TRANSMISSIVE IMAGING AND RELATED APPARATUS AND METHODS
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An apparatus, comprising:
- a plurality of radiation sources comprising a first radiation source, a second radiation source, and a third radiation source;
a first radiation sensor and a second radiation sensor; and
processing circuitry coupled to the first radiation sensor and the second radiation sensor and configured to receive and discriminate between, for each of the first and second radiation sensors, respective source signals emitted by the first, second, and third radiation sources,wherein the first radiation source, the second radiation source, and the first radiation sensor lie in a first plane, andwherein the second radiation source, the third radiation source, and the second radiation sensor lie in a second plane different than the first plane.
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Abstract
Apparatus and methods are described that include ultrasound imaging devices, which may operate in a transmissive ultrasound imaging modality, and which may be used to detect properties of interest of a subject such as index of refraction, density and/or speed of sound. Devices suitable for performing high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU), as well as HIFU and ultrasound imaging, are also described.
155 Citations
405 Claims
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1. An apparatus, comprising:
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a plurality of radiation sources comprising a first radiation source, a second radiation source, and a third radiation source; a first radiation sensor and a second radiation sensor; and processing circuitry coupled to the first radiation sensor and the second radiation sensor and configured to receive and discriminate between, for each of the first and second radiation sensors, respective source signals emitted by the first, second, and third radiation sources, wherein the first radiation source, the second radiation source, and the first radiation sensor lie in a first plane, and wherein the second radiation source, the third radiation source, and the second radiation sensor lie in a second plane different than the first plane. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56)
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57. An apparatus, comprising:
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a plurality of radiation sources comprising a first radiation source, a second radiation source, and a third radiation source; a first radiation sensor and a second radiation sensor; and processing circuitry coupled to the first radiation sensor and the second radiation sensor and configured to receive and discriminate between, for each of the first and second radiation sensors, respective source signals emitted by the first, the second, and the third radiation sources, wherein respective center points of the first radiation source, the second radiation source, the third radiation source, and the first radiation sensor define a first non-zero solid angle having its vertex positioned at the center point of the first radiation sensor, and wherein the respective center points of the first radiation source, the second radiation source, and the third radiation source, together with a center point of the second radiation sensor define a second non-zero solid angle having its vertex positioned at the center point of the second radiation sensor. - View Dependent Claims (58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115)
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116. An apparatus, comprising:
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a plurality of radiation sources configured to emit respective source radiation signals incident upon a volume to be characterized, the volume spanning orthogonal X, Y, and Z axes, the plurality of radiation sources occupying multiple locations in the X direction and multiple locations in the Y direction; a plurality of radiation sensors separated from the plurality of radiation sources along the Z direction and configured to sense the respective source radiation signals emitted by the plurality of radiation sources, the plurality of radiation sensors occupying multiple locations in the X direction and multiple locations in the Y direction; and processing circuitry coupled to the plurality of radiation sensors and configured to receive and discriminate between, for each of the plurality of radiation sensors, the respective source signals of the plurality of radiation sources. - View Dependent Claims (117)
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118. An apparatus, comprising:
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a plurality of radiation sources configured to emit respective source radiation signals directed to be incident upon a subject such that the respective source radiation signals pass through the subject along paths bounding a volume; a radiation sensor configured to receive the respective source radiation signals after they pass through the subject; and processing circuitry coupled to the radiation sensor and configured to discriminate between the respective source radiation signals. - View Dependent Claims (119)
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120. An apparatus, comprising:
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a plurality of radiation sources configured to emit respective source radiation signals directed to be incident across a surface area of a subject; first and second radiation sensors each configured to sense the respective source radiation signals; and processing circuitry coupled to the first and second radiation sensors and configured to receive and discriminate between, for each of the first and second radiation sensors, the respective source radiation signals emitted by the plurality of radiation sources. - View Dependent Claims (121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159)
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160. An apparatus, comprising:
