Scalable real-time ultrasound information processing system

• US 6,701,341 B1
• Filed: 11/24/1999
• Issued: 03/02/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: U Systems Inc (General Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: U Systems Inc (General Electric Company)
• Inventors: Moayer, Ali, Wu, Anthony, Yu, Pin, Lin, Shengtz
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam, Hosain
• Assistant Examiner(s): WON, MICHAEL YOUNG
• Application Number:
  US09/449,095
• Time in Patent Office: 1,560 Days
• Field of Search: 709/101, 709/106, 709/201, 709/205
• US Class Current: 709/200
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/352 Detecting R peaks, e.g. for synchronising diagnostic apparatus; Estimating R-R interval
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7257 using Fourier transforms
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 7/04 Electric stethoscopes microphones, acoustic transducers therefor H04R
• 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: A61B 8/13 Tomography A61B8/10, A61B8/12 take precedence; tomography for radiation diagnosis A61B6/02
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4411 Device being modular
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/899 Combination of imaging systems with ancillary equipment
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/52025 for pulse systems G01S7/52034 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/52034 Data rate converters
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 128/915 Ultrasound mammography
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 128/916 Ultrasound 3-D imaging

Abstract

An ultrasound information processing system is disclosed in which ultrasound image data is packetized into ultrasound information packets and routed to one or more of a plurality of processors for performing image processing operations on the ultrasound image data, the ultrasound information packets being routed according to entries in a host-programmable routing table. A common distribution bus is coupled between packetizing circuitry and dedicated input buffers corresponding to each processor for distributing the ultrasound information packets, and a common output bus to is used to transfer processed image data from the processors to an output device. The disclosed ultrasound information processing system architecture allows for a high throughput rate for accommodating real-time image processing operations, while also allowing for ready programmability and upgradability. Advantageously, the disclosed ultrasound information processing system may be readily upgraded by coupling additional processors to the common distribution bus and the common output bus and by reprogramming the routing table to include the additional processors as destinations for the ultrasound information packets. The disclosed ultrasound information processing system architecture also provides for added field reliability by providing for an optional spare processor coupled to the common distribution bus and the common output bus, wherein upon detection of a failure of one of the existing processors, the optional spare processor may be loaded with a copy of a program being run by the failing processor and the routing table may by automatically modified to redirect ultrasound data packets from the failing processor to the spare processor.

Claims

1. An apparatus for processing ultrasound data, comprising:

packetizing circuitry for organizing the ultrasound data into ultrasound information packets, said ultrasound information packets comprising location information and corresponding image data;

a plurality of processors for performing image processing operations on said image data

a routing table for storing routing data that associates each ultrasound information packet with a subset of said processors according to said location information within that ultrasound information packet;

control circuitry for routing each ultrasound information packet to the subset of processors associated with said ultrasound information packet according to said routing data, an output bus for transferring processed image data from said plurality of processors to an output device;

a distribution bus coupled to said packetizing circuitry for distributing said ultrasound information packets to said processors; and

for each processor, an input buffer coupled to said distribution bus, said control circuitry routing said ultrasound information packet to the subset of processors associated with said ultrasound information packet by instructing the input buffers associated with said subset of processors to read from said distribution bus when said ultrasound information packet is present on said distribution bus, each of said input buffers comprising a ping-pong buffer having a first memory bank and a second memory bank, said ping-pong buffer being adapted to load image data into said first memory bank from said distribution bus while the processor associated with said input buffer is readings image data from said second memory bank, said ping-pong buffer being adapted to load image data into said second memory bank from said distribution bus while said processor is reading image data from said first memory bank;

wherein said ultrasound data is derived from transducer outputs associated with an ultrasound frame, said ultrasound frame comprising at least one zone and a plurality of lines, said location information in said ultrasound information packets comprising;

a zone number corresponding to the zone of the ultrasound frame associated with the image data in said ultrasound information packet, said zone being associated with a depth metric in said ultrasound frame with respect to said transducer; and

a line number corresponding to the line of the ultrasound frame associated with the image data in said ultrasound information packet, each ultrasound information packet being routed to said subset of processors based on its line number;

wherein said ultrasound frame comprises a plurality of sectors, each sector comprising a plurality of adjacent lines in said ultrasound frame, wherein each processor is associated with a unique sector of said ultrasound frame, whereby each of said ultrasound information packets is routed to a single one of said processors; and

wherein said processors are sequentially associated with adjacent sectors of said ultrasound frame, wherein said apparatus further comprises, for each processor, an output buffer coupled to said output bus, and wherein said output buffers sequentially write to said output bus for transfer to said output device.

