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:
Jan. 21, 2003
Filed:
Feb. 12, 2001
Peter N. Burns, Toronto, CA;
David Hope Simpson, Kenmore, WA (US);
Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V., Eindhoven, NL;
Abstract
An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus and method are provided for segmenting signals from nonlinear targets such as microbubble contrast agents. Received echo signals are separated into their constituent linear and nonlinear components by a Doppler filter using pulse inversion separation. A threshold level is derived from an estimate made of the contributions to the echo signal from linear scattering and noise. Echo signals which exceed the threshold level are segmented as nonlinear (microbubble-originating) signals and displayed as such, whereas signals not exceeding the threshold are suppressed in the image display.