Advanced application framework system and method for use with a diagnostic medical ultrasound streaming application

• US 20050251040A1
• Filed: 07/13/2005
• Published: 11/10/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/20/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens Medical Solutions USA Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens Medical Solutions USA Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Relkuntwar, Anil V., Leibig, Ruth E., Waataja, David A., Krishnamurthy, Suresh B.
• Granted Patent: US 8,292,811 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/437
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4411 Device being modular
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/483 involving the acquisition of a 3D volume of data
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/565 involving data transmission via a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks

Abstract

An application interface provides an environment in which applications may discover and attach to data streams. The interface facilitates efficient sharing and management of acquired data through arbitration and parallel processing: allowing multiple applications to work in parallel on the same or different data streams to implement independent or co-dependent functionality. Further, the interface acts as a bridge between system address spaces allowing applications to execute in their own address space separate from the resource intensive acquisition processes. The interface also provides an environment for prototyping applications where a user may allocate data streams to an application and debug the application'"'"'s execution. Because the interface provides a standardized/normalized interface to the acquired image data, applications may be developed independent of the imaging system'"'"'s implementation details, data formats and protocols.

Claims

1. An application interface for an ultrasound stream manager of a diagnostic medical ultrasound system, the ultrasound system comprising a first data source operative to generate a first data stream, the first data stream comprising a sequence of digital signals, each of the sequence of digital signals having been derived from at least one ultrasonic echo received by an ultrasound transducer from a subject in response to transmission of acoustic energy into the subject by the transducer, the stream manager operative to facilitate communication of the first data stream between the first data source and the interface, the interface comprising:

a first data stream input coupled with the stream manager and operative to receive the first data stream from the first data source;

a data stream normalization processor coupled with the first data stream input and operative to normalize the first data stream;

a data stream buffer coupled with the data stream normalization processor and operative to store the normalized first data stream;

a first data stream output operative to couple a first application with the interface;

a data stream allocator coupled with the data stream buffer and the first data stream output; and

a request processor coupled with the data stream allocator and operative to receive a request for access to the normalized data stream by the first application and, in response thereto, cause the data stream allocator to provide access to the normalized first data stream to the first application via the first data stream output.

2. The application interface of claim 1, wherein the first data source comprises:

a transducer operative to transmit acoustic energy into a subject and receive a substantially continuous succession of echoes therefrom; and

a converter coupled with the transducer and operative to convert each of the substantially continuous succession of received echoes into the sequence of digital signals as the echoes are received by said transducer.

3. The application interface of claim 1, wherein the first data source comprises:

a data storage device operative to store a representation of the sequence of digital signals previously acquired from an ultrasound transducer, the storage device operative to provide the stored sequence of digital signals to the stream manager.

4. The application interface of claim 1, wherein the first data source comprises an ultrasound image data source selected from the group consisting of B-Mode image data, Color Mode image data, BC-Mode image data, Doppler image data, M-Mode image data, and Pre-scan converted image data.

5. The application interface of claim 1, wherein the first data stream input is coupled with the stream manager via a network.

6. The application interface of claim 1, wherein the ultrasound system comprises a second data source operative to generate a second data stream comprising a sequence of digital signals, each of the sequence of digital signals having been derived from at least one ultrasonic echo received by the ultrasound transducer from the subject in response to transmission of acoustic energy into the subject by the transducer, the stream manager operative to facilitate communication of the second data stream between the first data source and the interface, the interface further comprising:

a second data stream input coupled with the stream manager and operative to receive the second data stream from the second data source;

the data stream normalization processor being further coupled with the second data stream input and operative to normalize the second data stream;

the data stream buffer being further operative to store the normalized second data stream; and

wherein

the request processor is further operative to receive a request for access to the normalized second data stream by the first application and, in response thereto, cause the data stream allocator to provide access to the normalized second data stream to the first application via the first data stream output.

7. The application interface of claim 6, wherein the data stream allocator is further operative to synchronize the first and second data streams.

8. The application interface of claim 1, wherein the ultrasound system comprises a second data source operative to generate a second data stream comprising a sequence of digital signals, each of the sequence of digital signals having been derived from at least one ultrasonic echo received by the ultrasound transducer from the subject in response to transmission of acoustic energy into the subject by the transducer, the stream manager operative to facilitate communication of the second data stream between the first data source and the interface, the interface further comprising:

a second data stream input coupled with the stream manager and operative to receive the second data stream from the second data source;

a second data stream output operative to couple a second application with the interface;

the data stream normalization processor being further coupled with the second data stream input and operative to normalize the second data stream;

the data stream buffer being further operative to store the normalized second data stream;

the data stream allocator being further coupled with the second data stream output; and

wherein

the request processor is further operative to receive a request for access to the normalized second data stream by the second application and, in response thereto, cause the data stream allocator to provide the normalized second data stream to the second application via the second data stream output.

9. The application interface of claim 1, the interface further comprising:

a second data stream output operative to couple a second application with the interface;

the data stream allocator being further coupled with the second data stream output; and

wherein

the request processor is further operative to receive a request for access to the normalized second data stream by the second application and, in response thereto, cause the data stream allocator to provide the normalized first data stream to the second application via the second data stream output.

10. The application interface of claim 9, wherein the data stream allocator is further operative to arbitrate access to the normalized first data stream among the first and second applications.

11. The application interface of claim 1, wherein the request for access is received from one of a user or the first application.

12. The application interface of claim 1, further comprising:

a graphic user interface (“

GUI”

) coupled with the request processor and operative to interact with a user to present information about the first data stream to the user and receive requests for access to the first data stream from the user.

