Patent ID: 7011625

Claim:
A method for measuring a three-dimensional (3-D) region of interest, comprising: color photographing a plurality of endoscopic images of the 3-D region of interest; digitally scanning the endoscopic images; in each of the digitally-scanned endoscopic images: color outlining a boundary of the 3-D region of interest; identifying a center of the outlined 3-D region of interest, an inner circle having an inner radius extending from the center, and an outer circle having an outer radius extending from the center, wherein the area enclosed between the inner circle and the outer circle is a desired measurement area of the outlined region of interest; assigning each source pixel in the measurement area with a polar coordinate (r, θ) based on the center of the concentric inner and outer circles and a color value based on the pixel's color; transforming the measurement area into a planar image having targeted pixels with rectangular coordinates (x, y); stacking the planar images of the digitally-scanned endoscopic images to form a complete planar image of the 3-D region of interest; and measuring an area enclosed by the outlined boundary of the region of interest shown in the complete planar image.