Koninklijke Philips Corporation N.v.

Advanced Technology Laboratories, Inc.

Atl Ultrasound, Inc.

David W Rust

David N Roundhill

Karl E Thiele

Earl M Canfield

Kevin Bradley

Mikhail Starosta

Mckee Dunn Poland

James Robertson Jago

John Douglas Fraser

Clifford R Cooley

Thanasis Loupas

Anthony M Gades

Christopher William Fleming

Robert H Pedersen

Dino Francesco Cuscuna

Martha Wilson

Aline Laure Criton

Dorothy Anita Strassner

David Chang Garner

Joseph M Luszcz

Kevin Appareti

Denise Marie Haley

An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system has an array probe for acquiring a 3D image dataset of a subject. Volume rendering is performed to produce a volume image of the subject, and MPR reconstruction is performed to produce three orthogonal 2D images of the subject. The point of intersection of the three 2D image planes is locationally marked by a crosshair or other graphic in each 2D image. The corresponding location in the volume image is marked with a virtual light source which illuminates the interior of the 3D volume and is positionally linked to the location markers in the MPR images.

Embedded virtual light source in 3D volume linked to MPR view crosshairs

An ultrasound system enables simplified setup of a remote terminal for display of ultrasound images acquired by the ultrasound system. An image acquired by the ultrasound system is processed by or with display parameters for different viewing conditions or devices, such as display gamma correction, ambient lighting, or image quality. A plurality of versions of an image with slightly different display appearances are exported to the remote terminal, where a viewer can view all of the image versions simultaneously. The viewer selects the best image, and the display characteristics of the selected image are used for images subsequently exported from the ultrasound system to the remote terminal.

Ultrasound image display set-up for remote display terminal

An ultrasound imaging system includes an ultrasound probe receiving echo signals from a subject, and a processor converting echo signals received from the probe to echo data corresponding to an ultrasound image. The system also includes a grayscale mapper transforming the echo data received from the processor to a corresponding value of perception data. The grayscale mapper makes this transformation using a DICOM compliant GSDF calibration curve. The perception data is passed to a transform processor, which also receives an ambient light signal from an ambient light sensor. The transform processor converts the perception values to respective digital driving levels based on the ambient light signal and display characteristics of a display device to which the digital driving levels are applied to maintain optimal image display under varying ambient light conditions.

System and method for DICOM compliant display of ultrasound images in varying ambient light

A wireless ultrasound probe has a probe case enclosing a transducer array, an acquisition circuit, a transceiver and a battery. The probe also includes a loudspeaker which produces audible sounds as a function of the range between the wireless probe and a host system. When the probe is within a near field range of the host system, the loudspeaker is silent. But if the probe is moved to an intermediate or a far field range from the host system, the loudspeaker sounds an alert. This audible alert can be used to locate the probe by transmitting a paging signal which, upon reception by the probe, causes the probe to sound its alert. If the probe is moved to an unauthorized location where it is within range of a transmitter or receiver, the reception of a signal by the probe, the transmitter, or receiver will sound an alert signaling the unauthorized presence of the wireless probe.

Wireless ultrasound probe asset tracking

An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system processes echo information signals by means of detecting, for different regions of the patient's anatomy, the actual noise present for that particular examination, under existing environmental conditions, and in imaging system itself. The noise detected is used to create an actual noise signature for the actual noise present in that particular examination under existing environmental conditions and in the imaging system itself, and the noise signature is used to maximize available dynamic range to create the highest resolution scan images possible while rejecting noise. In a preferred embodiment the dynamic range and noise rejection level are varied for different regions of a patient's anatomy as a function of all scanning coordinates being used, including varying depths, steering angles, and linear positions for both sector-type and linear-type scans.

System and method of dynamic automatic sensing of available dynamic range

A process for setting a focus in a ultrasonic imaging system includes receiving a point of interest and range of interest by a user input. A system controller of the system sets a focus zone on the point of interest and adjusts the aperture and apodization for the range of interest. If the range of interest can not be covered by one focal zone, further focal zones are added.

Method and apparatus for automatically setting the transmit aperture and apodization of an ultrasound transducer array

Multi-mode ultrasonic images are formed by processing the ultrasonic echoes from a single transmit pulse in parallel to display both tissue and motion. In a preferred embodiment short transmit bursts are employed to produce echo ensembles for tissue motion imaging. At least one sequence of echoes of the ensemble is also B mode processed for display of tissue structure. Preferably both the B mode and motion processing are performed in parallel. A substantially constant pulse repetition frequency reduces artifact development when imaging in the two modes from the same transmit pulse.

Coincident tissue and motion ultrasonic diagnostic imaging

A digital scanline signal processor which processes beamformed echo signals includes a normalization circuit, a speckle reduction processor, and a gain stage which amplifies detected echo signals. The normalization circuit applies depth dependent gain to the scanline signals to equalize the amplitudes in channels of the processor with different passband characteristics. A log compression circuit includes two compression functions for low level and high level echo signals.

Digital scanline signal processor for an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging

An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system processes echo information signals by means of a dynamic range map for displayed signals which is varied automatically throughout the image to control the displayed dynamic range and noise rejection level in regions of the image. In a preferred embodiment the displayed dynamic range and noise rejection level varied with both the range (depth) and lateral (scanline to scanline) dimensions of an ultrasonic image.

Variable compression of ultrasonic image data with depth and lateral

A technique for scanning an image field with adjacent beams of ultrasonic energy is provided in which initially transmitted beams are transmitted along beam directions at the lateral sides of the image field. Subsequent beams are alternately transmitted on either side of the initially transmitted beams and at lateral locations which converge toward the center of the image field until the full image field has been scanned. In an alternate embodiment initially transmitted beams are transmitted on one side of the center of the image field, subsequent beams diverge from the locations of the initially transmitted beams, and concluding beams laterally converge at a location on the other side of the center of the image field.

Ultrasonic diagnostic image scanning techniques

An ultrasonic diagnostic system is provided which automatically sets up the TGC characteristic to be used for a given ultrasound examination. Upon user selection of a particular ultrasound application, a setup controller accesses a predetermined TGC characteristic for the selected application. The predetermined TGC characteristic is used to control the gain of a TGC amplifier and is also displayed to the user. By adjustment of a series of TGC controls the user can vary the TGC characteristic from the predetermined characteristic.

Ultrasonic diagnostic system gain control

An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system is provided in which a portion of an ultrasonic image can be selected for enlarged display as a 'zoom' image. When the image portion is displayed in its enlarged format, the bandwidth of a filter in the ultrasonic information path is extended to increase the information content of the image portion when displayed in its enlarged format. The bandwidth is continuously optimized to maximize information content in consideration of the characteristics of the display while preventing the generation of scintillation artifacts caused by attempts to display information of an excessive bandwidth.

Ultrasonic diagnostic imaging with enhanced zoom

A technique for scanning an image field with adjacent beams of ultrasonic energy is provided in which initially transmitted beams are transmitted along beam directions down the center of the image field. Subsequent beams are alternately transmitted on either side of the initially transmitted beams and at increasing lateral locations in said field with respect to the locations of the initially transmitted beams until the full image field has been scanned. In a preferred embodiment a waiting period is added to the pulse repetition interval of each transmission to allow time for multipath reflections to dissipate. The waiting periods are longer during initial transmissions in the vicinity of the center of the image field, and decline as beams are transmitted at increasing lateral locations of the field. The scanning technique provides a reduction in multipath reflection artifacts while maintaining a smoothly varying or uniform temporal disparity in the transmission times of adjacent beams.

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Seattle, WA, United States of America

David W Rust