JP2000060842A - Irradiation convergence presence/absence judgement device and method and computer readable storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To accurately judge the pressure or absence of the irradiation convergence of radiation photographic images. SOLUTION: First - third convergence presence/absence judgement parts 101-103 provided with different judgement standards are provided and a judgement part 104 for integrating respective judged results is provided. The first convergence presence/ absence judgement part 101 generates the judged results of the four stages of the complete pressure of convergence, the large possibility of convergence presence, the large possibility of convergence absence and the complete absence of the convergence. The judged result of the judgement part 104 is turned to the convergence presence when the judged result is the complete presence of the convergence and the judged result of the judgement part 104 is turned to the convergence absence when the judged result is the complete absence of the convergence, In the case that the judged result is neither, the judgement part 104 judges the presence/absence of the convergence corresponding to the judged result for which the number of the same judged results is larger among the judged results of the respective convergence presence/absence judgement parts 101-103.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an irradiation squeezing presence / absence determining apparatus and method for determining presence / absence of irradiation squeezing from an image captured by an image pickup apparatus having a radiation squeezing restriction, and a computer readable used in this apparatus. The present invention is suitable for use in the case of determining the presence or absence of irradiation restriction based on the frequency of appearance in the edge region of the density value determined by the characteristic value obtained from the entire image, regarding the storage medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Due to recent advances in digital technology, radiation images are converted into digital image signals, image processing is performed on the digital image signals, and the images are displayed on a CRT or printed out. By the way, when capturing a radiation image, for humanitarian reasons, and in order to prevent scattering from unnecessary areas and prevent a decrease in contrast,
Irradiation squeezing is generally performed in which radiation is applied only to a necessary area. Further, when performing image processing, it is usual to determine processing parameters from the distribution of density values and perform image processing based on the determined parameters. However, when the irradiation area is not limited,
So-called unnecessary information outside the region of interest is used for determining the image processing parameters, which causes a problem that appropriate image processing cannot be performed.

Therefore, it is necessary to extract the irradiation region and determine the image processing parameter from the information of only the region of interest.
As a method of extracting the irradiation region, for example, a method of differentiating the image density value and determining the irradiation end from the value, or Japanese Patent Publication No.
As shown in Japanese Patent Publication No. 90412, a region of a skirt area outside the irradiation region is assumed, this skirt region is approximated by a first-order approximation formula, and the irradiation end is determined from the difference between the actual density value and the value of the first-order approximation formula. Etc. are known.

However, each of the above-mentioned irradiation edge extraction methods is a method that is established on the assumption that there is an irradiation restriction, and in order to use each irradiation edge extraction method, it is necessary to determine whether or not there is an irradiation restriction as preprocessing. is there.

As a method for determining the presence or absence of irradiation squeeze, conventionally, as shown in US Pat. No. 5,091,970, the average density of the central portion of the image, the intermediate value, etc. are compared with the average density of the edge portions of the image to determine the image. There is a method in which irradiation is limited if the density value at the edge is less than a certain value.

[0006]

However, the above-mentioned US
According to the method of Japanese Patent No. P5091970, when the imaged portion is applied to the image edge portion when the irradiation is not performed, the average density of the image edge portion is determined by the area of the imaged portion applied to the image edge portion and the radiation transmittance. Fluctuates. Therefore, there is a problem in that it is erroneously determined that there is irradiation restriction even though irradiation restriction has not been performed. Also, when the irradiation dose is small,
There is a problem in that there is no difference in density between the center of the image and the edge of the image, and there is no irradiance, but it is erroneously determined that there is irradiance.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above problems, and an object thereof is to make it possible to accurately determine the presence or absence of irradiation squeezing.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, in the irradiation iris presence / absence determining device according to the present invention, a plurality of iris presence / absence with different criteria for determining the presence / absence of radiation irradiation squeezing in a radiographic image are provided. The determination means and the integrated determination means for making the final determination of the presence or absence of the squeezing based on the determination results of the plurality of squeezing presence / absence determining means are provided.

Further, in the method for determining the presence or absence of irradiation restriction according to the present invention, a determination procedure for obtaining a plurality of determination results by performing determination using a plurality of different determination criteria for the presence or absence of radiation irradiation restriction on a radiographic image. An integrated determination procedure for determining the presence / absence of a final squeezing based on the plurality of determination results is provided.

