Patent ID: 6947040

Claim:
A method for segmenting structures from two-dimensional (2D) images, the method comprising the steps of: receiving 2D image data; visualizing the 2D image data on a display device; selecting a structure in the 2D image data by placing a seed in the structure; initializing a plurality of rays from the seed to form a curve; determining a speed function of each of the plurality of rays; evolving the curve by propagating the plurality of rays based on the speed function of each of the plurality of rays by performing a mean-shift analysis on each of the plurality of rays to identify image discontinuities, the image discontinuities defining the structure's boundary, wherein the performing a mean-shift analysis comprises determining a joint spatial-range domain for each of the plurality of rays, the joint spatial-range domain including for each pixel along each of the plurality of rays, at least one location value and at least one intensity value, defining a point of convergence for each of the plurality of rays to identify the discontinuities based on an intensity value, and determining a displacement vector for each of the plurality of rays, the displacement vector being a distance between a point on an individual ray and a convergence point on the individual ray; converging the plurality of rays on a boundary of the structure; and segmenting the structure when all of the plurality of rays have converged on the structure's boundary.