WO2012056695A1 - Three-dimensional image display device, method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

[Problem] To improve verification efficiency when verifying by performing different types of image processing in a device for displaying a three-dimensional image by using a right-eye image and a left-eye image. [Solution] A right-eye image and a left-eye image are each subjected to an image processing that is different from one another by means of an image processing unit (8c) and are displayed on a monitor (9).

Description

Stereoscopic image display apparatus and method, and program

The present invention relates to a stereoscopic image display apparatus, method, and program for displaying a stereoscopic image using two images, a right-eye image and a left-eye image.

Conventionally, it is known that stereoscopic viewing can be performed using parallax by displaying a plurality of images in combination. Such a stereoscopically viewable image (hereinafter referred to as a stereoscopic image or a stereo image) is generated based on a plurality of images having parallax obtained by photographing the same subject from different positions.

Such generation of stereoscopic images is used not only in the fields of digital cameras and televisions but also in the field of radiographic imaging. That is, the subject is irradiated with radiation from different directions, the radiation transmitted through the subject is detected by the radiation image detector, and a plurality of radiation images having parallax are obtained, and based on these radiation images A stereoscopic image is generated. And by generating a stereoscopic image in this way, a radiographic image with a sense of depth can be observed, and a radiographic image more suitable for diagnosis can be observed. (For example, see Patent Document 1)

JP 2010-110571 A

By the way, for example, in radiological image diagnosis, a technique may be used in which diagnosis is performed by variously changing the appearance of an image by performing different frequency enhancement processing and dynamic range compression processing on the image. If a plurality of images obtained by performing different image processing on an image are generated, the time for confirming the increase also increases in proportion to the number of images.

Of course, this is not a problem limited to radiological image diagnosis, and even in cases other than radiographic image diagnosis, if a plurality of images obtained by performing different image processing on one image are generated, the same problem will occur. Become.

In view of the above circumstances, the present invention provides a stereoscopic image display apparatus, method, and program for displaying a stereoscopic image using two images, a right-eye image and a left-eye image, in which the above problems are alleviated. The purpose is to do.

The present applicant has found that, in stereoscopic display, stereoscopic display is possible even if the image quality of the left and right images does not match, and the characteristics of both images can be recognized individually. The present invention is based on this finding, and the stereoscopic image display device of the present invention is a stereoscopic image display device that displays a stereoscopic image using two images of a right-eye image and a left-eye image. Image processing means for performing different image processing on each of the right-eye image and the left-eye image is provided.

Here, different image processing can be different frequency enhancement processing or different dynamic range compression processing. Note that “the degree of difference from each other” is not limited to performing different degrees of image processing on both the right-eye image and the left-eye image, and only one image is subjected to image processing (that is, the degree of image processing). Including 0).

In addition, the image processing means may be configured such that when the right-eye image and the left-eye image are radiographic images captured by irradiating radiation from different imaging angles with respect to the detection surface of the radiation detector, It is preferable that the degree of image processing of the radiographic image be higher than the degree of image processing of the radiographic image having the larger imaging angle. The “imaging angle” means an angle formed by the direction perpendicular to the detection surface of the radiation detector and the imaging direction.

The stereoscopic image display method of the present invention is a stereoscopic image display method for displaying a stereoscopic image using two images, a right-eye image and a left-eye image, for each of the right-eye image and the left-eye image. It is characterized in that different image processes are performed.

Moreover, you may provide as a program for making a computer perform the stereoscopic vision image display method by this invention.

Since the two images for stereoscopic viewing are images acquired by photographing the same subject from different photographing angles, the content of both is a parallax corresponding to the distance in the depth direction for each subject. The display contents are substantially the same except that the display position is slightly shifted. In addition, the present applicant has found that, in stereoscopic display, stereoscopic display is possible even if the image quality of the left and right images does not match, and the characteristics of both images can be recognized individually. .

Therefore, when displaying a stereoscopic image using two images, a right-eye image and a left-eye image, as in the stereoscopic image display device and method and program of the present invention, the right-eye image and the left-eye image are displayed. If different image processing is applied to each of them, two types of images with different image processing contents can be displayed simultaneously when observing by changing the appearance of the image from various perspectives. The image can be confirmed efficiently.

