Medical diagnostic ultrasound system and method

• US 6,497,664 B1
• Filed: 09/14/1999
• Issued: 12/24/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Siemens Medical Solutions USA Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Ecton, Inc. (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Randall, Kevin S., Urbano, Joseph A., Knell, Christopher B., Wood, Andrew J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lateef, Marvin M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Imam, Ali M.
• Application Number:
  US09/396,353
• Time in Patent Office: 1,197 Days
• Field of Search: 600/437, 600/442, 600/443, 600/447, 735/99, 736/25, 367/7, 367/11, 367/138, 702/32, 370/277, 342/373, 342/374
• US Class Current: 600/447
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/5207 involving processing of raw data to produce diagnostic data, e.g. for generating an image reconstruction G06T11/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/8979 Combined Doppler and pulse-echo imaging systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/52025 for pulse systems G01S7/52034 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 11/346 using phase variation

Abstract

A medical diagnostic ultrasound receive beamformer includes an upsampler upstream of a time delay device and a summer, and a smoothing filter downstream of the time delay device and the summer. The receive beamformer is automatically programmed into a gate array as a single-beam, dynamic-focus receive beamformer when the user selects B-mode and as a dual-beam, fixed-focus receive beamformer when the user selects color flow mode.

Claims

1. A medical diagnostic ultrasonic receive beamformer responsive to a plurality of receive signals, said beamformer comprising a signal processing path, said beamformer further comprising:

at least one upsampler in the path, each upsampler operative to upsample a respective set of receive signals;

at least one time delay device in the path downstream of the upsampler, each time delay device operative to apply focusing delays to a respective set of upsampled receive signals;

at least one summer in the path downstream of the upsampler, each summer operative to sum at least two of the upsampled, delayed receive signals; and

at least one smoothing filter in the path downstream of the time delay device, each filter operative to filter the summed, delayed, upsampled receive signals;

wherein each of the at least one upsampler, time delay device, summer, and smoothing filter are implemented in a programmable gate array.

2. The invention of claim 1 wherein the at least one time delay device comprises a plurality of time delay devices, each time delay device operative to delay upsampled receive signals associated with two adjacent sub-apertures.

3. The invention of claim 1 wherein the at least one delay device comprises at least one programmable variable delay device and at least one programmable fixed delay device.

4. The invention of claim 1 wherein the at least one time delay device is operative to apply dynamically varied focusing delays to the upsampled receive signals.

5. A medical diagnostic ultrasonic receive beamformer responsive to a plurality of receive signals, said beamformer comprising a signal processing path, said beamformer further comprising:

at least one upsampler in the path, each upsampler operative to upsample a respective set of receive signals;

at least one time delay device in the path downstream of the upsampler, each time delay device operative to apply focusing delays to a respective set of upsampled receive signals;

at least one summer in the path downstream of the upsampler, each summer operative to sum at least two of the upsampled, delayed receive signals; and

at least one smoothing filter in the path downstream of the time delay device, each filter operative to filter the summed, delayed, upsampled receive signals;

wherein the time delay devices comprise first and second time delay devices associated with a central and an edge sub-aperture, respectively, wherein the first and second time delay devices are operative to delay the respective upsampled receive signals by a maximum of M and N clock cycles, respectively, and where N is greater than M.

6. A medical diagnostic ultrasonic receive beamformer responsive to a plurality of receive signals, said beamformer comprising a signal processing path, said beamformer further comprising:

at least one upsampler in the path, each upsampler operative to upsample a respective set of receive signals;

at least one time delay device in the path downstream of the upsampler, each time delay device operative to apply focusing delays to a respective set of upsampled receive signals;

at least one summer in the path downstream of the upsampler, each summer operative to sum at least two of the upsampled, delayed receive signals; and

at least one smoothing filter in the path downstream of the time delay device, each filter operative to filter the summed, delayed, upsampled receive signals;

wherein the at least one summer comprises a plurality of summers, each summer operative to sum upsampled, delayed receive signals associated with two adjacent sub-apertures.

7. A method for reprogramming a medical diagnostic ultrasound receive beamformer, said method comprising:

(a) providing a programmable logic device;

(b) programming the logic device as a variable-focus receive beamformer operative to form M receive beams from a single transmit event; and

(c) re-programming the logic device as a fixed-focus receive beamformer operative to form N receive beams from a single transmit event, where N is greater than M;

wherein at least one of (b) and (c) is initiated in response to a user selection.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the variable-focus beamformer of (b) is characterized by a maximum steering angle M, wherein the fixed-focus beamformer of (c) is characterized by a maximum steering angle N, and wherein M is greater than N.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein M is substantially equal to 45 degrees and N is substantially equal to 30 degrees.