Surgery – Diagnostic testing – Detecting nuclear – electromagnetic – or ultrasonic radiation
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-30
2001-05-29
Lateef, Marvin M. (Department: 3737)
Surgery
Diagnostic testing
Detecting nuclear, electromagnetic, or ultrasonic radiation
Reexamination Certificate
active
06238345
ABSTRACT:
This invention relates to ultrasonic diagnostic imaging systems and, in particular, to ultrasonic diagnostic imaging systems which produce ultrasonic images with an extended field of view.
Ultrasonic diagnostic imaging systems of the 1970s and 1980s were manufactured with what is known as B-arm scanning. In B-arm scanning systems an A line (single beam) transducer was mounted at the end of an articulated arm. The joints of the articulated arm contained sensors which continuously monitored the relative positions of the arm segments, enabling the spatial position of the transducer to be constantly tracked. As the transducer was scanned over the body of the patient, the relative spatial locations of consecutive A lines was computed from the articulated arm sensors, and the A lines were assembled in consecutive, side-by-side locations on an image display. The B arm system was thus capable of painting an ultrasonic image that could laterally extend for the maximum number of successive A lines that the system could store and display and over which the B arm could extend.
In recent years electronically scanned array transducers have been adapted for the same purpose. Since an electronically scanned array transducer automatically produces a two dimensional image, movement of the array transducer in the plane of the image will produce successive, spatially offset two dimensional images. Each new image in a new spatial location can be spatially registered with a previously acquired image with which it overlaps, then combined with the previous images to produce an extended image which is laterally extensive in the direction of motion of the array transducer. The extent of the extended field of view image is determined by the capacity of the ultrasound system to store and display multiple partially overlapping two dimensional images.
An important feature of such extended field of view (EFOV) imaging systems is the ability to quickly and simply register a newly acquired image with the previously assembled extended images. Many techniques are available for registering images by estimating the displacement of one image to another, including cross correlation searching, block matching algorithms, aligning for maximum brightness and others. The algorithms employed by these techniques may be first order, global transformations (translation and/or rotation) or higher order complex processes, based on the nature and magnitude of the displacements. But most of these techniques are highly computationally intensive, requiring extensive processing of a large amount of pixel data. Accordingly it would be desirable to utilize an efficient and reliable technique to register successive images for the production of an extended field of view ultrasonic display.
In accordance with the principles of the present invention, an extended field of view ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system is provided in which images are stored in registered form in an image memory. Each newly acquired image is stored in a memory in which it is spatially aligned with other elemental images used to form an extended field of view image. The image memory has a finite pixel depth which defines the maximum number of elemental images which can be combined at any point in the extended field of view image. The images in the memory are periodically combined to form an extended field of view image.
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Olsson Lars Jonas
Peterson Roy B.
Wissler Thomas Martin
ATL Ultrasound
Imam Ali M.
Lateef Marvin M.
Yorks, Jr. W. Brinton
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