Automated ultrasound mediated delivery
First Claim
1. A device comprising:
- an imaging module configured for monitoring, according to each iteration of a number of iterations of a treatment plan, a current treatment region of a plurality of treatment regions over an entire treatment area, to determine whether bubble presence in the current treatment region meets a predefined threshold of a magnitude of said bubble presence; and
a unit configured for energizing bubbles within said current treatment region to deliver a substance,wherein said energizing bubbles (i) occurs in real time response to a determination that said predefined threshold has been met for the current treatment region, and (ii) is skipped for the current treatment region in real time response to the determination that said predefined threshold has not been met, further wherein subsequently the imaging module and the energizing unit proceed with a next treatment region until all of the plurality of treatment regions of the entire treatment area for the number of iterations of the treatment plan receive deliver of the substance, and wherein if said energizing bubbles is skipped for the current treatment region in response to the determination that said predefined threshold has not been met, the imaging module and the energizing unit are configured to return to the current treatment region to determine whether bubble presence in the current treatment region meets the predefined threshold after determination of bubble presence is made for the next treatment region.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
Bubble presence within a region is monitored to determine if a predetermined condition is met such as whether the presence is of sufficient magnitude, the bubbles being subject to energizing (240). In some embodiments, the energizing only occurs when time- wise preceded by the determination (S508, S510). The determining can include measuring a grayscale value (104), or assessing the energy carried by a frequency component of the echo signal, in the region in real time. The energizing may occur region-by-region, automatically and without need for user intervention, in a treatment pass (S428) over the regions. The regions (232) in the pass might be subject to respective instances of the energizing without intervening monitoring, or, in another embodiment, to both the determining and the responsive energizing. The determining can be subject to, automatically and without need for user intervention, interruption (S408) and concurrent switching to a next region.
6 Citations
27 Claims
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1. A device comprising:
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an imaging module configured for monitoring, according to each iteration of a number of iterations of a treatment plan, a current treatment region of a plurality of treatment regions over an entire treatment area, to determine whether bubble presence in the current treatment region meets a predefined threshold of a magnitude of said bubble presence; and a unit configured for energizing bubbles within said current treatment region to deliver a substance, wherein said energizing bubbles (i) occurs in real time response to a determination that said predefined threshold has been met for the current treatment region, and (ii) is skipped for the current treatment region in real time response to the determination that said predefined threshold has not been met, further wherein subsequently the imaging module and the energizing unit proceed with a next treatment region until all of the plurality of treatment regions of the entire treatment area for the number of iterations of the treatment plan receive deliver of the substance, and wherein if said energizing bubbles is skipped for the current treatment region in response to the determination that said predefined threshold has not been met, the imaging module and the energizing unit are configured to return to the current treatment region to determine whether bubble presence in the current treatment region meets the predefined threshold after determination of bubble presence is made for the next treatment region. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A non-transitory computer readable medium embodied with instructions executable by a processor for carrying out a series of acts for a substance delivery device, the acts comprising:
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monitoring, according to each iteration of a number of iterations of a treatment plan, a current treatment region of a plurality of treatment regions over an entire treatment area, to determine whether bubble presence in the current treatment region meets a predefined magnitude of said bubble presence; and energizing bubbles within said current treatment region to deliver a substance, wherein said energizing bubbles (i) occurs in real time response to a determination that said predefined magnitude has been met for the current treatment region, and (ii) is skipped for the current treatment region in real time response to the determination that said predefined magnitude has not been met, further wherein subsequently the monitoring and the energizing proceed with a next treatment region until all of the plurality of treatment regions of the entire treatment area for the number of iterations of the treatment plan receive deliver of the substance, and wherein if said energizing bubbles is skipped for the current treatment region in response to the determination that said predefined threshold has not been met, returning to the current treatment region to determine whether bubble presence in the current treatment region meets the predefined threshold after determination of bubble presence is made for the next treatment region. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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Specification