Patent Document ID: 4789933
Application ID: 07019568
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. An apparatus for generating medical diagnostic image representations, the apparatus comprising: a medical diagnostic apparatus for generating diagnostic data indicative of a preselected image region of a patient; an imager for generating an electronic image representation from the diagnostic data, the electronic image representation including a pixel value corresponding to each pixel of a pixel array, each pixel value is indicative of an image property of a corresponding subregion of the image region of the patient; a self-similarity value generating means for generating a self-similarity value corresponding to each pixel, the self-similarity value generating means being operatively connected with the imager to receive pixel values therefrom, each self-similarity value varying in accordance with a ratio of (i) a difference between the corresponding pixel value and a first set of pixel values contiguous to and surrounding the corresponding pixel value and (ii) the corresponding pixel value and a second set of pixel values contiguous to and surrounding the first set of pixel values; an image improvement means for replacing each pixel value by a combination of the replaced pixel value and an average of surrounding pixel values, the combination being weighted in accordance with the corresponding self-similarity value, the image improvement means being operatively connected with the imager and the self-similarity value generating means.