Patent Document ID: 9241634
Application ID: 14014485
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A computer-implemented method for anatomically indexing a subject, comprising: receiving, by an image processor, image scan data representing a volume of a subject, the image scan data being comprised of a plurality of image slices of the subject and including at least a portion of a vertebral column of the subject, the vertebral column having a vertebral canal and comprised of a plurality of vertebral bodies; identifying, by the image processor, the vertebral canal of the vertebral column of the subject in the image scan data; extracting, by the image processor, image features from the image scan data; determining, by the image processor, a plurality of markers for the vertebral column from the extracted image features, each marker in the plurality of markers is indicative of a different vertebral body of the vertebral column and includes an identifier for the vertebral body and coordinates for the given marker in the image scan data, where the coordinates are defined in a first coordinate system associated with the image scan data such that the coordinates for the plurality of markers define at least one origin of a vertebral level coordinate system and the first coordinate system associated with the image scan data differs from the vertebral level coordinate system; and storing, by the image processor, each marker in the plurality of markers along with its coordinates in a database, wherein the image processor is embodied as computer executable instructions executed by a computer processor.