Patent ID: 7440600

Claim:
A method for automatically assigning a type of a mammographic view for a digital mammography image, said method comprising the steps of: identifying two or more candidate view types; determining at least one feature for the digital image, the at least one feature being distinguishable between the two of more candidate view types; correlating the determined feature of the digital image with one of the two or more candidate view types by determining, for the digital mammography image, a classification coefficient corresponding to each of the two or more candidate view types; and assigning the type of a mammographic view to the digital mammography image in accordance with the correlation, wherein the step of determining the classification coefficient comprises the steps of: assigning the determined feature to a plurality of predetermined nodes of a neural network; calculating for the digital mammography image, using the neural network, the classification coefficient corresponding to each of the two or more candidate view types; and employing the calculated classification coefficients to assign the type of a mammographic view to the digital mammography image.