2. An apparatus for processing ultrasound data, comprising:

packetizing circuitry for organizing the ultrasound data into ultrasound information packets, said ultrasound information packets comprising location information and corresponding image data;

a plurality of processors for performing image processing operations on said image data;

a routing table for storing routing data that associates each ultrasound information packet with a subset of said processors according to said location information within that ultrasound information packet;

control circuitry for routing each ultrasound information packet to the subset of processors associated with said ultrasound information packet according to said routing data;

an output bus for transferring processed image data from said plurality of processors to an output device;

a distribution bus coupled to said packetizing circuitry for distributing said ultrasound information packets to said processors; and

for each processor, an input buffer coupled to said distribution bus, said control circuitry routing said ultrasound information packet to the subset of processors associated with said ultrasound information packet by instructing the input buffers associated with said subset of processors to read from said distribution bus when said ultrasound information packet is present on said distribution bus, each of said input buffers comprising a ping-pong buffer having a first memory bank and a second memory bank, said ping-pong buffer being adapted to load image data into said first memory bank from said distribution bus while the processor associated with said input buffer is reading image data from said second memory bank, said ping-pong buffer being adapted to load image data into said second memory bank from said distribution bus while said processor is reading image data from said first memory bank;

wherein said ultrasound data is derived from transducer outputs associated with an ultrasound frame, said ultrasound frame comprising at least one zone and a plurality of lines, said location information in said ultrasound information packets comprising;

a zone number corresponding to the zone of the ultrasound frame associated with the image data in said ultrasound information packet, said zone being associated with a depth metric in said ultrasound frame with respect to said transducer; and

a line number corresponding to the line of the ultrasound frame associated with the image data in said ultrasound information packet, each ultrasound information packet being routed to said subset of processors based on its line number;

wherein said apparatus further comprises;

an embedded controller coupled to said control circuitry, to each of said processors, and to said routing table; and

a host computer coupled to said embedded controller over a high speed serial link, said embedded controller being adapted and configured to receive image processing programs from said host computer and to download said image processing programs into said processors, said embedded controller being adapted and configured to receive routing data from said host computer and to transfer said routing data to said control circuitry for loading into said routing table; and

wherein said embedded controller is capable of detecting a malfunctioning of any of said processors;

said apparatus further comprising a spare processor coupled to said distribution bus and said output bus, said embedded controller and said host computer being configured such that upon detection of a malfunctioning of one of said processors, said spare processor is automatically programmed with a copy of a program being run by the malfunctioning processor, and said routing table is automatically modified such that ultrasound information packets initially directed to said malfunctioning processor prior to the malfunction are directed to said spare processor, whereby image processing functions of a malfunctioning processors are automatically redirected to said spare processor for increasing field reliability of said apparatus.

3. An apparatus for processing ultrasound data, comprising:

packetizing circuitry for organizing the ultrasound data into ultrasound information packets, said ultrasound information packets comprising location information and corresponding image data;

a plurality of processors for performing image processing operations on said image data.

a routing table for storing routine data that associates each ultrasound information packet with a subset of said processors according to said location information within that ultrasound information packet;

control circuitry for routine each ultrasound information packet to the subset of processors associated with said ultrasound information packet according to said routing data;

an output bus for transferring processed image data from said plurality of processors to an output device;

a distribution bus coupled to said packetizing circuitry for distributing said ultrasound information packets to said processors; and

for each processor, an input buffer coupled to said distribution bus, said control circuitry routing said ultrasound information packet to the subset of processors associated with said ultrasound information packet by instructing the input buffers associated with said subset of processors to read from said distribution bus when said ultrasound information packet is present on said distribution bus, each of said input buffers comprising a ping-pong buffer having a first memory bank and a second memory bank, said ping-pong buffer being adapted to load image data into said first memory bank from said distribution bus while the processor associated with said input buffer is reading image data from said second memory bank, said ping-pong buffer being adapted to load image data into said second memory bank from said distribution bus while said processor is reading image data from said first memory bank;

