Patent Abstract:
A method of accurately measuring control film density regions comprising: exposing a photosensitive film to a modulated laser beam at three known laser beam intensities representing maximum, midrange and minimum intensities to form corresponding separate sequential density regions in said film having maximum density D max , midrange D min  and minimum density D min , using a densitometer, taking a first set of density readings of said maximum density region of said film, taking a second set of density readings of said midrange density region of said film, and taking a third set of readings of said minimum density region of said film; wherein said density readings are sequentially taken as said film is moved past said densitometer; and as a first try, determining D max  as the average of a subset of said first set of density readings which are taken in the control portion of said maximum density region; determining D min  as a preselected value; and determining D mid =D min +a(D max −D min ) where a is a fraction.

Full Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     Reference is made to and priority claimed from U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/109,788, filed 25 Nov. 1998, entitled CONTROL OF LASER IMAGING SYSTEM. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates in general to a laser imaging system and relates more particularly to the control of a laser imaging system using density patches on calibration films at the top of all other films. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Medical laser printers have achieved wide acceptance in producing hard copy (film) of electronic (digital) images acquired from film digitizers, diagnostic imaging modalities (CT, MRI, PET, US), computed and direct digital radiography. Until recently, medical laser printers have produced medical image films which were processed using wet processing techniques. Medical laser printers have been introduced which produce medical image films which are dry processed through the use of heat. Control of the laser printer is aided by printing density patches on calibration and standard films. A densitometer reads the density patches to produce a control signal. 
     A problem arises in the accuracy of the densities read from the density patches by the densitometer. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     According to the present invention, there is provided a solution to the problems of the prior art. 
     According to a feature of the present invention, there is provided a method of determining the densities of film density patches comprising the steps of: providing a film having first, second and third density patches, respectively, having densities D max  (maximum density), D min  (mid density) and D min  (minimum density); taking several density readings of each of the patches; and, either, estimating D max  as the average of several measurements in the central portion of the first density patch, discarding at least one of the largest and smallest readings, estimating D min  as a preselected value, or, searching the entire set of readings for the highest and lowest readings and using the highest reading as the estimated D max  and the lowest reading as the estimated D min ; and calculating D mid  from the equation D mid =D min +a(D max −D min ), where ais a constant with a value of less than one. 
     ADVANTAGEOUS EFFECT OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention provides a method for accurately reading film density patches of medical image films produced by a medical laser printer. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view of a medical laser printer which uses the present invention. 
     FIG. 2 is a plan view of a film with density patches. 
     FIG. 3 is a more detailed view of the density patch region of the film shown in FIG.  2 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown laser imaging apparatus incorporating the present invention. As shown, apparatus  10  includes a laser printer  12  and processor  14 . Although printer  12  and processor  14  are shown as housed in separate units, it will be understood that they could be integrated into one housing. In the specific application described here, printer  12  is a medical image laser printer for printing medical images on photothermographic film which is thermally processed by thermal processor  14 . The medical images printed by printer  12  can be derived from medical image sources, such as medical image diagnostic scanners (MRI, CT, US, PET), direct digital radiography, computed radiography, digitized medical image media (film, paper), and archived medical images. 
     Printer  12  includes printer housing  13 , laser scanner  16 , supplies  18 , 20  for unexposed photothermographic film  22 , a slow scan drum  24 , film path  26 , control  28 , memory  30 , printer/processor film interface  32 . Processor  14  includes processor housing  15 , interface  32 , drum  34  heated by lamp  36 , hold-down rollers  38  located around a segment of the periphery of drum  34 , exposed film cooling assembly  40 , densitometer  42 , and output tray  44 . 
     Apparatus  10  operates in general as follows. A medical image stored in memory  30  modulates the laser beam produced by the laser of scanner  16 . The modulated laser beam is repetitively scanned in a fast or line scan direction to expose photothermographic film  22 . Film  22  is moved in a slow or page scan direction by slow scan drum  24  which rotates in the direction of arrow  44 . Unexposed photothermographic film  22 , located in supplies  18 , 20 , is moved along film path  26  to slow scan drum  24 . A medical image is raster scanned onto film  22  through the cooperative operation of scanner  16  and drum  24 . Density patches are scanned at the top of film  22 . 
     After film  22  has been exposed, it is transported along path  26  to processor  14  by printer/processor film interface  32 . The exposed film  22  is developed by passing it over heated drum  34  to which it is held by rollers  38 . After development, the film  22  is cooled in film cooling assembly  40 . Densitometer  42  reads the density of control patches at the front edge of film  22  to maintain calibration of the laser imaging apparatus  10 . The cooled film  22  is output to tray  46  where it can be removed by a user. Densitometer  42  has two detectors, one is used as a trigger and the other to measure density. 
     FIG. 2 shows film  22  shows film  22  with D max  density patch (region)  50 , D mid  density patch  52 , and D min  density patch  54 . FIG. 3 shows the density patches in greater detail including the trigger detector  70  and density detector  72  of densitometer  42 . The d max  region  50  provides the trigger. 
     The density patches have the following dimensions. 
     
