JP2005270328A - Medical picture display device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To support the work of selecting a desired moving picture from a plurality of moving pictures in a medical picture display device. <P>SOLUTION: This medical picture display device comprises: a picture keeping device 202 or 107 for keeping a plurality of medical moving picture files; a CPU 101 for generating thumbnail pictures from the plurality of respective medical moving picture files and generating a plurality of digest pictures from the plurality of respective medical moving picture files; and a graphic board 104 for displaying the thumbnail pictures in a list and also displaying the thumbnail picture selected from the list of the thumbnail pictures and the plurality of digest pictures for which the medical moving picture file is in common. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a medical image display apparatus that stores a plurality of moving image files and selectively displays them.

  When selecting and displaying one or more images from multiple stored images, if the original image is a still image, prepare an image (thumbnail image) that is simply reduced from that image. In the case of a moving image composed of frames (still images), a thumbnail image created by selecting one of these frames is prepared, and a plurality of these thumbnail images are displayed and listed simultaneously (thumbnail List display) (see FIG. 10). Eventually, the original image selected in the thumbnail list display is reproduced and displayed by another means.

  Conventionally, when an image handled by an image display device is a moving image, only one frame is extracted from a plurality of frames constituting the moving image and a thumbnail image is displayed. In this case, the amount of information is small with only one frame, and it is difficult to select a moving image suitably. Since it cannot be discriminated, the original image is called and viewed many times in place of the original image. Or there was a problem in image selection, such as requiring a lot of time for calling the original image.

  An object of the present invention is to support an operation of selecting a desired moving image from a plurality of moving images in a medical image display apparatus.

  The medical image display device according to the present invention includes a unit for storing a plurality of medical moving image files, a unit for generating a thumbnail image from each of the plurality of medical moving image files, and each of the plurality of medical moving image files. Means for generating a plurality of digest images, means for displaying the thumbnail images in a list, and means for displaying the plurality of digest images in common with the thumbnail images selected from the list of thumbnail images and the medical moving image file; It comprises.

  According to the present invention, a desired moving image can be easily selected from a plurality of moving images.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the present embodiment, a screen for selecting a moving image illustrated in FIG. 1 is configured and displayed. As is well known, a moving image file is composed of a plurality of frames (still images) arranged along a time axis. In the present embodiment, a single frame is extracted from each of a plurality of moving image files according to an arbitrary rule, and a thumbnail image 1 is generated by typically reducing the image of the frame. A plurality of thumbnail images 1 respectively corresponding to a plurality of moving image files are displayed in a list 2. The thumbnail image 1 may be a still image that is enlarged or equal in size, other than reducing the original still image. Along with the list 2 of the thumbnail images 1, a plurality of digest images 3 in which the highlight thumbnail image 5 in the selected state and the original moving image file are common are adjacent to each other in the same screen as the list 2 of the thumbnail images 1 or on another screen. Is displayed in the digest image display area 4 provided in FIG. A plurality of digest images 3 are generated based on images of a plurality of frames that are discretely extracted from a series of frames constituting a moving image file by an arbitrary rule. Similar to the thumbnail image 1, the digest image 3 is generated by typically reducing the original image. An image 8 in a selected state among the plurality of digest images 3 is displayed in highlight. When the thumbnail designation button 7 is clicked, the digest image 8 that is currently selected is replaced with the corresponding thumbnail image in the list 2. When the moving image display button 6 is clicked, display of a moving image file corresponding to the thumbnail image 5 being selected at that time is started as a moving image.

  FIG. 2 shows a configuration example of the medical image display apparatus according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 2, a medical image display apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment is connected to a medical image collection apparatus 200 that generates a medical image file, here, a moving image file, via an electronic communication line such as a LAN. Without being limited thereto, the medical image display apparatus 100 may be connected to a PACS (Medical Image Storage Communication System) via an electronic communication line. Moreover, you may define as the medical image display apparatus 100 including the medical image collection apparatus 200 and / or PACS.

  The medical image acquisition apparatus 200 includes an X-ray diagnostic apparatus, an X-ray computed tomography apparatus (CT scanner), a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus (MRI), an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, as a medical image apparatus capable of generating a moving image file. It has an image acquisition device 201 that is a gamma camera, PET or SPECT. Here, a typical X-ray diagnostic apparatus will be described as an example of the image acquisition apparatus 201. The medical image collection apparatus 200 includes an image storage apparatus 202 for storing a moving image file generated by the image collection apparatus 201 together with the image collection apparatus 201. The moving image file stored in the image storage device 202 is associated with patient information, imaging information, file information, ECG waveform data obtained from the ECG waveform acquisition device 204, and the like. The imaging information includes imaging date and time, imaging device type, imaging parameters, imaging method, position information at the time of image acquisition, contrast agent injection amount and injection time data obtained from the contrast agent injection device 203, and the like. The file information includes a frame size, the number of frames, a time code, and the like.

