Patent ID: 6970594

Claim:
A method of analyzing curvilinear structures, comprising: receiving three-dimensional space imaging data of a curvilinear structure; defining an axis curve within the curvilinear structure; sweeping a line segment along said axis curve so as to define a ribbon in said three-dimensional space; and adsorbing data from said three-dimensional space onto said ribbon wherein said axis curve is defined as a function C(t) of a parameter t, said parameter representing the distance along said axis, wherein said ribbon is defined as a function S(s,t) based upon a frame F=(f 1 (t), f 2 (t), f 3 (t)) wherein f 1 , f 2 , and f 3 are unit-vector-valued functions in three-space and s is a parameter defining a position along said line segment, said line segment orthogonal to a tangent to said axis, such that S(s,t)=f 2 (t)*s+C(t).