The purpose of applying different image processing to each of the right-eye image and the left-eye image is to allow the user to check the right and left for each user in addition to the above-described purpose. It is also possible to eliminate the difference in the left and right appearance caused by the difference in visual acuity. Specifically, when the eyesight is low, visibility can be improved by increasing the sharpness and contrast of the image, so the left and right eyesight information is acquired for each user, and the right and left are optimal for each user based on this information. By performing an appropriate image process, it is possible to absorb individual differences in appearance for each user and differences in the left and right visual acuity of each user, so that it is possible to display an easy-to-view image with less fatigue for all users.

Further, if different image processes are frequency enhancement processes of different degrees or dynamic range compression processes of different degrees, it is possible to obtain an image particularly suitable for performing radiological image diagnosis.

In addition, when the right-eye image and the left-eye image are radiographic images that are captured by irradiating radiation from different imaging angles with respect to the detection surface of the radiation detector, the radiographic image with the smaller imaging angle is used. S / N is often good. Further, it is not preferable to perform strong image processing on an image having a low S / N because many artifacts are generated. Therefore, when the image processing means is a radiographic image obtained by irradiating radiation from different imaging angles with respect to the detection surface of the radiation detector, the right-eye image and the left-eye image have a smaller imaging angle. If the image processing level of the radiographic image is made higher than the image processing level of the radiographic image with the larger imaging angle, the user can efficiently check the image while suppressing the generation of artifacts. be able to.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a stereo breast image photographing display system using an embodiment of a stereoscopic image display apparatus of the present invention. The figure which looked at the arm part of the stereo breast image radiographing display system shown in FIG. 1 from the right direction of FIG. The block diagram which shows schematic structure inside the computer of the stereo breast image radiographing display system shown in FIG.

A stereo breast image capturing and displaying system using an embodiment of a stereoscopic image display device of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, a schematic configuration of the entire breast image capturing and displaying system according to the present embodiment will be described. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a breast image radiographing display system, FIG. 2 is a diagram of an arm portion of the stereo mammography radiographing display system shown in FIG. 1, viewed from the right side in FIG. 1, and FIG. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure inside the computer of a breast image radiography display system.

As shown in FIG. 1, a breast image radiographing display system 1 of the present embodiment includes a mammography apparatus 10, a computer 8 connected to the mammography apparatus 10, a monitor 9 connected to the computer 8, and an input unit. 7.

As shown in FIG. 1, the mammography apparatus 10 includes a base 11, a rotary shaft 12 that can move in the vertical direction (Z direction) with respect to the base 11, and can rotate. The arm part 13 connected with the base 11 is provided. FIG. 2 shows the arm 13 viewed from the right direction in FIG.

The arm portion 13 has an alphabet C shape, and a radiation table 16 is attached to one end of the arm portion 13 so as to face the imaging table 14 at the other end. The rotation and vertical movement of the arm unit 13 are controlled by an arm controller 31 incorporated in the base 11.

A radiographic image detector 15 such as a flat panel detector and a detector controller 33 that controls reading of a charge signal from the radiographic image detector 15 are provided inside the imaging table 14. Further, inside the imaging table 14, a charge amplifier that converts the charge signal read from the radiation image detector 15 into a voltage signal, a correlated double sampling circuit that samples the voltage signal output from the charge amplifier, A circuit board provided with an AD conversion unit for converting a voltage signal into a digital signal is also installed.

In addition, the photographing table 14 is configured to be rotatable with respect to the arm unit 13, and even when the arm unit 13 rotates with respect to the base 11, the direction of the photographing table 14 is fixed to the base 11. can do.

The radiation image detector 15 can repeatedly perform recording and reading of a radiation image, and may use a so-called direct type radiation image detector that directly receives radiation and generates charges. Alternatively, a so-called indirect radiation image detector that converts radiation once into visible light and converts the visible light into a charge signal may be used. As a radiation image signal reading method, a radiation image signal is read by turning on / off a TFT (thin film transistor) switch, or by irradiating reading light. It is desirable to use a so-called optical readout system from which a radiation image signal is read out, but the present invention is not limited to this, and other systems may be used.

A radiation source 17 and a radiation source controller 32 are housed in the radiation irradiation unit 16. The radiation source controller 32 controls the timing of irradiating radiation from the radiation source 17 and the radiation generation conditions (tube current, time, tube current time product, etc.) in the radiation source 17.