       
         
               
               
               
               
             
           
               
                   
                   
               
             
             
               
                   
                 Top of film to d mid  patch 
                 x 1  pixels 
                 ˜l 1  cm 
               
               
                   
                 Width of dmax patch 
                 x 2  pixels 
                 ˜l 2  cm 
               
               
                   
                 Width of d mid  and d min  patches 
                 x 3  pixels 
                 ˜l 3  cm 
               
               
                   
                 D mid  and d min  patch height 
                 x 4  pixels 
                 ˜l 4  cm 
               
               
                   
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
     D max  is printed with codevalue CV max . 
     D mid  is printed with codevalue CV mid . 
     D min  is printed with codevalue CV min . 
     D mid  is D min  plus a of the difference between D min  and D max , where a is a fraction 
     Calculate D mid  from D min  and D max  D mid =D min +(a)*(D max −D min ) 
     Readings Per Region 
     This is a description of the data stream in terms of the number of readings returned from the densitometer in the D max , D mid , and D min , regions. The numbers are not intended to be precise. They are to indicate the approximate number of readings per region. 
     Parameters: 
     Drum diameter 
     Drum circumference 
     Contact distance (˜50%) 
     Densitometer readings 
     Densitometer aperture 
     Formulas: 
     
       
         
               
               
             
           
               
                   
               
             
             
               
                 Transport (cm / sec) 
                  = (contact distance) / (process time) 
               
               
                 Readings / cm 
                  = (readings / second) / (cm / second) 
               
               
                 Readings / region 
                  = (readings / cm) * (region size) 
               
               
                 Readings not bridging 
                  = total readings * (patch height - aperture) / 
               
               
                   
