"Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza."
Dave Barry
Make the Most of PatentStorm
See this month's Top Inventors and Most Cited Patents.
Stay on top of the latest patents by subscribing to an RSS feed.
Got questions? Ask a Patent Expert!
Registered users: Manage your profile, comments and alerts.
| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7332850 | Microfabricated ultrasonic transducers with curvature and method for making the same The present invention provides a microfabricated ultrasonic transducers with curvature. The curvature is made possible by thinning the substrate such that it is flexible enough to be mounted on an assembly with the desired curvature. In one aspect of the invention, ... | 02/19/2008 |
| 6755787 | Medical diagnostic ultrasound system and method for versatile processing A method and system for reducing speckle for two and three-dimensional images is disclosed. For two-dimensional imaging, a one and a half or a two-dimensional transducer is used to obtain sequential, parallel or related frames of elevation spaced data. The frames ar... | 06/29/2004 |
| 6626831 | Gated ultrasound imaging apparatus and method An ultrasound imaging system is programmed to acquire first ultrasonic image frames intermittently. These first frames, typically triggered frames synchronized with a selected portion of an ECG cycle, are optimized for high image quality of a contrast age... | 09/30/2003 |
| 6554770 | Medical diagnostic ultrasound imaging methods for extended field of view A medical diagnostic ultrasound imaging system aligns substantially co-planar two-dimensional images to form an extended field of view using improved compounding methods. Using variations in characteristics for each component frame or sub-set of data, the... | 04/29/2003 |
| 6511426 | Medical diagnostic ultrasound system and method for versatile processing A method and system for reducing speckle for two and three-dimensional images is disclosed. For two-dimensional imaging, a one and a half or a two-dimensional transducer is used to obtain sequential, parallel or related frames of elevation spaced data. Th... | 01/28/2003 |
| 6494841 | Medical diagnostic ultrasound system using contrast pulse sequence imaging A medical diagnostic ultrasound imaging method fires a sequence of pulses into a body and then receives, beamforms, weights and sums the resulting echo signals to suppress first order echoes. The sequence of pulses includes at least two pulses that differ... | 12/17/2002 |
| 6432055 | Medical ultrasonic imaging system with three-state ultrasonic pulse and improved pulse generator A three-state, pulse width modulated, bipolar waveform is constructed by summing a first component with an inverted, time-shifted version of the first component. By properly selecting the time interval for the time shift of the second component, frequency... | 08/13/2002 |
| 6360027 | Multiple ultrasound image registration system, method and transducer An ultrasonic imaging system includes an ultrasonic transducer having an image data array and a tracking array at each end of the image data array. The tracking arrays are oriented transversely to the image data array. Images from the image data array are... | 03/19/2002 |
| 6352511 | Medical diagnostic ultrasound system and method for post processing Ultrasound data is generated by a receive beamformer. Ultrasound image processing is applied to the ultrasound data for presentation of an image. Various ones of the ultrasound image processing steps may be reversed. For example, persistence processing ma... | 03/05/2002 |
| 6340348 | Contrast agent imaging with destruction pulses in diagnostic medical ultrasound The invention is directed to improvements in diagnostic medical ultrasound contrast agent imaging. In a preferred embodiment, high pulse repetition frequency (HPRF) destruction pulses are fired at a rate higher than necessary for receiving returning echoe... | 01/22/2002 |
| 6322511 | Methods and apparatus for ultrasound image quantification A method and apparatus for quantifying and displaying ultrasound signals in an ultrasonic system are provided. A first signal value for each of at least one spatial location in a region of interest is acquired at a first time, and the signal values are su... | 11/27/2001 |
| 6322505 | Medical diagnostic ultrasound system and method for post processing Ultrasound data is generated by a receive beamformer. Ultrasound image processing is applied to the ultrasound data for presentation of an image. Various ones of the ultrasound image processing steps may be reversed. For example, persistence processing ma... | 11/27/2001 |
| 6306095 | Gated ultrasound imaging apparatus and method An ultrasound imaging system is programmed to acquire first ultrasonic image frames intermittently. These first frames, typically triggered frames synchronized with a selected portion of an ECG cycle, are optimized for high image quality of a contrast age... | 10/23/2001 |
