Transducer array imaging system

• US 20080114249A1
• Filed: 11/10/2006
• Published: 05/15/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens Medical Solutions USA Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Penrith Corporation (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Randall, Kevin S., Klessel, Jodi Schwartz, Urbano, Joseph A., Lannutti, Anthony P., Weymer, Raymond F.
• Granted Patent: US 8,312,771 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/447
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7232 involving compression of the physiological signal, e.g. to extend the signal recording period
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4245 involving determining the position of the probe, e.g. with respect to an external reference frame or to the patient
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4422 related to hygiene or sterilisation
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4438 Means for identifying the diagnostic device, e.g. barcodes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4472 Wireless probes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4483 characterised by features of the ultrasound transducer
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/5276 due to motion
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/56 Details of data transmission or power supply
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/8909 using a static transducer configuration
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/8927 using simultaneously or sequentially two or more subarrays or subapertures
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/8977 using special techniques for image reconstruction, e.g. FFT, geometrical transformations, spatial deconvolution, time deconvolution
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/003 Transmission of data between radar, sonar or lidar systems and remote stations
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/52028 using digital techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/52046 Techniques for image enhancement involving transmitter or receiver image enhancement by image data processing G06T5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/52082 involving a modular construction, e.g. a computer with short range imaging equipment modular ultrasonic medical diagnostic devices A61B8/4411
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/52084 related to particular user interfaces special user input means for ultrasonic medical diagnostic devices A61B8/467
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/52085 Details related to the ultrasound signal acquisition, e.g. scan sequences control of medical diagnostic ultrasound devices A61B8/54
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/52096 related to power management, e.g. saving power or prolonging life of electronic components details of power supplies for ultrasonic medical diagnostic imaging devices A61B8/56

Abstract

The disclosed embodiments include a method, system, and device for conducting ultrasound interrogation of a medium. The novel method includes transmitting a non-beamformed or beamformed ultrasound wave into the medium, receiving more than one echoed ultrasound wave from the medium, and converting the received echoed ultrasound wave into digital data. The novel method may further transmit the digital data. In some embodiments, the transmitting may be wireless. The novel device may include transducer elements, an analog-to-digital converter in communication with the transducer elements, and a transmitter in communication with the analog-to-digital converter. The transducers may operate to convert a first electrical energy into an ultrasound wave. The first electrical energy may or may not be beamformed. The transducers also may convert an echoed ultrasound wave into a second electrical energy. The analog-to-digital converter may convert the electrical energy into digital data, and the transmitter may transmit the digital data.

Claims

1. A method for conducting ultrasound interrogation of a medium, comprising:

transmitting a non-beamformed ultrasound wave into the medium;

receiving more than one echoed ultrasound wave from the medium at two locations;

converting the received echoed ultrasound waves into digital data; and

transmitting the digital data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting is wireless.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting is over a wire including at least one of the following:

an electrical conductor, a magnetic conductor, twisted pair of conductors, coaxial conductor, and optical conductor.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the received echo ultrasound waves are reflected from various points in the medium.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the non-beam formed ultrasound wave interrogates a relatively broad area of the medium.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising arranging the digital data.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising arranging the digital data using at least one of the following techniques:

manipulating the digital data after converting the received echoed ultrasound waves to digital data and manipulating the digital data prior to converting the received echoed ultrasound waves to digital data.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein arranging the digital data comprises at least one of the following:

multiplexing and interleaving.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising multiplexing using at least one of the following techniques:

time-division multiplexing, frequency-division multiplexing, code-division multiplexing, and pulse width-division multiplexing.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the digital data is interleaved as a function of at least one of the following:

time, position of transducer channels, and data bit position.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the digital data.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the digital data at a rate that varies as a function of at least one of the following:

an available bandwidth of the transmission, a rate at which the digital data is acquired, an image frame, a transmit aperture, and a receive aperture.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising forming an image frame from the digital data.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising storing the digital data and transmitting the digital data after at least one image frame of digital data is stored.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising storing at least two image frames.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising reducing at least one of a transmitted non-beamformed wave and received echoed ultrasound wave to create the image frame.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising upon interruption of transmitting the digital data, storing the digital data.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising forming the transmitted ultrasound wave using at least one of the following techniques:

focusing, unfocusing, and defocusing.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising reducing a noise associated with the received echo wave via at least one of the following:

lowpass and bandpass filtering.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising converting the received echo waves to digital data using quadrature sampling.

