Mapping binned medical data

Abstract

A method of generating a combined image of a body part from a sequence of partially overlapping source images of the body part, each of the partially overlapping source images showing the body part at one of a plurality of different times, the source images being ordered in the sequence according to the different times, the method including defining a temporally coherent sequence of transformations, for registering the partially overlapping source images in the sequence with each other, registering the source images to each other using the defined temporally coherent sequence of transformations, to obtain co-registered images, and combining at least some of the co-registered images into a combined image. Related apparatus and methods are also described.

1 - 16 . (canceled) 
     
     
         17 . A method of generating an image of a moving body part, the method comprising:
 receiving a stream of measurements, each indicative of a structure of a respective portion of the body part, the indications of structure being partially overlapping in their respective portions;   binning the stream of measurements to a sequence of bins, each bin including a set of measurements taken during a different time window, the time window including a period also included in a time window of another bin in the sequence, such that the time windows are partially overlapping in time;   generating, from the sequence of bins, a sequence of source images of said body part, each said source image imaging a region also imaged by another image in the sequence, such that the source images are partially overlapping; and   generating from said sequence of partially overlapping images a combined image.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , comprising:
 classifying the stream of measurements to two or more groups of measurements, each group corresponding to a different movement mode of the body part; and   for at least one of the groups:
 binning the measurements to a sequence of bins, each including a set of measurements taken in a different time window, 
 generating, from the sequence of bins, a sequence of partially overlapping source images of said body part, and 
 generating a combined image from the source images. 
   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein said binning, generating a sequence of partially overlapping source images, and generating a combined image, is carried out for two or more of the groups, to generate two or more combined images. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , further comprising registering the two or more combined images to each other. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the generating the combined image comprises:
 defining a temporally coherent sequence of transformations, for registering the partially overlapping source images in the sequence with each other;   registering the partially overlapping source images to each other using the defined temporally coherent sequence of transformations, to obtain co-registered images; and   combining at least some of the co-registered images into a combined image.   
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein said body part is a heart or a portion thereof, and the movement modes comprise a cardiac rhythm selected from a sinusoidal beat, and atrial fibrillation. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 17 , further comprising:
 bringing an intra-body probe into the body part or to a vicinity thereof;   receiving measurements from the intra-body probe; and   generating the sequence of partially overlapping source images based on the measurements received from the intra-body probe.   
     
     
         24 . A non-transient computer-readable medium containing program instructions for causing a computer to perform the method of  claim 17 . 
     
     
         25 . A method of generating a movie of a beating heart, the method comprising:
 receiving a sequence of images of said beating heart, each image including a portion representing a region of the heart also represented in a portion of another image such that the images are overlapping, and each image based on data collected during a different time window, the images being ordered in the sequence according to a time order of the time windows;   generating a single movie frame for each one of the images; and   ordering the single movie frames according to the ordering of the images in the sequence of images to obtain the movie;   wherein generating the single movie frame for each one of the images comprises:
 setting said one of the images to be a master image, and the rest of the images to be non-master images, 
 defining a temporally coherent sequence of transformations, each registering a corresponding non-master image to the master image, 
 transforming each non-master image according to the transformation defined therefor to obtain a corresponding transformed image, and 
 combining the transformed images and the master image into the single movie frame for said one of the images. 
   
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein a difference between any two transformations defined for two consecutive images is spatially coherent. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein each of the transformations defined is spatially coherent. 
     
     
         28 . A non-transient computer readable medium containing program instructions for causing a computer to perform the method of  claim 25 . 
     
     
         29 . A system configured to carry out a method of generating an image of a moving body part, the system comprising a memory storing instructions and a processor, instructed by the instructions to:
 receive a stream of measurements, each indicative of a structure of a respective portion of the body part, the indications of structure being partially overlapping in their respective portions;   bin the stream of measurements to a sequence of bins, each bin including a set of measurements taken during a different time window, the time window including a period also included in a time window of another bin in the sequence, such that the time windows are partially overlapping in time;   generate, from the sequence of bins, a sequence of source images of said body part, each said source image imaging a region also imaged by another image in the sequence, such that the source images are partially overlapping; and   generate from said sequence of partially overlapping images a combined image.   
     
     
         30 . The system of  claim 29 , wherein the processor is further instructed to:
 classify the stream of measurements to two or more groups of measurements, each group corresponding to a different movement mode of the body part; and   for at least one of the groups:
 bin the measurements to a sequence of bins, each including a set of measurements taken in a different time window, 
 generate, from the sequence of bins, a sequence of partially overlapping source images of said body part, and 
 generate a combined image from the source images. 
   
     
     
         31 . The system of  claim 30 , wherein the processor is instructed to bin, generate a sequence of partially overlapping source images, and generate a combined image, for two or more of the groups, to generate two or more combined images. 
     
     
         32 . The system of  claim 31 , wherein the processor is instructed to register the two or more combined images to each other. 
     
     
         33 . A system configure to generate a movie of a beating heart, the system comprising a memory storing instructions and a processor, instructed by the instructions to:
 receive a sequence of images of said beating heart, each image including a portion representing a region of the heart also represented in a portion of another image such that the images are overlapping, and each image based on data collected during a different time window, the images being ordered in the sequence according to a time order of the time windows;   generate a single movie frame for each one of the images; and   order the single movie frames according to the ordering of the images in the sequence of images to obtain the movie;   wherein, to generate each single movie frame the processor is instructed to:
 set said one of the images to be a master image, and the rest of the images to be non-master images, 
 define a temporally coherent sequence of transformations, each registering a corresponding non-master image to the master image, 
 transform each non-master image according to the transformation defined therefor to obtain a corresponding transformed image, and 
 combine the transformed images and the master image into the single movie frame for said one of the images. 
   
     
     
         34 . The system of  claim 33 , wherein a difference between any two transformations defined for two consecutive images is spatially coherent. 
     
     
         35 . The system of  claim 33 , wherein each of the transformations defined is spatially coherent.