Fire Control System for Rotational IVUS

• US 20140187963A1
• Filed: 12/19/2013
• Published: 07/03/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2012
• Status: Active Application

• Current Assignee: Volcano Corporation (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Volcano Corporation (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Corl, Paul Douglas
• Application Number:
  US14/135,293
• Publication Number:
  US 20140187963A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/467
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/0891 for diagnosis of blood vessels
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/12 in body cavities or body tracts, e.g. by using catheters catheters per se A61M25/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/445 Details of catheter construction
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/54 Control of the diagnostic device
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/894 by rotation about a single axis
• CPC Class Codes: H02P 6/06 Arrangements for speed regulation of a single motor wherein the motor speed is measured and compared with a given physical value so as to adjust the motor speed
• CPC Class Codes: H02P 6/16 Circuit arrangements for detecting position

Abstract

A patient interface module (PIM) for an intra-vascular ultrasound (IVUS) imaging system and a method for using it are provided. The PIM may include a motor having position sensors; a motor controller circuit providing a signal to the motor; and a clock and timing circuit to provide a trigger signal to a pulse transmitter circuit and a reference clock signal to an analog to digital converter (ADC) circuit, the trigger signal and the reference clock signal synchronized to a local oscillator; wherein the motor is configured to provide a relative phase value between a motor shaft and the local oscillator to a data processing circuit.

Claims

1. A patient interface module (PIM) for use in an intra-vascular ultrasound imaging (IVUS) system, the PIM comprising:

a motor having position sensors;

a motor controller circuit providing a signal to the motor; and

a clock and timing circuit to provide a trigger signal to a pulse transmitter circuit and a reference clock signal to an analog to digital converter (ADC) circuit, the trigger signal and the reference clock signal synchronized to a local oscillator;

wherein;

the motor is configured to provide a relative phase value between a motor shaft and the local oscillator to a data processing circuit.

2. The PIM of claim 1, wherein the motor controller is a synchronous motor controller providing a multi-phase signal to the motor.

3. The PIM of claim 2 wherein the multiphase signal includes a plurality of waveforms evenly separated in phase over a cycle of the motor.

4. The PIM of claim 3 wherein each of the plurality of waveforms corresponds to a signal of a position sensor in the motor.

5. The PIM of claim 4 wherein the position encoder is selected from the group consisting of a magnetic sensor and an optical sensor.

6. The PIM of claim 5 wherein the magnetic sensor is a Hall effect sensor.

7. The PIM of claim 2 wherein the synchronous motor controller operates in an open loop configuration.

8. The PIM of claim 1, wherein the motor controller is a brushless DC motor controller (BLDC) having a feedback loop to control a rotational speed of the motor.

9. The PIM of claim 1 further comprising a receive amplifier to provide an amplified echo signal in response to an acoustic pulse triggered by the pulse transmitter.

10. The PIM of claim 9 further comprising a transducer to provide an ultrasound signal triggered by the pulse transmitter and to provide an echo signal to the receive amplifier.

11. An imaging system comprising:

a monitor;

a processing system;

a patient interface module (PIM); and

a catheter coupled to the PIM, the catheter including a transducer;

wherein the PIM further comprises;

a motor having position sensors;

a motor controller circuit providing a signal to the motor; and

a clock and timing circuit to provide a trigger signal to a pulse transmitter circuit and a reference clock signal to an analog to digital converter (ADC) circuit, the trigger signal and the reference clock signal synchronized to a local oscillator;

further wherein;

the motor is configured to provide a relative phase value between a motor shaft and the local oscillator to the processing system.

12. The imaging system of claim 11 wherein the processing system provides a two-dimensional (2D) image of a blood vessel tissue by arranging a plurality of A-scan lines according to the relative phase value provided by the motor.

13. The imaging system of claim 11, wherein the motor controller is a synchronous motor controller providing a multi-phase signal to the motor.

14. The imaging system of claim 11 wherein the multiphase signal includes a plurality of waveforms evenly separated in phase over a cycle of the motor.

15. A method for producing synchronized signals in a fire control system for an imaging system, the method comprising:

providing a clock signal to an analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) circuit;

providing a signal to a pulse transmitter;

providing a motor controller reference clock signal;

monitoring a motor phase relative to the clock signal; and

providing the motor phase to a processing system.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising adjusting an average motor speed to a pre-selected value.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the signal to the pulse transmitter comprises a multi-phase clock signal and a pulse repetition frequency.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein the signal to the pulse transmitter comprises a signal at a frequency approximately equal to a center frequency in a response spectrum of an ultrasound transducer.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising receiving an ultrasound echo signal from the ultrasound transducer, the ultrasound echo signal originating form a target tissue.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising forming a plurality of A-scans from the target tissue with the ultrasound echo signal;

and

forming a two-dimensional (2D) image of a target tissue using the plurality of A-scans and the motor phase.