Further, in the central portion of the arm portion 13, a compression plate 18 that is disposed above the imaging table 14 and presses and compresses the breast M, a support portion 20 that supports the compression plate 18, and a support portion 20 that extends in the vertical direction. A moving mechanism 19 for moving in the (Z direction) is provided. The position of the compression plate 18 and the compression pressure are controlled by the compression plate controller 34.

The computer 8 includes a central processing unit (CPU) and a storage device such as a semiconductor memory, a hard disk, and an SSD. The control unit 8a, the radiation image storage unit 8b, and the image shown in FIG. A processing unit 8c is configured.

The control unit 8a outputs predetermined control signals to the various controllers 31 to 34 to control the entire system. A specific control method will be described in detail later. The radiation image storage unit 8b stores radiation image data for each imaging angle acquired by the radiation image detector 15. The image processing unit 8c is for individually performing various image processing such as frequency enhancement processing and dynamic range compression processing on the radiographic image for the right eye and the radiographic image for the left eye.

The input unit 7 includes a pointing device such as a keyboard and a mouse, for example, and accepts input of shooting conditions and operation instructions by a photographer.

The monitor 9 is configured to display a stereo image by using the two radiographic image data output from the computer 8 to display the radiographic image for each imaging direction as a two-dimensional image.

As a configuration for displaying a stereo image, for example, radiographic images based on two radiographic image data are displayed using two screens, and one of the radiographic images is observed by using a half mirror, a polarizing glass, or the like. It is possible to adopt a configuration in which a stereo image is displayed by being incident on the right eye of the observer and the other radiation image is incident on the left eye of the observer.

Alternatively, for example, two radiographic images may be displayed by being shifted by a predetermined amount of parallax, and the stereo images may be generated by observing them with a polarizing glass, or a parallax barrier method and a lenticular method As described above, a stereo image may be generated by displaying two radiation images on a stereoscopically viewable 3D liquid crystal.

In addition, the device that displays a stereo image and the device that displays a two-dimensional image may be configured separately, or may be configured as the same device if they can be displayed on the same screen.

Next, the operation of the mammography / display system of the present embodiment will be described.

First, the operation at the time of shooting will be described.

First, the breast M is set on the imaging table 14, and the breast M is compressed with a predetermined pressure by the compression plate 18.

Next, after various imaging conditions including a combination of an angle formed by two different imaging directions (hereinafter referred to as a convergence angle θ) and an imaging angle θ ′ constituting the convergence angle θ are input in the input unit 7, An instruction to start shooting is input.

When there is an instruction to start photographing at the input unit 7, a stereo image of the breast M is photographed. Specifically, first, the control unit 8 a outputs information about the convergence angle θ and the imaging angle θ ′ constituting the convergence angle θ to the arm controller 31. In the present embodiment, in order to reduce the number of images to be taken, the image for two-dimensional observation and one image for stereoscopic display are combined, so that information on the convergence angle θ at this time is θ = 4. Assuming that the combination of θ ′ = 0 ° and θ ′ = 4 ° is set as the combination of the shooting angles θ ′ constituting the convergence angle θ, this is not restrictive, and the photographer inputs The unit 7 can set an arbitrary convergence angle θ. Note that the convergence angle θ is preferably set to 4 ° or more and 15 ° or less because it is difficult to perform appropriate stereoscopic viewing if the convergence angle θ is too small or too large. Further, the combination of the photographing angle θ ′ is not particularly limited. As a combination of the shooting angle θ ′, the one shooting angle θ ′ described above, that is, the shooting angle θ ′ for shooting an image for two-dimensional observation is preferably 0 °. This is because an image taken from the front of the radiation image detector 15 is most suitable for two-dimensional observation.

The arm controller 31 receives the information of the imaging angle θ ′ output from the control unit 8a, and the arm controller 31 first uses the arm to capture a radiographic image for the right eye based on the information of the imaging angle θ ′. The controller 13 outputs a control signal with an imaging angle θ ′ that is inclined 4 ° with respect to a direction perpendicular to the detection surface 15a.