wherein said ultrasound data is derived from transducer outputs associated with an ultrasound frame, said ultrasound frame comprising at least one zone and a plurality of lines, said location information in said ultrasound information packets comprising;

a zone number corresponding to the zone of the ultrasound frame associated with the image data in said ultrasound information packet, said zone being associated with a depth metric in said ultrasound frame with respect to said transducer; and

a line number corresponding to the line of the ultrasound frame associated with the image data in said ultrasound information packet, each ultrasound information packet being routed to said subset of processors based on its line number; and

wherein said packetizing circuitry is adapted to organize image data from a single zone within a single line into sequential ultrasound packets, and wherein said control circuitry routes said sequential ultrasound information packets to arrive at said input buffers of said subset of processors in sequential order.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein image data for successive zones of a single line of the ultrasound frame is generated in a non-sequential manner, and wherein said routing table further comprises routing data that associates each ultrasound information packet with an intrabuffer destination address, said intrabuffer destination addresses being assigned such that image data placed into said input buffer memory is automatically rearranged into sequential order when said image data in said ultrasound information packets is stored according to said intrabuffer destination addresses.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein if said bank of memory in said input buffer is input to its associated processor prior to being populated with image data from all lines and zones in said ultrasound frame, said processor is adapted to perform neighborhood interpolation algorithms using image data from known lines and zones to derive estimates of image data from missing zones.

6. A method for processing ultrasound data corresponding to an ultrasound image frame using a plurality of processors, comprising the steps of:

organizing the ultrasound data into ultrasound information packets according to locations within the ultrasound image frame, said ultrasound information packets comprising location information and corresponding image data;

for each ultrasound information packet, comparing said location information to a routing table, the routing table comprising routing data that associates each ultrasound information packet with a subset of the plurality of processors according to locations within the ultrasound image frame;

routing each ultrasound information packet to its associated subset of processors according to said routing data;

performing image processing algorithms on said image data at the processors; and

outputting processed image data from the processors onto an output bus for transfer to an output device;

wherein said step of routing said ultrasound information packet comprises the steps of;

placing said ultrasound information packet onto a distribution bus, the distribution bus being coupled to each processor through an input buffer associated with each processor; and

instructing the input buffers associated with said subset of processors to read from said distribution bus when said ultrasound information packet is present on said distribution bus;

wherein each of the input buffers comprises a ping-pong buffer having a first memory bank and a second memory bank, image data being loaded into the first memory bank from the distribution bus while the processor associated with the input buffer is reading, image data from the second memory bank, and image data being loaded into the second memory bank from the distribution bus while the processor is reading image data from said the first memory bank;

wherein the ultrasound data is derived from transducer outputs associated with an ultrasound frame, the ultrasound frame comprising a plurality of lines, said step of organizing the ultrasound data into ultrasound information packets comprising the step of assigning a line number corresponding to the line of the ultrasound frame associated with the image data in said ultrasound information packet, each ultrasound information packet being routed to its associated subset of processors based on its sector number; and

wherein the processors are sequentially associated with adjacent sectors of the ultrasound frame, wherein said step of outputting further comprises the step of writing results from an output buffer associated with each processor to the output bus, and wherein the results are written to the output bus in a sequential order corresponding to the adjacent sectors of the ultrasound frame.

7. A method for processing ultrasound data corresponding to an ultrasound image frame using a plurality of processors, comprising the steps of:

organizing the ultrasound data into ultrasound information packets according to locations within the ultrasound image frame, said ultrasound information packets comprising location information and corresponding image data;

for each ultrasound information packet, comparing said location information to a routing table, the routing table comprising routing data that associates each ultrasound information packet with a subset of the plurality of processors according to locations within the ultrasound image frame;

routing each ultrasound information packet to its associated subset of processors according to said routing data;

performing image processing algorithms on said image data at the processors; and

outputting processed image data from the processors onto an output bus for transfer to an output device;

wherein said step of routing said ultrasound information packet comprising the steps of;

placing said ultrasound information packet onto a distribution bus, the distribution bus being coupled to each processor through an input buffer associated with each processor; and