21. The method of claim 1, further comprising sampling the received echo waves at a sampling rate and reducing a required bandwidth of the digital data when a lower sampling rate is desired.

22. The method of claim 1, further comprising merging the digital data into a data stream.

23. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving configuration information from a remote unit, wherein the configuration information comprises at least one of the following:

power status, designation of device, type of device, frequency range, array configuration, power warnings, capability of a remote unit, quality of transmission of digital data, quantity of errors in transmission of digital data, availability of power required for transmission of digital data, change in transmission rate, completion of transmission, quality of data transmission, look-up tables, programming code for field programmable gate arrays and microcontrollers, transmission characteristics of the non-beamformed ultrasound wave, processing characteristics of the received echoed ultrasound waves, processing characteristics of the digital data, and transmission characteristics of the digital data.

24. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing an indication of at least one of the following:

power status, designation of remote unit, type of remote unit, frequency range, array configuration, power warnings, capability of the remote unit, quality of transmission of digital data, quantity of errors in transmission of digital data, availability of power required for transmission of digital data, change in transmission rate, completion of transmission, quality of data transmission, transmission characteristics of the non-beamformed ultrasound wave, processing characteristics of the received echoed ultrasound waves, processing characteristics of the digital data, and transmission characteristics of the digital data.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the indication is provided by at least one of the following:

the digital data transmission, visibly and audibly.

26. The method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting a transmission rate based on a minimum acceptable rate of displaying an image frame and an amount of digital data per image frame.

27. The method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting a displayed frame rate based on a rate of the transmission of the digital data.

28. The method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting an amount of digital data per image frame based on a rate of the transmission of the digital data.

29. The method of claim 1, further comprising reducing a power required to convert the received echoed ultrasound waves into digital data.

30. The method of claim 1, further comprising maintaining the medium and a non-beamformed ultrasound wave transmitter substantially stationary.

31. The method of claim 1, further comprising sensing movement of at least one of the following:

a non-beamformed ultrasound wave transmitter and the medium, and compensating for the movement by reducing a time interval for receiving the echoed ultrasound waves.

32. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting multiple non-beamformed ultrasound waves at substantially the same time.

33. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting multiple non-beamformed ultrasound waves substantially sequentially.

34. The method of claim 1, further comprising reducing a bandwidth of the digital data by at least one of the following:

converting the received echo ultrasound waves to a different frequency band prior to converting to digital data, quadrature sampling, second order sampling, and third order sampling.

35. The method of claim 1, further comprising reducing a quantity of the digital data by limiting the transmitted digital data as a function of displayed region of interest of the medium.

36. The method of claim 1, further comprising packetizing the digital data.

37. The method of claim 36, further comprising retransmitting a compromised packet.

38. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting the digital data based on at least one of the following characteristics:

capability of a remote unit, quality of transmission of digital data, quantity of errors in transmission of digital data, and availability of power.

39. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting the digital data using at least one of the following techniques:

optical, infrared, radio frequency, and ultrawideband frequency.

40. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting configuration information with the digital data, wherein the configuration information includes at least one of the following:

power status, designation of device, type of device, capability of device, frequency range, array configuration, power warnings, capability of a remote unit, quality of transmission of digital data, quantity of errors in transmission of digital data, availability of power required for transmission of digital data, change in transmission rate, completion of transmission, quality of data transmission, look-up tables, programming code for field programmable gate arrays and microcontrollers, transmission characteristics of the non-beamformed ultrasound wave, processing characteristics of the received echoed ultrasound waves, processing characteristics of the digital data, and transmission characteristics of the digital data.