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three radiation sources arranged in a multi-dimensional, non-linear arrangement and configured to produce respective source signals; a plurality of radiation sensors; and processing circuitry coupled to the plurality of radiation sensors and configured to receive and discriminate between, for at least one radiation sensor of the plurality of radiation sensors, the respective source signals produced by the three radiation sources. - View Dependent Claims (161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203, 204, 205)
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206. An apparatus, comprising:
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a plurality of radiation sources arranged nonlinearly in a first plane or three-dimensional space and configured to emit respective source signals through a volume to be characterized; a plurality of radiation sensors arranged nonlinearly in a second plane or three-dimensional space and configured to oppose the first plane or three-dimensional space, and the volume, wherein each of the plurality of radiation sensors is configured to sense the source signals emitted by each of the plurality of radiation sources after the source signals pass through the volume; and processing circuitry coupled to the plurality of radiation sensors and configured to receive and discriminate between the source signals sensed by the plurality of radiation sensors, the received signals being indicative of at least one characteristic of the volume. - View Dependent Claims (207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221)
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222. An apparatus comprising:
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multiple arrays of ultrasound sources configured to emit respective source signals; an array of ultrasound sensors configured to sense the respective source signals; and processing circuitry coupled to the array of ultrasound sensors and configured to receive and discriminate between, for at least one ultrasound sensor of the array of ultrasound sensors, the respective source signals of at least one ultrasound source from each of at least two arrays of the multiple arrays of ultrasound sources. - View Dependent Claims (223, 224, 225, 226, 227)
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228. An apparatus, comprising:
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a plurality of ultrasound sensors forming a two-dimensional or three-dimensional ultrasound sensor arrangement; and processing circuitry coupled to the plurality of ultrasound sensors and configured to process signals from the plurality of ultrasound sensors to produce ultrasound imaging data indicative of a subject imaged at least in part by the plurality of ultrasound sensors, wherein at least some ultrasound sensors of the plurality of ultrasound sensors are not spaced at regular intervals with respect to neighboring ultrasound sensors. - View Dependent Claims (229, 230, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237, 238, 239, 240)
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241. An apparatus, comprising:
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a plurality of radiation sensors forming a two-dimensional or three-dimensional sensor arrangement and configured to receive radiation of wavelength λ
emitted by one or more radiation sources,wherein a spacing between a first radiation sensor of the plurality of radiation sensors and its nearest neighboring radiation sensor of the plurality of radiation sensors is greater than λ
/2. - View Dependent Claims (242, 243, 244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 249, 250, 251, 252, 253, 254, 255, 256, 257, 258, 259, 260, 261, 262, 263)
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264. An apparatus, comprising:
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a plurality of N×
M radiation sources forming a two-dimensional or three-dimensional radiation source arrangement and configured to produce a first plurality of N×
M respective source signals, wherein N is greater than or equal to M;a plurality of X×
Y radiation sensors forming a two-dimensional or three-dimensional radiation sensor arrangement; andprocessing circuitry coupled to the plurality of radiation sensors and configured to discriminate between greater than (X×
Y×
N) received signals from the N×
M respective source signals. - View Dependent Claims (265, 266, 267, 268, 269, 270, 271, 272, 273, 274, 275)
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276. An apparatus, comprising:
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a plurality of ultrasound elements in a fixed relationship with respect to each other and configured as ultrasound imaging elements; and a detector configured to dynamically detect an orientation and/or position of the plurality of ultrasound elements. - View Dependent Claims (277, 278, 279, 280, 281, 282, 283, 284, 285, 286, 287, 288, 289, 290, 291, 292, 293, 294, 295)
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296. A method, comprising:
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accessing a plurality of measurements of a subject, the plurality of measurements resulting at least in part from the detection of ultrasound radiation by an ultrasound imaging device operating in a transmissive modality; and generating, using at least one processor, at least one volumetric image of the subject from the plurality of measurements by using a compressive sensing image reconstruction process. - View Dependent Claims (297, 298, 299, 300, 301, 302, 303, 304, 305, 306)
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307. A method, comprising:
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accessing at least one volumetric image of a subject calculated using a plurality of measurements of the subject, the plurality of measurements resulting at least in part from the detection of ultrasound radiation by an ultrasound imaging device operating in a transmissive modality; applying stereoscopic conversion to the at least one volumetric image to obtain a first stereoscopic image and a second stereoscopic image; and displaying three-dimensionally, via a three-dimensional display, the first stereoscopic image and the second stereoscopic image to a viewer. - View Dependent Claims (308, 309, 310, 311, 312, 313, 314, 315, 316)
