Koninklijke Philips Corporation N.v.

Boston Scientific Scimed, Inc.

Philips Intellectual Property & Standards Gmbh

Steven Antonie Willem Fokkenrood

Godefridus Antonius Harks

Szabolcs Deladi

Alexander Franciscus Kolen

Harm Jan Willem Belt

Fei Zuo

Franciscus Paulus Maria Budzelaar

Nenad Mihajlovic

Erik Godefridus Antonius Harks

David L McGee

Bin Yin

Teun Van Den Heuvel

Haris Duric

Yingrong Xie

Darrell L Rankin

Monica Tavanti

Nanad Mihajlovic

Aloysius Cornelis Johannes Stroucken

Louis Stroucken

Jens MÜHLSTEFF

Geert Guy Georges Morren

David L Mcgee

Darrel L Rankin

An energy application apparatus applies energy to an object. An energy application unit applies energy to the object, wherein the energy application unit is adapted to use electrical current for applying the energy. A current measuring unit measures the electrical current used by the energy application unit and provides a signal being indicative of whether the energy is applied to the object based on the measured electrical current. The signal can be used by, for instance, a monitoring unit and/or a display unit for using and/or indicating the information whether energy is actually applied or not, without requiring a direct communication between the energy application unit and the monitoring unit and/or the display unit.

Energy application apparatus

The invention relates to an ultrasound data visualization apparatus for visualizing ultrasound data showing an object during an interventional procedure. A reference image () and a current image () of the object are simultaneously displayed, wherein the current image corresponds to a current time interval and the reference image corresponds to a reference time interval and wherein the current time interval and the reference time interval correspond to different phases of the interventional procedure. The current image can be shown therefore with, for instance, a relatively high temporal resolution for allowing a user to observe detailed object changes, which may be caused by the interventional procedure, while an overview over different phases of the interventional procedure can still be provided, because also the reference image is displayed and can be used by a user for comparing the current image with the reference image.

Ultrasound data visualization apparatus

The invention relates to an energy application apparatus () for applying energy to an object (). An energy application unit applies energy to the object, wherein the energy application unit is adapted to use electrical current for applying the energy. A current measuring unit () measures the electrical current used by the energy application unit and provides a signal being indicative of whether the energy is applied to the object based on the measured electrical current. The signal can be used by, for instance, a monitoring unit and/or a display unit for using and/or indicating the information whether energy is actually applied or not, without requiring a direct communication between the energy application unit and the monitoring unit and/or the display unit.

The invention provides a system () for determining an identification characteristic of a medical device () carrying at least an ultrasound emitter/sensor element (). The identification characteristic is based on a detection signal from the ultrasound emitter/sensor element () upon a drive signal. The system () can identify the medical device from a database () of known medical devices. Furthermore, the system () can update the duration and frequency of use of the medical device () and it can prohibit further use of the medical device () when a predetermined limit of use is exceeded.

System for monitoring a use of a medical device

A monitoring apparatus for monitoring an ablation procedure applied to an object comprises an ultrasound signal providing unit for providing an ultrasound signal. The ultrasound signal is produced by sending ultrasound pulses out to the object, by subsequently receiving dynamic echo series after the ultrasound pulses have been reflected by the object, and finally by generating the ultrasound signal depending on the received dynamic echo series, whereby ultrasound scattering properties of the object are determined that represent blood perfusion. The monitoring apparatus further comprises an ablation depth determination unit for determining an ablation depth from the provided ultrasound signal.

Apparatus for determining a property of an object using ultrasound scatter

To sum up, the present invention relates to an examination systemfor examining an associated tissue sample, where the examination system comprises an interventional devicewhich comprises a plurality of ultrasound transducers-and wherein the different ultrasound transducers are arranged to obtain images of different regions of an associated tissue sample, and wherein the examination system furthermore comprises a display devicearranged for showing the images so that each of their positions corresponds to the corresponding positions of the different adjacent tissue sample regions in the adjacent associated tissue sample. A possible advantage of the system may be that relevant information regarding the associated tissue sample is conveyed to an observer in a fast an intuitive manner.

Examination system with multiple ultrasound transducers

The invention relates to an imaging system for imaging a periodically moving object. An assigning unit () assigns ultrasound signals like A-lines to motion phases based on a provided phase signal, wherein an ultrasound images generation unit () generates several ultrasound images like gated M-mode images for the different motion phases based on the ultrasound signals assigned to the respective motion phase. A selecting unit () is used to select an ultrasound image from the generated ultrasound images, wherein a display unit () displays the selected ultrasound image. The selected ultrasound image corresponds therefore to a single motion phase only such that motion artifacts in the displayed ultrasound image are reduced. The imaging system is particularly useful for, for instance, monitoring cardiac ablation procedures.

Imaging system for imaging a periodically moving object

The invention relates to a filtering apparatus () for filtering an ultrasound signal, which is influenced by an electrical unit and comprises a first part including information about an object () from which the ultrasound signal has been received and a second part not comprising information about the object. A correction signal determination unit () determines a correction signal being indicative of the influence of the electrical unit on the ultrasound signal from the second part of the ultrasound signal and a correction unit () corrects the first part of the ultrasound signal based on the determined correction signal for filtering the influence of the electrical unit out of the ultrasound signal. Since the correction signal is indicative of the influence of the electrical unit, wherein the correction signal is used for correcting the ultrasound signal, unwanted interference visible in the unfiltered ultrasound signal can be filtered out.

Filtering apparatus for filtering an ultrasound signal

The invention relates to an imaging system for imaging a periodically moving object. An assigning unit () assigns ultrasound signals like A-lines to motion phases based on a provided phase signal, wherein an ultrasound images generation unit () generates several ultrasound images like gated M-mode images for the different motion phases based on the ultrasound signals assigned to the respective motion phase. The ultrasound images are temporally consecutively displayed on a display unit () for showing the periodic movement of the object (). The resulting dynamic, movie-like image of the object allows a user like a physician to more reliably determine properties of the object like a thickness of a tissue wall, in particular, during an ablation procedure. The imaging system is therefore particularly useful for monitoring cardiac ablation procedures.

In a multi-sensor system and method of monitoring vital body signals during movement of a body of a human or an animal, acceleration sensors are placed at body locations in such a way that an acceleration angle change induced by the vital body signals differs between the at least two acceleration sensors. The retrieval of the vital body signals is achieved by extracting a wanted vital body signal based on measurement results from multiple sensors that may be motion contaminated. Three retrieval schemes are proposed, each with preferred sensor locations that provide optimal performance of retrieving the vital body signal(s).

Monitoring of vital body signals during movement

The invention relates to an apparatus for being used for detecting a property of an object. An ultrasound signal providing unit () provides an ultrasound signal, which is indicative of a property of the object () at one or several depths within the object () and which depends on time, and a periodicity value determination unit () determines a periodicity value being indicative of a degree of temporal periodicity of the ultrasound signal for a constant depth. The temporal periodicity of the ultrasound signal at the respective constant depth, i.e. the periodicity value, depends on the property of the object at this depth and can therefore be used for detecting a property of the object.

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's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands

Steven Antonie Willem Fokkenrood