41. The method of claim 1, further comprising sensing a proximity to a remote unit using at least one of the following techniques:

optical, infrared, capacitive, inductive, electrically conductive, and radio frequency.

42. The method of claim 41, further comprising providing power upon sensing a proximity of to the remote unit.

43. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting a unique identifier with the digital data.

44. The method of claim 43, wherein the unique identifier is used for at least one of the following:

initiating communication with a remote unit, synchronizing communication with a remote unit, and ensuring communication with a predetermined remote unit.

45. The method of claim 43, wherein the unique identifier is a bit sequence.

46. The method of claim 43, wherein the unique identifier establishes at least one of the following:

an image frame boundary and a data packet boundary.

47. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting beamformed ultrasound wave into the medium.

48. The method of claim 47, further comprising switching between transmitting the beamformed ultrasound wave and transmitting the non-beamformed ultrasound wave.

49. A device for conducting ultrasound interrogation of a medium, comprising:

a first transducer element for converting a first electrical energy into an ultrasound wave, wherein the first electrical energy is not beamformed, and wherein a second transducer element and a third transducer element convert an echoed ultrasound wave into a second electrical energy;

an analog-to-digital converter in communication with the second transducer element, wherein the analog-to-digital converter converts the electrical energy into digital data; and

a transmitter in communication with the analog-to-digital converter for transmitting the digital data.

50. The device of claim 49, wherein the transmitter is wireless.

51. The device of claim 49, further comprising a multiplexer in communication with the analog-to-digital converter for multiplexing the digital data.

52. The device of claim 49, wherein the multiplexer uses at least one of the following techniques:

time-division multiplexing, frequency-division multiplexing, code-division multiplexing.

53. The device of claim 49, wherein the second transducer element is different than the first transducer element.

54. The device of claim 49, further comprising a multiplexer in communication with the transducer element for multiplexing the second electrical energy.

55. The device of claim 54, wherein the multiplexer uses at least one of the following techniques:

time-division multiplexing, frequency-division multiplexing, and code-division multiplexing.

56. The device of claim 49, further comprising a data store for storing the digital data.

57. The device of claim 56, wherein at least a portion of the digital data comprises an image frame, and wherein the data store is capable of buffering at least two image frames.

58. The device of claim 49, wherein a number of ultrasound waves provided by the transducer element to create an image frame is reduced.

59. The device of claim 56, wherein at least a portion of the digital data comprises an image frame, and wherein the data store is operable when transmission time of the image frame is equal to or greater than acquisition time of the image frame.

60. The device of claim 56, wherein the digital data is interleaved prior to transmission.

61. The device of claim 56, wherein the data store is at least one of the following:

a first-in-first-out buffer, a random access memory, and a flash memory.

62. The device of claim 56, wherein the data store stores the digital data at a rate that varies as a function of at least one of the following:

an available bandwidth of the transmitter, a rate that the digital data is acquired, an image frame, a transmit aperture, and a receive aperture.

63. The device of claim 49, further comprising a selector switch for selecting the transducer element to receive the first electrical energy.

64. The device of claim 49, further comprising a selector switch for selecting the transducer element to provide the second electrical energy.

65. The device of claim 49, wherein one or more transducer elements are operated substantially simultaneously.

66. The device of claim 49, wherein one or more transducer elements are operated substantially sequentially.

67. The device of claim 49, further comprising an electrical energy source in communication with the transducer element for causing the transducer element to create an ultrasound wave.

68. The device of claim 67, wherein the electrical energy source provides a separate signal to each transducer element.

69. The device of claim 67, wherein the electrical energy source comprises a power supply.

70. The device of claim 69, wherein the power supply provides 100-300 volts DC to the transducer element.

71. The device of claim 49, further comprising a protection circuit in communication with the transducer element, wherein the protection circuit isolates first and second electrical energies.

