HOME ULTRASOUND SYSTEM
First Claim
1. An apparatus for performing ultrasound examination of a patient, comprising:
- a scan head to transmit a transmit signal being encoded using binary phase codes and to receive a reflected ultrasound signal from the patient;
reconfigurable logic having a first compression stage on each channel; and
a programmable processor to perform a second compression stage,wherein the first compression stage is to decode the encoded reflected ultrasound signal,wherein the reconfigurable logic and programmable processor are to form the decoded reflected ultrasound signal into a coherent beam, andwherein the second stage of compression is to filter a peak sidelobe level of the coherent beam.
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Abstract
In embodiments of the present invention, an ultrasound system includes an ultrasound machine, which may be located in a hospital, clinic, vehicle, home, etc., coupled to a remotely located diagnosis station via a communication network. For some embodiments, the ultrasound machine includes an application-specific scan head that has identification information that allows the home ultrasound machine to notify a user whether the attached scan head is appropriate for the type of examination to be performed. For other embodiments, a first stage of beamforming is conducted in reconfigurable hardware and a second stage of beamforming is conducted in programmable software digital signal processor. The diagnosis station may transfer information associated with a scanning protocol for the ultrasound examination to the ultrasound machine via the communication network, and the ultrasound machine may transfer measurement values acquired during the ultrasound examination to the diagnosis station via the communication network.
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Citations
41 Claims
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1. An apparatus for performing ultrasound examination of a patient, comprising:
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a scan head to transmit a transmit signal being encoded using binary phase codes and to receive a reflected ultrasound signal from the patient; reconfigurable logic having a first compression stage on each channel; and a programmable processor to perform a second compression stage, wherein the first compression stage is to decode the encoded reflected ultrasound signal, wherein the reconfigurable logic and programmable processor are to form the decoded reflected ultrasound signal into a coherent beam, and wherein the second stage of compression is to filter a peak sidelobe level of the coherent beam. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. An apparatus for generating multiple scan lines while performing ultrasound examination of a patient, the apparatus comprising:
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a scan head to transmit an ultrasound signal and to receive a reflected ultrasound signal; a pre-beamformer time delay lookup table (LUT) having stored therein K sets of different time delays; and reconfigurable logic having K pre-beamformer processing units, each pre-beamformer processing unit to apply the K sets of different time delays to complex baseband signals produced from the reflected ultrasound signal to construct K scan lines. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. An apparatus for generating multiple scan lines while performing ultrasound examination of a patient, the apparatus comprising:
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a scan head to transmit an ultrasound signal and to receive a reflected ultrasound signal; a lookup table (LUT) having stored therein a time delay; a memory having stored therein complex baseband signals produced from the reflected ultrasound signal; and reconfigurable logic having a pre-beamformer processing unit to apply the time delay to complex baseband signals multiple times to construct multiple scan lines, respectively.
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16. An apparatus for performing ultrasound examination of a patient, the apparatus to divide conventional phase-rotator based beamforming into two stages, the apparatus comprising:
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reconfigurable logic to perform a first stage of beamforming on a reflected ultrasound signal, the reflected ultrasound signal being reflected off the patient, the reflected ultrasound signal having multiple channels associated with multiple active transducer elements; and a programmable processor to perform a second stage of beamforming on the reflected ultrasound signal. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. An article of manufacture, comprising:
a machine-accessible medium having data that, when accessed, results in a machine performing operations comprising; selecting a first power mode for an ultrasound machine; selecting an initial threshold value for a time for a battery in the home ultrasound machine; determining an amount of power consumption for the battery; based on the amount of power consumption, estimating an amount of energy remaining for the battery; based on the amount of power consumption and the amount of energy remaining, estimating a time remaining for the battery; if the amount of time remaining is greater than the initial threshold value, then maintaining operation of the ultrasound machine in the first power mode; and if the amount of time remaining is less than or equal to the initial threshold value, then selecting a second power mode for the ultrasound machine. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33)
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34. An apparatus for performing ultrasound examination of a patient, comprising:
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a scan head to receive a reflected ultrasound signal from the patient, wherein the scan head includes an identification memory having stored therein information associated with a type for the scan head; a configuration memory having stored therein information associated with a type for a scan head for a predetermined ultrasound examination; and a controller to compare the information associated with the scan head type stored in the identification memory with the information associated with the scan head type stored in the configuration memory and to provide an error indication if the information associated with the scan head type stored in the identification memory does not match the information associated with the scan head type stored in the configuration memory. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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Specification