instructing the input buffers associated with said subset of processors to read from said distribution bus when said ultrasound information packet is present on said distribution bus;

wherein each of the input buffers comprises a ping-pong buffer having a first memory bank and a second memory bank, image data being loaded into the first memory bank from the distribution bus while the processor associated with the input buffer is reading image data from the second memory bank, and image data being loaded into the second memory bank from the distribution bus while the processor is reading image data from said the first memory bank;

wherein the ultrasound data is derived from transducer outputs associated with an ultrasound frame, the ultrasound frame comprising a plurality of lines, said step of organizing the ultrasound data into ultrasound information packets comprising the step of assigning a line number corresponding to the line of the ultrasound frame associated with the image data in said ultrasound information packet, each ultrasound information packet being routed to its associated subset of processors based on its sector number;

wherein said method further comprises the steps of;

downloading image processing programs and a routing table from a host computer to and embedded controller over a high-speed serial link;

downloading said image processing programs from said embedded controller to said processors; and

downloading the routing data from the embedded processor into the routing table;

monitoring an operational status of each processor for detecting a malfunctioning processor; and

upon detection of a malfunctioning processor, automatically replacing the malfunctioning processor with a spare processor, the spare processor being coupled to the distribution bus and the output bus, the spare processor being coupled to the embedded controller, said step of automatically replacing comprising the steps of;

programming the spare processor with a copy of a program being run by the malfunctioning processor; and

reloading the routing table such that ultrasound information packets initially directed to the malfunctioning processor prior to the malfunction are directed to the spare processor, whereby image processing functions of the malfunctioning primary processors are automatically redirected to the spare processor.

8. A method for processing ultrasound data corresponding to an ultrasound image frame using a plurality of processors, comprising the steps of:

organizing the ultrasound data into ultrasound information packets according to locations within the ultrasound image frame, said ultrasound information packets comprising location information and corresponding image data;

for each ultrasound information packet, comparing said location information to a routing table, the routing table comprising routing data that associates each ultrasound information packet with a subset of the plurality of processors according to locations within the ultrasound image frame;

routing each ultrasound information packet to its associated subset of processors according to said routing data,

performing image processing algorithms on said image data at the processors; and

outputting processed image data from the processors onto an output bus for transfer to an output device;

wherein said step of routing said ultrasound information packet comprises the steps of;

placing said ultrasound information packet onto a distribution bus, the distribution bus being coupled to each processor through an input buffer associated with each processor; and

instructing the input buffers associated with said subset of processors to read from said distribution bus when said ultrasound information packet is present on said distribution bus;

wherein each of the input buffers comprises a ping-pong buffer having a first memory bank and a second memory bank, image data being loaded into the first memory bank from the distribution bus while the processor associated with the input buffer is reading image data from the second memory bank, and image data being loaded into the second memory bank from the distribution bus while the processor is reading image data from said the first memory bank;

wherein the ultrasound data is derived from transducer outputs associated with an ultrasound frame, the ultrasound frame comprising a plurality of lines, said step of organizing the ultrasound data into ultrasound information packets comprising the step of assigning a line number corresponding to the line of the ultrasound frame associated with the image data in said ultrasound information packet, each ultrasound information packet being routed to its associated subset of processors based on its sector number; and

wherein the ultrasound frame further comprises a plurality of zones according to a depth direction, said step of organizing the ultrasound data into ultrasound information packets further comprising the steps of;

assigning a zone number corresponding to the zone of the ultrasound frame associated with the image data in said ultrasound information packet;

organizing image data from a single zone within a single line in the ultrasound frame into sequential ultrasound information packets; and

transmitting said sequential ultrasound information packets for routing to the processors;

whereby the sequential ultrasound information packets associated with said single zone within said line in the ultrasound frame arrive at the input buffers of the subset of processors in sequential order.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein image data for successive zones of a single line of the ultrasound frame are generated in a non-sequential manner, and wherein said routing data also associates each ultrasound information packet with an intrabuffer destination address, said intrabuffer destination addresses being assigned such that image data placed into the input buffer memory is automatically rearranged into sequential order when said image data in said ultrasound information packets is stored according to said intrabuffer destination addresses.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein if said memory bank in said input buffer is input to its associated processor prior to being populated with image data from all lines and zones in the ultrasound frame, the processor is adapted to perform neighborhood interpolation algorithms using image data from known lines and zones to derive estimates of image data from missing zones.

