Siemens Medical Solutions Usa, Inc.

Siemens Medical Systems, Inc.

Michael Aden

Stephen Bruce Hooper

Andrew Lyle Walston

Brian W Epps

Richard Y Lim

Ellen Fitch

A system and a method of manipulating system parameters directly from displayed graphics utilize universal controls whose functions can vary depending on the current position of a cursor on a display device of the system. The system may be an imaging system based on ultrasound, magnetic resonance, computed tomography technology, or other modalities. The universal controls allow the number of controls included in the control panel of the system to be significantly reduced, since each universal control can perform functions of multiple hard controls. The universal controls may be pushbutton rotatable dials or rotatable toggles. In operation, when the cursor is positioned over one of the cursor-sensitive target areas, a control assignor of the system designates functions that correspond to that cursor-sensitive target area to the universal controls. The system also includes a display controller that controls the operations of displayed cursor-sensitive graphic elements. The cursor-sensitive graphic elements that are manipulated by the display controller include an annotation area, a pictogram area, toolbar buttons, and region of interest (ROI) controls. Depending on the selected cursor-sensitive graphic element, a menu of selectable graphics or an on-screen control may be displayed. The system also includes a selective print driver that operates to selectively prevent certain undesirable graphics from being printed.

Ultrasound system and method for direct manipulation interface

A method and a system for storing and managing dimensional measurement values and the underlying ultrasound images utilize a report generator that operates to generate an examination report of an ultrasound examination having saved measurement values. The examination report allows for an expedient access to the corresponding ultrasound images that were used to derive the measurement values. In addition, the report generator operates to automatically save the ultrasound image when a measurement value that was computed from that ultrasound image is saved. This feature ensures that for each saved measurement value, the corresponding ultrasound image is also saved. The system utilizes ultrasound waves to image various anatomical features of a patient or a fetus. Examples of anatomical features that may be imaged by the system include the femur, the humerus and the head of a fetus. These ultrasound images are used to compute measurements of the anatomical features. In one embodiment, the examination report generated by the report generator and displayed on a display device of the system contains a number of virtual buttons that are associated with the saved measurement values. When a virtual button is activated, the corresponding ultrasound image of the measurement value that is associated with the activated virtual button is displayed on the display device. In another embodiment, the virtual buttons are replaced by hyperlinks. The virtual buttons or the hyperlinks facilitate expedient access to a particular ultrasound image that corresponds to a measurement value on the examination report that is of interest.

Method and system for correlating exam worksheet values to supporting measurements

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Bellevue, WA, United States of America

Michael Aden