Ultrasound signal processing system

• US 5,709,209 A
• Filed: 10/10/1996
• Issued: 01/20/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Siemens Healthcare GMBH (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens Medical Systems, Inc. (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Friemel, Barry, Chihoub, Abdelaziz, Blanz, Ekkehard, Boleyn, Rodney, DeLong, Wolf, Klepper, John
• Primary Examiner(s): MANUEL, GEORGE C
• Application Number:
  US08/729,057
• Time in Patent Office: 467 Days
• Field of Search: 128/660.04, 128/660.07, 128/660.08, 128/660.09, 128/660.1, 128/661.01, 128/916, 73/620, 73/621, 73/625, 73/626
• US Class Current: 600/447
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/00 Diagnosis using ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves imaging of objects using sonar G01S15/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/06 Measuring blood flow measuring volume flow in general G01F, e.g. G01F1/66, G01F1/72; measuring speed of fluids in general G01P5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/52034 Data rate converters

Abstract

An ultrasound medical imaging system having a flexible, versatile and programmable architecture, particularly with respect to a back end subsystem. The architecture for the back end subsystem is generalized and includes multiple identical and interchangeable processing elements or boards that combine to produce sufficient processing power to support real time imaging in the various modes of ultrasound operations. The architecture may also tune front end parameters for a front end subsystem based on back end processing, bypass faulty processing elements or boards, and/or distribute processing load across operational processing elements or boards. A method for operating such an ultrasound medical imaging system is also disclosed.

Claims

1. An ultrasound imaging system, comprising:

a transducer for sending acoustical signals towards a subject, the acoustical signals being formed in accordance with electrical scan signals;

a front end subsystem, operatively connected to said transducer, for producing the electrical scan signals based on scan parameters, for receiving echo signals from the subject in response to the acoustical signals, and for producing vector signals from the echo signals;

a back end processing subsystem for receiving the vector signals from said front end subsystem and processing the vector signals to produce image data and parameter information;

a feedback link for feeding back the parameter information from said back end processing subsystem to said front end processing subsystem; and

a display device for displaying an image in accordance with the image data.

2. An ultrasound imaging system as recited in claim 1, wherein the feedback of the parameter information is performed in near real-time by said feedback link.

3. An ultrasound imaging system as recited in claim 1, wherein the parameter information being fed back via said feedback link causes the scan parameters used by said front end subsystem to be modified to improve the image to be displayed.

4. An ultrasound imaging system as recited in claim 1,

wherein after receiving a first group of the vector signals for the image, the first group of the vector signals is processed by said back end processing subsystem while at the same time a next group of the vector signals for the image is being received at said front end processing subsystem, and

wherein the parameter information is updated as each group of the vector signals is being processed by said back end processing subsystem such that the scan parameters used by said front end processing subsystem to obtain subsequent groups of the echo signals are modified.

5. An ultrasound imaging system as recited in claim 4, wherein the modifications to the scan parameters operate to improve the image.

6. An ultrasound imaging system as recited in claim 1, wherein said back end processing subsystem comprises a plurality of substantially identical processing nodes.

7. An ultrasound imaging system as recited in claim 6, wherein the processing of said back end processing system has a computational load associated therewith, and wherein the computational load is distributed across said processing nodes.

8. An ultrasound imaging system as recited in claim 6, wherein the processing of said back end processing subsystem is allocated to said processing nodes based on predetermined criteria.

9. An ultrasound imaging system as recited in claim 6, wherein said processing nodes are circuit boards, and each of said circuit boards include a plurality of processors and a local board-level bus for interconnecting said processors.

10. An ultrasound imaging system as recited in claim 6, wherein performance of said back end processing subsystem degrades gradually with the failure of each of said processing nodes.

11. An ultrasound imaging system as recited in claim 6, wherein said ultrasound imaging system further comprises:

a controller for controlling said ultrasound imaging system, the controlling including determining said processing nodes within said back end processing subsystem that have failed and then bypassing said processing nodes that have failed.

12. An ultrasound imaging system as recited in claim 11, wherein said controller operates to limit processing requirements of said back end processing subsystem when the number of said processing nodes that have failed exceeds a predetermined number.

13. An ultrasound imaging system as recited in claim 1, wherein said at least one link comprises a plurality of links.

14. An ultrasound imaging system as recited in claim 1, wherein said front end processing subsystem comprises:

a transmitter for producing the electrical scan signals based on the scan parameters; and

a receive beamformer for receiving echo signals from the subject.

15. An ultrasound imaging system as recited in claim 1, wherein said back end processing system comprises:

a plurality of processing elements for performing processing tasks associated with the processing of the vector signals to produce the image data; and

at least one link for carrying the parameter information from said processing elements to said feedback link.

16. An ultrasound imaging system as recited in claim 1, wherein said back end processing system comprises:

a plurality of processing boards for performing processing tasks associated with the processing of the vector signals to produce the image data; and

at least one board-level bus for communication with said feedback link, communication of control signals, and communication between processing boards.

17. An ultrasound imaging system, comprising:

a transducer for sending acoustical signals towards a subject, the acoustical signals being formed in accordance with electrical scan signals;

a front end subsystem, operatively connected to said transducer, for producing the electrical scan signals based on scan parameters, for receiving echo signals from the subject in response to the acoustical signals, and for producing vector signals from the echo signals;

a back end processing subsystem for receiving the vector signals from said front end subsystem and processing the vector signals to produce image data and parameter information, said back end processing subsystem includes at least a plurality of programmable processing nodes;

a controller for controlling said ultrasound imaging system, the controlling including determining said processing nodes within said back end processing subsystem that have failed and then bypassing said processing nodes that have failed; and

a display device for displaying an image in accordance with the image data.

