SNR improvement and operator-independence using time-varying frame-selection for strain estimation
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An ultrasound processing system for elastography comprising:
- an ultrasound interface connector that receives ultrasound imaging information including a plurality of frames including at least a first frame, a second frame previous to the first frame, and a third frame previous to the first frame; and
processing electronics coupled to the ultrasound interface connector, wherein the processing electronics;
divide each of the plurality of frames into a plurality of sections, wherein each of the plurality of frames is divided into the plurality of sections based on a strain decay at a given depth;
for each particular section of the plurality of sections of the first frame of the plurality of frames;
generate a plurality of comparison sets and corresponding selection values including at least a first comparison set having a corresponding selection value based on the particular section of the first frame of the plurality of frames and the particular section of the second frame of the plurality of frames and a second comparison set having a corresponding selection value based on the particular section of the first frame of the plurality of frames and the particular section of the third frame of the plurality of frames, each selection value including at least one of a displacement or a strain;
select, responsive to generating the plurality of comparison sets, a single comparison set from the plurality of comparison sets based on the corresponding selection values of each of the plurality of comparison sets; and
assign the selection value of the selected single comparison set to the particular section of the first frame; and
generate an image based on the plurality of frames using the selected single comparison set and the assigned selection value for each section of the plurality of sections of the first frame.
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Abstract
An ultrasound processing system includes an ultrasound interface and processing electronics. The ultrasound interface receives imaging information. The processing electronics are coupled to the ultrasound interface and are configured to utilize the ultrasound imaging information to use time-varying frame selection to estimate strain so that the processing electronics perform the time-varying frame selection by comparing a single frame to a plurality of previous frames and selecting a single comparison set for each frame for strain estimation.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. An ultrasound processing system for elastography comprising:
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an ultrasound interface connector that receives ultrasound imaging information including a plurality of frames including at least a first frame, a second frame previous to the first frame, and a third frame previous to the first frame; and processing electronics coupled to the ultrasound interface connector, wherein the processing electronics; divide each of the plurality of frames into a plurality of sections, wherein each of the plurality of frames is divided into the plurality of sections based on a strain decay at a given depth; for each particular section of the plurality of sections of the first frame of the plurality of frames; generate a plurality of comparison sets and corresponding selection values including at least a first comparison set having a corresponding selection value based on the particular section of the first frame of the plurality of frames and the particular section of the second frame of the plurality of frames and a second comparison set having a corresponding selection value based on the particular section of the first frame of the plurality of frames and the particular section of the third frame of the plurality of frames, each selection value including at least one of a displacement or a strain; select, responsive to generating the plurality of comparison sets, a single comparison set from the plurality of comparison sets based on the corresponding selection values of each of the plurality of comparison sets; and assign the selection value of the selected single comparison set to the particular section of the first frame; and generate an image based on the plurality of frames using the selected single comparison set and the assigned selection value for each section of the plurality of sections of the first frame. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method of signal to noise ratio improvement in elastography using time-varying frame selection strain estimation, the method comprising:
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receiving imaging and displacement and/or strain data including a plurality of frames including at least a first frame, a second frame previous to the first frame, and a third frame previous to the first frame; dividing each frame of the plurality of frames into a plurality of sections, wherein each frame of the plurality of frames is divided into the plurality of sections based on a strain decay at a given depth; for each particular section of the plurality of sections for the first frame of the plurality of frames; generating a plurality of comparison sets and corresponding selection values using the imaging and displacement and/or strain data including at least a first comparison set having a corresponding selection value based on the particular section of the first frame of the plurality of frames and the particular section of the second frame of the plurality of frames and a second comparison set having a corresponding selection value based on particular section of the first frame of the plurality of frames and the particular section of the third frame of the plurality of frames, each selection value including at least one of a displacement or a strain; selecting, responsive to generating the plurality of comparison sets, a frame comparison set from the plurality of comparison sets based on the corresponding selection values of each of the plurality of comparison sets; and assigning the selection value of the selected frame comparison set to particular section of the first frame; generating an image based on the plurality of frames using the selected frame comparison set and the assigned the selection value for each section of the plurality of sections of the first frame, and displaying the image. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. An ultrasound machine comprising
one or more processors and a memory storing computer-readable instructions that when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to: -
receive ultrasound returns representative of an ultrasound scene for display including a plurality of frames; divide each of the plurality of frames into sections based on a strain decay at a given depth; generate, for each section in a first frame of the plurality of frames, a plurality of comparison sets wherein for each comparison set, the section of the first frame is compared to the corresponding section of a different frame of the plurality of frames; generate, for each comparison set of each section in the first frame of the plurality of frames, a selection value based on the compared sections of the comparison set; select, responsive to generating the selection values, a single comparison set from the plurality of comparison sets for each section of the first frame based on the generated selection values of the comparison sets; generate an elastic image based on the selected single comparison set for each section of the first frame. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21)
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Specification