Further, in the storage medium according to the present invention,
Judgment processing is performed to obtain a plurality of judgment results by making judgments using different judgment criteria for the presence or absence of radiation irradiation squeezing for each radiographic image, and the final judgment of the presence or absence of squeezing based on the plurality of judgment results. A program for executing the integrated determination process to be performed is stored.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an irradiation squeezing presence determination device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 101 is a first restriction presence / absence determining unit,
Reference numeral 102 denotes a second squeezing presence / absence determining unit, 103 denotes a third squeezing presence / absence determining unit, and 104 integrally determines presence / absence of squeezing from the determination results of the first to third squeezing presence / absence determining units 101 to 103. A judgment part is shown.

Next, the squeezing presence / absence determining units 101 to 104 will be sequentially described. FIG. 2 shows an X-ray image of a hand taken without irradiating. FIG. 3 shows an X-ray image photographed with the irradiation squeezing, and an area A shows an image end portion having a horizontal width dx and a vertical width dy.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the first squeezing presence / absence determining unit 101. In the figure, 401 is a second characteristic value calculating means for calculating the first characteristic value from the entire image, and 402 is a second characteristic value calculating means. 40. First appearance frequency calculation means 40 for calculating the frequency at which the density value determined based on the characteristic value calculated by the first characteristic value calculation means 401 appears at the image end portion A.
Reference numeral 3 is a first determination unit that determines the presence or absence of irradiation restriction based on the value calculated by the first appearance frequency calculation unit 402.

Next, the operation of the first restriction presence / absence determining unit 101 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Here, for example, a case will be described where it is determined whether or not there is an irradiation restriction at the left end portion. First characteristic value calculation means 401
The MAX value of the entire image is calculated with. The MAX value here may be the upper part of the cumulative histogram of the entire image, for example, the 5% point, or the image density values may be sorted and used as the upper part (step S501).

Next, the first appearance frequency calculation means 402 determines the appearance frequency at the image end portion A of the density value of a certain value, for example, 90% or more, of the MAX value calculated by the first characteristic value calculation means 401. Calculate (step S502).

Next, in the first judging means 403, the appearance frequency calculated by the first appearance frequency calculating means 402 is a constant value Th.
If it is larger than 1, it is determined that there is no irradiation restriction, and fl
g11 = 1 and flg1 = 1 are set (step S50).
3). If the appearance frequency is less than or equal to Th1 and greater than Th2, the possibility of no squeezing is high, and flg11 = 2.
It is set to flg1 = 1 (step S504). And Th
If it is 2 or less and larger than Th3, it is highly possible that there is squeezing, and flg11 = 3 and flg = 2 (S505).
If it is Th3 or less, it is completely squeezed. Here, for example, Th1 = 0.3, Th2 = 0.1, Th3 = 0.05.
And

As described above, the first restriction presence / absence determining unit 1
According to No. 01, the occurrence frequency of the density at the image edge determined by the MAX value of the entire image is used as a determination criterion to determine the presence or absence of the illumination restriction, so that a stable determination can be made even when the imaging target is applied to the illumination edge. There is an effect that can be done. Further, there is an effect that stable determination is possible without being affected by the intensity of the radiation dose and when the radiation dose is small or when the entire image edge portion is covered with the imaging target.

Next, the second judging section 102 will be described. FIG. 6 shows an image taken by X-ray photography with irradiation narrowed down, and Xa and Xb show positions of the irradiation end with respect to the horizontal axis.
Areas A, B, C, and D indicate image edges, areas A and B indicate areas where irradiation is concentrated, and areas C and D are areas where there is no irradiation restriction.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the second judging section 102. In FIG. 7, reference numeral 701 is a coordinate designating means for designating coordinates for extracting the irradiation end, and 702 is a second calculation value for calculating a characteristic value used for determining the irradiation end point from the one-dimensional data of the coordinates designated by the coordinate designating means 701. Characteristic value extracting means 703, end point extracting means 703 for extracting irradiation end points from the characteristic values calculated by the second characteristic value extracting means 702, 7
Reference numeral 04 is a storage unit for storing the coordinates of the irradiation end point extracted by the end point extraction unit 703, and 705 is a second judgment unit for judging the presence or absence of irradiation narrowing from the values of the coordinates of the irradiation end point stored in the storage unit 704. .

Next, the operation of the second judging section 102 will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to the flowchart of. Here, for example, a case will be described in which it is determined whether or not there is irradiation restriction at the lower end. The coordinate designating means 701 is Xa, X shown in FIG.
The coordinates of multiple X-axis fields between b are shown. For example, in the present embodiment, coordinates (i = 1) where Xa and Xb are evenly divided into 10 equal parts.
10 to 10) are used (step S801).

