Patent ID: 8391576

Claim:
An image component separating device comprising: normal image generating means to generate, from an input medical image representing a predetermined structure in a subject, a normal image representing a normal structure of the structure in the subject; and an abnormal component separating means to separate an abnormal component in the input medical image by calculating a difference between the input medical image and the normal image, wherein the normal image generating means comprises a supervised learned filter obtained through a regression learning process using a plurality of training images and corresponding supervisor images, each training image representing the same structure as the predetermined structure in a subject of the same kind as the subject in the input medical image and containing an abnormal component, and each supervisor image representing a normal structure of the structure of the same subject as the subject in the corresponding training image the supervised learned filter receives the input of the input medical image and generates the normal image by applying filtering-process to the input medical image, wherein the supervised learned filter comprises a plurality of filters for different spatial frequency bands obtained through the learning process carried out for the respective spatial frequency bands, and the normal image generating means generates the normal image by generating a plurality of band-limited images for the respective spatial frequency bands from the input medical image, each band-limited image representing a component for the corresponding spatial frequency band, inputting each band-limited image to corresponding one of the supervised learned filters for the spatial frequency band corresponding to the spatial frequency band of the band-limited image, and reconstructing outputted images for the respective spatial frequency bands outputted from the supervised learned filters.