Multiple transmit zone splicing

Patent 5579770 Issued on December 3, 1996. Estimated Expiration Date:

May 2, 2015. Estimated Expiration Date is calculated based on simple USPTO term provisions. It does not account for terminal disclaimers, term adjustments, failure to pay maintenance fees, or other factors which might affect the term of a patent.

Abstract Claims Description Full Text

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Inventor

Finger, David J.

Application

No. 435091 filed on 05/02/1995

US Classes:

600/447, Electronic array scanning73/626Switched

Examiners

Primary: Manuel, George

Attorney, Agent or Firm

Majestic, Parsons, Siebert & Hsue

Foreign Patent References

1329733 FR. 05/13/1963
1534366 GB. 07/13/1976
2045435 GB. 10/13/1980

International Class

A61B 008/00

Abstract

The invention includes a method and system for multiple transmit zone splicing in an ultrasound imaging system. Acoustic signals from a pair of adjacent transmit zones are crossfaded in a region where the two transmit zones overlap (an "overlap region"), to produce a set of combined acoustic signals that transition from one transmit zone to the next with little or no delineation between transmit zones. The crossfade is linear and for the entire overlap region; however, the crossfade may alternatively employ a nonlinear function, or may encompass regions near to the overlap region. When a scan line comprises more than two transmit zones, pairs of transmit zones are crossfaded, preferably at each overlap region. When overlap regions are close to each other, a crossfade employing more than two transmit zones may be employed, such as a linear crossfade in which acoustic signals from three or more transmit zones are weighted and summed.

Other References

Claesson et al., "Frequency--and Depth-Dependent Compensation of Ultrasonic Signals," IEEE Trans. on Ultrasonics, Ferro, and Freq. Control, Sep. 1988. DeClercq et al., Adaptive Gain Control for Dynamic Ultrasound Imaging, 1975
Ultrasonics Symposium Proceedings, pp. 59-63. Janssen et al., "Adaptive Interpolation of Discrete--Time Signals That Can Be Modeled as Autoregressive Processes," IEEE Trans. on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing, Apr. 1986, pp. 317-330
Kristoffersen et al., "A Time-Shared Ultrasound Doppler Measurement and 2-D Imaging System," IEEE Trans. on Biomedical Engineering, May 1988, pp. 285-295
Kuc, "Ultrasonic Tissue Characterization Using Kurtosis," IEEE Trans. on Ultrasonics, Ferro. and Freq. Control, May 1986
Ophir et al., "Digital Scan Converters in Diagnostic Ultrasound Imaging," Proc. of the IEEE, Apr., 1979, pp. 654-66