Patent ID: 8744157

Claim:
A method of generating candidates from a digital image by a computer system, comprising: acquiring by a computer system at least one digital image; analyzing, by the computer system, at least one point x that may lie on a polypoid structure, and determining, by the computer system, whether the point x satisfies a first predetermined set of conditions; for each point x that satisfies the predetermined set of conditions, identifying, by the computer system, each neighbor point y within a predetermined distance of point x that satisfies a second predetermined set of conditions; determining, by the computer system, a gradient vector v 1 for point x and identifying, by the computer system, a first half-line to which the gradient vector v 1 belongs; determining, by the computer system, a gradient vector v 2 for point y and identifying, by the computer system, a second half-line to which the gradient vector v 2 belongs; calculating, by the computer system, an intersection score that represents how close the first and second half-lines come to intersecting; and identifying and outputting, by the computer system, point x as a candidate when a candidate score is greater than a predetermined value, wherein the candidate score is the sum of intersection scores for all neighbor points y.