ULTRASOUND PROBE AND OPERATING METHOD THEREOF

• US 20160066893A1
• Filed: 09/04/2015
• Published: 03/10/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Medison Company Limited (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: CHO, Jeong, HAN, Ho-san
• Granted Patent: US 10,945,710 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4472 Wireless probes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/54 Control of the diagnostic device
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/56 Details of data transmission or power supply
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/5208 with integration of processing functions inside probe or scanhead
• 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 7/52096 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

Disclosed is a method for operating an ultrasound probe which is wirelessly connected to an ultrasound image providing apparatus via a communication channel. The method includes acquiring bandwidth information that relates to the communication channel, determining at least one from among at least one parameter value associated with a quality of an ultrasound image and a transmission speed of a frame that constitutes the ultrasound image, based on the bandwidth information, generating ultrasound image data that relates to an object, based on the at least one parameter value, and transmitting the ultrasound image data to the ultrasound image providing apparatus. The ultrasound image data is used to display the ultrasound image by using the ultrasound image providing apparatus.

Claims

1. A method for operating an ultrasound probe that is wirelessly connected to an ultrasound image providing apparatus via a communication channel, the method comprising:

acquiring bandwidth information that relates to the communication channel;

determining, based on the acquired bandwidth information, at least one parameter value that relates to a quality of an ultrasound image;

generating ultrasound image data that relates to an object based on the determined at least one parameter value; and

transmitting the generated ultrasound image data to the ultrasound image providing apparatus.

2. The method of claim 1,

wherein the ultrasound probe comprises:

an ultrasound transceiver configured to transmit an ultrasound signal toward the object, and to receive an echo signal reflected from the object; and

a signal processor configured to process the received echo signal, and

wherein the generating the ultrasound image data comprises controlling at least one from among the ultrasound transceiver and the signal processor to generate the ultrasound image data, based on the at least one parameter value.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one parameter value that relates to the quality of the ultrasound image comprises at least one from among a number of scan lines that constitute a frame of the ultrasound image, a number of sampling points which are set on a scan line, and a number of bits which are generated by quantizing data which is acquired with respect to a sampling point.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the at least one parameter value comprises:

when the bandwidth of the communication channel is narrowed, reducing at least one from among a number of scan lines that constitutes a frame of the ultrasound image, a number of sampling points which are set on a scan line, and a number of bits which are generated by quantizing data which is acquired with respect to a sampling point, based on an amount of narrowing of the bandwidth.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting one mode from among a first mode and a second mode, based on an application used by the ultrasound probe,

wherein the determining the at least one parameter value comprises:

when the first mode is selected, adjusting the at least one parameter value, based on a change in the bandwidth of the communication channel; and

when the second mode is selected, adjusting a transmission speed at which the ultrasound image data is transmitted to the ultrasound image providing apparatus based on the change in the bandwidth of the communication channel.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising mapping one of the first mode and the second mode to each of a plurality of applications, and storing the mapped mode,

wherein the selecting the one mode comprises selecting a mode which is stored to be mapped to an application used by the ultrasound probe.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the at least one parameter value comprises:

selecting one mode from among a first mode and a second mode, based on a user input;

when the first mode is selected, adjusting the at least one parameter value, based on a change in the bandwidth of the communication channel; and

when the second mode is selected, adjusting a transmission speed at which the ultrasound image data is transmitted to the ultrasound image providing apparatus based on the change in the bandwidth of the communication channel.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the acquiring the bandwidth information comprises:

transmitting a session establishment request signal to the ultrasound image providing apparatus;

receiving a session establishment check signal from the ultrasound image providing apparatus; and

extracting the bandwidth information from the session establishment check signal.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the transmitting the ultrasound image data comprises transmitting, to the ultrasound image providing apparatus, information that relates to at least one from among the at least one parameter value and a transmission speed at which the ultrasound image data is transmitted to the ultrasound image providing apparatus in conjunction with the ultrasound image data, and

the information that relates to the at least one from among the at least one parameter value and the transmission speed is usable by the ultrasound image providing apparatus for generating an ultrasound image from the ultrasound image data.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the at least one parameter value comprises adjusting, based on a user input, the at least one parameter value and a transmission speed at which the ultrasound image data is transmitted to the ultrasound image providing apparatus.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein

the ultrasound probe is connectable to a plurality of ultrasound image providing apparatuses, including the ultrasound image providing apparatus, via different communication channels, and

the transmitting the ultrasound image data comprises:

generating a plurality of transmission streams by processing the ultrasound image data, based on respective characteristics of each of the plurality of ultrasound image providing apparatuses; and

transmitting each of the plurality of transmission streams to a corresponding one of the plurality of ultrasound image providing apparatuses via a corresponding one of the different communication channels.

