Ge Medical Systems Global Technology Company, LLC

General Electric Company

Larry Y L Mo

Michael J Washburn

Lihong Pan

Fang Frank Dong

Richard Marion Kulakowski

Dean W Brouwer

Steven Charles Miller

Kjell Kristoffersen

Cynthia A Owen

Scott D Otterson

James D Hamilton

Stephen Peshman

Robert S Stanson

Terry J Duesterhoeft

Gregory R Bashford

An imaging system has a computer which monitors changes to any given front-panel control setting for a particular image processing parameter (e.g., dynamic range, transmit foci position, Doppler wall filter setting, etc.) as compared to its default or preset value. For each user ID (e.g., based on the system user's name or any user code) and each application type, if, over a number of exam cycles, the user is found to consistently adjust a particular control setting to values that deviate significantly from the preset value, the system computer will automatically adjust the preset value to, e.g., the average setting of that image processing parameter over the past N trials, where N is a predefined integer number.

Imaging system having preset processing parameters adapted to user preferences

An ultrasound transmitter generates ultrasound signals at an adjustable pulse repetition rate. A Doppler unit generates Doppler signals from ultrasound backscattered signals and stores them in a memory. A logic unit performs an algorithm which automatically adjusts the polarity and position of the velocity scale of a display and automatically adjusts the pule repetition rate of the transmitter based on analysis of the signals.

Automatic adjustment of velocity scale and pulse repetition frequency for doppler ultrasound spectrograms

A method and an apparatus for optimizing operating parameters in an ultrasound imaging system in response to the occurrence of predetermined changes in the pixel intensity histogram of successive image frames. In the method, changes in the pixel intensity histogram of successive image frames are monitored and when the detected changes indicate probe movement, re-optimization of the operating parameters is automatically triggered. In the course of re-optimization, mapping, compression, scaling or beamforming parameters can be adjusted based on pixel intensity histogram characteristics determined by the system computer.

Method and apparatus for adapting imaging system operation based on pixel intensity histogram

Method and apparatus for automatically maintaining the range gate inside a moving blood vessel during ultrasound imaging. The range gate can be maintained at the vessel center, or at a certain distance from one of the vessel boundaries, or at a certain ratio of the respective distances from the two boundaries. The user first places the range gate on the blood flow being examined. An algorithm processes each successive image frame and automatically updates the information about vessel boundary positions and the vessel orientation angle in the vicinity of the range gate. If the range gate position relative to the vessel boundaries is different than that in the previous frame by more than a predetermined amount, the position of the range gate graphic and the orientation of the vessel slope cursor (and the Doppler angle) are automatically adjusted to the new values.

Method and apparatus for automatic vessel tracking in ultrasound imaging

An ultrasound scanning system ( ) includes a plurality of range gates ( ) responsive to ultrasound waves for generating a plurality of Doppler signal samples representing different depth increments within a subject (S) being studied. A logic unit ( ) generates Doppler frequency signals and generates B-mode data. A display ( ) generates a B-mode image and a Doppler image which may be superimposed on the B-mode image. The Doppler image (DI) is arranged to illustrate depth increments within the subject being studied versus Doppler velocity or frequency.

Ultrasound B-mode and doppler flow imaging

A method and an apparatus for spatially compounding ultrasound frames by using multiple angle views. Successive image frames of pixel data are processed using a Sum of Absolute Difference registration algorithm. The multiple angle views are achieved by operator manipulation of a probe ( ).

Real-time ultrasound spatial compounding using multiple angles of view

In an ultrasound scanner ( ), signals responsive to received ultrasound waves are processed by a B-mode processor ( ) and a computer ( ). The data processed by the B-mode processor ( ) is used to generate a display of a reference image in an area ( ) of a display ( ), and the data processed by the computer ( ) is used to generate a region of interest ( ) of the reference image and an enlarged image corresponding to the region of interest in another area ( ) of the display ( ), thereby improving the spatial resolution and frame rate of the displayed images.

Ultrasound enlarged image display techniques

A method and an apparatus for monitoring the wall signal input to the wall filter of a spectral Doppler processor to check for probe-motion-induced clutter. This clutter is typically of higher frequency and amplitude than that due to normal vessel wall motion. Some additional threshold logic is used to check for energy within a frequency band greater than the normal wall signal frequencies. If significant energy above some &ldquo;rattle&rdquo; threshold is detected for a predefined time interval, the Doppler audio is automatically muted. This can be effected at one or more points within the normal Doppler audio signal path in a conventional scanner. If the rattling clutter is no longer detected, the Doppler audio is re-activated or ramped up smoothly.

