Patent ID: 8391650
Filing Date: 2013-03-05
Classification: G06T

Abstract:
1. An apparatus for detecting edges in an ultrasound image, comprising: a ultrasound image comprising B number of rows and C number of columns of a plurality of image pixels, each pixel associated with a respective pixel value; an edge detection filter comprising: an odd number (2N+1) of rows and an odd number of columns, comprising at least three rows and at least five columns or at least five rows and at least three columns; a first set of zero coefficients extending along a direction traversing said filter through a center position to form a first side and a second side; a second set of coefficients equal to 1 extending away from said direction on said first side; and a third set of coefficients equal to −1 extending away from said direction on said second side; means for positioning said edge detection filter at an origin of a first direction and an origin of a second direction within said plurality of image pixels; means for applying said coefficients of said edge detection filter to pixel values of correspondingly-positioned ones of said plurality of image pixels to calculate a plurality of row values associated with each of a plurality of rows of said real-time ultrasound image; means for storing each of said plurality of row values in a respective one of a plurality of linearly-shiftable memory locations 2N+1 to 1; means for summing the plurality of row values in each of said plurality of said memory locations 2N+1 to 1 to produce a filter output and for storing said filter output in a memory storage device; means for incrementing said position of said edge detection filter in the first direction, wherein the incremented position is associated with a next row of said plurality of image pixels; means for shifting the row values of said plurality of memory locations to shift the row value stored in memory location X to memory location X−1, for each X from 2N+1 through 1; means for applying said coefficients of said edge detection filter to pixel values of correspondingly-positioned ones of said plurality of image pixels of said next row to calculate a next row value; means for storing the next row value in memory location 2N+1; means for calculating a new filter output by adding the row value stored in memory location 2N+1 to the filter output stored in the memory storage device and subtracting the value stored in memory location 0; means for storing said new filter output in said memory storage device; and means for incrementing said position of said edge detection filter in the second direction and resetting said position to said first direction origin of said image.