Patent Document ID: 20160005162
Application ID: 14755708
Patent Status: 0

Claim One:
1. A system for detecting a trachea of a patient, the system comprising: an imaging device configured to obtain image data of the patient; and a computing device including a processor and a memory storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the computing device to: generate a three-dimensional (3D) model of a chest of the patient based on the image data; generate slice images of the 3D model along an axial direction; identify a potential connected component in a first slice image of the generated slice images; identify a potential connected component in a second slice image of the generated slice images, wherein the second slice image is immediately subsequent to the first generated slice image; confirm that the potential connected component of the first and second slice images are connected; label the potential connected component as a connected component; label the first slice image as a top slice image of the generated slice images; label the connected component in the top slice image as an active object; associate each connected component in a current slice image of the generated slice images with a corresponding connected component in a previous slice image based on a connectivity criterion; label each connected component in the current slice image associated with a connected component of the preceding slice image as the active object; and identify the active object as the trachea, based on a length of the active object.