Ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system with personal computer architecture
First Claim
1. An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system comprising:
- a beamformer to which ultrasonic probes may be removably connected for acquiring ultrasonic echo signals and producing digital rayline signals;
a central processing unit (CPU) coupled to said beamformer for both signal processing and display processing of said digital rayline signals; and
a display coupled to receive processed rayline signals for display of an ultrasonic image.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system is provided with a personal computer platform which processes digital echo signals and produces ultrasonic image signals for display. The expansion bus structure of the personal computer platform accommodates ancillary processors such as beamformer cards, digital signal processing cards, video cards, and network cards which may be necessary or desirable for the ultrasound system. In a preferred embodiment the digital signal samples produced by a beamformer connected to the expansion bus are processed for display by software executed by the CPU of the personal computer platform. A preferred software architecture for the personal computer based ultrasound system consists of multiple object oriented software tasks, executing under a realtime, multitasking operating system which is both efficient and robust. Performance upgrades of the entire ultrasound system are effected by simple replacement of the CPU with a higher performance CPU, thus providing continual ultrasound system performance improvements in consonance with the evolution of personal computer CPU technology.
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Citations
69 Claims
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1. An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system comprising:
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a beamformer to which ultrasonic probes may be removably connected for acquiring ultrasonic echo signals and producing digital rayline signals; a central processing unit (CPU) coupled to said beamformer for both signal processing and display processing of said digital rayline signals; and a display coupled to receive processed rayline signals for display of an ultrasonic image. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system with a personal computer architecture comprising:
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a beamformer to which ultrasonic probes may be removably connected for acquiring ultrasonic echo signals and producing digital rayline signals; a personal computer platform coupled to receive said digital rayline signals and including a central processing unit (CPU) for executing software which signal processes and display processes said digital rayline signals for display; and a display coupled to receive processed rayline signals for display of an ultrasonic image. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7)
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8. An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system comprising:
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an ultrasonic array probe; a personal computer platform having a central processing unit (CPU) and including; beamformer means, coupled to said central processing unit for producing digital rayline signals in response to echo signals received by said ultrasonic array probe; signal processing software for performing two dimensional (2D) or Doppler processing of said digital rayline signals; display processing software for performing display processing of said digital rayline signals; and means for producing raster display signals; and a display coupled to said personal computer platform to receive raster display signals for display of an ultrasonic image. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system comprising:
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an ultrasonic array probe; a personal computer platform having a central processing unit (CPU) and an expansion bus coupled to said CPU and including; beamformer means, coupled to said expansion bus, for producing digital rayline signals in response to echo signals received by said ultrasonic array probe; and software, executed under control of said CPU, for performing signal processing and display processing of said digital rayline signals; and a display coupled to said personal computer platform and responsive to processed digital rayline signals for display of an ultrasonic image. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system with a personal computer based architecture which produces ultrasonic diagnostic images at a maximum frame rate of display, comprising:
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an ultrasonic imaging probe; a personal computer platform, connectable to said ultrasonic imaging probe, and including; memory means for storing ultrasonic diagnostic image signal processing software; and a replaceable central processing unit (CPU) having a given processing power which executes software for ultrasonic diagnostic image signal processing; and a display coupled to said personal computer platform for displaying ultrasonic diagnostic images at said maximum frame rate of display, wherein said maximum frame rate of display is changed by replacing said CPU with a CPU of a different processing power. - View Dependent Claims (21)
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22. An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system, comprising:
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an ultrasonic imaging probe; an ultrasonic image signal processor, connectable to said ultrasonic imaging probe, and including; memory means for storing object oriented ultrasonic diagnostic image processing software; and a central processing unit (CPU) which executes said object oriented ultrasonic diagnostic image processing software; and a display coupled to said ultrasonic image signal processor for displaying ultrasonic diagnostic images. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A personal computer based ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system, comprising:
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an ultrasonic imaging probe; a beamformer coupled to said probe and producing digital rayline signals in response to echo signals received from said probe; a dual port memory coupled to said beamformer for storing said digital rayline signals; a personal computer platform, coupled to said dual port memory, for processing said digital rayline signals to produce ultrasonic diagnostic image signals; and a display coupled to said personal computer platform for displaying ultrasonic diagnostic images. - View Dependent Claims (32)
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33. A personal computer based ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system, comprising:
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an ultrasonic imaging probe; means coupled to said probe for producing digital echo signals in response to echo signals received from said probe; a personal computer platform, coupled to said digital echo signal producing means, for processing said digital echo signals to produce ultrasonic diagnostic image signals; and a display coupled to said personal computer platform for displaying ultrasonic diagnostic images. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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47. A personal computer based ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system, comprising:
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an ultrasonic imaging probe; a beamformer coupled to said probe and producing digital ultrasonic Doppler signals in response to quadrature sampling of echo signals received from said probe; a personal computer platform, coupled to said beamformer, for processing said digital ultrasonic Doppler signals to produce ultrasonic diagnostic image signals; and a display coupled to said personal computer platform for displaying ultrasonic diagnostic images.
