clusters each containing pixels having a similar intensity; (d) determining clusters that have more than a predetermined minimum number of pixels, and determining a minimum labeled cluster having the lowest pixel intensity distribution among the clusters; (e) composing a new binary image containing pixels which belong to both the mandible region and the clusters having intensity distribution lower than or equal to that of the minimum labeled cluster, to extract a candidate nerve object; and (f) determining whether the candidate nerve object corresponds to the alveolar nerve region.