Ellumen Awarded Patent by USPTO for Novel Method to Encode Medical Images
Arlington, VA (PRWEB) January 06, 2016 -- Ellumen Inc., a trusted provider of professional services and IT solutions, is pleased to announce that on August 18, 2015, the patent entitled “Dielectric Encoding of Medical Images” (Patent No. 9,111,334 B2) was issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to inventors, and Ellumen team members, Todd R. McCollough and William J. McCollough. The issued patent is an innovative method which will allow physicians to be able to easily interpret medical images created using microwave scattering data. This technique provides a cost effective approach to encoding dielectric images into familiar forms so that training, diagnostic hardware, or software is not required by those in the medical community to interpret these images.
Currently, biomedical microwave imaging techniques use radio frequency scattering information which is collected and then input into a computing environment. The scattering information can be reconstructed into what is known as a "dielectric image." This dielectric image can then be disseminated to an engineering audience for general consumption. However, these dielectric images are unfamiliar to both clinicians and diagnosticians. Ellumen’s Patent No. 9,111,334, bridges the discrepant gap between the two types of images by detailing a method that converts from reconstructed dielectric image, which are those images generated using microwave scattering data, into current imaging forms well-known to physicians such as Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) Hounsfield encoded and/or DICOM MRI intensity encoded medical images. This encoding of the dielectric image is hugely significant to medical imaging because it allows for timely and accurate medical diagnosis by trained medical professionals, regardless of familiarity. The data and images that appear will be in a common format that has been used by medical professionals for a number of years. Furthermore, existing medical imaging diagnostic tools and analysis techniques will now be able to be applied directly to images generated using microwave imaging methods. The patent also includes methods to convert image data with Hounsfield encoded units (common with CT scans) to an image with dielectric encoded units. This promising method can be useful for modeling of complex problems in computational electromagnetics.
The awarded patent is a significant addition to Ellumen’s Independent Research & Development (IR&D) intellectual property portfolio and is seen as an important technique in the advancement of the biomedical microwave imaging industry. This novel approach is expected to be readily implemented and utilized in the medical field in the years to come.
About Ellumen, Inc:
Ellumen Inc. is based in Arlington, VA and specializes in healthcare solutions, medical imaging, and healthcare information exchange both for the federal government and the commercial field. Ellumen leverages its engineering expertise, including extensive experience with software development, system design, medical imaging algorithms, and management of large-scale healthcare environments to promote the development of creative solutions in the healthcare imaging field. More information can be found at http://www.ellumen.com.
MARY CARROLL, Ellumen, +1 (703) 253-7139, [email protected]
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