Darwin Adams Health specialist - Lexington, MA
Name variants: Darwin Adams
Professions & Specialties
Ultrasonographer • Sonographer • Medical Sonographers
Experience & Education
| United States Patent | Inventor | Appl. No. | Assignee |
|---|---|---|---|
|
#6464638 Oct 15, 2002 Filed: Oct 5, 2000 |
Darwin P Adams (Lexington, MA) Karl E Thiele (Andover, MA) | 09/680382 |
Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Eindhoven) |
| International Classification: | A61B 800 | 600443, 600447 |
Patent:
Ultrasound imaging system and method for spatial compounding
Abstract:
An ultrasound imaging system is provided along with a method for spatially compounding a plurality of ultrasound images in an elevation dimension. The ultrasound imaging system and method reduce image speckle. The ultrasound imaging system may include a transducer in electrical communication with an ultrasound system controller configured to generate, transmit, and receive a series of ultrasound energy pulses. The ultrasound system controller is further configured to recover image information using beamforming techniques from steered or focused ultrasound imaging planes prior to spatial compounding of a plurality of image frames. The present invention may also be broadly viewed as providing a method for ultrasound imaging. Briefly stated, the method comprises the following steps: generating a transmit scan beam; generating a plurality of ultrasound response scan beams originating from spatially separated vantage points such that corresponding response scan beams converge at the transmit scan beam; deriving image information from the plurality of ultrasound response scan beams; and compounding the image information in the elevation direction.
Claim:
Therefore, having thus described the invention, at least the following is claimed: 1. An ultrasound imaging system, comprising: a transmitter configured to generate a plurality of time interleaved transmit signals; a transducer in communication with the transmitter, said transducer having a lateral direction and an elevation direction, said transducer configured to translate and receive a plurality of time interleaved signals such that a plurality of controllably steered transmit lines in the lateral direction form a transmit scan beam, said transducer further configured to receive a plurality of ultrasonic responses reflected by the various tissues in a volume under observation insonified by the transmit scan beam at a plurality of vantage points separated in elevation, said transducer further configured to convert the received ultrasonic responses into a plurality of associated receive signals; a receiver in communication with the transducer configured to receive the plurality of receive signals, wherein the receiver is configured to acquire a plurality of response scan beams using a beamforming technique; a signal processor in communication with the receiver configured to mathematically combine image information derived from the plurality of response scan beams into a display signal; and a monitor in communication with the signal processor configured to convert the display signal into an image. 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the transducer comprises at least a first receive aperture and a second receive aperture configured to generate a plurality of ultrasound response scan line sets such that a first response scan line set originates from a first vantage point and a second response scan line set originates from a second vantage point, respectively. 3. The system of claim 2, wherein the plurality of ultrasound response scan lines form a plurality of dynamically manipulated ultrasound response scan beams that originate from at least the first vantage point and the second vantage point, respectively. 4.
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