Device for examining moving objects by means of ultrasound echography
First Claim
1. In a device for examining moving objects by means of ultrasound echography, comprising at least one ultrasound transducer which is connected to transmitter means for the repeated transmission of ultrasound signals to the object to be examined and to receiver means for receiving and processing echographic signals returned to said transducer, which receiver means comprise a first processing channel which includes an amplifier circuit, an envelope detection circuit, a scan converter, and a display device, the improvement wherein the receiver means further includes a second processing channel which comprises:
- (A) an analog-to-digital converter and a first image memory which store an image obtained at an instant t in the form of data I(t, x, y), x and y being the coordinates of image points;
(B) motion detection means which for each image point selectively update a temporal recursive filter coefficient α
, depending on the value of the difference between an obtained image point I(t, x, y) and the corresponding point of an output image R(t-1, x, y) of the second processing channel, with respect to a given threshold value;
(C) a conditional temporal recursive filter which produces, as the output signal of the second processing channel, a treated image A(t, x, y) which consists of the sum of the weighted new obtained image I(t, x, y) and the weighted, previously treated image R(t-1, x, y), the weighting factors being dependent on the corresponding value of said filter coefficient α
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Accused Products
Abstract
The device comprises at least one ultrasound transducer (10) which is connected to a transmitter stage (20) and to a stage (30) for receiving and processing echographic signals returned to the transducer. The latter stage (30) comprises a conventional first processing channel (60) which consists mainly of an amplifier circuit (61), an envelope detection circuit (62), a scan converter (64), and a display device (65), as well as a second processing channel (100), which comprises:
(A) an analog-to-digital converter (63) and a first image memory (641) for storing the image during acquisition;
(B) a motion detection circuit (130) which controls, or not, for each image point the application of a recursive temporal filtering coefficient α;
(C) a conditional recursive temporal filter circuit (150) which supplies, on the output of said second processing channel (100), a treated image R(t, x, y) which forms a sum of the image I(t, x, y) most recently obtained and the preceding treated image R(t-1, x, y), weighted by values relating to said filter coefficient α.
43 Citations
10 Claims
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1. In a device for examining moving objects by means of ultrasound echography, comprising at least one ultrasound transducer which is connected to transmitter means for the repeated transmission of ultrasound signals to the object to be examined and to receiver means for receiving and processing echographic signals returned to said transducer, which receiver means comprise a first processing channel which includes an amplifier circuit, an envelope detection circuit, a scan converter, and a display device, the improvement wherein the receiver means further includes a second processing channel which comprises:
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(A) an analog-to-digital converter and a first image memory which store an image obtained at an instant t in the form of data I(t, x, y), x and y being the coordinates of image points; (B) motion detection means which for each image point selectively update a temporal recursive filter coefficient α
, depending on the value of the difference between an obtained image point I(t, x, y) and the corresponding point of an output image R(t-1, x, y) of the second processing channel, with respect to a given threshold value;(C) a conditional temporal recursive filter which produces, as the output signal of the second processing channel, a treated image A(t, x, y) which consists of the sum of the weighted new obtained image I(t, x, y) and the weighted, previously treated image R(t-1, x, y), the weighting factors being dependent on the corresponding value of said filter coefficient α
. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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Specification