11. A computer program product for organizing ultrasound data received from an ultrasound transducer for future processing, comprising:

computer code for receiving a plurality of digital samples corresponding to locations in an ultrasound frame;

computer code for deriving location information corresponding to said plurality of digital samples;

computer code for forming a header comprising said location information;

computer code for forming a payload comprising said digital samples;

computer code for forming an end sequence that signals the end of a packet;

computer code for concatenating said header, payload, and end sequence into an ultrasound information packet; and

computer code for distributing each of said ultrasound information packets associated with said ultrasound frame to a subset of a plurality of processors according to its location information, wherein different ultrasound information packets having different location information may be sent to distinct subsets of said plurality of processors;

wherein said locations in the ultrasound frame corresponding correspond to adjacent physical locations along a line within said ultrasound frame, said computer code for deriving location information further comprising;

computer code for deriving the line number within said ultrasound frame associated with said digital samples;

computer code for deriving a zone number within said ultrasound frame associated with said digital samples; and

wherein said computer code for deriving said location information is adapted to derive said line numbers and said zone numbers for ultrasound data that is received from the ultrasound transducer in a random line order.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, said computer program product further comprising computer code for organizing image data from a single zone within a single line in the ultrasound frame into sequential ultrasound information packets.

13. A computer-readable storage medium having a configuration that represents routing data for use by an ultrasound information processing system, said ultrasound information processing system having a plurality of processors, said ultrasound information processing system for receiving and processing a stream of ultrasound information packets, said ultrasound packets comprising location information from an ultrasound frame and image data corresponding thereto, said computer-readable storage medium comprising:

a location table comprising a list of ultrasound frame location identifiers; and

a destination identifier corresponding to each of said ultrasound frame location identifiers in said location table, said destination identifier identifying a subset of said processors that are to process the image data associated with said ultrasound frame location identifier, said ultrasound information processing system routing said ultrasound information packets to said subset of processors for performing image processing algorithms on said image data and outputting results to an output device;

wherein the ultrasound frame comprises a plurality of lines, said ultrasound frame location identifiers comprising a line number corresponding to a line of the ultrasound frame, said ultrasound information processing system routing said ultrasound information packets to said subset of processors based on said line number; and

wherein said ultrasound information frame comprises a plurality of sectors, said sectors comprising a plurality of adjacent lines within said ultrasound frame, wherein said destination identifier identifies a plurality of said processors that are to process the image data associated with said ultrasound frame location identifier, whereby image data from a single line in said ultrasound frame may be processed by more than one processor to allow for spatial image processing operations to be performed on overlapping sectors with reduced edge artifacts and without requiring inter-processor transfer of image data.

14. An apparatus for processing ultrasound data, said ultrasound data comprising ultrasound information packets having ultrasound frame location information and image data corresponding to said ultrasound frame location information, said apparatus comprising:

receiving circuitry for receiving the ultrasound information packets;

a plurality of primary processors for performing image processing operations on said image data;

a spare processor also capable of performing image processing operations on said image data;

a routing table for storing routing data that associates each ultrasound information packet with a subset of said processors according to the location information within that ultrasound information packet;

control circuitry for distributing each ultrasound information packet to the subset of processors associated with said ultrasound information packet according to said routing data;

an embedded controller coupled to said primary processors, said spare processor, said routing table, and said control circuitry, said embedded controller for downloading program data to said primary processors and said spare processor, said embedded controller also for downloading modified routing data to said routing table, said embedded controller being capable of detecting a malfunction of any of said primary processors; and

an output bus for transferring processed image data from said processors to an output device;

wherein, upon detection of a malfunction of one of said primary processors, said embedded controller automatically programs said spare processor with a copy of a program being run by said malfunctioning primary processor and reloads said routing table such that ultrasound information packets initially directed to said malfunctioning primary processor prior to the malfunction are directed to said spare processor;

whereby image processing functions of a malfunctioning primary processors are automatically redirected to said spare processor, thus increasing field reliability of said ultrasound data processing apparatus.