A61B8/5207

SPARSE SYNTHETIC APERTURE ULTRASOUND METHODS AND SYSTEMS
20230052016 · 2023-02-16 ·

Systems, devices, and methods for sparse synthetic aperture ultrasound (SSAU) imaging and/or range-Doppler applications are described. An example method for SAU imaging includes receiving, via a user interface, an input including an array topology comprising a particular N-dimensional arrangement of a plurality of transducer elements of the SAU system, an objective space, a function characterizing an imaging capability of the SAU system, and one or more constraints, generating, based on the input, an acoustic field over the objective space for each of the plurality of transducer elements of the array topology, selecting one or more transducer elements from the plurality of transducer elements of the array topology based on evaluation of the function, and providing for display, on the user interface, the selected one or more transducer elements that satisfy each of the one or more constraints.

METHOD AND SYSTEM OF PULSE-ECHO ULTRASOUND IMAGING USING PSEUDO-RANDOM SPARSE ARRAYS
20230051063 · 2023-02-16 ·

A method and system of pulse-echo ultrasound imaging by separating transducer elements of an ultrasound transducer array separate subsets, wherein the transducer elements in one subset performs a transmit operation only, and the transducer elements in the other subset perform an echo receive operation only; and grouping the transducer elements into groups of transducer elements based on subset, where each of the groups of transducer elements has the same probability of membership in either a transmit subset or a receive subset; and randomly concatenating the groups of transducer elements into a sparse array.

Ultrasound diagnosis apparatus for measuring and displaying elasticity of object and method of operating the same
11576654 · 2023-02-14 · ·

Provided are a method and ultrasound diagnosis apparatus for measuring and displaying an elasticity of an object. The ultrasound diagnosis apparatus includes: a processor configured to obtain elasticity data of a measurement target region of an object, calculate elasticity values of a plurality of regions included in the measurement target region based on the elasticity data by using different calculating methods, and combine the calculated elasticity values of the plurality of regions to calculate a final elasticity value; and a display configured to display the final elasticity value.

Ultrasound image processing method and ultrasound diagnostic device using same

An ultrasound diagnostic device generates a frame reception signal by compounding sub-frame reception signals acquired from a subject body through an ultrasound probe. The sub-frame reception signals are generated through sub-scans composing an ultrasound scan. Between the sub-scans, a range in the scanned subject body differs due to a different ultrasound beam steering angle used. The diagnostic device includes a control circuit with a reception signal acquirer acquiring sub-frame reception signals, and a map creator creating sub-frame enhancement maps corresponding to the sub-frame reception signals, the maps created by calculating, for a pixel region reception signal, an enhancement amount according to a characteristic value calculated based on the pixel region reception signal. The diagnostic device also includes an enhancement-applied reception signal generator generating an enhancement-applied frame reception signal by compounding pixel region reception signals considering the enhancement amount included in at least one sub-frame enhancement map.

Ultrasound diagnostic apparatus and method for controlling ultrasound diagnostic apparatus
11576646 · 2023-02-14 · ·

An ultrasound diagnostic apparatus 1 includes: a data acquisition unit 3 that repeatedly transmits an ultrasound beam to a subject a plurality of times in a range over a plurality of scanning lines to acquire a time-series data string of reflected waves from the subject; an analysis target data selection unit 7 that estimates the amount of relative positional deviation of a scatterer of the subject which is included in the time-series data string and excludes time-series data satisfying an exclusion condition based on the amount of positional deviation of the scatterer from the time-series data string to select analysis target data; an MTI filter unit 8 that removes a clutter component from the analysis target data; and a blood flow information estimation unit 9 that analyzes the analysis target data from which the clutter component has been removed to estimate blood flow information of the subject.

Ultrasound diagnosis apparatus for controlling volume of Doppler sound and method of controlling the same

Provided is an ultrasound diagnosis apparatus including an image processor configured to generates an ultrasound image on the basis of an ultrasound signal, an image outputter configured to display the ultrasound image generated by the image processor on the basis of a plurality of parameters, a sound outputter configured to output Doppler sound of the ultrasound image, and a controller configured to control a volume of the Doppler sound on the basis of at least one of the plurality of parameters.

METHOD OF PROGNOSIS OF BRONCHOPULMONARY DYSPLASIA IN PREMATURE INFANTS
20230040391 · 2023-02-09 ·

The present invention relates to a method for prognosis the risk of bronchopulmonary dysplasia in premature infant by adjusting a score obtained from lung ultrasound with the gestational age of the infant.

ULTRASOUND DETECTION OF CLOTS IN THE BLOODSTREAM
20230042474 · 2023-02-09 ·

Systems and methods disclosed herein relate to the detection of irregular particles in a blood flow based on a determined relative speed of a particle suspended in a blood flow and/or other properties of a particle suspended in a blood flow including a particle's relative position within a blood vessel and a particles tendency to cluster with other particles suspended in a blood flow. Based on a determined relative speed and/or other relevant factors, the properties of irregular particles may also be measured, including the size, shape, and frequency of irregular particles in a blood flow. Machine learning techniques may be employed to determine patterns for the behavior of irregular particles suspended in a blood flow. These patterns may correspond to particular health risks and conditions.

Automated ultrasonic measurement of nuchal fold translucency

An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system is used to acquire a fetal image in a sagittal view for the performance of a nuchal translucency measurement. After a fetal image has been acquired, a zoom box is positioned over the image, encompassing a region of interest. The size of the zoom box is automatically set for the user in correspondence with gestational age or crown rump length. The system automatically tracks the region of interest within the zoom box in the presence of fetal motion in an effort to maintain the region of interest within the zoom box despite movement by the fetus.

Flag table based beamforming in a handheld ultrasound device
11553896 · 2023-01-17 · ·

A handheld ultrasound device comprises a plurality of components configured to provide decreased size, weight, complexity and power consumption. The handheld ultrasound device may comprise an ultrasound transducer and an analog to digital (“A/D”) converter coupled to the ultrasound transducer. A processor comprising a beamformer can be coupled to the A/D converter and configured to selectively store a plurality of signals from the A/D converter in a memory of the processor. The beamformer can be configured to implement and compress a flag table in place of a delay table. These improvements can decrease the amount of memory used to generate ultrasound images, which can decrease the size weight and power consumption of the handheld ultrasound device.