Diagnostic ultrasound system
First Claim
1. A diagnostic ultrasound system for displaying a color image of a motion of a tissue contained on a subject'"'"'s tomographic plane, comprising:
- means for scanning an ultrasonic pulse signal along the tomographic plane so as to acquire an electrical echo signal corresponding to an ultrasonic signal reflected from the tomographic plane;
means for extracting a Doppler signal from the echo signal, said Doppler signal being Doppler-shifted by the motion of the tissue;
means for calculating velocity data concerning the motion of the tissue for respective sample points on the tomographic plane on the basis of the Doppler signal;
means for setting a scale along which each of the velocity data over a measurable band of frequencies of the Doppler signal is assigned to each gradation data for color display, said measurable band of frequencies being limited by a pulse repetition frequency of the ultrasonic pulse signal and a given low-velocity band of the measurable frequency band being enhanced in the gradation data than a remaining velocity band of the measurable band;
means for converting the velocity data into the gradation data according to the scale; and
means for displaying the color image using the gradation data provided by the velocity converting means.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A diagnostic ultrasound system is provided for displaying a color image of a motion of a tissue scans an ultrasonic pulse signal along a tomographic plane to acquire an electrical echo signal, extracts a Doppler signal from the echo signal, calculates velocity data concerning the motion of the tissue for respective sample points on the tomographic plane on the basis of the Doppler signal, and forms data of a B-mode tomographic image on the basis of the echo signal. The system comprises an element for setting a scale along which each of the velocity data over a measurable band of frequencies of the Doppler signal is assigned to each gradation data for color display, the measurable band of frequencies being limited by a pulse repetition frequency of the ultrasonic pulse signal and a given low-velocity band of the measurable frequency band being enhanced in the gradation data than a remaining velocity band of the measurable band, an element for converting the velocity data into the gradation data according to the scale, an element for blanking either one of the converted gradation data and the calculated velocity data at every sample point when each of them exceeds a specified threshold, and an element for displaying the velocity color image subjected to blanking and superimposed on the B-mode tomographic image.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. A diagnostic ultrasound system for displaying a color image of a motion of a tissue contained on a subject'"'"'s tomographic plane, comprising:
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means for scanning an ultrasonic pulse signal along the tomographic plane so as to acquire an electrical echo signal corresponding to an ultrasonic signal reflected from the tomographic plane; means for extracting a Doppler signal from the echo signal, said Doppler signal being Doppler-shifted by the motion of the tissue; means for calculating velocity data concerning the motion of the tissue for respective sample points on the tomographic plane on the basis of the Doppler signal; means for setting a scale along which each of the velocity data over a measurable band of frequencies of the Doppler signal is assigned to each gradation data for color display, said measurable band of frequencies being limited by a pulse repetition frequency of the ultrasonic pulse signal and a given low-velocity band of the measurable frequency band being enhanced in the gradation data than a remaining velocity band of the measurable band; means for converting the velocity data into the gradation data according to the scale; and means for displaying the color image using the gradation data provided by the velocity converting means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A diagnostic ultrasound system for displaying a color image of a motion of a tissue contained on a subject'"'"'s tomographic plane, said color image being superposed on a B-mode tomographic image of the subject'"'"'s tomographic plane, said system comprising:
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means for scanning an ultrasonic pulse signal along the tomographic plane to acquire an electrical echo signal corresponding to a reflected ultrasonic signal from the tomographic plane; means for extracting a Doppler signal from the echo signal, said Doppler signal being Doppler-shifted by the motion of the tissue; means for calculating velocity data concerning the motion of the tissue for respective sample points on the tomographic plane on the basis of the Doppler signal; means for forming data of the B-mode tomographic image on the basis of the echo signal; means for blanking the velocity data at every sample point when each of the velocity data exceeds a specified threshold; and means for displaying the color image by coloring the velocity data and by superimposing the velocity data subjected to blanking by the blanking means on the data of the B-mode tomographic image.
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15. A diagnostic ultrasound system for displaying a color image of a motion of a tissue contained on a subject'"'"'s tomographic plane, said color image being superposed on a B-mode tomographic image of the subject'"'"'s tomographic plane, said system comprising:
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means for scanning an ultrasonic pulse signal along the tomographic plane to acquire an electrical echo signal corresponding to a reflected ultrasonic signal from the tomographic plane; means for extracting a Doppler signal from the echo signal, said Doppler signal being Doppler-shifted by the motion of the tissue; means for calculating velocity data concerning the motion of the tissue for respective sample points on the tomographic plane on the basis of the Doppler signal; means for forming data of the B-mode tomographic image on the basis of the echo signal; means for setting a scale along which each of the velocity data over a measurable band of frequencies of the Doppler signal is assigned to each gradation data for color display, said measurable band of frequencies being limited by a pulse repetition frequency of the ultrasonic pulse signal and a given low-velocity band of the measurable frequency band being enhanced in the gradation data than a remaining velocity band of the measurable band; means for converting the velocity data into the gradation data according to the scale; means for blanking either one of the converted gradation data and the calculated velocity data at every sample point when each of said either one exceeds a specified threshold; and means for displaying the color image by coloring the velocity data and by superimposing the velocity data subjected to blanking by the blanking means on the data of the B-mode tomographic image. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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Specification