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317. A method, comprising:
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accessing at least one volumetric image of a subject calculated using a plurality of measurements of the subject, the plurality of measurements resulting at least in part from the detection of radiation by an imaging device; identifying a point of view within the subject, wherein identifying the point of view comprises identifying a location within the subject; and displaying the at least one volumetric image to a viewer from the identified point of view. - View Dependent Claims (318, 319, 320, 321, 322, 323, 324, 325, 326)
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327. A method, comprising:
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displaying a volumetric image of a subject to a user three dimensionally via a three-dimensional display; obtaining user input identifying at least one target point in the volumetric image corresponding to at least one location in the subject; and applying high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) energy to the at least one location in the subject. - View Dependent Claims (328, 329, 330, 331, 332, 333, 334, 335, 336)
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337. A method, comprising:
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applying high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) energy to a subject; identifying, based at least in part on an image of the subject, a first target point in the subject to which the HIFU energy was applied; automatically determining whether to continue applying the HIFU energy to the first target point at least in part by comparing the first target point to a planned target point; and continuing to apply the HIFU energy to the first target point based at least in part on the comparison. - View Dependent Claims (338, 339, 340, 341, 342, 343)
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344. A method, comprising:
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accessing a plurality of measurements of a subject, the plurality of measurements resulting at least in part from the detection of ultrasound radiation by an ultrasound imaging device, the ultrasound imaging device comprising a plurality of ultrasound sources including a first ultrasound source and a plurality of ultrasound sensors including a first ultrasound sensor; calculating, using at least one processor, a first image of the subject from the plurality of measurements by using first path length information for a path between the first ultrasound source and the first ultrasound sensor; calculating, using the at least one processor, second path length information at least in part by computing refractive paths using the first image; and calculating, using the at least one processor, a second image of the subject from the plurality of measurements by using the second path length information. - View Dependent Claims (345, 346, 347, 348, 349, 350, 351, 352, 353)
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354. An apparatus, comprising:
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a first ultrasound element configured as an ultrasound source; transmit circuitry coupled to the ultrasound source and configured to provide to the ultrasound source a transmission signal to be emitted by the ultrasound source; a second ultrasound element configured as an ultrasound sensor; processing circuitry coupled to the ultrasound sensor and configured to process a signal emitted by the ultrasound source and received by the ultrasound sensor, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to combine the signal received by the ultrasound sensor with a reference signal to produce a combined signal. - View Dependent Claims (355, 356, 357, 358, 359, 360, 361, 362, 363)
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364. An apparatus, comprising:
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a support; a first plurality of ultrasound elements configured as ultrasound imaging elements; and a second plurality of ultrasound elements configured as high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) elements, wherein the first plurality and second plurality of ultrasound elements are physically coupled to the first support, and wherein at least some elements of the first plurality of ultrasound elements are arranged among at least some elements of the second plurality of ultrasound elements. - View Dependent Claims (365, 366, 367, 368, 369, 370, 371, 372, 373, 374, 375, 376, 377, 378, 379, 380, 381, 382, 383, 384, 385, 386, 387, 388, 389, 390)
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391. A system, comprising:
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a first support; a second support; a first plurality of ultrasound elements configured as high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) elements and physically coupled to the first support and configured as a first source of HIFU; a second plurality of ultrasound elements configured as ultrasound imaging elements and coupled to the first support and distinct from the first plurality of ultrasound elements; a third plurality of ultrasound elements configured as HIFU elements and physically coupled to the second support and configured as a second source of HIFU; and a fourth plurality of ultrasound elements configured as ultrasound imaging elements and coupled to the second support and distinct from the third plurality of ultrasound elements; wherein the second plurality of ultrasound elements and the fourth plurality of ultrasound elements are configured to operate in combination in a transmissive ultrasound imaging modality. - View Dependent Claims (392, 393, 394, 395)
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396. An apparatus, comprising;
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a substrate; a first plurality of ultrasound elements configured as ultrasound imaging elements coupled to the substrate; and a second plurality of ultrasound elements configured as high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) elements coupled to the substrate. - View Dependent Claims (397, 398, 399, 400, 401, 402, 403, 404, 405)
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Specification