Dave's PCF WIP: Terms

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visual reference or fiducial

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As used herein, "visual reference," "fiducial," "patient reference," or "fiducial marker" refers to any indicator, marker, structure, or component designed, configured, placed, engineered, or organized to serve as a reference point or fixed known predetermined location for use in medical imaging, medical image processing, medical scanning, and the like. In certain embodiments, a visual reference may be an arrow or delta shaped indicator. A visual reference may be two-dimensional or three-dimensional. 
In certain embodiments, a visual reference may be a structure with patterned surfaces of known geometric dimensions with at least one surface visible to an image capture device/system. A visual reference may have a variety of shapes including cube, planar square, rectangle or triangle, tetrahedral, pyramid, or the like. The visual reference may have at least one surface visible by the image capture device/system.
Surfaces of a visual reference may include high contrast patterns. In at least one embodiment, one or more surfaces of a visual reference may include a highly distinctive QR code pattern with unique patterned surfaces which may include alternating designs. Of course, surfaces of the visual reference may include other designs such as a checkerboard pattern and such patterns may include two high contrast colors, such as black and white, red and green, etc. Moreover, a visual reference may have particular reflective coatings, radio opaque materials, and the like.