| 6258029 | Methods and apparatus for ultrasound image quantification A method and apparatus for quantifying and displaying ultrasound signals in an ultrasonic system are provided. A first signal value for each of at least one spatial location in a region of interest is acquired at a first time, and the signal values are su... | 07/10/2001 |
| 6241677 | Method and apparatus for ultrasound image quantification A method and apparatus for quantifying and displaying ultrasound signals in an ultrasonic system are provided. A first signal value for each of at least one spatial location in a region of interest is acquired at a first time, and the signal values are su... | 06/05/2001 |
| 6221018 | Medical ultrasonic diagnostic imaging method and apparatus A medical diagnostic ultrasonic imaging method and system subdivide the transmit aperture into two or more subapertures, each subaperture having at least four adjacent transducer elements. The subapertures are phased differently with respect to one anothe... | 04/24/2001 |
| 6222948 | Multiple ultrasound image registration system, method and transducer An ultrasonic imaging system includes an ultrasonic transducer having an image data array and a tracking array at each end of the image data array. The tracking arrays are oriented transversely to the image data array. Images from the image data array are... | 04/24/2001 |
| 6201900 | Multiple ultrasound image registration system, method and transducer An ultrasonic imaging system includes an ultrasonic transducer having an image data array and a tracking array at each end of the image data array. The tracking arrays are oriented transversely to the image data array. Images from the image data array are... | 03/13/2001 |
| 6193664 | Method and apparatus for ultrasound image quantification A method and apparatus for quantifying and displaying ultrasound signals in an ultrasonic system are provided. A first signal value for each of at least one spatial location in a region of interest is acquired at a first time, and the signal values are su... | 02/27/2001 |
| 6193659 | Medical ultrasonic diagnostic imaging method and apparatus An improvement to the method for harmonic imaging including the steps of (a) transmitting ultrasonic energy at a fundamental frequency and (b) receiving reflected ultrasonic energy at a harmonic of the fundamental frequency is provided. The transmitting s... | 02/27/2001 |
| 6177923 | Imaging modality showing energy and velocity Both the energy and velocity contents of received Doppler and time shift signals are simultaneously displayed. A continuous range of imaging modes are provided ranging from velocity imaging to energy imaging. The user may select the particular imaging mod... | 01/23/2001 |
| 6132376 | Multiple ultrasonic image registration system, method and transducer An ultrasonic imaging system includes an ultrasonic transducer having an image data array and a tracking array at each end of the image data array. The tracking arrays are oriented transversely to the image data array. Images from the image data array are... | 10/17/2000 |
| 6120448 | Diagnostic medical ultrasonic imaging method and system for selectively processing harmonic and fundamental image information A diagnostic medical ultrasonic imaging method and system form first and second signals as a function of the Nth power of the absolute value of first and second ultrasound receive signals. These receive signals are associated with respective first and sec... | 09/19/2000 |
| 6117082 | Medical diagnostic ultrasound imaging system and method with fractional harmonic seed signal Medical diagnostic ultrasonic imaging systems and methods image at a fractional harmonic such as f0 /2 or 3f0 /2, where f0 is the fundamental frequency of the associated transmit beam. In order to improve fractional harmon... | 09/12/2000 |
| 6110118 | Method and apparatus for ultrasound image quantification A method and apparatus for quantifying and displaying ultrasound signals in an ultrasonic system are provided. A first signal value for each of at least one spatial location in a region of interest is acquired at a first time, and the signal values are su... | 08/29/2000 |
| 6110120 | Gated ultrasound imaging apparatus and method An ultrasound imaging system is programmed to acquire first ultrasonic image frames intermittently. These first frames, typically triggered frames synchronized with a selected portion of an ECG cycle, are optimized for high image quality of a contrast age... | 08/29/2000 |