Method and apparatus for automatic muting of Doppler noise induced by ultrasound probe motion

A method and an apparatus for automatically maintaining the Doppler sample gate position at a preselected vessel position in B-mode or color flow images during tissue or probe motion. The sample gate is locked onto the selected vessel automatically when the vessel position has changed. Optionally, the vessel slope cursor is automatically updated when the vessel position has changed. The method employs pattern matching of images from successive frames to determine how much a vessel in the image frame has been translated and rotated from one frame to the next. Preferably, either a cross-correlation method is applied to the imaging data in the spatial domain to determine the relative object translation and/or rotation between image frames, or a matched filtering method is applied to the imaging data in the frequency (i.e., Fourier) domain to determine the relative object translation and/or rotation between image frames.

Method and apparatus for locking sample volume onto moving vessel in pulsed doppler ultrasound imaging

A method and an apparatus for automatically initializing and adjusting the Doppler sample gate position and size settings based on actual vessel image data. A vessel segment search method employs an object search technique based solely on geometric and morphological information in a binarized vessel image obtained from either B-mode or color flow image data. The morphologically best or nearest vessel segment within a target search region in the two-dimensional image is found. The sample gate is placed at or near the center of the targeted vessel segment. The sample gate size is adjusted in relation to the vessel size. Then the best available steering angle that minimizes the Doppler angle is selected.

Method and apparatus for automatic setting of sample gate in pulsed doppler ultrasound imaging

An ultrasound system determines the relative movement in a first direction (F,) of first matter, such as blood flow, and second matter, such as an artery wall, in a subject under study (S). A beam (B,) of ultrasound waves defining a plurality of beam positions (BP,and BP,) and beam axes (A,and A,) are moved in scan directions having components parallel to direction F,. First and second blocks of data representing the first and second matter, respectively, are generated. A processor (,) performs an estimation of speckle size on first data to obtain a first result, and performs analysis of the second block of data to obtain a second result. The two results are analyzed to obtain a measure of the relative movement of the first and second matter.

Ultrasound based quantitative motion measurement using speckle size estimation

Method and apparatus for automatically detecting and sizing cystic objects in ultrasound imaging. The cystic objects can be automatically detected by the steps of reading an image frame from memory; defining a search region within the image frame or a decimated version of the image frame; binarizing the pixel values within the search region based on a pixel value threshold that is adaptive to local pixel value statistics; morphological filtering the binarized pixel values to eliminate structures smaller than the speckle size; counting the number of continuous objects and keeping track of their area; and rejecting objects that are outside a predetermined size range. Each detected cystic object is automatically sized and graphical information representing the results of the automatic sizing process may be displayed.

Method and apparatus for automatic detection and sizing of cystic objects

A method and an apparatus for adaptive wall (high-pass) filtering to remove low-frequency clutter in spectral Doppler I/Q data prior to FFT processing. The I/Q data is passed through a low-pass filter which rejects the flow frequency components above the clutter frequency range. The total power of the low-pass filter output is then computed. A system noise model is used to predict the mean system noise power in the low-pass filter output. The predicted mean noise power provides a noise threshold to gage how much clutter power is present in the current FFT packet. If no significant clutter is present, then wall filter selection logic will automatically select the lowest wall filter cutoff frequency stored in a filter coefficient LUT. If significant clutter power is present in the FFT packet, then the mean and variance of the clutter frequency over the FFT packet are estimated and then input into the filter selection logic, which selects the most suitable filter cutoff for the current clutter signal.

Method and apparatus for adaptive wall filtering in spectral Doppler ultrasound imaging

A method and an apparatus for suppressing background noise in spectral Doppler imaging using adaptive noise-reduction low-pass filters. A pair of adaptive low-pass filters are arranged in the two audio Doppler channels for suppressing background noise in the audio Doppler data. The low-pass filtering can be implemented in the frequency domain, i.e., before the IFFT operation, or in the time domain, i.e., after the IFFT operation. Maximum frequency traces are fed into a filter selection block which prescribes the filter cutoffs of the low-pass filters.

Method and apparatus for dynamic noise reduction for doppler audio output

A method of calibrating Doppler time-velocity waveforms obtained using a duplex ultrasound scanner. A spectral broadening error margin for the maximum velocity waveform is determined based on a unified theory of intrinsic spectral broadening for pulsed Doppler signals. The error margin is colorized or highlighted in the Doppler waveform display.

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Waukesha, WI, United States of America

Larry Y L Mo