Patent Number: 
Section: claims

1. An image processing method, comprising:obtaining an image that includes a ball image and a cone image, wherein the ball image indicates an image of a ball, and the cone image indicates an image of a cone;converting the image to a converted image using a processor, wherein the converted image comprises a converted ball image that looks different from the ball image in the image, and a converted cone image that looks different from the cone image in the image;identifying the converted ball image in the converted image;analyzing the converted ball image to determine a score; anddetermining a center of the ball image based at least in part on the score;wherein the obtained image also includes a rod image, and the method further comprises using the processor to determine a position of the rod image using an algorithm. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises determining a first amount of a first offset in a first direction between a center of the ball and a center of the cone. 3. The method of claim 2, further comprising determining a second amount of a second offset in a second direction between the center of the ball and the center of the cone, the second direction being orthogonal to the first direction. 4. The method of claim 3, further comprising determining a third amount of a third offset in a third direction between the center of the ball and the center of the cone, the third direction being orthogonal to the first direction and the second direction. 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the image is converted to the converted image using a polar-to-rectangular coordinate conversion scheme. 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the converted ball image has a non-circular shape. 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of identifying the converted ball image is performed by the processor, which analyzes the converted image to identify a region in which the converted ball image lies. 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of analyzing the converted ball image comprises:calculating standard deviation values for a plurality of respective rows of pixels that correspond to the converted ball image; andsumming the standard deviation values to obtain the score. 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtained image also includes a rod image, and the method further comprises identifying the rod image in the obtained image. 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the rod image in the image is excluded before converting the image to the converted image. 11. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining an additional center of the ball image based at least in part on the determined position of the rod, the additional center of the ball image being more accurate than the previously determined center of the ball image. 12. The method of claim 1, further comprising obtaining an estimate of a center of the ball image, wherein the image is converted to a converted image using the processor based at least in part on the estimate of the center of the ball image. 13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:determining a center of the ball image based at least in part on the score;determining one or more additional scores for one or more additional estimates of the center of the cone image, wherein the center of the ball image is determined by selecting one of the estimates that has the lowest score. 14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:determining a center of the ball image based at least in part on the score; andusing the processor to determine a center of the cone image. 15. The method of claim 14, further comprising determining an eccentricity between the determined center of the ball image and the determined center of the cone image. 16. The method of claim 15, wherein the eccentricity comprises an offset distance between the determined center of the ball image and the determined center of the cone image, and a direction of the offset distance. 17. The method of claim 16, wherein the offset distance is expressed in pixel values, and the method further comprises converting the offset distance from pixel values to length units. 18. The method of claim 1, further comprising:determining a center of the ball image based at least in part on the score; andusing the determined center of the ball image and one or more other parameters to determine one or more of an isocenter sag, isocenter skew, quality data representing measurement quality, and panel shift. 19. The method of claim 1, wherein the score represents an accuracy of an estimate of a center of the ball image. 20. A computer product having a non-transitory medium storing a set of instructions, an execution of which will cause an imaging method to be performed, the method comprising:obtaining an image that includes a ball image and a cone image, wherein the ball image indicates an image of a ball, and the cone image indicates an image of a cone;converting the image to a converted image using a processor, wherein the converted image comprises a converted ball image that looks different from the ball image in the image, and a converted cone image that looks different from the cone image in the image;identifying the converted ball image in the converted image;analyzing the converted ball image to determine a score; anddetermining a center of the ball image based at least in part on the score;wherein the obtained image also includes a rod image, and the method further comprises determining a position of the rod image using an algorithm. 21. An image processing method, comprising:obtaining an image that includes a ball image and a cone image;using a processor to execute a first algorithm to determine a ball center;using the processor to execute a second algorithm to determine a cone center;determining an eccentricity between the determined ball center and the determined cone center; andusing the determined ball center and one or more other parameters to determine an isocenter sag, an isocenter skew, quality data representing measurement quality, a panel shift, or any combination of the foregoing;wherein the first algorithm involves converting the ball image to a converted ball image that looks different from the ball image. 22. The method of claim 21, wherein the ball image indicates an image of a ball, and the cone image indicates an image of a cone, and wherein the method further comprises determining a first amount of a first offset in a first direction between a center of the ball and a center of the cone. 23. The method of claim 22, further comprising determining a second amount of a second offset in a second direction between the center of the ball and the center of the cone, the second direction being orthogonal to the first direction. 24. The method of claim 23, further comprising determining a third amount of a third offset in a third direction between the center of the ball and the center of the cone, the third direction being orthogonal to the first direction and the second direction. 25. The method of claim 21, wherein the eccentricity comprises an offset distance between the determined ball center and the determined cone center, and a direction of the offset distance. 26. The method of claim 25, wherein the offset distance is expressed in pixel values, and the method further comprises converting the offset distance from pixel values to length units. 27. The method of claim 21, wherein the converted ball image has a non-circular shape. 28. The method of claim 21, wherein the second algorithm involves converting the cone image to a converted cone image that looks different from the cone image. 29. A computer product having a non-transitory medium storing a set of instructions, an execution of which will cause an imaging method to be performed, the method comprising:obtaining an image that includes a ball image and a cone image;executing a first algorithm by a processor to determine a ball center;executing a second algorithm by the processor to determine a cone center;determining an eccentricity between the determined ball center and the determined cone center; andusing the determined ball center and one or more other parameters to determine an isocenter sag, an isocenter skew, quality data representing measurement quality, a panel shift, or any combination of the foregoing;wherein the first algorithm involves converting the ball image to a converted ball image that looks different from the ball image.