APPARATUS FOR ULTRASOUND FLOW VECTOR IMAGING AND METHODS THEREOF
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Accused Products
Abstract
Apparatus and methods of use are provided for complex flow imaging and analysis that is non-invasive, accurate, and time-resolved. It is particularly useful in imaging of vascular flow with spatiotemporal fluctuations. This apparatus is an ultrasound-based framework called vector projectile imaging (VPI) that can dynamically render complex flow patterns over an imaging view at millisecond time resolution. The VPI apparatus and methods comprise: (i) high-frame-rate broad-view data acquisition (based on steered plane wave firings); (ii) flow vector estimation derived from multi-angle Doppler analysis (coupled with data regularization and least-squares fitting); and (iii) dynamic visualization of color-encoded vector projectiles (with flow speckles displayed as adjunct).
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Citations
23 Claims
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1-10. -10. (canceled)
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11. An ultrasound imaging system comprising:
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a data acquisition unit, which transmits, via an ultrasonic array transducer, a series of plane waves into a tissue and receives waves reflected from the tissue to obtain beam-formed data frames; a flow vector estimation unit which estimates flow vectors at pixels of the data frames using data of the data frames; and a display rendering circuit which displays, on a display, the flow vectors estimated as color coded moving projectiles having varying lengths or colors themselves across the moving projectiles based on velocity magnitudes of one or more flow vectors of the flow vectors corresponding to the moving projectiles, wherein positions of the projectiles are dynamically updated between data frames based on the flow vectors corresponding to the projectiles and one or more inter-frame periods between the data frames to depict movement of the projectiles. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. An ultrasound imaging system comprising:
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a data acquisition unit, which transmits, via an ultrasonic array transducer, a series of unfocused waves into a tissue and receives waves reflected from the tissue to obtain beam-formed data frames; a flow vector estimation unit which estimates flow vectors at pixels of the data frames using data of the data frames; and a display rendering circuit which displays, on a display, the flow vectors estimated as moving projectiles having varying lengths or colors themselves across the moving projectiles based on velocity magnitudes of one or more flow vectors of the flow vectors corresponding to the moving projectiles, wherein positions of the projectiles are dynamically updated between data frames based on the flow vectors corresponding to the projectiles and one or more inter-frame periods between the data frames to depict movement of the projectiles. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22)
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23. An ultrasound imaging system comprising:
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a data acquisition unit, which transmits, via an ultrasonic array transducer, a series of plane waves into a tissue and receives waves reflected from the tissue to obtain beam-formed data frames; a flow vector estimation unit which estimates flow vectors at pixels of the data frames using data of the data frames; and a display rendering circuit which displays, on a display, the flow vectors estimated as moving projectiles having varying lengths or colors themselves across the moving projectiles based on velocity magnitudes of one or more flow vectors of the flow vectors corresponding to the moving projectiles, wherein positions of the projectiles are dynamically updated between data frames based on the flow vectors corresponding to the projectiles and one or more inter-frame periods between the data frames to depict movement of the projectiles.
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Specification