Ultrasound scanning capsule endoscope (USCE)
First Claim
1. An ultrasound scanning capsule endoscope, comprising:
- a housing configured to have a size that is ingestible;
an ultrasonic transducer array wrapped around a circumference of the housing, each transducer in the ultrasonic transducer array being configured to transmit an ultrasonic signal and to receive an echo signal;
a timing circuit configured to induce transmission of a respective ultrasonic signal by each transducer according to a phased array sequence,wherein the phased array sequence configures the ultrasonic transducer array into consecutive phased arrays around the circumference of the housing for sequentially imaging one or more voxels at a time around the circumference, andwherein the consecutive phased arrays utilize a number of transducers when configured for transmission of their respective ultrasonic signals that is greater than a number of transducers when configured for reception of their respective echo signals.
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Abstract
The present invention relates to ultrasound imaging on a capsule endoscope platform. It relates to the generation of a focused ultrasound acoustic signal and the receiving of echo signals from the wall of a body lumen with an array of acoustic transducers wrapped around the circumference of the capsule. It relates to sending the generated echo image signals to receiver devices attached or worn on the body. It relates to the generation of 360° overlapping sidewall ultrasound scans of a body lumen, and image processing techniques to assemble these scans into a high resolution continuous ultrasound image. Finally, it relates to the manufacture and assembly of such an ultrasound scanning capsule endoscope (USCE). The concept is extendable to conventional endoscopes and catheters.
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Citations
22 Claims
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1. An ultrasound scanning capsule endoscope, comprising:
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a housing configured to have a size that is ingestible; an ultrasonic transducer array wrapped around a circumference of the housing, each transducer in the ultrasonic transducer array being configured to transmit an ultrasonic signal and to receive an echo signal; a timing circuit configured to induce transmission of a respective ultrasonic signal by each transducer according to a phased array sequence, wherein the phased array sequence configures the ultrasonic transducer array into consecutive phased arrays around the circumference of the housing for sequentially imaging one or more voxels at a time around the circumference, and wherein the consecutive phased arrays utilize a number of transducers when configured for transmission of their respective ultrasonic signals that is greater than a number of transducers when configured for reception of their respective echo signals. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. An ultrasound scanning capsule endoscope, comprising:
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an ultrasonic transducer phased array wrapped around a circumference of a housing, each transducer in the ultrasonic transducer phased array being configured to transmit an ultrasonic signal and to receive an echo signal; a timing circuit configured to induce transmission of a respective ultrasonic signal by each transducer in the ultrasonic transducer phased array according to a phased array sequence to sequentially image one or more voxels at a time around the circumference, wherein each phased array within the phased array sequence utilizes a number of transducers when configured for transmission of its respective ultrasonic signal that is greater than a number of transducers when configured for reception of its respective echo signal. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method for imaging an intestinal tract, comprising:
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transmitting, by a first plurality of transducers, a first plurality of ultrasonic signals, each transducer from among the first plurality of transducers being part of a respective phased array from among a consecutive phased array that is wrapped around the circumference of an ultrasound scanning capsule; receiving, by a subset of the first plurality of transducers, a first plurality of echoes resulting from the first plurality of ultrasonic signals reflecting off of the intestinal tract to image one or more first voxels of the intestinal tract; transmitting, by a second plurality of transducers, a second plurality of ultrasonic signals each transducer from among the second plurality of transducers being part of another respective phased array from among the consecutive phased array; and receiving, by a subset of the second plurality of transducers, a second plurality of echoes resulting from the second plurality of ultrasonic signals reflecting off of the intestinal tract to image one or more second voxels of the intestinal tract. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification