Systems and methods for improving ultrasound image quality by applying weighting factors

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12186133-B2
Application number	US-202117527809-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 16, 2021
Priority date	Mar 26, 2012
Publication date	Jan 7, 2025
Grant date	Jan 7, 2025

Abstract

Systems and methods for improving the quality of ultrasound images made up of a combination of multiple sub-images include giving more weight to sub-image information that is more likely to improve a combined image quality. Weighting factor information may be determined from the geometry (e.g., angle or path length) of a location of one or more specific transducer elements relative to a specific point within a region of interest or a region of an image. In some embodiments, any given pixel (or other discrete region of an image) may be formed by combining received echo data in a manner that gives more weight to data that is likely to improve image quality, and/or discounting or ignoring data that is likely to detract from image quality (e.g., by introducing noise or by increasing point spread).

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of ultrasound imaging with a multiple aperture ultrasound probe, the method comprising:
separately transmitting an unfocused circular wave front ultrasound signal from each of a plurality of transmit apertures of the multiple aperture ultrasound probe into a region of interest and receiving echoes of the circular wave front ultrasound signals at a plurality of receive apertures;
for each of the transmitted unfocused circular wave front ultrasound signals, determining an elapsed time between a transmit time of transmitting the unfocused circular wave front ultrasound signal into the region of interest and a receive time of receiving echoes returned by reflectors in the region of interest, and determining intensity values for the received echoes;
analyzing patterns of the elapsed time and the intensity values for each transmit aperture to determine a degree of blockage of each of the plurality of transmit apertures; and
applying weighting factors to each of the plurality of transmit apertures proportional to the degree of blockage determined for each transmit aperture.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising applying a weighting factor of 1 to transmit apertures that are unblocked.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising applying a weighting factor of 0 to transmit apertures that are completely blocked.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising applying a weighting factor between 0 and 1 to transmit apertures that are partially blocked.

Assignees

• Maui Imaging Inc

Inventors

• Call Josef R
• Specht Donald F
• Brewer Kenneth D

Classifications

• G06T2207/10132

  Ultrasound image · CPC title

• G06T5/50

  using two or more images, e.g. averaging or subtraction · CPC title

• A61B8/145 Primary

  characterised by scanning multiple planes · CPC title

• A61B8/5246 Primary

  combining images from the same or different imaging techniques, e.g. color Doppler and B-mode · CPC title

• A61B8/461

  Displaying means of special interest · CPC title