                    patch height 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
     The method of the invention extracts the plateau values from a stream of data. The objective is to find a plateau in the data and discard anomalous data. The data is sorted to remove anomalous values. The process for D mid  is different from that for D min  because the trend of data after D mid  is decreasing values, but not after D min . 
     The following parameters are determined through experience. 
     1. The initial estimate of D min . 
     2. The minimum number of readings in D mid  and D min  regions. 
     3. The fraction of D mid  and D min  readings in the plateau regions. 
     4. The maximum fraction of the D mid  and D min  range in the plateau. 
     Acquire Data 
     When the edge of the film triggers data acquisition, record y readings and then stop. No analysis is done during data acquisition so there cannot be any problem with competition for CPU time with other processes. The buffer size is set to a single size for simplicity. (It could be customized to the transport speed.) 
     Estimate D max , D mid , and D min    
     Two methods are used to estimate D max  and D min . The calculation for estimating D mid  does not change. Each set of readings is analyzed with the first method. If that fails, the second method is tried. If the second method fails, the analysis fails. 
     First Try D max  and D min    
     Use the process time to select several measurements centered ˜½ way through the D max  region. Discard a few largest and a few smallest. The average of the middle measurements is the D max  estimate. The estimate is made for D min . 
     Second Try D max  and D min    
     Search the entire set of readings for the highest and lowest. Use the highest as the estimated D max  and the lowest as the estimated D min . 
     Estimate D mid    
     Calculate D mid  using the equation (D mid =D min +a*(D max −D min )) 
     Partition 
     Divide the data set into 4 regions. 
     a. D max  region 
     b. D mid  region 
     c. D min  region 
     d. Image region (after calibration patches) 
     1. Calculate reading value for halfway between D max  and D mid  (threshold 0). 
     2. Calculate reading value for halfway between D mid  and D min  (threshold 1). 
     3. Search densitometer readings array, starting after the readings used to calculate D max , to find first reading less than threshold 0. 
     4. Search densitometer readings array, starting after threshold 0, to find first reading less than threshold 1. 
     5. D max  region is from first reading to threshold 0. 
     6. D mid  region is from threshold 0 to threshold 1. 
     7. Make D min  region same size as D mid  region, starting at threshold 1. 
     8. Everything after D min  region is image region. 
     Check Partition 
     Partition is successful if: 
     a. Find threshold 0 and threshold 1. 
     b. Data includes enough readings to make D min  region the same size as d mid  region. 
     c. At least several readings in D mid  region. (D min  region is the same size, so no need to check both.) 
     If the partition process fails, do Estimate D max , D mid , and D min  using second try method and proceed from there. 
     Find D mid    
     Find the plateau in readings between threshold 0 and threshold 1. 
     1. Sort all the D mid  region readings. 
     2. Find the set of readings with the smallest range which includes ¼ of the readings. 
     3. If more than one set of readings has the same range, use the average of all sets with the same range. 
     4. The average of that set is D mid    
     Find D min    
     Sorting does not put the desired data in the middle. Anomalous low values need to be discarded (step 4). 
     1. Sort all the D min  region readings. 
     2. Find the set of readings which is the lowest ¼ of the readings. 
     3. Find the range of the lowest ¼ of the readings. 
     4. Try to make the set more compact. Compare the difference between the lowest two readings in the set with the difference between the highest reading in the set and the next higher reading outside the set. As long as the difference between the two lowest readings in the set is more than twice the difference between the highest reading in the set and the next higher reading outside the set, add the higher reading and remove the lowest. 
     5. The average of that set is D min . 
     Check Plateau 
     Check that the set of readings which is the plateau is concentrated in a small fraction of the total range of readings for both D mid  and D min  regions. 
     1. Calculate the ratio between the range of all readings in the region and the range of readings in the plateau region. If that ratio is less than 16:1, the readings are spread over too much of the total range to be considered a plateau. 
     2. If D mid  had multiple regions with the same range and those regions have no readings in common or the averages differ by more than {fraction (1/16)} of the total D mid  range, there are multiple plateaus. 
     3. If the result is an unsatisfactory plateau for D mid  or D min  (either too spread out or multiple plateaus) and the analysis was done with the Second Try D max  and D min  method, the analysis has failed. If it was done with the First Try D max  and D min  use the Second Try D max  and D min  method, and then complete the analysis. 
     DATA CONVERSION 
     Conversion from a reading (R) sent by the densitometer to a density value (D) is by the following formula: 
     
       
         D=(((R*2)−offset)/calibration_factor)/100 
       
     
     Conversion from density (D) to a reading (R) as sent by the densitometer is by the following formula: 
     
       
         R=((100*D*calibration_factor)+offset)/2 
       
     
     Density cannot be negative. If the calculation for density gives a number less than 0, the density is set to 0. 
     The calibration factor and offset are sent by the densitometer. 
     No other processing is done during data acquisition. After acquisition is complete, calculate the densitometer reading for the anticipated D min  (0.30 for the First Try). Do all the calculations to partition the data and find D mid  and D min  using data in densitometer units as received from the densitometer. After calculating D mid  and D min  in these units, convert D mid  and D min  to density multiplied by 1000, using the following formula: 
     
       
         D*1000=(((R*2)−offset/calibration_factor)*10 
       
     
     This integer value, with a range of 0-4000 for densities 0.0 to 4.0, is the number returned to the printer. 
     EXAMPLE BASED ON FICTIONAL DATA 
     This example follows the template of the Logic section which precedes it. The number of data elements is reduced to make it manageable. Processing time is assumed to be 1.44 seconds. Different data sets are used for different parts of the example. The real data is 16 bit integers. Data here is integer values which represent density multiplied by 1000 (2000 is density 2.000). 
     Acquire Data 
     Use this data set. There are 64 elements, not 512. 
     