Next, in the second characteristic value extracting means 702, the secondary difference value SSi is calculated from the one-dimensional data of the coordinates designated by the coordinate designating means 701 according to the calculation formula shown in the equation (1).
(Y) is calculated (step S802). Here, i is the coordinate number indicated by the coordinate designating unit 801. Also fi
(Y) indicates a one-dimensional data string that crosses vertically between Xa and Xb, and y indicates its coordinates. d is a constant indicating the difference distance. SSi (y) = fi (y−d) -1 × fi (y) +10 fi (y + d) ──── (1)

The end point extraction means 803 extracts the irradiation end yi according to the equation (2) (step S803). SS (yi) = min {SS (yi) 0 ≦ y ≦ Length} ─── (2)

The storage means 704 stores the coordinate y of the irradiation end.
i is stored (step S804). Step S above
The processing of 801 to S804 is repeated until l = 1 to 10.
However, Length indicates the length of the horizontal axis of the image data.

Next, the second determination means 705 is the storage means 7
The average value of the coordinates of the irradiation end points stored in 04 is calculated (step S805), and the dispersion value Bv of the irradiation end points is calculated (step S806). The variance value Bv is a constant number T
If h4 or more, it is determined that there is no irradiation restriction, and if it is other than that, there is irradiation restriction (step S807).

Although not shown in FIG. 8, if the variance value is larger than Th4, flg21 = 1 and flg2 =
It is judged as 1 completely without squeezing, and Th is less than Th4.
If it is larger than 5, it is determined that there is a high possibility of no squeezing, and f
It is assumed that lg21 = 2 and flg2 = 1. If Th5 or less and greater than Th6, it is determined that there is a possibility that there is squeezing, and flg21 = 3 and f1g2 = 2. Finally Th
In the case of 6 or less, it is determined that flg21 = 4 and flg2 = 2, and that there is complete narrowing.

Th4, Th5, and Th6 are experimentally determined religions, and have a relationship of Th4>Th5> Th6. Irradiation end is sought in multiple rows, and irradiation squeeze (bottom)
If there is, the plurality of end points are lined up on substantially the same horizontal axis, so the dispersion Bv becomes small, and if there is no irradiation narrowing, the coordinates of the irradiation end points are scattered and the dispersion value Bv becomes large.

Although the second-order difference is used in the above description, a first-order difference or a higher-order difference may be used when the concentration at the irradiation end changes sharply. In that case, a value is searched from the image edge, and the point at which a value equal to or greater than a certain threshold first appears is set as the irradiation edge candidate. Further, the variance value is used as the determination index in the determination means, but the same effect can be obtained by using an index indicating the discreteness of the frequency such as standard deviation.

As described above, the second restriction presence / absence determining unit 1
According to No. 02, since the variance of the coordinate values of a plurality of irradiation end points is used as the determination standard, there is an effect that the presence or absence of the irradiation narrowing can be extracted successfully using that value as the reference. Further, since the second-order difference value is used, even for an object having poor X-ray transmittance,
It is possible to accurately determine the boundary point between the region directly irradiated with X-rays and the region not irradiated with X-rays. Therefore, even if a region with low X-ray transmittance such as the abdomen covers the edge of the image,
It is possible to accurately extract the presence or absence of irradiation restriction.

Next, the third squeezing determination unit 103 will be described. FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the third restriction determination unit 103. In FIG. 9, reference numeral 901 denotes a secondary difference value calculating means for calculating a secondary difference value of one-dimensional image data, and 9
Reference numeral 02 denotes a left end point extracting means for extracting the left end point of the irradiation area based on the second order difference value calculated by the second order difference value calculating means 901, and 903 is 2 calculated by the second order difference value calculating means 901.
A right end point extracting means for extracting the right end point of the irradiation region based on the next difference value; 904, a left end point extracted by the left end point extracting means 902 and a right end point extracted by the right end point extracting means 903;
It is a third determination means that determines the degree of approximation to the left and right end points of the irradiation area that is obtained in advance, determines that there is no irradiation squeeze if the degree of approximation is high, and determines that there is irradiation squeeze if the degree of approximation is low.

