Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus and method for controlling ultrasonic probe

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018017669-A1
Application number	US-201615541990-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 2, 2016
Priority date	Feb 10, 2015
Publication date	Jan 18, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

Provided is an ultrasound diagnosis apparatus including a probe configured to transmit a plurality of plane waves at a plurality of steering angles and a controller configured to determine the plurality of plane waves so that a grating lobe of a synthetic transmit focusing beam pattern using the plurality of plane waves is located outside a region of interest.

First claim

1 . An ultrasound diagnosis apparatus comprising:
a probe configured to transmit a plurality of plane waves at a plurality of steering angles; and a controller configured to determine the plurality of plane waves so that a grating lobe of a synthetic transmit focusing beam pattern using the plurality of plane waves is located outside a region of interest.

2 . The ultrasound diagnosis apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller determines the plurality of plane waves so that an interval between sine values of the plurality of steering angles is equal to or less than a first reference value.

3 . The ultrasound diagnosis apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the controller sets a value obtained by dividing a wavelength by a size of an aperture of the probe as the first reference value.

4 . The ultrasound diagnosis apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller fixes a minimum steering angle and a maximum steering angle, and determines the plurality of plane waves so that a number of the plurality of steering angles is equal to or greater than a second reference value.

5 . The ultrasound diagnosis apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller adjusts a size of the region of interest so that the size of the region of interest is less than a position of the grating lobe.

6 . The ultrasound diagnosis apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the probe receives echo signals, and
the controller applies an apodization window having a low side lobe to the echo signals.

7 . The ultrasound diagnosis apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller determines the plurality of plane waves so that an intensity of the grating lobe is less than an intensity of a main lobe in the synthetic transmit focusing beam pattern using the plurality of plane waves.

8 . The ultrasound diagnosis apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the plurality of plane waves determined by the controller comprise a plurality of plane wave sets, and grating lobes of the plurality of plane wave sets do not overlap one another.

9 . The ultrasound diagnosis apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the plurality of plane waves determined by the controller comprise a plurality of plane wave sets, and intervals between sine values of the plurality of steering angles of the plurality of plane wave sets are different from one another.

10 . The ultrasound diagnosis apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the plurality of plane waves determined by the controller comprise a plurality of plane wave sets, minimum steering angles and maximum steering angles of the plurality of plane wave sets are the same, and numbers of the steering angles of the plurality of plane wave sets are different from one another.

11 . The ultrasound diagnosis apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the plurality of steering angles of the plurality of plane waves determined by the controller are arbitrary.

12 . The ultrasound diagnosis apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the plurality of plane waves determined by the controller comprise a plurality of plane wave sets, and intervals of the plurality of steering angles of the plurality of plane wave sets are different from one another.

13 . A method of controlling an ultrasound probe, the method comprising:
determining a plurality of plane waves so that a grating lobe of a synthetic transmit focusing beam pattern using the plurality of plane waves to be transmitted by the ultrasound probe at a plurality of steering angles is located outside a region of interest; and transmitting, by the ultrasound probe, the determined plurality of plane waves.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the determining of the plurality of plane waves comprises the determining the plurality of plane waves so that an intensity of the grating lobe is less than an intensity of a main lobe in the synthetic transmit focusing beam pattern.

15 . A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having embodied thereon a program for executing the method of claim 13 .

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
• Univ Sogang Res Foundation

Inventors

• Lee Hyun-Taek
• Song Tai-Kyong
• Jeon Kang-Won
• Park Yong-Sup
• Hwang Mun-Kyeong
• Bae Sua

Classifications

• A61B8/145

  characterised by scanning multiple planes · CPC title

• G01S15/8995

  Combining images from different aspect angles, e.g. spatial compounding · CPC title

• G01S7/52036

  using analysis of echo signal for target characterisation · CPC title

• G01S7/52085 Primary

  Details related to the ultrasound signal acquisition, e.g. scan sequences (control of medical diagnostic ultrasound devices A61B8/54) · CPC title

• G01S7/52046

  Techniques for image enhancement involving transmitter or receiver (image enhancement by image data processing G06T5/00) · CPC title