System and method for ultrasound imaging of tissue through bone

Abstract

A transducer transmits into the bone a first plurality of excitation pulses at a plurality of frequencies and measures a plurality of echoes corresponding to the plurality of excitation pulses. An ultrasound machine calculates a plurality of energies each corresponding to a respective one of the plurality of echoes and identifies a lowest echo corresponding to a lowest of the plurality of energies. The ultrasound machine matches the lowest echo to a corresponding one of the first plurality of excitation pulses, the corresponding one of the first plurality of excitation pulses having a chosen frequency. The ultrasound machine generates an acoustic impulse response by deconvolving the corresponding one of the first plurality of excitation pulses with the lowest echo, and generates an updated sensing matrix by convolving the initial sensing matrix with the acoustic impulse response. Subsequent ultrasounds use the updated sensing matrix.