13. The application interface of claim 1, further comprising:

a first application input operative to couple with the first application and receive control inputs from the first application, the data stream allocator being responsive to the control inputs to control the provision of the normalized first data stream to the first application.

14. The application interface of claim 1, wherein the data stream allocator is further operative to provide serial access to the normalized first data stream as it is received from the first data source and normalized by the data stream normalization processor.

15. The application interface of claim 1, wherein the data stream allocator is further operative to provide random access to the normalized first data stream as stored in the data stream buffer.

16. The application interface of claim 1, wherein the data stream normalization processor is further operative to associate a time stamp with one or more of the digital signals of the sequence of digital signals of the first data stream as the one or more of the digital signals are received from the first data source, the time stamp being stored in the data stream buffer along with the associated one or more of the digital signals.

17. The application interface of claim 16, wherein the request processor is further operative to receive a request from the first application for one or more of the digital signals of the sequence of digital signals of the first data stream having a particular time stamp, the request processor being further operative to cause the data stream allocator to provide the one or more of the digital signals associated with the particular time stamp from the data stream buffer to the first application.

18. A method of interfacing to an ultrasound stream manager of a diagnostic medical ultrasound system, the ultrasound system comprising a first data source operative to generate a first data stream, the first data stream comprising a sequence of digital signals, each of the sequence of digital signals having been derived from at least one ultrasonic echo received by an ultrasound transducer from a subject in response to transmission of acoustic energy into the subject by the transducer, the stream manager operative to facilitate communication of the first data stream between the first data source and the interface, the method comprising:

receiving the first data stream from the first data source;

normalizing the first data stream;

storing the normalized first data stream; and

receiving a request for access to the normalized data stream by the first application and causing provision of access to the normalized first data stream to a first application in response thereto.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the first data source comprises:

a transducer operative to transmit acoustic energy into a subject and receive a substantially continuous succession of echoes therefrom; and

a converter coupled with the transducer and operative to convert each of the substantially continuous succession of received echoes into the sequence of digital signals as the echoes are received by said transducer.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the first data source comprises:

a data storage device operative to store a representation of the sequence of digital signals previously acquired from an ultrasound transducer, the storage device operative to provide the stored sequence of digital signals to the stream manager.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein the first data source comprises an ultrasound image data source selected from the group consisting of B-Mode image data, Color Mode image data, BC-Mode image data, Doppler image data, M-Mode image data, and Pre-scan converted image data.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein the first data stream is received from the first data source via a network.

23. The method of claim 18, wherein the ultrasound system comprises a second data source operative to generate a second data stream comprising a sequence of digital signals, each of the sequence of digital signals having been derived from at least one ultrasonic echo received by the ultrasound transducer from the subject in response to transmission of acoustic energy into the subject by the transducer, the stream manager operative to facilitate communication of the second data stream between the first data source and an interface, the method further comprising:

receiving the second data stream from the second data source;

normalizing the second data stream;

storing the normalized second data stream; and

receiving a request for access to the normalized second data stream by the first application and, in response thereto, causing the provision of access to the normalized second data stream to the first application.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising synchronizing the first and second data streams.

25. The method of claim 18, wherein the ultrasound system comprises a second data source operative to generate a second data stream comprising a sequence of digital signals, each of the sequence of digital signals having been derived from at least one ultrasonic echo received by the ultrasound transducer from the subject in response to transmission of acoustic energy into the subject by the transducer, the stream manager operative to facilitate communication of the second data stream between the first data source and an interface, the method further comprising:

receiving the second data stream from the second data source;

normalizing the second data stream;

storing the normalized second data stream;

receiving a request for access to the normalized second data stream by a second application and, in response thereto, causing the provision of the normalized second data stream to the second application.

26. The method of claim 18, the interface further comprising:

receiving a request for access to the normalized second data stream by a second application and, in response thereto, causing the provision of the normalized first data stream to the second application.

27. The method of claim 26, first comprising arbitrating access to the normalized first data stream among the first and second applications.

28. The method of claim 18, wherein the receiving further comprises receiving the request for access from one of a user or the first application.

29. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

providing a graphic user interface (“

GUI”

) for interacting with a user to present information about the first data stream to the user and receive requests for access to the first data stream from the user.

30. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

receiving control inputs from the first application, and responsive thereto, controlling the provision of the normalized first data stream to the first application.

31. The method of claim 18, providing serial access to the normalized first data stream as it is received from the first data source and normalized.

32. The method of claim 18, providing random access to the normalized first data stream as stored.

33. The method of claim 18, further comprising associating a time stamp with one or more of the digital signals of the sequence of digital signals of the first data stream as the one or more of the digital signals are received from the first data source, and storing the time stamp along with the associated one or more of the digital signals.

34. The method of claim 33, further comprising receiving a request from the first application for one or more of the digital signals of the sequence of digital signals of the first data stream having a particular time stamp, and causing the provision of the one or more of the digital signals associated with the particular time stamp to the first application.

35. An application interface for an ultrasound stream manager of a diagnostic medical ultrasound system, the ultrasound system comprising a first data source operative to generate a first data stream, the first data stream comprising a sequence of digital signals, each of the sequence of digital signals having been derived from at least one ultrasonic echo received by an ultrasound transducer from a subject in response to transmission of acoustic energy into the subject by the transducer, the stream manager operative to facilitate communication of the first data stream between the first data source and the interface, the interface comprising:

means for receiving the first data stream from the first data source;

means for normalizing the first data stream;

means for storing the normalized first data stream;

means for receiving a request for access to the normalized data stream by a first application and, in response thereto, causing the provision of access to the normalized first data stream to the first application.