Patent Document ID: 7869637
Application ID: 11555754
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. An X-ray diagnostic imaging system, comprising: an X-ray source for generating and controlling an X-ray beam radiated towards a patient under examination, the X-ray source comprising an X-ray tube and X-ray collimator assembly; an X-ray imaging device arranged for receiving the X-ray beam after it has passed through the patient and acquiring latent image frames of a region of interest (ROI) of the patient's anatomy; a system controller coupled to the X-ray source and X-ray imaging device for controlling latent image frame acquisition and post-acquisition processing, including controlling X-ray tube, X-ray collimator assembly and X-ray imaging device positioning; an image processing chain comprising an image processor that is coupled to the system controller, which receives the latent image frames from the X-ray imaging device for processing, including calculating a histogram for use in various image processing functions, the calculation being carried out by excluding use of collimator pixels and by excluding use of displayed pixels comprising a border region of a ROI lying within the collimated area in which X-rays are attenuated by a collimator; and a display device coupled to the image processing chain for displaying a post-processed image frame as an X-ray diagnostic image of the ROI including said pixels comprising said border region within the collimated area in which X-rays are attenuated by a collimator.