Patent ID: 7747054

Claim:
A method for detecting and matching anatomical structures in a candidate image to one or more anatomical structures in a training set of images comprising the steps of: receiving the candidate image; calculating feature values in the candidate image; extracting the feature values from the candidate image; applying a classification function to detect an anatomical structure; comparing the extracted feature values from the candidate image to feature values of one or more images in the training set of images to identify one or more matching counterpart images in the training set upon detecting the anatomical structure; and using one or more shapes of anatomical structures in the matching counterpart images from the training set to determine a shape of the anatomical structure in the candidate image; wherein calculating feature values in the candidate image comprises approximating a mean intensity value for a rectangular feature, wherein the rectangular feature comprises invalid pixels corresponding to an occlusion and the mean intensity value is approximated using only a number of valid pixels in the rectangular feature corresponding to pixels that do not comprise the occlusion.