Next, the operation of the third restriction presence / absence determining unit 103 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Here, for example, a case will be described in which it is determined whether or not there is irradiation squeezing at the lower end portion (FIG. 6C portion). The secondary difference value calculation means 901 calculates the secondary difference value SS (x) according to the calculation formula represented by the formula (3) (step S1001). Here, f (x) indicates a one-dimensional data string that horizontally traverses the region C, and x indicates its coordinates. d is a constant indicating the difference distance. SS (d) = f (x−d) −1 × 2 × f (x) + f (x + d) −−− (3)

The left end point extraction means 902 extracts the left irradiation end x1 according to the equation (4) (step S1002). Here, the bar x has coordinates on the horizontal axis in the left and right irradiation ends (coordinates between Xa and Xb in FIG. 6).

[0032]

[Equation 1]

Next, the right end point extraction means 903 extracts the right irradiation end x2 according to the equation (5) (step S103).

[0034]

[Equation 2]

However, Length indicates the length of the horizontal axis of the image data.

Next, the third judging means 904 compares the irradiation end obtained in advance with the irradiation end obtained by the equations (4) and (5), and | x1-xa | ≤Th8 and | x2-xb | ≤T
If h8, it is determined that there is no irradiation squeezing, and flg3 = 1. In other cases, it is determined that there is irradiation
3 = 2 (step S304).

Although not described in FIG. 10, | x
If 1-xa | <Th7 and | x2-xb | <Th7, it is determined that there is no restriction and flg31 = 1 and flg3 = 1.
And Furthermore, Th7 ≦ | x1-xa | <Th8 and T
If H7 ≦ | x2-xb | <Th8, then it is set that there is a high possibility of no squeezing, and flg31 = 2 and flg3 = 1. In addition, Th8 ≦ | x1-xa | <Th9 and TH8 ≦ | x
If 2-xb | <Th9, it is highly possible that there is squeezing, and flg31 = 3 and flg3 = 4. And finally, Th9 ≦ | x1-xa | and Th9 ≦ | x2-xb
If |, it means that there is complete restriction, and flg31 = 4, f
Let lg3 = 2.

Note that Th7, Th8, and Th9 are constants indicating the approximate width, and have a relationship of Th7 <Th8 <Th9.
Similar determinations are made for the A, B, and C ends. Further, when extracting the irradiation end, a condition may be further added to set a condition that the secondary difference value is equal to or less than a certain threshold value. Further, when the concentration change at the irradiation end is steep, the values of the first derivative, second derivative, and further higher derivative may be used as the irradiation end instead of the second difference. In this case, the location where the absolute value of each value is equal to or greater than a certain threshold is set as the irradiation end candidate.

As described above, the restriction presence / absence determining unit 103
According to the method, since the second-order difference value is used as the determination criterion, the boundary point between the region directly irradiated with X-rays and the region not directly irradiated with X-rays can be accurately extracted even for an object having poor X-ray transmittance. can do. Therefore, even if a region having a low X-ray transmittance such as an abdomen covers the end of the image, it is possible to accurately extract the presence or absence of the irradiation restriction.

Next, a method of integrating the determination results of the restriction presence / absence determining units 101 to 103 by the determining unit 104 will be described. The integration law of the present embodiment is that the determination unit 104 adopts a large number of determination results among the determination results of the squeezing presence / absence determination units 101 to 103. A specific description will be given according to the flowchart of FIG. First, the first restriction presence / absence determining unit 101 determines whether or not there is restriction (S110).
1) If there is no squeezing, the second squeezing presence / absence determining unit 102
If there is no squeezing, the determination result of the deciding unit 104 is regarded as no squeezing, and the process ends.

If the determination result of the second squeezing presence / absence determining unit 102 is squeezed, the determination result of the third squeezing presence / absence determining unit 103 is referred to. If there is no squeezing, the determination result of the determining unit 104 is not squeezed, and if there is squeezing. The process ends with the determination result that there is a squeeze.

If the first squeezing presence / absence determining unit 101 determines that there is squeezing, the determination result of the second squeezing presence / absence determining unit 102 is referred to. If there is squeezing, the determination result of the determining unit 104 is determined to be squeezing and the process ends. To do. If the determination result of the second squeezing presence / absence determining unit 102 is not squeezed, the determination result of the third squeezing presence / absence determining unit 103 is referred to. If there is no squeezing, the determination result of the determining unit 104 is determined to be no squeezing. The processing is terminated with the restriction.

