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:
Jul. 30, 1996
Filed:
Sep. 29, 1995
Ming Li, Seattle, WA (US);
Siemens Medical Systems, Inc., Iselin, NJ (US);
Abstract
An interrogation region of a patient's body is scanned with an ultrasonic probe. At least one input data frame is generated representing the scanned interrogation region as a pattern of image elements, each with a corresponding input intensity value, that are stored in a memory. The input data frame is then displayed as a pattern of displayed intensity values, which the processor calculates as combination of a geometry-independent function of an ambient light input array and a geometry-dependent function of the input intensity values, in which the geometry-dependent function includes a coefficient term that multiplies the input intensity array and that itself is a function of the input intensity values. As part of the coefficient term is a filtered input data array, which results from noise-floor filtering, low-pass filtering, and surface normal vector averaging of the input intensity array. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the user selects an assumed light source vector, and/or an assumed viewer direction vector, which are the incorporated into the geometry-dependent function used to calculate displayed intensity values.