Providing color doppler image based on qualification curve information in ultrasound system

• US 9,261,485 B2
• Filed: 11/17/2011
• Issued: 02/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/23/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Samsung Medison Company Limited (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Samsung Medison Company Limited (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Inventors: Lee, Hyeong Do, Lee, Jae Keun
• Primary Examiner(s): Evoy, Nicholas
• Application Number:
  US13/298,779
• Publication Number:
  US 20120130249A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,552 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 8/488 involving Doppler signals
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2291/017 Doppler techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2291/02466 Biological material, e.g. blood
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/024 by measuring propagation velocity or propagation time of acoustic waves
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/0654 Imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/8981 Discriminating between fixed and moving objects or between objects moving at different speeds, e.g. wall clutter filter
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/8988 Colour Doppler imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/52071 Multicolour displays; using colour coding; Optimising colour or information content in displays, e.g. parametric imaging

Abstract

There are provided embodiments for providing a color Doppler image based on qualification curve information. In one embodiment, an ultrasound system comprises: an ultrasound data acquisition unit configured to acquire ultrasound data corresponding to a living body including a moving target object; a storage unit for storing qualification curve information for determining blood flow signals of the target object, clutter signals and noise based on velocity and power components of Doppler signals; and a processing unit configured to form first Doppler signals based on the ultrasound data, perform a clutter filtering process upon the first Doppler signals to form second Doppler signals, calculate velocity and power components of the second Doppler signals, form a color Doppler image based on the calculated velocity and power components, and perform a blending process upon the color Doppler image based on the calculated velocity and power components and the qualification curve information.

Claims

1. An ultrasound system, comprising:

an ultrasound data acquisition unit including a probe configured to acquire ultrasound data corresponding to a living body including a moving target object;

a storage unit configured to store qualification curve information, the qualification curve information including blood flow signals of the target object, clutter signals and noise based on velocity and power components of Doppler signals; and

a processing unit coupled to the ultrasound data acquisition unit and the storage unit, the processing unit including at least one of a central processing unit, a microprocessor, or a graphic processing unit, the processing unit configured to form first Doppler signals based on the ultrasound data, perform a clutter filtering process upon the first Doppler signals to form second Doppler signals, calculate velocity and power components of the second Doppler signals, form a color Doppler image based on the calculated velocity and power components, and perform a blending process upon the color Doppler image based on the calculated velocity and power components and the qualification curve information,

wherein the qualification curve information includes a qualification curve for determining a first region corresponding to the blood flow signals, a second region corresponding to the clutter signals, a third region corresponding to the noise, a fourth region comprising a portion of the blood flow signals region and a portion of the clutter signals region, and a fifth region comprising a portion of the blood flow signals region and a portion of the noise region, and

wherein the processing unit is configured to;

set transparency of the fourth region different from transparency of the first region and the second region and transparency of the fifth region different from transparency of the first region and the third region in the color Doppler image based on the qualification curve information;

perform a transparency process upon the color Doppler image based on the transparency of the fourth region and the transparency of the fifth region;

detect a region corresponding to the calculated velocity and power components among the first to fifth regions of the qualification curve information;

form qualification analysis information including the detected region; and

perform the blending process based on the qualification analysis information.

2. The ultrasound system of claim 1, wherein the processing unit is configured to:

set the transparency of the color Doppler image as a first value based on the qualification analysis information when the detected region is the first region;

set the transparency of the color Doppler image as a second value based on the qualification analysis information when the detected region is the second region or the third region; and

set the transparency of the color Doppler image as a third value based on the qualification analysis information when the detected region is the fourth region or the fifth region.

3. The ultrasound system of claim 2, wherein the first value is 0, the second value is 1, and the third value is a value between the first value and the second value.

4. The ultrasound system of claim 3, wherein the processing unit is configured to:

set the third value close to the first value as the calculated velocity and power components are closer to the first region, and set the third value close to the second value as the calculated velocity and power components are closer to the second region or the third region, based on the qualification analysis information that the detected region is the fourth or fifth region.