Tissue signature tracking tranceiver
First Claim
1. For use with an ultrasound transducer, a selected bandwidth ultrasound tranceiver comprising:
- means for generating an ultrasound signal having a selected amplitude and frequency;
means for energizing said transducer for signal propagation through a medium according to said ultrasound signal, wherein said transducer provides a reflected signal upon recipt of a reflection of said propagated signal with said medium; and
means for receiving said reflected signal, comprising;
filter means receiving said reflected signal and having selectively decreasing high and low frequency cutoff characteristics for increasing depth of reflections of said propagated signal; and
detector means providing an output signal according to the output of said filter, whereinsaid detector means output signal describes the reflective characteristics of said medium, the amplitude variations and relative time intervals provide indication of medium reflectivity at corresponding medium depth.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An ultrasound tranceiver providing enhanced imaging by selective filtering of the received signal to provide a variable frequency, constant bandwidth filtering of the received echo signals. The resulting signals are then detected to produce a signal, which when displayed, has a reduced number of false multiple images and enhanced signal quality from the deeper tissue discontinuities. Additionally, the received signal is detected in quadrature by reference to a simulated carrier pilot tone having a nonconstant frequency relationship to the transmitted signal. The resulting signal is post-processed to provide information which is used to display structural features, and in addition, the velocity profile of blood flow. The structure and velocity image information is superimposed to provide a composite signal wherein the static and dynamic characteristic of a patient is completely reported to the observer.
182 Citations
12 Claims
-
1. For use with an ultrasound transducer, a selected bandwidth ultrasound tranceiver comprising:
-
means for generating an ultrasound signal having a selected amplitude and frequency; means for energizing said transducer for signal propagation through a medium according to said ultrasound signal, wherein said transducer provides a reflected signal upon recipt of a reflection of said propagated signal with said medium; and means for receiving said reflected signal, comprising; filter means receiving said reflected signal and having selectively decreasing high and low frequency cutoff characteristics for increasing depth of reflections of said propagated signal; and detector means providing an output signal according to the output of said filter, wherein said detector means output signal describes the reflective characteristics of said medium, the amplitude variations and relative time intervals provide indication of medium reflectivity at corresponding medium depth. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
-
-
4. A method of processing imaging signals comprising the steps of:
-
emitting a signal burst of a selected duration into a medium wherein the image-related information characteristics are degraded according to the medium characteristics; receiving energy from said medium according to said signal burst producing a received signal therefrom; filtering said received signal according to a filter having selectively adjusted high and low frequency response cutoff characteristics with said cutoff characteristics being adjusted in a same direction and detecting said filtered received signal, wherein filter response characteristic and said signal burst duration are selected to provide a detected filtered signal, said filter having a characteristic inverse to said medium related image degradation, to compensate for said degraded image characteristic. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 8)
-
-
9. An ultrasound tranceiver, comprising:
-
transmitter means for producing a tone burst of selected duration into an acoustic medium having an image-degrading characteristic; receiver means for producing a received signal according to the reflected energy from said tone burst in said medium; means for filtering said received signal producing an output signal having a selected response characteristics; said filtering means having selectively adjusted high and low frequency response cutoff characteristics with said cutoff characteristics being adjusted in a same direction; and means for detecting said filter output signal, wherein at least one of a filter response characteristic and said tone burst duration are selected to provide a detected filter output signal having a characteristic inverse to said image-degrading characteristics to compensate for said acoustic medium image degrading characteristic. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12)
-
Specification