An ultrasound diagnostic device including a transmitter, a first image processor, a second image processor, and an image synthesizer. The transmitter alternates between first transmission events that include transmission of first detection waves and second transmission events that include transmission of second detection waves. The first image processor generates frames of first images based on reception signals corresponding to a plurality of the first transmission events. The second image processor generates frames of second images based on reception signals corresponding to the second transmission events. The image synthesizer superimposes the second images on the first images to generate synthesized images. Frame rate of the second images is higher than that of the first images. The transmitter performs a third transmission event prior to the second transmission events that includes transmission of a plurality of the first detection waves to acquire reception signals corresponding to one frame of the first images.

An ultrasound system produces 3D images at a high framerate of display. A volumetric region is scanned with plane wave or diverging transmit beams to insonify a large part of or even the entire volumetric region with each transmit event. To avoid the acquisition of clutter signals in the azimuth and elevation dimensions, the plane waves or diverging beams are transmitted at angles intermediate the elevation and azimuth directions. By transmitting plane waves or diverging beams at multiple different angles which are each a combination of both the elevation and azimuth directions, sidelobe clutter is reduced in the resulting compounded images.

An ultrasound system produces high quality images at a high framerate of display. A plane or volume to be imaged is scanned by different diverging transmit beams to acquire a series of different sub-frames, the number of sub-frame acquisitions comprising a total number of transmit beams which would produce a high quality image. The echoes received in response to the transmit beams of a sub-frame are coherently combined with the echoes received in other sub-frames. Each time the echoes of a new sub-frame have been coherently combined with the echoes of all other different sub-frames, a full image is produced. After a complete series of sub-frames has been received and the echoes combined, another series of sub-frame acquisition is commenced and a new series of sub-frames acquired. As each new sub-frame is acquired, it is coherently combined with all the other different and most recently acquired sub-frames. This technique produces a new image at the sub-frame scanning rate, rather than awaiting a completely new series of sub-frames before forming a new image.

A multiple aperture ultrasound imaging system may be configured to store raw, un-beamformed echo data. Stored echo data may be retrieved and re-beamformed using modified parameters in order to enhance the image or to reveal information that was not visible or not discernible in an original image. Raw echo data may also be transmitted over a network and beamformed by a remote device that is not physically proximate to the probe performing imaging. Such systems may allow physicians or other practitioners to manipulate echo data as though they were imaging the patient directly, even without the patient being present. Many unique diagnostic opportunities are made possible by such systems and methods.

A method for ultrafast compound plane wave imaging based on a broadband acoustic metamaterial: controlling the transmit-receive ultrasonic probe to emit an ultrasonic signal at a preset transmit frequency and a first preset transmit angle, the preset transmit frequency is equal to a response frequency of the acoustic metamaterial structure; controlling the transmit-receive ultrasonic probe to receive, at a preset receive frequency and separately at a first preset receive angle, a second preset receive angle, a third preset receive angle, echo signals reflected by a measured object, where the preset receive frequency is n times the preset transmit frequency, the first preset receive angle is equal to the first preset transmit angle, the second preset receive angle is smaller than the first preset transmit angle, the third preset receive angle is larger than the first preset transmit angle; using the echo signals to reconstruct an image of the measured object.

Disclosed are an ultrasonic imaging system and method thereof. An ultrasonic probe is controlled to transmit ultrasonic waves to a region of interest at a plurality of steering angles respectively. Ultrasonic echoes are received to obtain the channel echo data. The channel echo data corresponding to at least part of the steering angles are beam-formed with the same receiving-line grid to obtain the beam-formed data.

A catheter-based ultrasound imaging system configured to provide a full circumferential 360-degree view around an intra-vascular/intra-cardiac imaging-catheter-head by generating a three-dimensional view of the tissue surrounding the imaging-head over time. The ultrasound imaging system can also provide tissue-state mapping capability. The evaluation of the vasculature and tissue characteristics include path and depth of lesions during cardiac-interventions such as ablation. The ultrasound imaging system comprises a catheter with a static or rotating sensor array tip supporting continuous circumferential rotation around its axis, connected to an ultrasound module and respective processing machinery allowing ultrafast imaging and a rotary motor that translates radial movements around a longitudinal catheter axis through a rotary torque transmitting part to rotate the sensor array-tip. This allows the capture and reconstruction of information of the vasculature including tissue structure around the catheter tip for generation of the three-dimensional view over time.

Vector Doppler Imaging (VDI) improves on conventional Color Doppler Imaging (CDI) by giving speed and direction of blood flow at each pixel of a display generated by a computing system. Multiple angles of Plane wave transmissions (PWT) via an ultrasound transducer conveniently give projected Doppler measurements over a wide field of view, providing enough angular diversity to identify velocity vectors in a short time window while capturing transitory flow dynamics. A fast, aliasing-resistant velocity vector estimator for PWT is presented, and VDI imaging of a carotid artery with a 5 MHz linear array is shown using a novel synthetic particle flow visualization method.

An ultrasound imaging system (1) comprises an ultrasound transducer array (100) comprising a plurality of ultrasound transducer tiles (101a-d), each of said tiles having an independently adjustable orientation such as to conform an ultrasound transmitting surface to a region of a body (50) including a foreign object such as a pacemaker, a stent, or an interventional tool (200). Using a known spatial arrangement of a plurality of features (201-204) of the foreign object (200), the respective ultrasound images generated by the ultrasound transducer tiles are registered in order to generate a composite image, in which the position and orientation of the foreign object in the individual images is superimposed. The position and orientation of an interventional tool may be determined for each image using object recognition algorithms or using acoustic feedback information provided by at least three ultrasound sensors (201-204) arranged in a known spatial arrangement on the interventional tool.

The present invention provides an improved ultrasound imaging system arranged to evaluate a set of acquired 3D image data in order to provide a compounded 3D image of a fetus irrespective of its position and movement. This is achieved by providing an ultrasound imaging system comprising: an ultrasound probe having an ultrasound transducer array operable to acquire at different look directions a plurality of three dimensional (3D) ultrasound image frames of a volumetric region comprising a fetus; a compound image memory for storing the acquired plurality of the 3D ultrasound image frames and an articulated fetal model with a common fetal structure; an ultrasound image processor responsive to the plurality of 3D ultrasound image frames, said processor comprising a fetal segmentation unit arranged to segment each 3D image frame based on the articulated fetal model thereby providing a plurality of spatially related 3D images of the volumetric region; and an image quality analyzer coupled to the segmentation unit and arranged to determine, based on the articulated fetal model, an overall confidence value of the plurality of the 3D images, said image quality analyzer is further arranged to compare the overall confidence value with an image compounding threshold.