Acuson Corporation

Mehebub S Karmali

Samuel H Maslak

Paul E Chandler

Hugh G Larsen

Joel S Chaffin

Ian A Galton

David J Finger

Donald R Langdon

John W Cherry

An ultrasound acoustic scan conversion device includes an accumulator, an error correction logic unit, and a walk controller. The error correction logic unit is responsive to the accumulator and contains an error correction circuit. The walk controller is responsive to the accumulator and generates a display memory address and selects increment values for the accumulator. A method of performing scan conversion in an ultrasound system is also provided. The method includes the steps of loading at least one register within an accumulator, producing an acoustic coordinate responsive to the accumulator, producing a natural grid acoustic range value, offsetting the acoustic coordinate to produce a natural grid acoustic range value, addressing the acoustic data memory with an acoustic data memory address responsive to the natural grid range value, generating a display memory address corresponding to the acoustic data memory address, and addressing the display memory with the generated display memory address.

Device and method for performing acoustic scan conversion

An acoustic scanning method and apparatus implemented by transmitting ultrasonic pressure waves and receiving return echoes on a set of spatially non-overlapping acoustic lines scanned along a transducer array with the active acoustic lines shifted and steered so that each acoustic line originates at an arbitrary point on and at an arbitrary angle to the face of the array. In a preferred embodiment, an extension of each acoustic line may also pass through a substantially common vertex that is not on the face of the transducer array, but preferably behind it a selectable distance to provide an extended field of view. The extended field-of-view is defined by the selectively variable location of the common vertex of the acoustic lines and the physical ends of the array, may use the entire transducer array in the near-field, has high quality resolution in both near and far fields, and may simultaneously transmit and receive two or more ultrasound beams from the same transducer aperture.

Variable origin-variable acoustic scanning method and apparatus

An acoustic scanning method and apparatus implemented by transmitting ultrasonic pressure waves and receiving return echoes on a set of spatially non-overlapping acoustic lines scanned along a curved linear transducer array with the active acoustic lines shifted and steered so that each acoustic line originates at an arbitrary point on and at an arbitrary angle to the face of the array. In a preferred embodiment, an extension of each acoustic line may also pass through a substantially common vertex that is a selectable distance behind the array to provide a field-of-view defined by the selectively variable location of the common vertex and the physical ends of the array, may use the entire transducer array in the near-field, has high quality resolution in both near and far fields, and may simultaneously transmit and receive two or more ultrasound beams from the same transducer aperture.

Variable origin-variable angle acoustic scanning method and apparatus

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Fremont, CA, United States of America

Mehebub S Karmali