12. A method for operating an ultrasound probe that is wirelessly connected to an ultrasound image providing apparatus via a communication channel, the method comprising:

acquiring bandwidth information that relates to the communication channel;

determining a transmission speed of a frame of an ultrasound image based on the acquired bandwidth information;

generating ultrasound image data that relates to an object; and

transmitting the generated ultrasound image data to the ultrasound image providing apparatus at the determined transmission speed.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the determining the transmission speed comprises:

when the bandwidth of the communication channel is narrowed, reducing the transmission speed based on an amount of narrowing of the bandwidth.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the transmitting the ultrasound image data comprises:

when the bandwidth of the communication channel is narrowed, reducing an amount of data that is contained in each frame of the ultrasound image based on the reduced transmission speed.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein

the ultrasound probe is connectable to a plurality of ultrasound image providing apparatuses, including the ultrasound image providing apparatus, via different communication channels, and

the transmitting the ultrasound image data comprises:

generating a plurality of transmission streams by processing the ultrasound image data, based on respective characteristics of each of the plurality of ultrasound image providing apparatuses; and

transmitting each of the plurality of transmission streams to a corresponding one of the plurality of ultrasound image providing apparatuses via a corresponding one of the different communication channels.

16. A method for operating an ultrasound probe, the method comprising:

wirelessly connecting the ultrasound probe to an ultrasound image providing apparatus by using a first communication scheme;

acquiring bandwidth information that defines a transmission speed of ultrasound image data with respect to the first communication scheme from the ultrasound probe to the ultrasound image apparatus;

when the transmission speed is lower than a threshold speed, wirelessly connecting the ultrasound probe to the ultrasound image providing apparatus by using a second communication scheme; and

transmitting ultrasound image data that relates to an object to the ultrasound image providing apparatus by using the second communication scheme.

17. An ultrasound probe that is wirelessly connected to an ultrasound image providing apparatus via a communication channel, the ultrasound probe comprising:

an ultrasound transceiver configured to transmit an ultrasound signal toward an object, and to receive an echo signal reflected from the object;

a signal processor configured to process the received echo signal;

a controller configured to acquire bandwidth information that relates to the communication channel, to determine at least one parameter value that relates to a quality of an ultrasound image, based on the bandwidth information, and to control the ultrasound transceiver and the signal processor to generate ultrasound image data that relates to the object, based on the at least one parameter value; and

a communicator configured to transmit the ultrasound image data to the ultrasound image providing apparatus.

18. An ultrasound probe that is wirelessly connected to an ultrasound image providing apparatus via a communication channel, the ultrasound probe comprising:

an ultrasound transceiver configured to transmit an ultrasound signal toward an object, and to receive an echo signal reflected from the object;

a signal processor configured to process the received echo signal;

a controller configured to acquire bandwidth information that relates to the communication channel, to determine a transmission speed of a frame that constitutes an ultrasound image, based on the bandwidth information, and to control the ultrasound transceiver and the signal processor to generate ultrasound image data that relates to the object; and

a communicator configured to transmit the generated ultrasound image data to the ultrasound image providing apparatus at the determined transmission speed.

19. An ultrasound probe comprising:

an ultrasound transceiver configured to transmit an ultrasound signal toward an object and to receive an echo signal reflected from the object;

a signal processor configured to process the echo signal in order to generate ultrasound image data that relates to the object;

a communicator configured to transmit the generated ultrasound image data to an ultrasound image providing apparatus; and

a controller configured to control the communicator to wirelessly connect the ultrasound probe to the ultrasound image providing apparatus by using a first communication scheme, to acquire bandwidth information that defines a transmission speed of ultrasound image data based on the first communication scheme, and when the transmission speed is lower than a threshold speed, to control the communicator to wirelessly connect the ultrasound probe to the ultrasound image providing apparatus by using a second communication scheme and to transmit the ultrasound image data to the ultrasound image providing apparatus by using the second communication scheme.