  Furthermore, the medical image collection apparatus 200 mounts a contrast medium injection device 203 for automatically injecting a contrast medium into a subject, a device 204 for measuring biological phenomena such as respiration and heartbeat of the subject, and the subject. And a bed 205. Here, a typical electrocardiographic waveform measuring apparatus will be described as an example of the biological phenomenon measuring apparatus 204.

  The medical image display apparatus 100 includes an image storage apparatus 107 that stores all or a part of a plurality of moving image files stored in the image storage apparatus 202 centered on the CPU 101, and a moving image file of a display target (interpretation target). And an auxiliary image storage device 102 for storing thumbnail images and digest images. The CPU 101 controls the entire medical image display apparatus 100 and generates thumbnail images from the moving image files stored in the image storage apparatus 107 according to the rules stored in the rule storage unit 106, and from the moving image files. Generate a digest image. Further, the medical image display apparatus 100 is controlled by the CPU 101, and includes a graphic board 104 for constructing a screen for selecting a moving image including a thumbnail image and a digest image, image display devices 105 and 106, a mouse, a keyboard, and the like. Input device 103.

  FIG. 3 shows a flow of processing from moving image shooting to moving image reproduction according to the present embodiment. First, the subject is imaged by the image collection device 201 (S1). Thereby, a moving image file is generated. The generated moving image file is stored in the image storage devices 202 and 107 in association with patient information, imaging information, file information, electrocardiographic waveform data, and the like. Here, when it is decided to generate the thumbnail image and the digest image in advance, that is, at the same time as the generation of the moving image file (S2), the thumbnail image is extracted from the moving image file according to the thumbnail rule stored in the rule storage unit 106. Is generated and stored in the auxiliary image storage device 102 (S3). In accordance with the digest rules stored in the rule storage unit 106, a plurality of digest images are generated from the moving image file as shown in FIG. Store (S4).

  The rule storage unit 106 stores a plurality of thumbnail rules. A single thumbnail rule among a plurality of thumbnail rules is selected in advance as an initial rule. Thumbnail images generated according to the initial rules are initially displayed on the moving image selection screen. According to a certain thumbnail rule, a thumbnail image is generated from an image of a frame when a predetermined time has elapsed from the first frame among a plurality of frames constituting the moving image file. In another thumbnail rule, a thumbnail image is generated from an image of a frame in which a predetermined number of frames have elapsed from the first frame among a plurality of frames constituting the moving image file. In still another thumbnail rule, a thumbnail image is generated from an image of a frame at the first, last, or intermediate position among a plurality of frames constituting a moving image file.

  The rule storage unit 106 stores a plurality of digest rules. A single digest rule is selected in advance as an initial rule among a plurality of digest rules. A digest image generated according to the initial rule is initially displayed on the moving image selection screen. A plurality of digest rules will be exemplified below.

1) A plurality of frames are discretely extracted as a source image for generating a digest image from a series of frames constituting a moving image file in accordance with a predetermined time interval.

2) A plurality of frames are discretely extracted as a source image for generating a digest image from a series of frames constituting a moving image file in accordance with a predetermined number of frames.

3) In a series of frames constituting the moving image file, a frame before or after the sum of the differences between the two preceding and following frames or a derived value thereof, for example, the sum of squares exceeds a predetermined threshold is used to generate a digest image. For the original image.

4) In the rule 1) or 2), the extraction interval is not constant but variable. For example, in a period in which the sum of differences from an image several frames before is larger than a predetermined threshold, that is, a period in which changes are intense, the time interval is shortened, the number of frames is decreased, and conversely, a period smaller than the predetermined threshold, That is, in a period with little change, the time interval is increased and the number of frames is increased.

  In addition to the above four basic rules, in cardiovascular X-ray image diagnosis, a unique digest rule exemplified below can be designated as an initial rule. Based on the imaging method associated with the moving image file, the CPU 101 can determine whether the moving image file is generated by cardiovascular X-ray image diagnosis.

5) If it is a photographing method (stepping photographing method) in which the bed 205 is repeatedly moved and stopped at an arbitrary distance interval, and photographing is repeated a predetermined number of times during the stop period (stage), an image of the frame first photographed at each stage is obtained. Extracted as an original image for generating a digest image.

6) In the case of an imaging method in which a contrast medium is intermittently and repeatedly injected in the middle of imaging, a plurality of digest images are generated based on a frame image captured immediately before or after the inflow of contrast medium.

7) In the case of an imaging method in which a contrast medium is injected during imaging, an image of a frame in which the concentration of the contrast medium is higher than a predetermined value, that is, the sum of differences from the non-contrast mask image is higher than a predetermined threshold value, Extracted as an original image for generating a digest image.

