Patent ID: 7433503

Claim:
A method for positioning a patient in a medical device having a treatment unit configured to receive a patient therein, a computer, and a patient bed, configured to receive a patient thereon, movable in at least one plane relative to said treatment unit, said method comprising the steps of: prior to obtaining medical diagnostic data from the patient with said treatment unit, acquiring, with a non-invasive image-recording device, an empty image of the bed surface with no patient thereon, and acquiring an actual, non-invasive image of of the bed surface with the patient on the patient bed showing the bed surface and the exterior of the patient, and subtracting said empty image from said actual image to obtain a subtraction image showing only the exterior of the patient, and displaying said subtraction image on a display screen connected to said computer; providing information to said computer identifying a spatial correlation between a coordinate system of the treatment unit and said image-recording device; and an exterior by executing an image processing program in said computer, detecting an exterior body region of the patient by analyzing said subtraction image to identify geometry of the exterior of the patient in the subtraction image and comparing the geometry to known and statistically determined proportions of exterior human anatomy and automatically, based on a result of executing said image processing program, displaying a suggested scan area, from which to subsequently obtain said medical diagnostic data from the scan area using said treatment unit, in said subtraction image on said display screen that covers said body region.