Method and apparatus for performing ultrasound imaging

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9314225-B2
Application number	US-201213406042-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 27, 2012
Priority date	Feb 27, 2012
Publication date	Apr 19, 2016
Grant date	Apr 19, 2016

Abstract

An ultrasound system includes an ultrasound probe having a transducer array for acquiring ultrasound data and a first beamformer for partially beamforming the information received from the transducer array, and a portable host system in communication with the ultrasound probe, the portable host system including a second beamformer to perform additional beamforming on the partially beamformed data received from the ultrasound probe.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An ultrasound system comprising:
an ultrasound probe having a transducer array for acquiring ultrasound data and a first beamformer for partially beamforming the data received from the transducer array, a plurality of analog-to-digital (A/D) converters configured to convert the partially beamformed data to digital data, and a first digital transceiver to transmit the partially beamformed digital data; and
a portable host system that constitutes a smartphone or an electronic tablet, the portable host system in communication with the ultrasound probe, the portable host system including a second digital transceiver configured to receive the partially beamformed digital data and at least one programmable device configured to perform non-medical applications and to perform additional beamforming on the partially beam formed digital data in software, wherein the non-medical applications correspond to at least one of an internet browser, a global positioning function, a music function, a weather function, a mail function, or application that transmit or receive information over the internet not based on processing of ultrasound images.

2. The ultrasound system of claim 1 , wherein the programmable device activates the non-medical application in response to a user selection on a user interface of a corresponding select non-medical function, and activates a beamforming application in response to a user selection on the user interface of an ultrasound function.

3. The ultrasound system of claim 1 , wherein the host system further includes a System-On-Chip (SOC) device, the programmable device being an integral part of the SOC device and further configured to perform the additional beamforming.

4. The ultrasound system of claim 1 , wherein the host system further includes a System-On-Chip (SOC) device, the SOC device including at least one Central Processing Unit (CPU) core and at least one graphical processing unit (GPU) core, the host system being configured to distribute a workload between the CPU and the GPU.

5. The ultrasound system of claim 1 , wherein the host system further includes a System-On-Chip (SOC) device, the SOC device including at least one CPU core, at least one Digital Signal Processor (DSP) core and at least one GPU core, the host system being configured to distribute a workload between the CPU, DSP and the GPU.

6. The ultrasound system of claim 1 , wherein the host system further includes a System-On-Chip (SOC) device, the SOC device being configured to implement at least one of signal amplitude detection and color flow processing.

7. The ultrasound system of claim 1 , wherein the host system further includes a System-On-Chip (SOC) device, the SOC device being configured to execute a three-dimensional (3D) rendering algorithm on the ultrasound data.

8. The ultrasound system of claim 1 , wherein the host system further includes a System-On-Chip (SOC) device, the SOC device being configured to determine a type of ultrasound probe transmitting the ultrasound data, and process the ultrasound data based on the determined type of ultrasound probe.

9. The ultrasound system of claim 1 , wherein the host system further includes a System-On-Chip (SOC) device, the SOC device being configured to implement a phase aberration correction on the ultrasound data.

10. The ultrasound system of claim 1 , wherein the host system further includes a System-On-Chip (SOC) device, the SOC device being configured to determine a performance level of the host system and a power capability of the host system, and then to perform ultrasound data processing based on at least one of the performance of the host system and the power capability of the host system.

11. The ultrasound system of claim 1 , wherein the ultrasound probe comprises a universal ultrasound probe having at least two probe arrays.

12. The ultrasound system of claim 1 , wherein the host system is further configured to dynamically adjust a frame rate of the ultrasound data while acquiring the ultrasound data, the adjustment determined based on computing tasks and at least one of a performance of the host system and a power capability of the host system.

13. The ultrasound system of claim 1 , wherein the ultrasound probe is configured to wirelessly transmit only digital signals to the portable host system.

14. The ultrasound system of claim 1 , wherein the portable host system is configured to download one or more medical applications.

15. The ultrasound system of claim 1 , wherein the non-medical applications includes further includes an application that transmit or receive information as a phone not based on processing of ultrasound images.

16. The ultrasound system of claim 1 , wherein the first beamformer is implemented as a hardware device and the second beamformer is implemented in software.

17. The ultrasound system of claim 1 , wherein the ultrasound probe further comprises a sub-aperture beamforming module.

18. An ultrasound system comprising:
an ultrasound probe including:
a transducer array for acquiring ultrasound data;
a plurality of analog-to-digital (A/D) converters configured to convert analog signals received from the transducer array to digital signals;
a plurality of complex demodulators configured to generate IQ data pairs that are representative of the digital signals received from the A/D converters;
a beamformer for partially beamforming the data received from the complex demodulators; and
a digital transceiver to transmit the partially beam formed digital IQ data to a host system; and

a portable host system that constitutes a smartphone or an electronic tablet, the portable host system is in communication with the ultrasound probe, wherein the portable host includes at least one programmable device configured to perform non-medical applications and to perform additional beamforming on the partially beam formed digital IQ data in software, wherein the non-medical applications correspond to at least one of an internet browser, a global positioning function, a music function, a weather function, a mail function, or application that transmit or receive information over the internet not based on processing of ultrasound images.

19. The ultrasound system of claim 18 , wherein the host system is configured to perform a final beam forming of the partially beam formed digital IQ data.

20. The ultrasound system of claim 18 , wherein the host system is configured to perform a complex demodulation in software after a final beam forming.

21. The ultrasound system of claim 18 , wherein the ultrasound probe is configured to wirelessly transmit only digital signals to the portable host system.

22. The ultrasound system of claim 18 , wherein the beamformer is implemented as a hardware device.

23. The ultrasound system of claim 18 , further comprising a sub-aperture beamforming module.

24. A method of operating an ultrasound imaging system comprising:
receiving analog ultrasound data from a transducer array installed in an ultrasound probe;
partially beamforming the ultrasound data to generate partially beamformed ultrasound data;
converting the partially beamformed ultrasound data to digital ultrasound data;
transmitting the digital ultrasound data from the ultrasound probe to a portable host system; and
performing additional beamforming on the digital ultrasound data in software using a programmable device within the portable host system, the portable host sy

Assignees

• Steen Erik Normann
• Halmann Menachem
• Sokulin Alexander
• Kempinski Arcady
• Gen Electric

Inventors

• Steen Erik Normann
• Halmann Menachem
• Sokulin Alexander
• Kempinski Arcady

Classifications

• A61B8/463

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

• A61B8/5207 Primary

  involving processing of raw data to produce diagnostic data, e.g. for generating an image · CPC title

• G01S7/5208

  with integration of processing functions inside probe or scanhead · CPC title

• A61B8/565

  involving data transmission via a network · CPC title

• A61B8/4488

  the transducer being a phased array · CPC title