A Target-Orientated Marker Image Binarization Method for Orthopaedic Surgical Navigation System

Camera calibration is the key technique in a C-arm based orthopaedic surgical navigation system. The extraction of marker location information is a necessary step in the calibration process. Ideal marker images should possess uniform background and contain marker shadow only, but in fact marker images always possess nonuniform background and are contaminated by noise and unwanted anatomic information, making the extraction very difficult. A target-orientated marker shadow extraction method was proposed. With this method a proper threshold for marker image binarization can be determined.     

Application of a Fast Connected Components Labeling Algorithm in Processing Landmark Images

Extracting geometric data of landmarks from fluoroscopic images plays an important role in camera calibration process of a fluoroscopic-image-based surgical navigation system. Connected components labeling is the essential technique for the extraction. A new fast connected components labeling algorithm was presented. The definition of upward concave set was introduced to explain the algorithm. Feasibility and efficiency of the algorithm were verified with experiments. This algorithm performs well in labeling non-upward concave set connected components and applies to landmarks labeling well. Moreover, the proposed algorithm possesses a desirable characteristic that will facilitate the subsequent processing of fluoroscopic images.