Surface parameter adaptive ultrasound image processing
First Claim
1. A method for processing ultrasound data as a function of a surface, the method comprising:
- writing to a depth buffer of a graphics processing unit as a function of first ultrasound data, the first ultrasound data representing samples in a volume of a patient;
processing second ultrasound data as a function of data from the depth buffer, the data of the depth buffer indicating the surface, the first ultrasound data being the same or different than the second ultrasound data;
generating an image as a function of the processed, second ultrasound data; and
identifying the surface from the data from the depth buffer and determining an orientation of the surface relative to an insonification angle, and wherein processing comprises varying an M- or B-mode imaging parameter as a function of a cosine of difference of the insonification angle and the orientation.
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Abstract
The depth buffer of a GPU is used to derive a surface normal or other surface parameter, avoiding or limiting computation of spatial gradients in 3D data sets and extra loading of data into the GPU. The surface parameter is used: to add shading with lighting to volume renderings of ultrasound data in real time, to angle correct velocity estimates, to adapt filtering or to correct for insonifying-angle dependent gain and compression. For border detection and segmentation, intersections with a volume oriented as a function of target structure, such as cylinders oriented relative to a vessel, are used for rendering. The intersections identify data for loading into the frame buffer for rendering.
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Citations
15 Claims
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1. A method for processing ultrasound data as a function of a surface, the method comprising:
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writing to a depth buffer of a graphics processing unit as a function of first ultrasound data, the first ultrasound data representing samples in a volume of a patient; processing second ultrasound data as a function of data from the depth buffer, the data of the depth buffer indicating the surface, the first ultrasound data being the same or different than the second ultrasound data; generating an image as a function of the processed, second ultrasound data; and identifying the surface from the data from the depth buffer and determining an orientation of the surface relative to an insonification angle, and wherein processing comprises varying an M- or B-mode imaging parameter as a function of a cosine of difference of the insonification angle and the orientation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method for processing ultrasound data as a function of a surface, the method comprising:
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identifying a surface of a specular target from data representing samples in a volume of a patient; determining an orientation of the surface relative to an insonification angle; varying an M- or B-mode imaging parameter as a function of a dot product between the insonification angle and the orientation; and generating an image as a function of the M- or B-mode imaging parameter. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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Specification