20. An ultrasound probe that is wirelessly connected to an ultrasound image providing apparatus, the ultrasound probe comprising:

an ultrasound transceiver configured to transmit an ultrasound signal toward an object, and to receive an echo signal reflected from the object;

a signal processor configured to process the received echo signal;

a controller configured to determine at least one parameter value that relates to a quality of an ultrasound image, based on a user input, and to control at least one from among the ultrasound transceiver and the signal processor to generate ultrasound image data that relates to the object, based on the determined at least one parameter value; and

a communicator configured to transmit the generator ultrasound image data to the ultrasound image providing apparatus at a transmission speed determined based on the determined at least one parameter value.

21. The ultrasound probe of claim 20, wherein,

the determined at least one parameter value that relates to the quality of the ultrasound image comprises at least one from among a number of scan lines that constitutes a frame of the ultrasound image, a number of sampling points which are set on a scan line, and a number of bits which are generated by quantizing data which is acquired with respect to a sampling point.

22. The ultrasound probe of claim 20, wherein,

the ultrasound probe is connected to a plurality of ultrasound image providing apparatuses, including the ultrasound image providing apparatus, via different communication channels,

the controller is further configured to generate a plurality of transmission streams by processing the ultrasound image data, based on respective characteristics of each of the plurality of ultrasound image providing apparatuses, and

the communicator is further configured to transmit each of the plurality of transmission streams to a corresponding one of the plurality of ultrasound image providing apparatuses via a corresponding one of the different communication channels.

23. An ultrasound probe that is wirelessly connected to an ultrasound image providing apparatus, the ultrasound probe comprising:

an ultrasound transceiver configured to transmit an ultrasound signal toward an object, and to receive an echo signal reflected from the object;

a signal processor configured to process the received echo signal;

a controller configured to determine a transmission speed for transmitting ultrasound image data, based on a user input, to determine at least one parameter value that relates to a quality of an ultrasound image, based on the determined transmission speed, and to control the ultrasound transceiver and the signal processor to generate ultrasound image data that relates to the object, based on the determined at least one parameter value; and

a communicator configured to transmit the generated ultrasound image data to the ultrasound image providing apparatus at the determined transmission speed.

24. The ultrasound probe of claim 23, wherein the controller is further configured to decrease the at least one parameter value, based on a reduction in the transmission speed.

25. The ultrasound probe of claim 23, wherein

the ultrasound probe is connected to a plurality of ultrasound image providing apparatuses, including the ultrasound image providing apparatus, via different communication channels,

the controller is further configured to generate a plurality of transmission streams by processing the ultrasound image data, based on respective characteristics of each of the plurality of ultrasound image providing apparatuses, and

the communicator is further configured to transmit each of the plurality of transmission streams to a respective one of the plurality of ultrasound image providing apparatuses via a respective one of the different communication channels.

26. A method for operating an ultrasound probe, the method comprising:

acquiring information that relates to an ultrasound image providing apparatus that is wirelessly connected to the ultrasound probe;

determining a transmission speed of ultrasound image data that relates to an object, based on the acquired information that relates to the ultrasound image providing apparatus; and

transmitting the ultrasound image data to the ultrasound image providing apparatus at the determined transmission speed.

27. An ultrasound probe comprising:

an ultrasound transceiver configured to transmit an ultrasound signal toward an object and to receive an echo signal reflected from the object;

a signal processor configured to process the received echo signal in order to generate ultrasound image data;

a controller configured to acquire information that relates to an ultrasound image providing apparatus that is wirelessly connected to the ultrasound probe and to determine a transmission speed of the generated ultrasound image data, based on the acquired information that relates to the ultrasound image providing apparatus; and

a communicator configured to transmit the generated ultrasound image data to the ultrasound image providing apparatus at the determined transmission speed.