Surgery – Diagnostic testing – Detecting nuclear – electromagnetic – or ultrasonic radiation
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-08
2003-02-04
Lateef, Marvin M. (Department: 3737)
Surgery
Diagnostic testing
Detecting nuclear, electromagnetic, or ultrasonic radiation
C600S447000, C367S138000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06514205
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a medical digital ultrasonic imaging apparatus capable of storing and reusing the RF ultrasound pulse echoes, in which each RF ultrasound pulse echo received from a plurality of transducer elements is stored in order to implement an ultrasonic image of at least one frame, and the stored data are signal-analyzed, to thereby control the system according to the analysis result so that an optimal ultrasonic image can be implemented.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1
is a block diagram showing a configuration of a general medical digital ultrasonic imaging apparatus.
In
FIG. 1
, a main central processing unit (CPU)
100
controls the entire ultrasonic imaging apparatus according to user's instruction via a control panel
110
. A transmitter
101
applies a transmission pulse to N elements of an array transducer. A receiver
102
receives a RF ultrasound pulse echo (referred to a RF signal) reflected and returned from an object to each transducer element. The receiver
102
consists of a pre-amplifier, a time gain compensation (TGC) amplifier, and a filter for each array element. A beamforming unit
103
performs a dynamic focusing of the receiver
102
outputs with respect to all image points thereof in order to improve a resolution of an ultrasonic image. An ultrasonic echo processor
104
receives the focused signal and performs a series of a signal processing operations in order to obtain various modalities of ultrasonic images. A color flow (CF) processor
105
and a scan converter
106
receive the signal output from the ultrasonic echo processor
104
and implement a two-dimensional CF image and a B-mode image, respectively. A Doppler processor
108
receives the signal output from the ultrasonic echo processor
104
and a continuous wave/ElectroCadioGram (CW/ECG) unit
107
and implements a spectral Doppler waveform. An video/audio signal processor
109
processes the video/audio signal outputs from the CF processor
105
, the scan converter
106
and the Doppler processor
108
and the results are output to a screen/speaker
111
or a recorder
112
for recording. Also, the video signal and the audio signal which have been recorded on the recorder
112
are output to the screen/speaker
111
as needed by a user.
FIG. 2
is a detailed block diagram showing the configuration of the beamforming unit
103
of FIG.
1
.
The beamforming unit
103
of
FIG. 2
includes an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter
11
which samples the received RF signals for N tranducer elements and a beamformer
12
for focusing the A/D converter
11
outputs and outputting the focused result.
The A/D converter
11
is comprised of a plurality of A/D converters
13
. Here, nth A/D converter
13
(
n
) receives the RF signal received at nth transducer element among the N transducer elements from a receiver which is not shown in FIG.
2
and samples the received RF signal.
The beamformer
12
includes a plurality of time/phase delay unit
14
, a plurality of buffers
15
and an a summer
16
. Here, the nth time/phase delay unit
14
(
n
) receives the data output from the nth A/D converter
13
(
n
) and stores the received data temporarily in the nth buffer
15
(
n
) of small capacity. A first-in-first-out (FIFO) memory or a two-port memory is used as a buffer. The data output from each A/D converter is sequentially stored in each corresponding buffer. Thus, each buffer is capable of storing data necessary for time delay or phase delay.
When all data for focusing the RF signal at a desired image point are input to the nth buffer
15
(
n
), the nth time/phase delay unit
14
(
n
) impose the focusing delays on the data stored in the corresponding nth buffer
15
(
n
). The time and/or phase-delayed data are summed by an adder
16
to finish the focusing process.
The data output from each A/D converter
13
, which are stored in each buffer
15
are continuously changed since the focusing delay for each element changes with a depth. Generally, the data output from each A/D converter
13
and stored in each buffer
15
disappears if a focusing process is completed, and thus cannot be re-used. Also, an accurate focusing of the RF signals received from a plurality of the transducer elements is not accomplished due to the waveform distortion that occurs due to various physical phenomena as the ultrasound travels in an object. Thus, in most cases, it is not possible to actually obtain an ultrasonic image with the best resolution that can be achieved theoretically.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To solve the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for storing each RF ultrasound pulse echo received from a plurality of transducer elements in order to implement an ultrasonic image of at least one frame.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a medical digital ultrasonic imaging apparatus that can analyze and reuse the stored RF ultrasound pulse echoes to further enhance the ultrasonic image.
To accomplish the above object of the present invention, there is provided a storing method for using RF ultrasound pulse echoes received from a plurality of transducer elements in a digital ultrasonic imaging system, the storing method comprising the steps of: (a) sampling each RF ultrasound pulse echo; and (b) storing the sampled data for implementing an ultrasonic image of at least one frame.
There is also provided a medical digital ultrasonic imaging apparatus for focusing each RF ultrasound pulse echo received from a plurality of transducer elements and implementing an ultrasonic image, the medical digital ultrasonic imaging apparatus comprising: a receiver for converting each RF ultrasound pulse echo into an electrical signal and outputting the converted result; beamforming unit for sampling each of the RF ultrasound pulse echoes output from the receiver, storing the sampled data for implementing an ultrasonic image of at least one frame, focusing the sampled data or the stored sampled data and outputting the focused result; a signal processor for receiving the focused signal from the beamforming unit and performing a series of signal processing for implementing the ultrasonic image; and a controller for controlling the entire apparatus.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5675554 (1997-10-01), Cole et al.
patent: 5795297 (1998-08-01), Daigle
patent: 6248073 (2001-06-01), Gilbert et al.
Lee Min Hwa
Song Tai Kyong
F. Chau & Associates LLP
Jain Ruby
Lateef Marvin M.
Medison Co. Ltd.
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