Direct demodulation in ultrasound instruments
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A real-time ultrasonic imaging apparatus comprising:
- transmission means for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic sound, said transmission means generating a modulated signal in response to the received ultrasonic sound;
demodulation means for receiving said modulated signal and detecting phase information along the path of said modulated signal, said demodulation means generating a phase information signal representing phase change in the spatial domain of said modulated signal; and
display means coupled to said demodulation means for displaying said phase information in response to said phase information signal to depict the phase information by a graphical representation on a display.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A direct digital demodulator for demodulating ultrasound signals. The demodulator includes a baseband demodulator, a magnitude and differential phase generator, and a Doppler preprocessor. The demodulator further includes an interface for receiving a signal from an analog front end. The baseband demodulator utilizes a Hilbert transform to convert received ultrasound signals into analytic signals. The present invention compensates phase and frequency of the analytic signal in order to process the signal. The phase information in the signal is then extracted.
70 Citations
33 Claims
-
1. A real-time ultrasonic imaging apparatus comprising:
-
transmission means for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic sound, said transmission means generating a modulated signal in response to the received ultrasonic sound; demodulation means for receiving said modulated signal and detecting phase information along the path of said modulated signal, said demodulation means generating a phase information signal representing phase change in the spatial domain of said modulated signal; and display means coupled to said demodulation means for displaying said phase information in response to said phase information signal to depict the phase information by a graphical representation on a display. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
-
-
7. A real-time ultrasonic imaging apparatus comprising:
-
transmission means for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic sound, said transmission means generating a modulated signal in response to the received ultrasonic sound; digital demodulation means for receiving said modulated signal and detecting phase information along the path of said modulated signal that represents a phase difference between successive samples of said modulated signal, said transmission means generating a phase information signal representing said phase information in said modulated signal, wherein said demodulation means comprises transform means for converting said modulated signal into an analytic signal; and compensation means coupled to said transform means and responsive to said analytic signal, said compensation means for reducing distortion in said analytic signal, wherein said analytic signal contains said phase information; and display means coupled to said demodulation means for displaying said phase information in response to said compensated analytic signal to depict the phase information by a graphical representation on a display using said compensated analytic signal.
-
-
8. A real-time ultrasonic imaging apparatus comprising:
-
transmission means for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic sound, said transmission means generating a modulated signal in response to the received ultrasonic sound; demodulation means for receiving said modulated signal and detecting phase information in said modulated signal, said demodulation means generating a phase information signal representing phase change in the spatial domain of said modulated signal, wherein said demodulation means comprises transform means for converting said modulated signal into an analytic signal; and shifting means coupled to said transform means and responsive to said analytic signal, said shifting means for shifting said analytic signal to an analytic baseband signal; and display means coupled to said demodulation means for displaying said phase information in response to said phase information signal. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11)
-
-
12. A real-time ultrasonic imaging apparatus comprising;
-
transmission means for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic sound, said transmission means generating a modulated signal in response to the received ultrasonic sound;
.demodulation means for receiving said modulated signal and detecting phase information in said modulated signal, said demodulation means generating a phase information signal representing said phase information in said modulated signal, wherein said demodulation means comprises transform means for converting said modulated signal into an analytic signal; shifting means coupled to said transform means and responsive to said analytic signal, wherein said shifting means comprises mixer means for shifting said analytic signal to an analytic baseband signal; and rotation means coupled to said mixer means and responsive to said analytic baseband signal, said rotation means for arbitrarily shifting the frequency of said analytic baseband signal;
display means coupled to said demodulation means for displaying said phase information in response to said phase information signal. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15)
-
-
16. A real-time ultrasonic imaging apparatus comprising:
-
transmission means for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic sound, said transmission means generating a modulated signal in response to the received ultrasonic sound, said modulated signal containing phase information; transform means coupled to said transmission means for converting said modulated signal into an analytic signal; compensation means coupled to said transform means and responsive to said analytic signal, said compensation means for minimizing distortion in said analytic signal, wherein said analytic signal contains said phase information to be displayed phase detection means coupled to said compensation means for receiving said analytic signal from said compensation means, said phase detection means for extracting said phase information along the path of said analytic signal and generating a phase information signal depicting said phase information; and display means coupled to said phase detection means for displaying said phase information is response to said phase information signal. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19)
-
-
20. A real-time ultrasonic imaging apparatus comprising:
-
a receiver generating a modulated signal in response to received ultrasonic waves; a demodulator coupled to the receiver to receive the modulated signal, when the demodulator comprises a baseband demodulation that convert the modulated signal into an analytic signal and a phase generator that performs phase and frequency equalization on the analytic signal and generates a phase information signal indicative of phase change in the spatial domain corresponding to the modulated signal in response to the analytic signal; and a display coupled to said demodulator for displaying said phase information in response to said phase information signal. - View Dependent Claims (21)
-
-
22. A real-time ultrasonic imaging apparatus comprising:
-
a receiver generating a modulated signal in response to received ultrasonic waves; a demodulator coupled to the receiver to receive the modulated signal and detect phase information in the modulated signal, wherein the demodulator converts the modulated signal into an analytic signal using an RF band digital Hilbert Transform and generates a phase information signal indicative of phase change in the spatial domain corresponding to the modulated signal in response to the analytic signal; and a display coupled to said demodulator for displaying said phase information in response to said phase information signal. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24)
-
-
25. A method for displaying information in an ultrasound system comprising the steps of:
-
generating a modulated signal in response to received ultrasound waves; converting the modulated signal into an analytic signal; generating a phase information signal from the analytic signal by generating a phase difference between successive samples of said modulated signal to represent phase change in the spatial domain of said modulated signal; display a phase map containing phase information from the phase information signal. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28)
-
-
29. A real-time ultrasonic imaging apparatus comprising:
-
a receiver generating a modulated signal in response to received ultrasonic waves; a demodulator coupled to the receiver to receive the modulated signal and generates an analytic signal in response to the modulated signal; a phase generator coupled to the demodulator for generating a phase information signal indicative of phase information in the modulated signal in response to the analytic signal, and wherein the phase generator processes the phase information signal into phase map data illustrative of a phase difference between successive samples of said modulated signal; and a display coupled to said demodulator for displaying said phase information as a phase map in response to said phase map data.
-
-
30. A real-time ultrasonic imaging apparatus comprising:
-
a transmitter transmitting and receiving ultrasonic sound, said transmitter generating a modulated signal in response to the received ultrasonic sound, said modulated signal containing phase information; a transformer coupled to said transmitter to convert said modulated signal into an analytic signal; a compensator coupled to said transformer and responsive to said analytic signal, said compensator reducing distortion in said analytic signal, wherein said analytic signal contains said phase information; a phase detector coupled to said compensator, said phase detector receiving said analytic signal from said compensator and extracting said phase information along the path of said analytic signal to generate a phase information signal depicting said phase information; and a display coupled to said phase detector, said display displaying said phase information is response to said phase information signal. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33)
-
Specification