| 6102865 | Multiple ultrasound image registration system, method and transducer An ultrasonic imaging system includes an ultrasonic transducer having an image data array and a tracking array at each end of the image data array. The tracking arrays are oriented transversely to the image data array. Images from the image data array are... | 08/15/2000 |
| 6093149 | Method and apparatus for setting the integration interval for time integrated surface integral in an ultrasound imaging system A method and apparatus for quantifying and displaying ultrasound signals in an ultrasonic system are provided. A first signal value for each of at least one spatial location in a region of interest is acquired at a first time, and the signal values are su... | 07/25/2000 |
| 6086539 | Methods and apparatus for ultrasound image quantification A method and apparatus for quantifying and displaying ultrasound signals in an ultrasonic system are provided. A first signal value for each of at least one spatial location in a region of interest is acquired at a first time, and the signal values are su... | 07/11/2000 |
| 6042545 | Medical diagnostic ultrasound system and method for transform ultrasound processing The preferred embodiment includes a method and system for processing ultrasound data during or after compression. Various compression algorithms, such as JPEG compression, are used to transfer ultrasound data. The ultrasound data may include image (i.e. v... | 03/28/2000 |
| 6030344 | Methods and apparatus for ultrasound image quantification A method and apparatus for quantifying and displaying ultrasound signals in an ultrasonic system are provided. A first signal value for each of at least one spatial location in a region of interest is acquired at a first time, and the signal values are su... | 02/29/2000 |
| 6016285 | Method and apparatus for coherent image formation A method and apparatus are provided for imaging an object using a transducer array for transmitting one or more beams that are steered and/or translated to transmit scan lines for multiple excitation events so as to scan a field of view of the object, for... | 01/18/2000 |
| 6014473 | Multiple ultrasound image registration system, method and transducer An ultrasonic imaging system includes an ultrasonic transducer having an image data array and a tracking array at each end of the image data array. The tracking arrays are oriented transversely to the image data array. Images from the image data array are... | 01/11/2000 |
| 5976090 | Broadband phased array transducer design with frequency controlled two dimension capability and methods for manufacture thereof There is provided a transducer array with a plurality of piezoelectric elements having a minimum and maximum thickness. In one embodiment, the maximum thickness is less than or equal to 140 percent of the minimum thickness. In an alternate embodiment, the... | 11/02/1999 |
| 5957852 | Ultrasonic harmonic imaging system and method The system described ultrasonically images a target with energy spreading transmissions. Generally, ultrasonic energy corresponding to a line focus is transmitted into a target at a fundamental center frequency. The target may or may not include contrast ... | 09/28/1999 |
| 5957845 | Gated ultrasound imaging apparatus and method An ultrasound imaging system is programmed to acquire first ultrasonic image frames intermittently. These first frames, typically triggered frames synchronized with a selected portion of an ECG cycle, are optimized for high image quality of a contrast age... | 09/28/1999 |
| 5928151 | Ultrasonic system and method for harmonic imaging in three dimensions An ultrasound method and system are provided for producing three dimensional images. During an imaging session, a transducer, in response to a transmit beamformer, transmits ultrasonic energy at a first frequency band into a subject. The subject may be ke... | 07/27/1999 |
| 5924991 | Ultrasonic system and method for harmonic imaging in three dimensions An ultrasound method and system are provided for producing three dimensional images. During an imaging session, a transducer, in response to a transmit beamformer, transmits ultrasonic energy at a first frequency band into a subject. The subject may be ke... | 07/20/1999 |
| 5899864 | Adaptive temporal filtering to enhance fluid flow or tissue motion imaging The energy, power or amplitude of Doppler or time shift information signals is compared to a threshold in order to select a large or small weighting factor for temporal persistence. In the event of a "flash" signal or strong arterial flow signal, a small ... | 05/04/1999 |
| 5793701 | Method and apparatus for coherent image formation A method and apparatus are provided for imaging an object using a transducer array for transmitting one or more beams that are steered and/or translated to transmit scan lines for multiple excitation events so as to scan a field of view of the object, for... | 08/11/1998 |