8) In the case of an imaging method (bolus DSA) in which imaging is repeated while continuously moving the bed 205 along its longitudinal position (bolus DSA), images of frames taken at discrete positions at regular intervals on the bed 205 are Extracted as an original image for generating a digest image.

9) An image of a frame of interest designated by an engineer or an interpretation doctor at the time of photographing or reproduction is extracted as an original image for generating a digest image.

10) As shown in FIG. 5, an image of a frame whose heartbeat phase is slightly shifted for each heartbeat of the electrocardiogram waveform is extracted as an original image for generating a digest image.

11) As is well known, some circulatory system X-ray diagnostic apparatuses include a pair of an X-ray tube and an X-ray detector: a front system (frontal) and a side system (lateral). When the two systems are used to perform simultaneous shooting in two directions and a moving image file is collected, a plurality of digest images are generated for each direction. Any of the rules 1) to 10) is applied as a rule for generating a plurality of digest images from a moving image file. As shown in FIG. 6, as shown in FIG. 6, images taken in the front system and images taken in the side system are alternately displayed, or images taken in the front system are continuously displayed, and then Continuously display images taken with the lateral system.

  If it is not determined in step S <b> 2 that thumbnail images and digest images are to be generated in advance, the CPU 101 waits for an instruction to display a list of moving images from the operator via the input device 103. When an instruction to display a list of moving images is input from the operator (S5), the CPU 101 identifies an uninterpreted moving image file among a plurality of moving image files stored in the image storage device 107 (or 202). Then, it is determined whether or not the thumbnail image of the uninterpreted moving image file has already been created in S3 and stored in the auxiliary image storage device 102 (S6). When the thumbnail image has already been created, the CPU 101 causes the auxiliary image storage device 102 to read the thumbnail image data related to the unread image file from the graphic board 104. The graphic board 104 displays a plurality of thumbnail images in a list as shown in FIG. 1 (S7). When a thumbnail image has not been created, the CPU 101 creates a thumbnail image from an uninterpreted moving image file and supplies it to the graphic board 104 (S8). The graphic board 104 displays a plurality of thumbnail images in a list as shown in FIG. 1 (S7).

  A desired thumbnail image is selected from the list of thumbnail images by the pointer of the input device 103 (S9). The frame line of the selected thumbnail image is displayed with, for example, highlight (high brightness) 5. The CPU 101 determines whether a digest image related to the moving image file to which the selected thumbnail image corresponds has already been created in S4 and stored in the auxiliary image storage device 102 (S10). When the digest image has already been created, the CPU 101 causes the graphic image 104 to be read from the auxiliary image storage device 102 for the digest image data relating to the uninterpreted moving image file. The graphic board 104 displays a plurality of digest images in a list as shown in FIG. 1 (S11). When the digest image is not created, the CPU 101 creates a digest image from the uninterpreted moving image file and supplies it to the graphic board 104 as in S4. As shown in FIG. 1, the graphic board 104 displays a plurality of created digest images in a list (S12).

  When the operator operates the input device 103 to move the pointer over another thumbnail image, the other thumbnail image is selected, and the other thumbnail images are displayed as a plurality of digest images related to the moving image file. The display switches.

  In this way, by displaying a plurality of digest images that express the characteristics of each moving image file more clearly than the thumbnail images together with the thumbnail images, the content confirmation accuracy of the moving image file is improved.

  The CPU 101 waits for the next operation instruction (S13). The next operation is a thumbnail image exchange operation and a moving image file playback operation. When the operator wants to replace a thumbnail image with one of a plurality of digest images (S14), first, the target thumbnail image is selected as shown in FIG. A plurality of digest images having the same thumbnail and moving image file are displayed. Select the desired digest image from the multiple digest images, and click the “Select thumbnail” button to replace the digest image with the previous thumbnail image as the thumbnail image of the moving image file. Is displayed. The thumbnail image data stored in the auxiliary image storage device 102 is also updated to the digest image data. The next time the thumbnail image of the moving image file is displayed, the replaced digest image is displayed as a thumbnail image.

  When the operator wants to reproduce a desired moving image file (S15), the moving image file is reproduced (S16). There are two types of playback methods. First, select the desired thumbnail image from the list of thumbnail images, and without selecting any digest image, click the “Display button” to move the thumbnail image to the moving image file. Is played from the first frame. In addition, as shown in FIG. 8, by selecting a desired thumbnail image from the list of thumbnail images and clicking a “display button” after selecting a desired digest image, A moving image file corresponding to the thumbnail image and the digest image is reproduced from the frame position of the selected digest image.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, by simultaneously displaying the thumbnail list display and the digest image of the original image selected in the thumbnail list, the contents of the original moving image can be easily identified, and the original moving image can be called up. It is possible to easily specify a desired moving image from a plurality of moving images with fewer operations. Further, by selecting a frame that clearly represents the characteristics of the original image when determining the thumbnail image, it is possible to improve the viewability in the thumbnail list display.