72. The device of claim 49, wherein the ultrasound waves are at least one of the following:

focused, unfocused, and defocused.

73. The device of claim 49, further comprising a preamplifier in communication with the transducer element.

74. The device of claim 73, wherein the preamplifier comprises low-noise characteristics.

75. The device of claim 73, wherein the preamplifier provides a variable gain.

76. The device of claim 73, further comprising a filter in communication with the preamplifier, wherein the filter reduces noise prior to conversion by the analog-to-digital converter.

77. The device of claim 49, wherein the analog-to-digital converter converts the second electrical energy using at least one of the following:

quadrature sampling, second order sampling, and third order sampling.

78. The device of claim 49, further comprising a digital mixer in communication with the analog-to-digital converter, wherein the digital mixer modulates the digital data.

79. The device of claim 49, further comprising a low-pass filter in communication with the analog-to-digital converter, wherein the low-pass filter reduces the signal bandwidth when a lower data rate is desired.

80. The device of claim 79, further comprising a resampler in communication with the low-pass filter for resampling the digital data.

81. The device of claim 49, further comprising a data merger in communication with the transmitter, wherein the data merger merges the digital data into a data stream.

82. The device of claim 81, further comprising a control interface in communication with the data merger.

83. The device of claim 82, wherein the control interface receives control information, and wherein the control information comprises at least one of the following:

power status, designation of device, type of device, frequency range, array configuration, power warnings, capability of a remote unit, quality of transmission of digital data, quantity of errors in transmission of digital data, availability of power required for transmission of digital data, change in transmission rate, completion of transmission, quality of data transmission, look-up tables, programming code for field programmable gate arrays and microcontrollers, transmission characteristics of the non-beamformed ultrasound wave, processing characteristics of the echoed ultrasound wave, processing characteristics of the digital data, and transmission characteristics of the digital data.

84. The device of claim 82, wherein the control interface accepts and interprets configuration information from a remote unit.

85. The device of claim 49, further comprising a battery.

86. The device of claim 49, further comprising an indicator, and wherein the indicator provides at least one of the following:

power status, designation of device, type of device, capability of device, frequency range, array configuration, power warnings, capability of a remote unit, quality of transmission of digital data, quantity of errors in transmission of digital data, availability of power required for transmission of digital data, change in transmission rate, completion of transmission, quality of data transmission, look-up tables, programming code for field programmable gate arrays and microcontrollers, transmission characteristics of the non-beamformed ultrasound wave, processing characteristics of the echoed ultrasound wave, processing characteristics of the digital data, and transmission characteristics of the digital data.

87. The device of claim 49, wherein the transmitter transmits the digital data at a rate based on a minimum acceptable rate of displaying an image frame and an amount of digital data per image frame.

88. The device of claim 49, wherein a wireless transmitter transmits the digital data a distance of less than 3 meters.

89. The device of claim 49, wherein the echoed ultrasound waves are substantially simultaneously received on a portion of the available transducer elements.

90. The device of claim 49, wherein the analog-to-digital converter is turned off.

91. The device of claim 49, wherein the analog-to-digital converter is turned on for a time duration sufficient to convert the echoed ultrasound wave into digital data.

92. The device of claim 49, wherein the analog-to-digital converter is turned on for a time duration sufficient for the echoed ultrasound wave to return to the second and third transducer elements.

93. The device of claim 49, wherein the transducer elements and the medium are substantially stationary.

94. The device of claim 49, further comprising a movement sensor that detects movement of at least one of the following:

the transducer elements and the medium.

95. The device of claim 94, wherein the movement sensor compensates for movement of at least one of the transducer elements and medium by reducing a time interval for receiving the echoed ultrasound waves.

96. The device of claim 95, wherein the time interval is reduced by minimizing at least one of:

a number of transmitted ultrasound waves and a number of echoed ultrasound waves.

97. The device of claim 49, wherein the ultrasound wave is created by at least one of the following:

a substantially wideband excitation, substantially narrowband excitation, and a coded excitation.