In this embodiment, there are three squeezing presence / absence determining units.
Only seeds are used, but it may be extended to more.
In addition, an algorithm other than that used in the present embodiment for determining the presence or absence of irradiation restriction may be used.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the results of the plurality of squeezing presence / absence determining units are integrated, so that the determination accuracy can be improved. Further, since the final determination is performed according to a large number of determinations of the presence / absence of a restriction, there is an effect that the accuracy is improved as compared with the case where only one restriction determination unit is used.

Next, a method of integrating the results of the squeezing presence / absence determining units 101 to 103 according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to the flowchart of. In the present embodiment, if the result of the first squeezing presence / absence determining unit 101 is complete and there is no squeezing, the determination result of the squeeze determining unit 104 is determined to be no squeezing, and the process ends.

If the result of the first squeezing presence / absence determining unit 101 is completely other than no squeezing, the process proceeds to the determination of step 1202 (S1201). Next, in step S1202,
If the result of the first squeezing presence / absence determination vine 101 is completely squeezed, the determination result of the determination unit 104 is determined to be squeezed, and the process ends; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S1203. In step S1203, it is determined whether the result of the first squeezing presence / absence determining unit 101 has a high possibility of no squeezing,
If there is a high possibility of no squeezing, the process proceeds to step S1204, and if not, the process proceeds to step S1206.

If the determination result of the second restriction presence / absence determining unit 102 indicates that there is no restriction, the determination result of the determination unit 104 is determined to indicate no restriction, and the process ends; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S1205 (S1204). And S1
In 205, if the result of the third squeezing presence / absence determining unit 103 is not squeezed, the result of the determining unit 104 is not squeezed, and if there is squeezing, the result of the determining unit 104 is squeezed and the process ends. In addition, the determination units 101 to 1 for presence or absence of each squeezing
The algorithm of 03 may be permuted in order to perform the same processing as in FIG.

According to the present embodiment, when the result of each squeezing presence / absence determining unit provides a determination with high certainty with respect to the determination of the presence / absence of the squeezing, the determination result is adopted, and the determination accuracy is further improved. is there. Further, when the certainty of the determination of each squeezing presence / absence determining unit is low, the determination result occupying the majority of the determination results of each squeezing presence / absence determining unit is adopted, so that the determination accuracy is further improved.

Next, a method of integrating the results of the restriction presence / absence determining units 101 to 103 according to the third embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In the present embodiment, when the determination result of one of the restriction presence / absence determining units completely determines that there is a restriction, the determination result of the determination unit 104 is determined to be a restriction, and the process ends. If none of the determination results of the squeezing presence / absence determining units are completely squeezed, the same processing as that of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 11 is performed.

According to the present embodiment, if there is a reliable determination result among the determination results of presence or absence of squeezing, the result is adopted, so that there is an effect that the determination accuracy is improved. Further, when there is no reliable determination result among the determination results of presence or absence of each squeezing, there is an effect that the determination accuracy is improved by performing the same processing as that of the first embodiment.

Next, a method of integrating the results of the squeezing presence / absence determining units 101 to 103 according to the fourth embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
Will be explained. In the present embodiment, if one of the restriction presence / absence determining units determines that the determination result is complete and no restriction is present, the determination result of the determination unit 104 is determined to be no restriction and the process ends. If none of the determination results of the determination unit for presence or absence of squeezing are complete without squeezing,
Processing similar to that of the first embodiment shown in FIG.

According to the present embodiment, if there is a reliable determination result among the determination results of presence or absence of squeezing, the result is adopted, so that there is an effect that the determination accuracy is improved. Further, when there is no reliable determination result among the determination results of presence or absence of each squeezing, there is an effect that the determination accuracy is improved by performing the same processing as that of the first embodiment.

Next, a fifth embodiment will be described. In the present embodiment, the result of each squeezing presence / absence determining unit is digitized, and the presence / absence of squeezing is determined from the total value of the results. For example, f
If lg11 is 1, the judgment value h1 = 2, if flg11 is 2, the judgment value h1 = 1, and if flg11 is 3, the judgment value h1.
= -1, and if flg11 is 4, the determination value h1 = -2. Similarly, if flg21 is 1, the judgment value h2 = 2, f
If lg21 is 2, the judgment value h2 = 1, if flg21 is 3, the judgment value h2 = −1, and if flg21 is 4, the judgment value h.
2 = -2.