In response to the control signal output from the arm controller 31, the arm unit 13 rotates to a position of + 4 °. Subsequently, the control unit 8a outputs a control signal to the radiation source controller 32 and the detector controller 33 so as to perform radiation irradiation and readout of the radiation image signal. In accordance with this control signal, radiation is emitted from the radiation source 17, and a radiation image obtained by photographing the breast M from the direction in which the imaging angle θ ′ is 4 ° is detected by the radiation detector 15, and a radiation image signal is detected by the detector controller 33. Are read out and stored in the radiation image storage unit 8b of the computer 8.

Subsequently, in order to capture a radiographic image for the left eye, the arm unit 13 outputs a control signal in a direction perpendicular to the detection surface 15a (imaging angle θ ′ = 0 °).

In response to the control signal output from the arm controller 31, the arm unit 13 rotates to a position of 0 °. Subsequently, the control unit 8a outputs a control signal to the radiation source controller 32 and the detector controller 33 so as to perform radiation irradiation and readout of the radiation image signal. In accordance with this control signal, radiation is emitted from the radiation source 17, and a radiation image obtained by photographing the breast M from the direction where the imaging angle θ ′ is 0 ° is detected by the radiation detector 15. Are read out and stored in the radiation image storage unit 8b of the computer 8.

Note that the radiographic image data having an imaging angle θ ′ of 0 ° serves as both an image for two-dimensional observation and one image for stereoscopic display.

Next, an operation for displaying a stereo image will be described.

First, after the two radiographic image signals of the right-eye radiographic image and the left-eye radiographic image stored in the radiographic image storage unit 8b of the computer 8 are read from the radiographic image storage unit 8b, they are different in the image processing unit 8c. Image processing is performed.

In addition, regarding the designation of the type of image processing, predetermined image processing may be automatically performed, or designation input from the user may be accepted. In the present embodiment, both the right-eye radiographic image and the left-eye radiographic image are automatically subjected to different frequency enhancement processing. However, other image processing may be used, and different types of images may be used on the left and right. It is good also as processing.

Furthermore, in the present embodiment, the image for the left eye has a smaller imaging angle, and this is considered to have a higher S / N. Therefore, the degree of frequency enhancement processing of the radiographic image for the left eye is similar to that of the radiographic image for the right eye. It is set to be higher than the degree of frequency enhancement processing.

The radiographic image for the right eye and the radiographic image for the left eye that have been subjected to image processing as described above are output to the monitor 9, and a stereo image of the breast M is displayed on the monitor 9.

By configuring as described above, two types of left and right images with few artifacts can be observed simultaneously, so that the user can check the images with high quality and efficiency.

The preferred embodiment of the stereoscopic image display device of the present invention has been described above. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described content. For example, the left and right eyesight information is acquired for each user, Based on this, optimal image processing (adjustment of sharpness, contrast, etc.) may be applied to each of the left and right. With such an aspect, individual differences in the appearance of each user and the left and right visual acuity of each user Therefore, it is possible to display an easy-to-view image with less fatigue for all users.

In the above description of the embodiment, an example in which the stereoscopic image display apparatus of the present invention is applied to a stereo breast image photographing display system has been described. However, the present invention is applied to a stereo breast image photographing display system. The present invention is not limited, and the present invention can be applied to any device as long as it is a stereoscopic image display device capable of displaying a stereo image.

In addition to the above, it goes without saying that various improvements and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Claims (6)

1. In a stereoscopic image display device that displays a stereoscopic image using two images, a right-eye image and a left-eye image,
   A stereoscopic image display device comprising image processing means for performing different image processing on each of the right-eye image and the left-eye image.
2. The stereoscopic image display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the different image processes are frequency enhancement processes of different degrees.
3. The stereoscopic image display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the different image processes are dynamic range compression processes of different degrees.
4. When the image processing unit is a radiographic image obtained by irradiating radiation from different imaging angles with respect to the detection surface of the radiation detector, the right-eye image and the left-eye image have a small imaging angle. The stereoscopic vision according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the degree of image processing of the radiation image of the one is higher than the degree of image processing of the radiation image having the larger imaging angle. Image display device.
5. In a stereoscopic image display method for displaying a stereoscopic image using two images, a right-eye image and a left-eye image,
   A stereoscopic image display method, wherein different image processing is performed on each of the right-eye image and the left-eye image.
6. A program for causing a computer to execute the stereoscopic image display method according to claim 5.
   
   

Images