Patent ID: 8526704

Claim:
A method of analyzing microvasculatory videos for blood velocity determination, said method comprising: a computer device receiving a sequence of microvasculatory video images from an imaging system, each of said video images showing a structure of vessels; the computer device identifying vessel centerline pixels in said structure of vessels; the computer device defining vessel segments by grouping said centerline pixels; the computer device automatically producing a space-time diagram for each of said vessel segments, said space-time diagram being generated at said centerline pixels associated with each of said vessel segments; the computer device automatically estimating a blood velocity in each of said vessel segments using said space-time diagram, wherein said blood velocity in each said vessel segment is estimated by: using the computer device, performing a gray-scale Hough transformation H(φ,ρ), of said space-time diagram of said vessel segment, where φ is an orientation normal to that of a 2D line structure in said space-time diagram and ρ is a distance of a line in said space-time diagram to an origin of said space-time diagram; using the computer device, calculating a cumulative Hough diagram described by: H ⁡ ( φ ) = ∑ ρ ⁢ H ⁡ ( φ , ρ ) ; the computer device smoothing said cumulative Hough diagram; the computer device disregarding parts of said cumulative Hough diagram that correspond to absolute blood velocities below a given threshold value v min and above v max =L×f/3, with L the length of said vessel segment and f a video frame rate; the computer device selecting a highest peak of said cumulative Hough diagram within an orientation range corresponding to velocities ±[v min , v max ], as being a global line orientation; and the computer device converting said global line orientation into said blood velocity.