       
         
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
             
           
               
                   
               
             
             
               
                 0-9 
                 1700 
                 2900 
                 3500 
                 3500 
                 3500 
                 3500 
                 3500 
                 3500 
                 3500 
                 3507 
               
               
                 10-19 
                 3503 
                 3504 
                 3506 
                 3508 
                 3502 
                 3509 
                 3501 
                 3500 
                 3500 
                 3500 
               
               
                 20-29 
                 3500 
                 3500 
                 3500 
                 3000 
                 2500 
                 2000 
                 1505 
                 1508 
                 1501 
                 1502 
               
               
                 30-39 
                 1504 
                 1503 
                 1507 
                 1501 
                 1509 
                 1503 
                 1504 
                 1506 
                 1502 
                 1200 
               
               
                 40-49 
                 900 
                 600 
                 304 
                 309 
                 302 
                 303 
                 305 
                 307 
                 301 
                 303 
               
               
                 50-59 
                 308 
                 302 
                 301 
                 307 
                 303 
                 800 
                 1300 
                 1800 
                 2300 
                 2300 
               
               
                 60-63 
                 2300 
                 2300 
                 2300 
                 2300 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
     Estimate D max , D mid , and D min    
     Both methods are shown. 
     First Try D max  and D min    
     Processing time of 1.44 seconds would produce 24 pixels in the D max  region. The center is the 12 th  reading. 
     The center 8 are values 7 through 14: 3507, 3503, 3504, 3506, 3508, 3502, 3509, 3501 
     Sorted, the data is: 3501, 3502, 3503, 3504, 3506, 3507, 3508, 3509 
     Discarding the top and bottom 2 leaves: 3503, 3504, 3506, 3507 
     The average is: 3505 
     Density 0.30 is equivalent to densitometer reading 300. 
     Second Try D max  and D min    
     The highest and lowest of the entire set of readings are 3508 and 301. 
     Estimate D mid    
     Calculate D mid  using the equation in Patch Description. 
     
       
         (D mid =D min +⅜*(D max −D min )) 
       
     
     Based on first try: 
     
       
         D max =3505 D min =300 D mid =300+(⅜*3205)=300+1202=1502 
       
     
     Based on second try: 
     
       
         D max =3508 D min =301 D mid =301+(⅜*3207)=300+1203=1503 
       
     
     This example never requires the second try. The process is shown just to show how it works. 
     Partition 
     Divide the data set into 4 regions. 
     a. D max    
     b. D mid    
     c. D min    
     d. After the patches 
     1. threshold 0=(D max +D mid )/2=(3505 +1502)/2=2504 
     2. threshold 1=(D mid +D min )/2=(1502 +300)/2=901 
     3. First reading &lt; threshold 0 (2004) is reading 25 (2000) 
     4. First reading &lt; threshold 1 (901) is reading 40 (900) 
     5. D max  region: densitometer readings 0 through 23. 
     6. D mid  region: densitometer readings 24 through 39. 
     7. D min  region: densitometer readings 40 through 55. 
     8. After the patches: densitometer readings 55 through end. 
     Check Partition 
     Partition is successful: 
     a. Found threshold 0 and threshold 1. 
     b. Data includes 8 readings after D min  region 
     c. D mid  region has 16 readings. 
     Find D mid    
     Find the plateau in the D mid  region. 
     1. Sort all the D mid  region readings (16 readings). 
     
       
         
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
             
           
               
                   
               
             
             
               
                 raw 
                 2500 
                 2000 
                 1505 
                 1508 
                 1501 
                 1502 
                 1504 
                 1503 
                 1507 
                 1501 
                 1509 
               
               
                   
                 1503 
                 1504 
                 1506 
                 1502 
                 1200 
               
               
                 sorted 
                 2500 
                 2000 
                 1509 
                 1508 
                 1507 
                 1506 
                 1505 
                 1504 
                 1504 
                 1503 
                 1503 
               
               
                   
                 1502 
                 1502 
                 1501 
                 1501 
                 1200 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
     2. Find the set of readings with the smallest range which includes ¼ of the readings (4 readings). 
     