Similarly, if flg31 is 1, the judgment value h3
= 2, if flg31 is 2, the judgment value h3 = 1, flg3
If 1 is 3, the judgment value h3 = -1. If flg31 is 4, the judgment value h3 = -2. Then, the determination unit 104 determines whether or not there is a squeeze based on the total value of h1 + h2 + h3. For example, when the total value is 0 or more, it is determined that there is no restriction, and when the total value is less than 0, it is determined that there is restriction. In this embodiment, the number of squeezing presence / absence determining units may be increased. Further, the digitization of the determination may be changed.

According to the present embodiment, the result of each squeezing presence / absence determining unit can be digitized to make a comprehensive determination, which has the effect of increasing the determination accuracy.

Next, a sixth embodiment will be described. The appearance frequency calculated by the appearance frequency calculation unit 402 of the first squeezing presence / absence determining unit 101, the dispersion value of the irradiation end point calculated by the second determining unit 705 of the second squeezing presence / absence determining unit 102, and the third squeezing A multiple regression analysis is performed using the total value of | x1-xa | and | x2-x1 | calculated by the third determination unit 904 of the presence / absence determination unit 103 as an explanatory variable, and the presence or absence of squeezing as an objective variable to create a linear format. To do. For example, the target variable is set to 1 if there is a squeeze and 0 if there is no squeeze. When an unknown image is input, the explanatory variable is calculated to obtain the linear value. For example, if the linear value is 0.5 or more, there is squeeze. If it is below 5, then there is no squeezing.

Although the linear regression equation is used here, a neural network, an agent or the like may be used. The number of squeezing presence / absence determining units is not limited to three.

According to the present embodiment, it is possible to statistically reflect the result of each squeezing presence / absence determination part in the determination result, and there is an effect that the determination accuracy is further improved. When a neural network is used to create the function, it is possible to reflect a non-linear statistical distribution, which has the effect of further increasing the determination accuracy.

Next, the storage medium according to the present invention will be described. When the system including the blocks shown in FIGS. 1, 4, 7, and 9 is configured by a computer system including a memory such as a CPU and a ROM, the above memory constitutes a storage medium according to the present invention. This storage medium stores a program for executing the processing procedure for controlling the operations described above with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, and the like.

As the storage medium, ROM, R
Semiconductor memory such as AM, optical disk, magneto-optical disk,
A magnetic medium or the like may be used, and these may be configured and used in a CD-ROM, a floppy disk, a magnetic medium, a magnetic card, a non-volatile memory card, or the like.

Therefore, it is also possible to use this storage medium in a system or apparatus other than the system or apparatus shown in each of the above figures, and the system or computer reads and executes the program code stored in this storage medium. The same functions as those of the above-described embodiments can be realized, the same effects can be obtained, and the object of the present invention can be achieved.

The OS running on the computer
Etc. perform part or all of the processing, or after the program code read from the storage medium is written in the memory provided in the extended function board inserted in the computer or the extended function unit connected to the computer. ,
Even when the CPU or the like included in the extended function board or the extended function unit performs a part or all of the processing based on the instruction of the program code, it is possible to realize the same function as that of each embodiment and the same effect. Can be obtained, and the object of the present invention can be achieved.

[0063]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the determination results based on the plurality of squeezing presence / absence determination criteria are integrated, there is an effect that the determination accuracy increases.

Further, according to the inventions of claims 2, 10 and 18, since the final judgment is made in accordance with a large number of judgments among a plurality of judgment results of the presence or absence of squeezing, compared to the case where only one judgment criterion of squeezing is used. It has the effect of increasing accuracy.

Further, according to the inventions of claims 3, 11 and 19, when a highly reliable determination is made from the determination results of presence or absence of each squeezing, there is an effect that the determination accuracy is further improved by adopting the result. . In addition, when the certainty of each determination result is low, the result occupying the majority of each determination result is adopted, so that the determination accuracy is further improved.

Further, claims 4 to 6, 12 to 14 and 20 to 20.
According to the invention described in No. 22, if there is a reliable judgment result among the judgment results, that result is adopted, so that there is an effect that the judgment accuracy is improved. Furthermore, if there is no reliable determination result among the determination results, the same processing as that of the second aspect of the present invention is performed, which has the effect of increasing the determination accuracy.

In addition, according to the invention described in claims 7, 15 and 23, it is possible to statistically reflect each judgment result in the judgment result, and there is an effect that the judgment accuracy is further improved. In particular, when a neural network is used to create a function, it is possible to reflect a non-linear statistical distribution, which has the effect of increasing the determination accuracy.

