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:
Dec. 12, 2000
Filed:
Dec. 31, 1998
David T Dubberstein, Hales Corners, WI (US);
Olaf T von Ramm, Efland, NC (US);
Duke University, Durham, NC (US);
Abstract
Multiple transmit ultrasound beams are generated by an ultrasound transducer at different frequencies in different directions in a region of a body during a maximum scan range interval. Transmitting multiple transmit ultrasound beams during the maximum scan range interval may provide an increase in the data acquisition rate compared to conventional ultrasound imaging systems. The transmit ultrasound beams are tracked using parallel receive processing and filtered to provide ultrasound scan lines for display. The respective directions of the transmit ultrasound beams are selected to define a separation angle therebetween which may reduce interference between the transmit ultrasound beams. The maximum scan range interval includes a time interval from a first start time to a second start time which is less than a total time for one of the transmit ultrasound beams to propagate to a maximum scan range in the region and a corresponding reflected transmit ultrasound beam to propagate from the maximum scan range to the ultrasound transducer. The ultrasound scan lines are displayed using a line-by-line frequency interlace pattern which may reduce the effect of frequency dependent attenuation in the region. The line-by-line frequency interlacing may also reduce a difference in speckle size due to the different frequencies.