A method of guiding performance of an ultrasound imaging procedure, comprising: detecting at least a position of an ultrasound probe; determining a position of an imaging region of the ultrasound probe relative to a target based on the at least detected position of the ultrasound probe; displaying a figure representative of an imaging region together with a reference image associated with the target wherein the appearance of at least part of the figure is dependent on at least the determined position of the imaging region relative to the target; and updating the appearance of at least part of the figure as the ultrasound probe moves relative to the target.

Systems and methods for positioning and orienting an ultrasound probe include receiving a dataset derived from the ultrasound probe, wherein the dataset comprises at least one dataset obtained during a pulsed Doppler mode operation of the probe; analyzing the dataset to identify a current position and orientation of the probe relative to a target position and orientation, wherein the target position and orientation align the probe to correctly acquire a selected view of a body part; and conveying the current position and orientation of the probe relative to the target position and orientation.

A coherence indicator of received signals is calculated for pixels with a small amount of calculation, and a high-quality ultrasound image is obtained. A plurality of types of images in which a sound speed for beamforming is changed into a plurality of types are generated. By arranging, in order of the sound speed for beamforming, signal intensities of the pixels at corresponding positions between the plurality of types of images, a change in signal intensities in a direction of the sound speed for beamforming is obtained. A coherence indicator representing coherence of the received signals used for beamforming of the pixels is calculated based on the obtained change in the signal intensities.

A hand-held ultrasound device, for placement on a subject, includes a semiconductor device and a housing to support the semiconductor device. The semiconductor device includes: a plurality of ultrasonic transducer elements; a plurality of pulsers coupled to the plurality of ultrasonic transducer elements; a plurality of waveform generators configured to drive the plurality of pulsers; receive processing circuitry configured to process ultrasound signals received by the plurality of ultrasonic transducer elements; and a plurality of independently controllable registers configured to store a plurality of different parameters for the waveform generators.

An ultrasound (US) system is discloses and includes a plurality of transducer elements forming a one-dimensional array and a plurality of bias voltage circuits. Each bias voltage circuit is in communication with a respective first set of the transducer elements and configured to apply a bias voltage to its respective first set of the transducer elements. The US system also included a second plurality of transmit and receive circuits. Each transmit and receive circuit is in communication with a respective second set of transducer elements and configured to stimulate signal transmission or reception of the respective second set of transducer elements.

In an ultrasound diagnostic system, in a case where a routine test in which a plurality of parts of a subject are sequentially subjected to ultrasound diagnosis in accordance with a determined procedure is performed and in a case where information on the subject is input from an input unit, a workstation-side control unit makes a workstation-side display unit perform a second display in which one past image and a current image including an ultrasound image newly created in an ultrasound diagnostic device with respect to a part corresponding to the one past image are displayed side by side on a past image region and a current image region adjacent to each other, in an arrangement order of a plurality of past images in a past routine test of the subject stored in the storage unit.

A digital transmit beamformer for an ultrasound system has a waveform sample memory which stores sequences of samples of different pulse transmit waveforms of differing pulse widths. The memory is shared by a plurality of transmit channels, each of which can access its own selected sample sequence, independent of the selections by other channels. Waveform sample readout by the channels occurs substantially simultaneously during a transmit event, producing a transmit beam from a transmit aperture with different pulse waveforms applied to different elements of the transmit aperture. Higher energy waveforms with wider pulse widths are applied to central elements of the aperture and lower energy waveforms with narrower pulse widths are applied to lateral elements of the aperture to produce an apodized transmit beam.

Systems and methods for reconstructing high resolution versions of low resolution cine sequence images are provided. The method includes acquiring a low resolution cine sequence, receiving a user input stopping the acquisition of the cine sequence, and initiating acquisition of a high resolution image. The method includes iteratively reconstructing a high resolution version of each of the low resolution images in the cine sequence in reverse, beginning with a last acquired low resolution image and ending with a first acquired low resolution image. The high resolution version of the last acquired low resolution image is reconstructed based on the last acquired low resolution image and the high resolution image. The high resolution version of each of the low resolution images prior to the last acquired low resolution image is iteratively reconstructed based on a respective low resolution image and the high resolution version of a subsequently acquired low resolution image.

An ultrasound diagnostic apparatus 1 includes an image acquisition unit 3 that generates an ultrasound image, an image recognition unit 9 that performs image recognition for the ultrasound image to calculate recognition scores, an index value calculation unit 10 that calculates index values of a plurality of parts on the basis of the recognition scores calculated for a predetermined number of ultrasound images, a part narrowing-down unit 11 that narrows down target parts for which part determination is to be performed, from the plurality of parts on the basis of the index values, and a part determination unit 12 that determines an imaging part of the subject on the basis of the recognition scores calculated by the image recognition unit 9 for the target parts narrowed down by the part narrowing-down unit 11.

A control device acquires a plurality of images including an ultrasound image and a photoacoustic image taken in an examination, selects a first image and a second image to be displayed superimposed on the first image, based on information relating to the examination, and generates an object for outputting at least information for displaying the second image superimposed on the first image to an external device.