Patent Document ID: 5557687
Application ID: 08389744
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. Apparatus for detecting an abnormal pattern from a plurality of image signals representing a radiation image of an object which is constituted of soft tissues and bones, comprising: an image operating circuit for generating from the plurality of image signals at least: a) an original image signal corresponding to an original image representing the soft tissues and the bones of said object, and b) a soft tissue image signal corresponding to a soft tissue image primarily representing soft tissues of said object, wherein said original image signal and said soft tissue image signal are generated from the plurality of image signals representing a radiation image which has been recorded by exposing said object to at least two kinds of radiation having different energy distributions, wherein the different energy distributions exhibit different transmittances with respect to soft tissues and bones; a region discriminating circuit which discriminates anatomical regions in the radiation image from at least one of said original image and soft tissue image signals, and provides an output indicative of different anatomical regions of said object; and an abnormal pattern finding circuit including an abnormal pattern finding filter, responsive to said original image and soft tissue image signals and to the output of said region discriminating circuit, said abnormal pattern finding circuit uniquely processing at least one of said original image signal and said soft tissue image signal and detecting an abnormal pattern, wherein, based on the output of said region discriminating circuit, said abnormal pattern finding circuit adaptively processes said original image signal to detect an abnormal pattern in the different anatomical regions of said object which include primarily soft tissues and processes said soft tissue image signal to detect an abnormal pattern in the different anatomical regions of said object which include primarily bones.