US 9814431

Here's a concise summary of US Patent 9814431:

Title: Methods and systems for retrospective internal gating

Assignee: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Inventors: Adam L. Kesner.

Filing Date: 2008-05-05.

Issue Date: 2017-11-14 (Publication date for US9814431B2).

Abstract: The patent describes a method for deriving respiratory gated PET image reconstruction from raw PET data. This method uses respiratory motion information, which is derived from signal fluctuations within individual voxels, to create usable respiratory phase information. The invention enables the reconstruction of respiratory gated PET images from PET data without the need for external hardware and in a fully automated manner.

Plain-Language Overview of Independent Claims:

• Claim 1 (Method for retrospective internal gating): This claim describes a multi-step method for correcting motion artifacts in medical images. It involves:

  1. Acquiring a series of images over time.
  2. Extracting "time-activity information" for each small volume element (voxel) within these images.
  3. Assigning "weighting factors" to prioritize which voxels are most important for analyzing the motion, effectively prioritizing them for "phase analysis."
  4. Filtering out unwanted frequencies from the time-activity curves of the voxels.
  5. Using the prioritization to combine the voxel time-activity information into a single "time varying object motion function," which represents the overall movement.
  6. Using this motion function to link the acquired image data to specific phases of the periodic motion (e.g., different points in a breathing cycle).
  7. Finally, using this mapping to create at least one image that has been corrected for motion.

• Claim 21 (Non-transitory computer-readable medium): This claim covers a computer program stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium. When this program is executed by one or more processors, it causes a machine to perform the exact same steps outlined in Claim 1, essentially automating the retrospective internal gating method.

• Claim 22 (System): This claim describes a system comprising one or more processors and a non-transitory computer-readable medium with instructions stored on it. When these instructions are executed by the processors, they cause the system to carry out all the steps of the method detailed in Claim 1.

CAFC 2026 Dockets:
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