Patent Document ID: 10055542
Application ID: 14668178
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. One or more non-transitory computer readable storage mediums storing one or more sequences of instructions for causing a computing device to perform a method for breast cancer screening and detection, said method comprising: receiving a thermal video of a subject's breast captured in different views, wherein said thermal video is captured using a thermal imaging camera by focusing, using a lens of said thermal imaging camera, infrared energy from said subject's breast onto an array of sensors of said thermal imaging camera, wherein said array of sensors detect temperature values from said subject's breast; converting, using said array of sensors, said infrared energy into electrical signals on a per-pixel basis; and generating, using a specialized processor of said thermal imaging camera, said thermal video comprising an array of pixels with color values corresponding to surface temperatures of said subject's breast across a thermal wavelength band, wherein said generating of said thermal video comprising associating a first color value for a first set of pixel having highest temperature values and a second color value for a second set of pixel having lowest temperature values and providing output color values of each pixel in said thermal video; providing a visualization screen where said thermal video of said subject's breast is displayed, wherein pixels in said thermal video having a highest temperature value being displayed in a first color and pixels having a lowest temperature value being displayed in a second color, pixels with temperature values between said lowest and highest temperature values being displayed in gradations of color between said first and second colors; selecting a frame of said thermal video to obtain a thermal image to display in said visualization screen; implementing an automatic segmenting technique to identify a region of interest in said thermal image of said thermal video; implementing an automatic tumor detection method to detect cancerous tissue and non-cancerous tissue within selected said region of interest, wherein said automatic tumor detection method comprises: determining a percentage of pixels p 1 within said selected region of interest with a temperature T 1 pixel , where T 2 ≤T 1 pixel ≤T 1 ; determining a percentage of pixels p 2 within said selected region of interest with a temperature T 2 pixel , where T 3 ≤T 2 pixel ; determining a ratio p 3 =P edge /P block , where P edge is a number of pixels around a border of a suspected tumor within said region of interest, and P block is a number of pixels in the perimeter of said region of interest; and determining, using a decision rule R, said tissue within said region of interest is one of: said cancerous tissue, said non-cancerous, or suspicious of being cancerous; and displaying, in said visualization screen, pixels of said thermal image representing said cancerous tissue in said first color, and pixels of said thermal image representing said non-cancerous in said second color.