  In this embodiment, instead of the list of thumbnail images, as shown in FIG. 9, a plurality of digest images are switched and displayed at regular intervals in each area of the thumbnail images so as to display like a simple animation. Anyway. For example, by simply switching and playing back digest images at a frequency of several times per second, it is possible to support the selection of a moving image file with a sufficient amount of information as simple as a flip book. It is preferable that simple animation list display using a plurality of digest images can be switched to thumbnail image list display.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment as it is, and can be embodied by modifying the constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. In addition, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of components disclosed in the embodiment. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment. Furthermore, constituent elements over different embodiments may be appropriately combined.

The figure which shows the example of the moving image selection screen displayed by embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows the structure of the medical image display apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. The flowchart showing the moving image selection processing procedure in the embodiment of the present invention. Explanatory drawing of the digest image group of FIG. The figure which shows the example of the digest image extraction rule of FIG. The figure which shows the example of the digest image extraction rule of FIG. The figure which shows the procedure which selects a thumbnail image from a digest image in this embodiment. The figure which shows reproduction | regeneration of a moving image triggered by designation | designated of the digest image in this embodiment. The figure which shows the simple animation thumbnail list display screen in this embodiment. The figure which showed the example of the conventional thumbnail list display

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Medical image display apparatus, 101 ... CPU, 102 ... Auxiliary image storage apparatus, 103 ... Input device, 104 ... Graphic board, 105 ... Image display device, 106 ... Image display device, 107 ... Image storage apparatus, 10 ..., 200 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS Medical image collection device 201 ... Image collection device 202 ... Image storage device 203 ... Contrast medium injection device 204 ... Electrocardiogram waveform acquisition device 205 ... Bed

Claims (14)

Means for storing a plurality of medical moving image files;
Means for generating a thumbnail image from each of the plurality of medical moving image files;
Means for generating a plurality of digest images from each of the plurality of medical moving image files;
A medical image, comprising: displaying the thumbnail images in a list; and displaying means for displaying the plurality of digest images in common with the thumbnail images selected from the thumbnail image list and the medical moving image file. Display device. 2. The medical image display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the thumbnail image is generated based on an image of a frame after a predetermined time has elapsed from the first frame of each of the medical moving image files. 2. The medical image display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of digest images are generated based on images of frames extracted from the plurality of medical moving image files at regular time intervals or for every predetermined number of frames. 2. The medical image display according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of digest images are generated based on an image of a frame extracted from each of the plurality of medical moving image files based on a sum of differences between frames or a derived value thereof. apparatus. When the medical moving image file is collected by an imaging method in which imaging is repeated at each stop position while repeatedly moving and stopping the bed, the plurality of digest images are based on an image of a frame first captured at each stop position. The medical image display device according to claim 1, wherein: When the medical moving image file is collected by a method of intermittently injecting a contrast medium in the middle of photographing, the plurality of digest images are generated based on a frame image photographed immediately before the inflow of the contrast medium. The medical image display apparatus according to claim 1. When the medical moving image file is collected by a method of injecting a contrast medium during imaging, the plurality of digest images are generated based on an image of a frame in which the concentration of the contrast medium is higher than a predetermined value. The medical image display apparatus according to claim 1. When the medical moving image file is collected by a method of repeating imaging while continuously moving the bed along its longitudinal position, the medical moving image file is converted into an image of frames shot at discrete positions at regular intervals of the bed. The medical image display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of digest images are generated based on the plurality of digest images. 2. The medical image display device according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of digest images are generated based on an image of a frame of interest designated by an operator in the medical moving image file. 2. The medical image display device according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of digest images are generated based on images of frames having different heartbeat phases in the medical moving image file. 11. The medical image according to claim 3, wherein when the medical moving image file is collected by a two-direction simultaneous imaging method, the plurality of digest images are generated for each direction. Display device. 2. The medical image display apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for replacing a single digest image designated from the plurality of digest images with the thumbnail image. 2. The medical image display apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for reproducing the medical moving image file starting from a frame of a single digest image designated from the plurality of digest images. Means for storing a plurality of medical moving image files;
Means for generating a plurality of thumbnail images from the plurality of medical moving image files;
Means for displaying the plurality of thumbnail images in a list,
Each of the plurality of thumbnail images is composed of a plurality of digest images extracted from each of the plurality of medical moving image files, and the plurality of digest images are sequentially switched and displayed in an animation-like manner. Display device.

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