Patent ID: 6690371
Filing Date: 2004-02-10
Classification: G06T

Abstract:
A method for rapid extraction and visualization of relevant data from a volume of image data comprising the steps of:rapidly producing reduced-fidelity images derived from an image volume, the reduced fidelity images having an adjustable visual parameter, when rapidly producing reduced fidelity images derived from an image volume comprises the steps of decimating a full-size image volume to produce a decimated image volume and reconstructing the decimated image volume, wherein opacity is the adjustable visual parameter and reconstructing the decimated image volume comprises the step of adjusting a relationship between opacity and voxel value from a preset level, wherein the relationship between opacity and voxel values provides a cut-off slope within a selected range of voxel values, and adjusting a relationship between opacity and voxel values comprises the step of changing a range of voxel values in which the cut-off slope is provided in response to a user-operated control; adjusting the visual parameter of the reduced-fidelity images during the rapid production to select a desired adjustment; producing a full-fidelity image derived from the image volume; applying the selected adjustment to the full-fidelity image; and updating the full-fidelity image by replacing images at nodes linked to slices being updated in the full-fidelity image.