Patent ID: 8098911

Claim:
A method for registering images, comprising: (a) acquiring a reference image and a study image; (b) setting a deformation field to an initial deformation field; (c) deriving a similarity measure from said reference and study images and said initial deformation field; (d) computing a displacement field from said similarity measure; (e) smoothing said displacement field to derive a regularized displacement field; (f) applying a volume constraint to said regularized displacement field to derive a constrained displacement field; (g) utilizing said constrained displacement field and said initial deformation field for deriving an updated deformation field; (h) deriving an updated similarity measure value from said reference and study images and said updated deformation field; (i) computing an updated displacement field from said updated similarity measure; (j) smoothing said updated displacement field to derive an updated regularized displacement field; (k) applying a volume constraint to said updated regularized displacement field to derive an updated constrained displacement field; (l) utilizing said updated constrained displacement field and said updated deformation field for deriving a further updated deformation field; and (m) iteratively performing steps (h) through (m) until an end condition is met, whereupon ending iteration and outputting a furthest updated deformation field.