Further, according to the present invention, the frequency of appearance of the density determined from the MAX value of the entire image is used as a criterion for the determination, so that the irradiation end is stable even if the object to be photographed is applied. There is an effect that the judgment can be made.
Further, there is an effect that stable determination is possible without being affected by the intensity of the radiation dose and when the radiation dose is small or when the entire image edge portion is covered with the imaging target.

Further, by using the variance of the coordinate values of a plurality of irradiation end points as the judgment standard, there is an effect that the presence or absence of the irradiation narrowing can be well extracted on the basis of the value. Furthermore, by using the second-order difference value, it is possible to accurately determine the boundary point between the region directly irradiated with X-rays and the region that is not so, even for an object having poor X-ray transmittance.
Therefore, even if a region having a low X-ray transmittance, such as an abdomen, covers the end of the image, it is possible to accurately extract the presence or absence of irradiation restriction.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing an X-ray image of a hand imaged without irradiation squeezing.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing an X-ray image of a hand photographed with irradiation narrowing and an irradiation end portion A.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a first squeezing presence / absence determining unit.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of a first squeezing presence / absence determining unit.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram showing a determination region of a second squeezing presence / absence determining unit.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a second squeezing presence / absence determining unit.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of a second squeezing presence / absence determining unit.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a third squeezing presence / absence determining unit.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of a third squeezing presence / absence determining unit.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing of the second embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of the third embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing of the fourth embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

101 first squeezing presence / absence determining unit 102 Second squeezing presence / absence determining unit 103 Third restriction presence / absence determining unit 104 determination unit 401 First characteristic value calculation means 402 First appearance frequency calculation means 403 First determination means 701 coordinate indication means 702 characteristic value extraction means 703 End point extraction means 704 storage means 705 Second judging means 901 Second-order difference value calculation means 902 Left end point extraction means 903 Right end point extraction means 904 Third determination means

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) // G01N 23/04 G06F 15/62 390A F term (reference) 2G001 AA01 BA11 CA01 GA01 GA06 HA13 JA13 LA01 SA05 4C093 AA26 AA30 CA50 EA12 FD01 FD03 FD09 FD11 FD20 FE30 FF19 5B057 AA08 DA20 DB02 DC22 5C024 AA11 AA16 CA00 HA18 HA21