18. An ultrasound imaging system as recited in claim 17, wherein said back end processing system comprises:

a plurality of processing elements for performing processing tasks associated with the processing of the vector signals to produce the image data; and

at least one link for carrying the parameter information from said processing elements to said front end subsystem.

19. An ultrasound imaging system as recited in claim 17, wherein said back end processing system comprises:

a plurality of processing boards for performing processing tasks associated with the processing of the vector signals to produce the image data; and

at least one board-level bus for communication to and from said front end subsystem, for communication of control signals and for communication between processing boards.

20. An ultrasound imaging system as recited in claim 19,

wherein said processing boards include at least one processor, and

wherein said at least one board level bus includes at least

an input bus for supplying the vector signals from said front end processing subsystem;

an output bus for supplying the image data to said display device and for supplying the parameter information from said back end processing subsystem to said front end processing subsystem; and

an inter-board bus for transmitting data between said processing boards.

21. An ultrasound imaging system as recited in claim 20, wherein each of said processing boards comprise:

a plurality of processors; and

at least one processor level bus for transmitting data between said processors and for coupling with said at least one board level bus.

22. An ultrasound imaging system as recited in claim 17, wherein said controller operates to limit processing requirements of said back end processing subsystem when the number of said processing nodes that have failed exceeds a predetermined number.

23. An ultrasound imaging system, comprising:

a transducer for sending acoustical signals towards a subject, the acoustical signals being formed in accordance with electrical scan signals;

a front end subsystem, operatively connected to said transducer, for producing the electrical scan signals based on scan parameters, for receiving echo signals from the subject in response to the acoustical signals, and for producing vector signals from the echo signals;

a back end processing subsystem for receiving the vector signals from said front end subsystem and processing the vector signals to produce image data and parameter information, said back end processing subsystem includes at least a plurality of programmable processing nodes;

a controller for controlling said ultrasound imaging system, the controlling including determining a computational load associated with said back end processing subsystem and then distributing the computational load to said programmable processing nodes; and

a display device for displaying an image in accordance with the image data.

24. An ultrasound imaging system as recited in claim 23, wherein, before distributing the computational load to said programmable processing nodes, the controlling by said controller determines said programmable processing nodes that are faulty and then bypasses said faulty programmable processing nodes.

25. An ultrasound imaging system as recited in claim 23, wherein said back end processing system comprises:

a plurality of processing elements for performing processing tasks associated with the processing of the vector signals to produce the image data; and

at least one link for carrying the parameter information from said processing elements to said front end subsystem.

26. An ultrasound imaging system as recited in claim 23, wherein said back end processing system comprises:

a plurality of processing boards for performing processing tasks associated with the processing of the vector signals to produce the image data; and

at least one board-level bus for communication to and from said front end subsystem, for communication of control signals and for communication between processing boards.

27. An ultrasound imaging system as recited in claim 26,

wherein said processing boards include at least one processor, and

wherein said at least one board level bus includes at least

an input bus for supplying the vector signals from said front end processing subsystem;

an output bus for supplying the image data to said display device and for supplying the parameter information from said back end processing subsystem to said front end processing subsystem; and

an inter-board bus for transmitting data between said processing boards.

28. An ultrasound imaging system as recited in claim 27, wherein each of said processing boards comprises:

a plurality of processors; and

at least one processor level bus for transmitting data between said processors and for coupling with said at least one board level bus.

29. A method for operating an ultrasound imaging system, said method comprising:

(a) sending acoustical signals towards a subject, the acoustical signals being formed in accordance with electrical scan signals;

(b) producing the electrical scan signals based on scan parameters and for receiving echo signals from the subject in response to the acoustical signals;

(c) producing vector signals from the echo signals;

(d) processing the vector signals to produce image data and parameter information;

(e) tuning the scan parameters in real time in accordance with the parameter information; and

(f) displaying an image in accordance with the image data.

30. A method as recited in claim 29, wherein the ultrasound imaging system includes a plurality of processing nodes,

wherein the image being produced is divided into a plurality of segments, and

wherein said processing (d) simultaneously processes the vector signals associated with each of the segments of the image by processing each of the segments in a different one of the processing nodes.

31. A method for operating an ultrasound imaging system having a plurality of processing nodes for processing scan data, said method comprising:

(a) sending acoustical signals towards a subject, the acoustical signals being formed in accordance with electrical scan signals;

(b) producing the electrical scan signals based on scan parameters and for receiving echo signals from the subject in response to the acoustical signals;

(c) processing the echo signals into vector signals;

(d) determining a computational load for processing the vector signals;

(e) distributing the vector signals to the processing nodes for processing;

(f) processing the vector signals at the respective processing nodes to produce image data; and

(g) displaying an image in accordance with the image data.

32. A method as recited in claim 31, wherein the processing nodes are substantially identical and programmable.

33. A method as recited in claim 31, wherein said distributing (e) comprises:

(e1) determining those of the processing nodes that are faulty;

(e2) bypassing the faulty processing nodes; and

(e3) distributing the vector signals to the processing nodes other than the faulty processing nodes.

34. A method as recited in claim 33,

wherein said processing (f) of the vector signals at the respective processing nodes produces parameter information in addition to the image data, and

wherein said method further comprises (h) tuning the scan parameters in real time in accordance with the parameter information.

35. A method as recited in claim 34, wherein said tuning (h) occurs during said sending (a) and said producing (b) with respect to subsequent portions of the same image.