Surgery – Diagnostic testing – Detecting nuclear – electromagnetic – or ultrasonic radiation
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-14
2003-01-21
Lateef, Marvin M. (Department: 3737)
Surgery
Diagnostic testing
Detecting nuclear, electromagnetic, or ultrasonic radiation
Reexamination Certificate
active
06508763
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND
This invention relates to a medical diagnostic ultrasound system and method. Ultrasound systems generate a sequence of images representing a region of a body. Different processes and hardware are used to generate the images. Many of the processes and hardware components are divided into ultrasound subsystems. Each subsystem is typically implemented with an ASIC. The ASIC is designed to perform a particular process. The processes are determined in part as a function of the system architecture or ASIC based design.
The subsystems are connected to a back plane or common structure to form the ultrasound system. The ultrasound system typically is mounted on a large wheeled cart.
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention is defined by the following claims, and nothing in this section shall be a limitation on those claims.
By way of introduction, the following preferred embodiments include a medical diagnostic ultrasound imaging system with at least one reprogrammable logic device, such as, for example, a field programmable gate array (“FPGA”). In one presently preferred embodiment, at least one reprogrammable logic device in the ultrasound system is reconfigured for probe changes (e.g., phased-array, curved array), for operator control changes (such as system mode changes, e.g., B-Mode, color Doppler), and/or dynamically as part of system operation (such as between ultrasonic pulse firings and/or between frames). By utilizing at least one reprogrammable logic device, the preferred embodiments reduce the size and cost of the ultrasound system without compromising the performance characteristics of the system. Further, unlike ultrasound systems that accommodate different sets of requirements by designing hardware modules to the most demanding requirements or by using separate hardware circuits for each alternative, the presently preferred embodiments provide a much less complex and costly solution.
The preferred embodiments will now be described in conjunction with the following drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3603729 (1971-09-01), Sperber
patent: 4335427 (1982-06-01), Hunt et al.
patent: 4337481 (1982-06-01), Mick et al.
patent: 4431007 (1984-02-01), Amazeen et al.
patent: 4444196 (1984-04-01), Stein
patent: 4585008 (1986-04-01), Jarkewicz
patent: 4729379 (1988-03-01), Ohe
patent: 4750367 (1988-06-01), Bernatets
patent: 4751846 (1988-06-01), Dousse
patent: 4785818 (1988-11-01), Hardin
patent: 4846188 (1989-07-01), Yoshioka
patent: 4878115 (1989-10-01), Elion
patent: 4887306 (1989-12-01), Hwang et al.
patent: 4888694 (1989-12-01), Chesarek
patent: 5000182 (1991-03-01), Hinks
patent: 5040537 (1991-08-01), Katakura
patent: 5060515 (1991-10-01), Kanda et al.
patent: 5099847 (1992-03-01), Powers et al.
patent: 5103823 (1992-04-01), Acharya et al.
patent: 5142558 (1992-08-01), Franciose
patent: 5152290 (1992-10-01), Freeland
patent: 5181513 (1993-01-01), Touboul et al.
patent: 5215094 (1993-06-01), Franklin et al.
patent: 5233993 (1993-08-01), Kawano
patent: 5235985 (1993-08-01), McMorrow et al.
patent: 5251027 (1993-10-01), Labeau
patent: 5255683 (1993-10-01), Monaghan
patent: 5325858 (1994-07-01), Moriizumi
patent: 5325859 (1994-07-01), Ishihara et al.
patent: 5345426 (1994-09-01), Lipschutz
patent: 5357580 (1994-10-01), Forestieri et al.
patent: 5388079 (1995-02-01), Kim et al.
patent: 5425366 (1995-06-01), Reinhardt et al.
patent: 5456257 (1995-10-01), Johnson et al.
patent: 5457996 (1995-10-01), Kondo et al.
patent: 5467770 (1995-11-01), Smith et al.
patent: 5469851 (1995-11-01), Lipschutz
patent: 5476096 (1995-12-01), Olstad et al.
patent: 5482046 (1996-01-01), Deitrich
patent: 5513640 (1996-05-01), Yamazaki et al.
patent: 5520187 (1996-05-01), Snyder
patent: 5530681 (1996-06-01), Bloom
patent: 5533510 (1996-07-01), Koch, III et al.
patent: 5544128 (1996-08-01), Kim et al.
patent: 5544655 (1996-08-01), Daigle
patent: 5555534 (1996-09-01), Maslak et al.
patent: 5564428 (1996-10-01), Soernmo et al.
patent: 5568813 (1996-10-01), Deitrich et al.
patent: 5570691 (1996-11-01), Wright et al.
patent: 5573001 (1996-11-01), Petrofsky et al.
patent: 5581517 (1996-12-01), Gee et al.
patent: 5595179 (1997-01-01), Wright et al.
patent: 5619995 (1997-04-01), Lobodzinski
patent: 5647360 (1997-07-01), Bani-Hashemi et al.
patent: 5653236 (1997-08-01), Miller
patent: 5666955 (1997-09-01), Kondo et al.
patent: 5722412 (1998-03-01), Pflugrath et al.
patent: 5735797 (1998-04-01), Muzilla et al.
patent: 5758649 (1998-06-01), Iwashita et al.
patent: 5784336 (1998-07-01), Gopinathan et al.
patent: 5797846 (1998-08-01), Seyed-Bolorforosh et al.
patent: 5825431 (1998-10-01), Walker
patent: 5873824 (1999-02-01), Doi et al.
patent: 5893363 (1999-04-01), Little et al.
patent: 5970025 (1999-10-01), Cole et al.
patent: 5971928 (1999-10-01), Dodd et al.
patent: 5993390 (1999-11-01), Savord et al.
patent: 6028809 (2000-02-01), Schleicher et al.
patent: 6115626 (2000-09-01), Whayne et al.
patent: 6120449 (2000-09-01), Snyder
patent: 6126601 (2000-10-01), Gilling
patent: 6126608 (2000-10-01), Kemme et al.
patent: 6231510 (2001-05-01), Negrin et al.
patent: 6241675 (2001-06-01), Smith et al.
patent: 6251073 (2001-06-01), Imran et al.
patent: 984463 (1982-12-01), None
“The Flexibility of Configurable Computing,” Villasenor and Hutchings, IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, Sep. 1998, vol. 15, No. 5, pp. 67-84.
Declaration of Stuart Carp (1 page).
Declaration of John Williams (7 pages).
Pridham and Mucci, Digital Interpolation Beamforming for Low-Pass and Bandpass Signals Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 67, No. 6, pp 904-919, Jun. 1979.
“System Five—Crisp. Clear. Incomparable Cardiac Images,”<http://www.ge.com/medical/ultrasound/msusys5.html>, 2 pages, 1997-2000.
“System Five—A Better Way to Use Ultrasound Data,”<http://www.ge.com/medical/ultrasound/msu5dat.html>, 2 pages, 1997-2000.
“Perception Ultrasound,”<http://www.perceptionultrasound.com>, 2 pages, printed 2000.
Knell Christopher B.
Lannutti Anthony P.
Randall Kevin S.
Urbano Joseph A.
Wood Andrew J.
Ecton Inc.
Imam Ali M.
Lateef Marvin M.
LandOfFree
Medical diagnostic ultrasound system and method does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Medical diagnostic ultrasound system and method, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Medical diagnostic ultrasound system and method will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3066315