Ultrasound diagnosis apparatus for self-diagnosis and remote-diagnosis, and method of operating the ultrasound diagnosis apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10660607-B2
Application number	US-201515500398-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 28, 2015
Priority date	Aug 28, 2014
Publication date	May 26, 2020
Grant date	May 26, 2020

Abstract

An ultrasound diagnosis apparatus and method enabling general users to easily acquire ultrasound images even when the users are unskilled at using ultrasound diagnosis apparatuses, and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having the ultrasound diagnosis method recorded thereon are provided. The ultrasound diagnosis apparatus includes a probe configured to acquire ultrasound data of an object; an image generation unit configured to generate an ultrasound image of the object by using the ultrasound data; a probe location acquisition unit configured to acquire a location of the probe on the object; a display unit configured to display the location of the probe and a reference location on an image representing the object; and a control unit configured to determine whether the location of the probe corresponds to the reference location.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An ultrasound diagnosis apparatus comprising:
a probe configured to acquire ultrasound data of an object;
an image generator configured to generate an ultrasound image of the object by using the ultrasound data;
a location tracking sensor configured to acquire a location of the probe on the object;
a display configured to display the location of the probe and a reference location on an image representing the object;
a communication module configured to communicate with an external device in a remote diagnosis mode; and
a controller configured to:
control the communication module to transmit, to the external device, first information associated with determining the reference location based on the remote diagnosis mode;
receive, via the communication module and from the external device, second information associated with determining the reference location, based on controlling the communication module to transmit the first information;
determine the reference location based on the second information; and
determine whether the location of the probe corresponds to the reference location.

2. The ultrasound diagnosis apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a storage configured to map a plurality of locations of the probe with a plurality of reference ultrasound images and store a result of the mapping,
wherein the location tracking sensor is further configured to compare the ultrasound image with the plurality of reference ultrasound images, select one from among the plurality of reference ultrasound images based on a result of the comparison, and acquire a location corresponding to the selected reference ultrasound image as the location of the probe.

3. The ultrasound diagnosis apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a photographer configured to photograph the probe and the object, wherein the location tracking sensor is further configured to detect an area corresponding to the probe and an area corresponding to the object from an image captured by photographing the probe and the object, and acquire the location of the probe based on a location of the area corresponding to the probe with respect to the area corresponding to the object.

4. The ultrasound diagnosis apparatus of claim 1 , wherein
when it is determined that the location of the probe does not correspond to the reference location, the controller is further configured to determine a movement path to be taken by the probe to move to the reference location, and the display is further configured to display the movement path from the location of the probe to the reference location on the image representing the object.

5. The ultrasound diagnosis apparatus of claim 1 , wherein, when the location of the probe corresponds to the reference location, the controller is further configured to control the display to display an image representing that the location of the probe corresponds to the reference location.

6. The ultrasound diagnosis apparatus of claim 1 , wherein, when the location of the probe corresponds to the reference location, the controller is further configured to control the probe to transmit an ultrasound signal to the object and receive an echo signal from the object to acquire the ultrasound data.

7. The ultrasound diagnosis apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the communication module is further configured to transmit the ultrasound image to the external device when the location of the probe corresponds to the reference location.

8. The ultrasound diagnosis apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising an input interface configured to receive a user input of selecting at least one location from among a plurality of locations on the object, wherein the controller is further configured to determine the selected location as the reference location.

9. The ultrasound diagnosis apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first information associated with determining the reference location includes at least one selected from the location of the probe, the reference location, the ultrasound image, and an image displayed on the display to the external device.

10. The ultrasound diagnosis apparatus of claim 9 , wherein
the communication module is further configured to receive information that is used to generate the ultrasound image, from the external device, and
the controller is further configured to control at least one selected from the probe and the image generator, based on the received information.

11. A method of operating an ultrasound diagnosis apparatus including a probe acquiring ultrasound data of an object and an image generator generating an ultrasound image of the object by using the ultrasound data, the method comprising:
acquiring a location of the probe on the object;
displaying the location of the probe and a reference location on an image representing the object;
transmitting, to an external device, first information associated with determining the reference location based on a remote diagnosis mode of the ultrasound diagnosis apparatus;
receiving, from the external device, second information associated with determining the reference location based on transmitting the first information;
determining the reference location based on the second information; and
determining whether the location of the probe corresponds to the reference location.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising mapping a plurality of locations of the probe with a plurality of reference ultrasound images and storing a result of the mapping,
wherein the acquiring of the location of the probe comprises:
comparing the ultrasound image with the plurality of reference ultrasound images;
selecting one reference ultrasound image from the plurality of reference ultrasound images, based on a result of the comparing; and
acquiring a location corresponding to the selected reference ultrasound image as the location of the probe.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the determining whether the location of the probe corresponds to the reference location comprises:
determining a movement path to be taken by the probe to move to the reference location when it is determined that the location of the probe does not correspond to the reference location; and
displaying the movement path from the location of the probe to the reference location on the image representing the object.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for executing the method of claim 11 .

15. The ultrasound diagnosis apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
receive a user input associated with a request to enter the remote diagnosis mode; and
control the communication module to communicate with the external device based on the user input.

16. The ultrasound diagnosis apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
receive, via the communication module and from the external device, a request to enter the remote diagnosis mode; and
control the communication module to communicate the external device based on the request.

17. The ultrasound diagnosis apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first information permits the external device to display via a display of the external device at least one of the location of the probe, the reference location, the ultrasound image, or the image representing the object to permit a remote user to view the first information via the display of the external device.

18. The ultrasound diagnosis apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second information includes information input to th

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Ryu Jae-Young
• Kim Dong-Ki
• Kim Young-Hwan
• Seo Min-Woo
• Lee Jei-Young

Classifications

• A61B8/4427

  Device being portable or laptop-like · CPC title

• A61B8/0883

  for diagnosis of the heart · CPC title

• A61B8/468

  allowing annotation or message recording · CPC title

• A61B8/463

  characterised by displaying multiple images or images and diagnostic data on one display · CPC title

• A61B8/565

  involving data transmission via a network · CPC title