Patent ID: 7961944

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for modeling a 2-dimensional tubular structure in a digitized image, the method performed by the computer comprising the steps of: providing a digitized image of a tubular structure, said image comprising a plurality of intensities associated with a 2-dimensional (2D) grid of voxels, said tubular structure containing a plurality of 2D balls of differing radii; initializing a plurality of connected spline segments S i that form an envelope surrounding said plurality of 2D balls, each said spline segment S i being parameterized by positions of the i th and i+1 th halls and contact angles α t , α i+1 from the center of each respective ball to a point on the perimeter of each said ball contacting said spline segment S i each said α i affecting spline segment S i and S i−1 ; and updating said angles by minimizing an energy E, wherein E is an energy that is a functional of said angles equal to E=(1−k)E a +kE c , where k is a constant, E a is an arc-length term and E c is a curvature term, wherein said updating is repeated until said energy E is minimized subject to a constraint that said envelope is tangent to each ball at each point of contact, wherein said envelope is represented by said contact angles.