       
         
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
             
           
               
                   
               
             
             
               
                 sorted 
                 2500 
                 2000 
                 1509 
                 1508 
                 1507 
                 1506 
                 1505 
                 1504 
                 1504 
                 1503 
               
               
                   
                 1503 
                 1502 
                 1502 
                 1501 
                 1501 
                 1200 
               
               
                 range 
                  992 
                  493 
                 3  3 
                   3 
                  2 
                 2  1 
                   2 
                   1 
                  2 
                 1  2 
               
               
                 average 
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 1504 
                   
                 1503 
                   
                 1502 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
     3. Three sets have a range of 1. 
     4. The average of the three sets with range=1 is 1503, the D mid  densitometer reading. 
     Find D min    
     Find the plateau in the D min  region. 
     1. Sort all the D min  region readings (16 readings). 
     
       
         
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
             
           
               
                   
               
             
             
               
                 raw 
                 900 
                 600 
                 304 
                 309 
                 302 
                 303 
                 305 
                 307 
                 301 
                 303 
               
               
                   
                 308 
                 302 
                 301 
                 307 
                 303 
                 800 
               
               
                 sorted 
                 900 
                 600 
                 800 
                 309 
                 308 
                 307 
                 307 
                 305 
                 304 
                 303 
               
               
                   
                 303 
                 303 
                 302 
                 302 
                 301 
                 301 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
     2. Find the set of readings which is the lowest ¼ of the readings (4 readings). 
     
       
         
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
             
           
               
                   
               
             
             
               
                 raw 
                 900 
                 600 
                 304 
                 309 
                 302 
                 303 
                 305 
                 307 
                 301 
                 303 
                 308 
               
               
                   
                 302 
                 301 
                 307 
                 303 
                 800 
               
               
                 sorted 
                 900 
                 600 
                 800 
                 309 
                 308 
                 307 
                 307 
                 305 
                 304 
                 303 
                 303 
               
               
                   
                 303 
                 302 
                 302 
                 301 
                 301 
               
               
                 lowest ¼ 
                   
                 302 
                 302 
                 301 
                 301 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
     3. Find the range of the lowest ¼ of the readings. range 1 
     4. Try to make the set more compact. No change is required, but consider this D min  data set: 
     
       
         
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
             
           
               
                   
               
             
             
               
                 sorted 
                 310 
                 309 
                 308 
                 307 
                 305 
                 303 
                 300 
               
               
                 the lowest 4 readings 
                   
                   
                   
                 307 
                 305 
                 303 
                 300 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
     The difference between the lowest two readings in the set is 303−300=3. The difference between the highest reading in the set and the next higher reading outside the set is 308−307=1. 3 is more than twice 1 so the set which defines the plateau drops the lowest reading and includes the next higher reading. Now the difference between the lowest two readings in the set is 305−303=2, and the difference between the highest reading in the set and the next higher reading outside the set is 309−308=1. 2 is not twice as much as 1 so no further change is made. The set of reading that define D min  would then be 308, 307, 305, and 303. The average of the four readings is 302. 
     Check Plateau 
     Check that the set of readings which is the plateau is concentrated in a small fraction of the total range of readings for both dmid and dmin regions. 
     1. D mid  total range 2504−1202=1302. D mid  plateau range 1 is less than 1302/16=81. 
     D min  total range 901−300=601. D mid  plateau range 1 is less than 600/16=38. 
     2. D mid  had three plateau regions. They meet both requirements for being considered a single plateau. They have common readings. Total range of D mid  averages is 1504−1502=2. That range is less than 1302/16=81. 
     3. All plateau checks are satisfactory. Do not try second method. 
     The invention has been described in detail with particular reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the invention. 
     PARTS LIST 
       10  apparatus 
       12  laser printer 
       13  printer housing 
       14  processor 
       16  laser scanner 
       18 , 20  supplies 
       22  unexposed photothermographic film 
       24  slow scan drum 
       26  film path 
       28  control 
       30  memory 
       32  interface 
       34  drum 
       36  lamp 
       38  hold-down rollers 
       40  film cooling assembly 
       42  densitometer 
       44  output tray 
       46  tray 
       50  D max  density patch 
       52  D mid  density patch 
       54  D min  density patch 
       70  trigger detector 
       72  density detector

Technology Classification (CPC): 6