Method and apparatus for enhancing the detecting and tracking of moving objects using ultrasound
First Claim
1. An ultrasonic pulse echo apparatus for detecting an object that is moving with respect to a stationary object, comprising:
- an ultrasound transducer for transmitting a series of ultrasound pulses in a direction that intersects a path of the moving object;
an ultrasound receiver for receiving multiple lines of echoes from the objects in the field of view of the ultrasonic signal, each echo line corresponding to one of the ultrasonic pulses; and
a signal processor for determining an envelope of each of the echo lines, time shifting the echo envelope lines different amounts, and preferentially enhancing the echoes from moving objects by combining the echo envelope lines at different time shifts and selecting one of the combined echo envelope lines with an optimal signal-to-noise ratio.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An ultrasonic pulse echo apparatus detects an object that is moving with respect to stationary objects. An ultrasonic transducer transmits a series of ultrasound pulses in a direction that intersects a path of the moving object. An ultrasound receiver receives a series of lines of echoes from objects in the field of view of the ultrasonic signal. Each echo line corresponds to one of the ultrasonic pulses. A signal processor processes the echo lines from the moving object. The echo lines are time shifted by different amounts and combined at different time shifts to produce different composite lines. The composite line having an optimal signal-to-noise ratio is selected. Other signal processing enhancements are performed.
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Citations
31 Claims
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1. An ultrasonic pulse echo apparatus for detecting an object that is moving with respect to a stationary object, comprising:
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an ultrasound transducer for transmitting a series of ultrasound pulses in a direction that intersects a path of the moving object; an ultrasound receiver for receiving multiple lines of echoes from the objects in the field of view of the ultrasonic signal, each echo line corresponding to one of the ultrasonic pulses; and a signal processor for determining an envelope of each of the echo lines, time shifting the echo envelope lines different amounts, and preferentially enhancing the echoes from moving objects by combining the echo envelope lines at different time shifts and selecting one of the combined echo envelope lines with an optimal signal-to-noise ratio. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method for detecting an object that is moving with respect to a stationary object using ultrasonic pulse echo apparatus, comprising:
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using an ultrasound transmitter to transmit a series of ultrasound pulses in a direction that intersects a path of the moving object; using an ultrasound receiver to receive multiple lines of echoes from the objects in the field of view of the ultrasonic signal, each echo line corresponding to one of the ultrasonic pulses; and using a processor to; determining an envelope of each of the echo lines, time shifting the echo lines different amounts, and preferentially enhancing the echoes from moving objects by combining the echo envelope lines at different time shifts and selecting one of the combined echo envelope lines with an optimal signal-to-noise ratio. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. An ultrasonic pulse echo apparatus for detecting an object that is moving with respect to a stationary object and subjected to a sequence of ultrasound pulses that intersect a path of the moving object, comprising:
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an ultrasound receiver for receiving multiple lines of echoes from the objects in the field of view of the ultrasonic signal, each echo line corresponding to one of the ultrasonic pulses; and processing circuitry for preferentially enhancing the echoes from moving objects and configured to; time shift the echo lines different amounts, determine an amplitude of each echo line at a particular range from the ultrasound pulse echo apparatus for different time shifts, combine the echo lines at different time shifts, determine a median value or an average value of the echo lines amplitudes at different time shifts, and select the time shift where the echo amplitudes have a minimum variance from the median value or average value. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29)
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30. An ultrasonic pulse echo apparatus for detecting an object that is moving with respect to a stationary object and subjected to a sequence of ultrasound pulses that intersect a path of the moving object, comprising:
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an ultrasound receiver for receiving multiple lines of echoes from the objects in the field of view of the ultrasonic signal, each echo line corresponding to one of the ultrasonic pulses; and processing circuitry for preferentially enhancing the echoes from moving objects, determining a track corresponding to detected echoes in successive echo lines corresponding to the moving object, determining how close a recently detected echo is to the track, and updating the track by adding the detected echo to the track if the recently detected echo is within a minimum distance threshold to the track. - View Dependent Claims (31)
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Specification