The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 09, 1995
Filed:
May. 09, 1994
Steven F Forestieri, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Diasonics Ultrasound, Inc., Milpitas, CA (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus of processing signals in an ultrasonic imaging system for imaging a living subject. The ultrasonic imaging system including an ultrasonic emitter, receptor and display. N temporally-spaced signals from ultrasound produced by a plurality of temporally-spaced referenced pulses are obtained and the amplitude (power) of each of the N temporally-spaced signals is determined. In various embodiments, N is an odd integer, usually, 1, 3, 5 or 7, depending on a user-setting. A median temporal signal of the N amplitude signals is then obtained. In implemented embodiments, the median is obtained by sorting a list of the N amplitude signals until (N+1)/2 signals have been sorted. The median is temporally filtered with a previous signal displayed on the display of the ultrasonic imaging system, wherein the temporal filtering including a filtering coefficient having a magnitude approximating a cardiac cycle of the living subject. Such processing is especially useful for angiography studies, wherein artifacts are removed providing a higher-quality image than in the prior art.