Ultrasound imaging methods and systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10976422-B2
Application number	US-201715632176-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 23, 2017
Priority date	Jan 30, 2015
Publication date	Apr 13, 2021
Grant date	Apr 13, 2021

Abstract

An ultrasound imaging system may include a probe, a transmitting circuit which may excite the probe to transmit ultrasound beams towards a scanning target in at least three ultrasound propagation directions; a receiving circuit and a beamforming unit which may respectively receive the echoes of the ultrasound beams in the ultrasound propagation directions to obtain the echo signals in each of the ultrasound propagation directions; a data processing unit which may obtain velocity vectors of target points in the scanning target using the echo signals in each of the ultrasound propagation directions and obtain ultrasound images of at least a portion of the scanning target using the echo signals; and a display which may display the velocity vectors and the ultrasound images.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An ultrasound imaging method, comprising:
transmitting, via a probe, ultrasound beams towards a scanning target in at least three ultrasound propagation directions to form at least three scanning bodies, wherein the at least three scanning bodies include an overlapping region in space, and each of the scanning bodies is derived from the ultrasound beams transmitted in a respective one of the at least three ultrasound propagation directions;
receiving, via a receiving circuit, echoes of the ultrasound beams returned by the at least three scanning bodies and converting the echoes into electric signals;
beamforming, via a beamforming unit, the electric signals to obtain at least three groups of echo signals, wherein each group of echo signals is derived from ultrasound beams transmitted in one ultrasound propagation direction;
calculating, via a data processing unit, velocity vectors of multiple target points using the at least three groups of echo signals, wherein the multiple target points are points covered by the overlapping region in the scanning target, and a velocity vector of any of the multiple target points is obtained by:
calculating, via the data processing unit, at least three velocity components of the any of the multiple target points using the at least three groups of echo signals, wherein one velocity component of the any of the multiple target points is calculated using one group of echo signals of the at least three groups of echo signals; and
synthesizing, via the data processing unit, a velocity vector of the any of the multiple target points using the at least three velocity components, wherein the at least three ultrasound propagation directions corresponding to the at least three groups of echo signals used for calculating the at least three velocity components are not in a same plane;
obtaining an ultrasound image of at least a portion of the scanning target; and
displaying, via a display, the ultrasound image and the velocity vectors of the multiple target points.

2. The ultrasound imaging method of claim 1 , wherein the ultrasound beams are transmitted towards the scanning target alternately according to different ultrasound propagation directions.

3. The ultrasound imaging method of claim 1 , wherein, the ultrasound beams are transmitted towards the scanning target at least two times in each ultrasound propagation direction, and each group of echo signals comprises at least two echo signals each of which is derived from echoes obtained by transmitting the ultrasound beam towards the scanning target one time in one ultrasound propagation direction.

4. The ultrasound imaging method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining the ultrasound image of at least a portion of the scanning target comprises:
obtaining, via the data processing unit, the ultrasound image using the at least three groups of echo signals.

5. The ultrasound imaging method of claim 4 , wherein at least one transmission of a focused ultrasound beams towards the scanning target is inserted between the transmitting of the ultrasound beams towards the scanning target in the at least three ultrasound propagation directions.

6. The ultrasound imaging method of claim 1 , wherein transmitting the ultrasound beams towards the scanning target in the at least three ultrasound propagation directions to form the at least three scanning bodies comprises:
exciting, via a transmitting circuit, a part or all of ultrasound wave transmitting transducers to transmit the ultrasound beams towards the scanning target in the at least three ultrasound propagation directions such that the ultrasound beams propagate in a space in which the scanning target is located to form at least three scanning bodies.

7. The ultrasound imaging method of claim 1 , wherein transmitting the ultrasound beams towards the scanning target in the at least three ultrasound propagation directions comprises:
dividing, via a transmitting circuit, ultrasound wave transmitting transducers into a plurality of transducer regions and exciting a part or all of the transducer regions to transmit the ultrasound beams in at least three ultrasound propagation directions.

8. The ultrasound imaging method of claim 3 , wherein the velocity component is calculated one time after the ultrasound beam towards the scanning target is transmitted at least two times in each ultrasound propagation direction.

9. The ultrasound imaging method of claim 2 , wherein ultrasound propagation directions for at least three successive transmissions are not in a same plane.

10. The ultrasound imaging method of claim 9 , wherein calculating the at least three velocity components of the any of the multiple target points using the at least three groups of echo signals and synthesizing the velocity vector of the any of the multiple target points using the at least three velocity components comprises:
calculating velocity components of the any of the multiple target points in at least three ultrasound propagation directions corresponding to at least three groups of echo signals received successively; and
synthesizing the velocity vector of the any of the multiple target points using the velocity components in the at least three ultrasound propagation directions.

11. The ultrasound imaging method of claim 1 , wherein calculating the at least three velocity components of the any of the multiple target points using the at least three groups of echo signals and synthesizing the velocity vector of the any of the multiple target points using the at least three velocity components comprises:
calculating velocity components of the any of the multiple target points in all ultrasound propagation directions corresponding to the at least three groups of echo signals; and
synthesizing the velocity vector of the any of the multiple target points using the velocity components in all ultrasound propagation directions.

12. The ultrasound imaging method of claim 1 , further comprising:
obtaining, via the data processing unit, number of the ultrasound propagation directions or number of velocity components to be used for synthesizing the velocity vector selected by user to generate an instruction; and
adjusting, via the data processing unit, the number of the ultrasound propagation directions according to the instruction and determining the number of velocity components to be used for synthesizing the velocity vector or adjusting the number of velocity components to be used for synthesizing the velocity vector of the any of the multiple target points according to the number of the ultrasound propagation directions.

13. An ultrasound imaging method, comprising:
transmitting, via a probe, plane ultrasound beams towards a scanning target in at least three ultrasound propagation directions to form at least three scanning bodies, wherein the at least three scanning bodies include an overlapping region in space, and each of the scanning bodies is derived from the plane ultrasound beams transmitted in a respective one of the at least three ultrasound propagation directions;
receiving, via a receiving circuit, echo signals of the plane ultrasound beams returned by the at least three scanning bodies and converting the echoes into electric signal;
beamforming, via a beamforming unit, the electric signals to obtain at least three groups of plane beam echo signals, wherein each group of plane beam echo signals is derived from plane ultrasound beams transmitted in one ultrasound propagation direction;
calculating, via a data processing unit, velocity vectors of multiple target points using the at least three groups of echo signals, wherein the multiple ta

Assignees

• Shenzhen Mindray Biomedical Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Yigang Du
• Rui Fan
• Yong Li

Classifications

• G01S15/8984

  Measuring the velocity vector · CPC title

• G01S7/52071

  Multicolour displays; using colour coding; Optimising colour or information content in displays, e.g. parametric imaging · CPC title

• G01S15/8925

  the array being a two-dimensional transducer configuration, i.e. matrix or orthogonal linear arrays · CPC title

• A61B8/0891

  for diagnosis of blood vessels · CPC title

• G01S15/8922

  the array being concentric or annular · CPC title