Method for controlling adaptive color flow processing using fuzzy logic
First Claim
1. In a processor for color flow imaging of the velocity of blood flowing past adjacent tissue, comprising a wall estimate path circuit and a flow estimate path, and having a nonadaptive mode in which said wall estimate path circuit is bypassed and an adaptive mode in which the estimated wall velocity of said adjacent tissue is mixed with I and Q input data in a complex mixer in said wall estimate path circuit and then output to a wall filter in said flow estimate path circuit, the improvement wherein a fuzzy logic processor in said wall estimate path circuit for determining which of said adaptive and nonadaptive modes shall be operative.
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Abstract
A color flow processor has a fuzzy logic processor for determining when an adaptive wall filter can be turned off in response to the condition wherein flow signal will be treated as wall signal. The fuzzy logic processor uses details of wall velocity and power, as well as variance, to determine whether the measured echo signal component to be filtered truly represents the wall velocity only. The general rule applied by the fuzzy logic processor would be that if the wall velocity is LOW and the wall variance is LOW and the wall power is HIGH, than the adaptive filter is turned ON, where LOW and HIGH are fuzzy values. Use can be made of information from previous states, either temporally or spatially, allowing the system to adapt itself to each study or over time.
43 Citations
17 Claims
- 1. In a processor for color flow imaging of the velocity of blood flowing past adjacent tissue, comprising a wall estimate path circuit and a flow estimate path, and having a nonadaptive mode in which said wall estimate path circuit is bypassed and an adaptive mode in which the estimated wall velocity of said adjacent tissue is mixed with I and Q input data in a complex mixer in said wall estimate path circuit and then output to a wall filter in said flow estimate path circuit, the improvement wherein a fuzzy logic processor in said wall estimate path circuit for determining which of said adaptive and nonadaptive modes shall be operative.
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11. A method for color flow imaging of the velocity of blood flowing past adjacent tissue, comprising the steps of:
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acquiring I and Q input data; estimating the wall velocity of said adjacent tissue from said I and Q input data; mixing said estimated wall velocity with said I and Q input data in response to said I and Q input data forming a set of data which is a member of a predetermined class of data sets; mixing a zero wall velocity with said I and Q input data in response to said I and Q input data forming a set of data which is not a member of said predetermined class of data sets; and determining whether said I and Q input data is a member of said predetermined class of data sets using fuzzy logic processing. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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Specification