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48. An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system with a personal computer architecture comprising:
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a beamformer to which ultrasonic probes may be removably connected for acquiring ultrasonic two dimensional (2D) or Doppler echo signals and producing groups of digital 2D or Doppler rayline signals which together comprise one image data set; a personal computer platform coupled to receive said groups of digital rayline signals and including a central processing unit (CPU) for executing software which signal processes and display processes said digital rayline signals for display; and a display coupled to receive processed rayline signals for display of a 2D or Doppler ultrasonic image, wherein the number of rayline signals of a group is chosen to effect a correspondence between the time required by the beamformer to acquire and produce said group of 2D or Doppler rayline signals and the time utilized by said software to process said group of 2D or Doppler rayline signals.
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49. A personal computer based ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system, comprising:
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an ultrasonic imaging probe; a beamformer coupled to said probe for controlling said probe to transmit periodic ultrasonic pulses and producing digital rayline signals in response to echo signals received from said probe; a personal computer platform, coupled to said beamformer, and including a central processing unit (CPU) which executes software to process said digital rayline signals to produce ultrasonic diagnostic image signals; and a display coupled to said personal computer platform for displaying ultrasonic diagnostic images, wherein said personal computer platform further includes a monitor which monitors the time to process said digital rayline signals, wherein said periodic transmission of ultrasonic pulses is adjusted in response to said monitoring.
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50. A personal computer based ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system, comprising:
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an ultrasonic imaging probe; means coupled to said probe for producing temporally separated digital echo signals in response to echo signals received from said probe; a personal computer platform, coupled to said means for producing digital echo signals, for processing said digital echo signals to produce temporally discrete ultrasonic diagnostic image signals; a display coupled to said personal computer platform for displaying an ultrasonic diagnostic image of temporally discrete ultrasonic information, wherein said ultrasonic diagnostic image of temporally discrete ultrasonic information is a sweeping display in which older information is sequentially replaced with new information. - View Dependent Claims (51, 52, 53)
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54. A personal computer based ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system, comprising:
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an ultrasonic imaging probe; means coupled to said probe for producing, at a first rate, sets of digital echo signals, each set of digital echo signals comprising acquisition data for an image frame; a personal computer platform, coupled to said means for producing digital echo signals, for display processing sets of said digital echo signals to produce ultrasonic diagnostic image data sets at a second rate; and a display coupled to said personal computer platform for displaying ultrasonic diagnostic images, wherein said first rate is greater than said second rate. - View Dependent Claims (55, 56, 57, 58, 59)
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60. A personal computer based ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system, comprising:
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an ultrasonic imaging probe; means coupled to said probe for producing digital echo signals in response to echo signals received from said probe; a personal computer platform, coupled to said means for producing digital echo signals, and including software for display processing digital echo signals to produce ultrasonic diagnostic image signals; a display coupled to said personal computer platform for displaying ultrasonic diagnostic images, wherein said display processing software includes means for scan converting said digital echo signals to a desired image format, and means for mapping said digital echo signals to a desired range of display values.
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61. An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system with a personal computer based architecture comprising:
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an ultrasonic imaging probe; a personal computer platform, connectable to said ultrasonic imaging probe, and including; memory means for storing ultrasonic diagnostic image signal processing software; a central processing unit (CPU) which executes software tasks which perform ultrasonic diagnostic image signal processing; and a multitasking scheduler which schedules the execution of said software tasks by said CPU in a time interleaved manner; and a display coupled to said personal computer platform for displaying ultrasonic diagnostic images. - View Dependent Claims (62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69)
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Specification