Claims (24)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of squeezing presence / absence determining means having different determination criteria for presence / absence of irradiating squeezing with respect to a radiographic image, and a final squeezing presence / absence based on each determination result of the plurality of squeezing presence / absence determining means. An irradiation squeezing presence / absence determining device, which is provided with an integrated determining means for performing determination. 2. The determination result of the integrated determination unit is defined as the determination result having the larger number of the same determination results among the determination results of the plurality of squeezing presence / absence determination units. Irradiation squeezing presence determination device. 3. The irradiation presence / absence according to claim 1, wherein when one of the determination results of the plurality of restriction presence / absence determining means is no restriction, the determination result of the integrated determining means is no restriction. Judgment device. 4. The irradiation squeeze according to claim 1, wherein when one of the determination results of the plurality of squeezing presence / absence determining means is squeezed, the determination result of the integrated determining means is squeezed. Presence determination device. 5. Of the plurality of squeezing presence / absence determining means,
The first squeezing presence / absence determining means is configured to perform four-stage determination of complete squeezing, possibility of squeezing, possibility of no squeezing, and complete squeezing. When the determination result of the means is the above-mentioned complete restriction or no complete restriction, the determination result of the above-mentioned integrated determination means is defined as a restriction or no restriction, and the determination result of the above-mentioned first restriction presence determination means is a complete restriction or If it's neither completely nor squeezed,
The irradiation squeezing presence / absence determining device according to claim 1, wherein a determination result having a larger number of the same determination results among the determination results of the plurality of squeezing presence / absence determining units is set as a determination result of the integrated determining unit. 6. The integrated determination means weights the determination results of the plurality of squeezing presence / absence determining means, and determines the presence / absence of a squeezing on the basis of a total value of the weighted values. 1. The irradiation squeezing presence / absence determining device according to 1. 7. The squeezing presence / absence determining means learns a linear or non-linear function having a numerical value used for determining the presence / absence of squeezing as an explanatory variable, and the presence / absence of squeezing as an objective variable, and when the image is input, The irradiation restriction presence / absence determining device according to claim 1, wherein presence / absence of restriction is determined based on an output result of the function. 8. The at least one of the appearance standard of the density determined from the MAX value of the density of the entire image, the variance of the coordinate values of the plurality of irradiation end points, and the second-order difference value are the judgment criteria of each of the pressing presence / absence judging means. The irradiation squeezing presence / absence determining device according to claim 1, wherein: 9. A determination procedure for obtaining a plurality of determination results by performing determination using a plurality of different radiation irradiation squeezing determination criteria for radiographic images, and a final determination procedure based on the plurality of determination results. An irradiation squeezing presence / absence determining method, comprising: an integrated determining procedure for determining presence / absence of squeezing. 10. The method for determining the presence or absence of irradiation narrowing according to claim 9, wherein the determination result having the larger number of the same determination results among the plurality of determination results is used as the determination result of the integrated determination procedure. . 11. The irradiation squeezing presence / absence determining method according to claim 9, wherein when there is no squeezing in at least one of the plurality of determination results, the determination result of the integrated determination procedure is no squeezing. 12. The irradiation squeezing presence / absence determining method according to claim 9, wherein when one of the plurality of determination results is squeezed, the determination result of the integrated determination procedure is squeezed. 13. The first determination result of the plurality of determination results is completely compressed, and there is a high possibility that there is restriction.
There is a large possibility of no squeezing, there are four stages of completely squeezing, and when the first judgment result is the above-mentioned complete squeezing or no squeezing, the judgment result of the above integrated judgment procedure is determined to be squeezing or no squeezing. When the first determination result is neither completely narrowed down nor completely narrowed down, the judgment result of the larger number of the same judgment result among the plurality of judgment results is judged by the integrated judgment procedure. The method for determining the presence / absence of irradiation squeeze according to claim 9, wherein the result is used. 14. The irradiation squeezing method according to claim 9, wherein the integrated determination procedure weights the plurality of determination results, and determines the presence or absence of the squeezing based on the total value of the weighted values. Presence determination method. 15. The above-mentioned determination procedure learns a linear or non-linear function in which a numerical value used to determine the presence or absence of a squeezing is an explanatory variable, and the presence or absence of a squeezing is an objective variable, and the output of the above-mentioned function when an image is input. 10. The irradiation squeezing presence / absence determining method according to claim 9, wherein presence / absence of squeezing is determined based on a result. 16. The determination criterion is M of the density of the entire image.
10. The irradiation restriction presence / absence determination method according to claim 9, wherein at least one of the appearance frequency of the density determined from the AX value, the variance of the coordinate values of the plurality of irradiation end points, and the second-order difference value is used. 17. A determination process for obtaining a plurality of determination results by performing determination using a plurality of different radiation irradiation squeezing determination criteria for a radiographic image, and a final determination based on the plurality of determination results. A computer-readable storage medium storing a program for executing an integrated determination process for determining whether or not there is squeezing. 18. The computer-readable storage according to claim 17, wherein a determination result having a larger number of identical determination results among the plurality of determination results is used as a determination result of the integrated determination process. Medium. 19. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 17, wherein when at least one of the plurality of determination results is not squeezed, the determination result of the integrated determination process is not squeezed. 20. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 17, wherein when at least one of the plurality of determination results is narrowed, the determination result of the integrated determination processing is set to be narrowed. 21. Of the plurality of determination results, the first determination result is completely compressed, and there is a high possibility that there is restriction.
There is a large possibility of no squeezing, there are four stages of completely squeezing, and when the first judgment result is the above-mentioned complete squeezing or no squeezing, the judgment result of the above integrated judgment procedure is determined to be squeezing or no squeezing. When the first determination result is neither completely narrowed down nor completely narrowed down, the determination result of the larger number of the same determination results among the plurality of determination results is determined by the integrated determination process. 18. The result is obtained.
The computer-readable storage medium described. 22. The computer read according to claim 17, wherein the integrated determination processing weights the plurality of determination results, and determines whether or not there is a restriction based on a value of a total of the weighted values. Possible storage medium. 23. A linear or non-linear function having a numerical value used for the presence / absence of a squeezing as an explanatory variable and the presence / absence of a squeezing as an objective variable is learned in the determination processing, and the output of the function is output when an image is input. 18. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 17, wherein the presence or absence of squeezing is determined based on the result. 24. The determination criterion is M of the density of the entire image.
18. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 17, wherein at least one of the appearance frequency of the density determined from the AX value, the variance of the coordinate values of the plurality of irradiation end points, and the secondary difference value is used.