98. The device of claim 97, wherein the echoed ultrasound wave is correlated with a reference waveform.

99. The device of claim 49, wherein a number of transducer elements that receive the echoed ultrasound waves is reduced by selecting transducer elements.

100. The device of claim 49, wherein the transducer elements create multiple ultrasound waves at substantially the same time.

101. The device of claim 49, wherein the transducer elements create multiple ultrasound waves substantially sequentially.

102. The device of claim 49, wherein a bandwidth of the digital data is reduced by converting the second electrical energy is converted to another frequency band prior to converting to digital data.

103. The device of claim 49, wherein the echo ultrasound wave is converted to another frequency band using at least one of the following techniques:

quadrature sampling, second order sampling, and third order sampling.

104. The device of claim 49, wherein a bandwidth of the digital data is reduced by limiting the transmitted digital data as a function of a displayed region of interest of the medium.

105. The device of claim 49, further comprising a data resampler in communication with the analog-to-digital converter for resampling the digital data.

106. The device of claim 49, wherein the digital data is packetized.

107. The device of claim 106, wherein the transmitter retransmits compromised packets.

108. The device of claim 49, wherein the transmitter transmits digital data at a rate that varies with at least one of the following:

capability of a remote unit, power status, designation of device, type of device, frequency range, array configuration, power warnings, quality of transmission of digital data, quantity of errors in transmission of digital data, availability of power, a commanded change in transmission rate, and transmission characteristics of the digital data.

109. The device of claim 49, wherein the transmitter uses a first communication channel and a second communication channel.

110. The device of claim 109, wherein the first and second communication channels have different characteristics including at least one of the following:

transmission protocol, operating frequency, orthogonal relationship with respect to one another, and temporal interleaving.

111. The device of claim 49, wherein the transmitter operates on at least one of the following multiplexing techniques:

time division multiplexing, frequency division multiplexing, wavelength division multiplexing, and code division multiplexing.

112. The device of claim 49, wherein the transmitter operates using at least one of the following transmission techniques:

infrared, optical, radio frequency, and ultrawideband frequency.

113. The device of claim 49, further comprising a proximity sensor that determines a proximity of the device to a remote unit.

114. The device of claim 113, wherein the proximity sensor operates using at least one of the following techniques:

infrared, capacitive, inductive, optical, radio frequency, and electrically conductive.

115. The device of claim 113, wherein upon sensing the remote unit, the proximity sensor provides power to the device.

116. The device of claim 49, further comprising a user interface in communication with the control interface.

117. The device of claim 116, wherein the user initiates power of the device by activating a portion of the user interface.

118. The device of claim 116, wherein the user changes a power state of the device from a low power state to a relatively more active power state by at least one of the following:

activating a portion of the user interface, holding the device, and moving the device.

119. The device of claim 116, wherein the user changes a power state of the device from at least one of the following:

on to off, off to on, lower power to higher power, and higher power to lower power.

120. The device of claim 116, wherein the user interface provides an indication of at least one of the following:

designation of device, type of device, frequency range, array configuration, power status, power warnings, capability of a remote unit, quality of data transmission, and transmission characteristics of the digital data.

121. The device of claim 49, further comprising a unique identifier that is transmitted by the transmitter.

122. The device of claim 121, wherein the unique identifier is used for at least one of the following:

initiating communication with a remote unit, synchronizing communication with a remote unit, and ensuring communication with a predetermined remote unit.

123. The device of claim 49, further comprising a unique identifier that is transmitted by the transmitter.

124. The device of claim 49, further comprising a bit sequence that is transmitted by the transmitter.

125. The device of claim 124, wherein the bit sequence establishes at least one of the following:

an image frame boundary and a data packet boundary.

126. The device of claim 49, wherein the first transducer transmits a beamformed ultrasound wave into the medium.

127. The device of claim 126, wherein the first transducer further switches between transmitting the beamformed ultrasound wave and transmitting the non-beamformed ultrasound wave.