Ultrasound system configured for lateral gain compensation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9833220-B2
Application number	US-201514866038-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 25, 2015
Priority date	Dec 7, 2006
Publication date	Dec 5, 2017
Grant date	Dec 5, 2017

Abstract

The present invention provides an ultrasound system, which comprises: a signal acquiring unit to transmit an ultrasound signal to an object and acquire an echo signal reflected from the object; a signal processing unit to control TGC (Time Gain Compensation) and LGC (Lateral Gain Compensation) of the echo signal; a TGC/LGC setup unit adapted to set TGC and LGC values based on TGC and LGC curves inputted by a user; and an image producing unit adapted to produce an ultrasound image of the object based on the echo signal. The signal processing unit is further adapted to control the TGC and the LGC of the echo signal based on the TGC and LGC values set by the TGC/LGC setup unit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An ultrasound system, comprising:
a probe configured for transmitting an ultrasound signal to an object and receiving echo signals reflected from the object;
a touch panel; and
a processor configured to generate a curve generated by a user's single touch input received via the touch panel, the curve generated by user's single touch input intersecting successively with multiple vertical lines, each of the multiple vertical lines corresponding to different lateral positions of an ultrasound image which is generated, and to adjust lateral gain compensation (LGC) values based on the successive intersection of the curve generated by user's single touch input with the multiple vertical lines,
wherein the processor is configured to decide LGC values of two or more lateral positions of the ultrasound image corresponding to two or more vertical lines of the multiple vertical lines, based on the successive intersection of the curve generated by the user's single touch input with the two or more vertical lines.

2. The ultrasound system of claim 1 , wherein the curve is not displayed on the touch panel.

3. The ultrasound system of claim 1 , wherein the multiple vertical lines are displayed on the touch panel.

4. The ultrasound system of claim 1 , wherein the multiple vertical lines are not displayed on the touch panel.

5. The ultrasound system of claim 1 ,
wherein the touch panel is further configured to display an ultrasound image,
and the single touch input is received over the displayed ultrasound image.

6. The ultrasound system of claim 1 ,
wherein the touch panel is further configured to display a virtual image,
and the single touch input is received over the virtual image.

7. The ultrasound system of claim 1 ,
wherein the touch panel is further configured to display an ultrasound image in a second area of the touch panel and the single touch input is received in a first area of the touch panel, the second area being different from the first area.

8. The ultrasound system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a display configured to display an ultrasound image of the object, the display being separate from the touch panel,
wherein the displayed ultrasound image is compensated according to the adjusted LGC setting.

9. The ultrasound system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to perform an LGC on the echo signals received from the probe and generate an ultrasound image based on the LGC performed echo signals.

10. The ultrasound system of claim 1 ,
wherein the processor is further configured to control a gain of echo signals from corresponding lateral positions based on the intersection of the single touch input with multiple vertical lines corresponding to different depths.

11. The ultrasound system of claim 1 , wherein the multiple vertical lines are displayed in a form of a dotted line.

12. The ultrasound system of claim 1 , wherein the multiple vertical lines are displayed in a form of a solid line.

13. The ultrasound system of claim 1 , wherein the curve is displayed on the touch panel.

14. The ultrasound system of claim 13 , wherein the curve is displayed where the single touch input is received.

15. An ultrasound system, comprising:
a probe configured for transmitting an ultrasound signal to an object and receiving echo signals reflected from the object;
a touch panel displaying multiple vertical lines corresponding to different lateral positions thereon and configured for receiving a user's single touch input intersecting successively with multiple vertical lines, each of the multiple vertical lines corresponding to different lateral positions of an ultrasound image which is generated; and
a processor configured to generate a curve generated by the user's single touch input and adjust lateral gain compensation (LGC) values corresponding to different lateral positions based on the successive intersection of the curve generated by the user's single touch input with the multiple vertical lines,
wherein the processor is configured to determine LGC values of two or more lateral positions of the ultrasound image corresponding to two or more vertical lines of the multiple vertical lines, based on the successive intersection of the curve generated by the user's single touch input with the two or more vertical lines.

16. The ultrasound system of claim 15 , wherein the received single touch input is displayed on the touch panel.

17. The ultrasound system of claim 15 , wherein the received single touch input is not displayed on the touch panel.

18. The ultrasound system of claim 15 , wherein the curve generated by the user's single touch input is displayed where the single touch input is received.

19. The ultrasound system of claim 15 , wherein the single touch input is received on a first area of the touch panel and the curve generated by the user's single touch input is displayed on a second area of the touch panel, the second area being different from the first area.

20. The ultrasound system of claim 15 , wherein
the single touch input is received over the displayed ultrasound image.

21. The ultrasound system of claim 15 ,
wherein the touch panel is further configured to display a virtual image,
and the single touch input is received over the virtual image.

22. The ultrasound system of claim 15 ,
wherein the ultrasound image is displayed in a second area of the touch panel and the single touch input is received in a first area of the touch panel, the second area being different from the first area.

23. The ultrasound system of claim 15 , further comprising:
wherein the displayed ultrasound image is compensated according to the adjusted LGC setting.

24. The ultrasound system of claim 15 , wherein the processor is further configured to perform an LGC on the echo signals received from the probe and generate the ultrasound image based on the LGC performed echo signals.

25. The ultrasound system of claim 15 ,
wherein the processor is further configured to control a gain of echo signals from corresponding lateral positions based on the intersection of the curve generated by the single touch input with multiple vertical lines.

26. The ultrasound system of claim 15 , wherein the multiple vertical lines are displayed in a form of a dotted line.

27. The ultrasound system of claim 15 , wherein the multiple vertical lines are displayed in a form of a solid line.

Assignees

• Samsung Medison Co Ltd

Inventors

• Lee Doo Sik
• Ahn Mi Jeoung

Classifications

• A61B8/463

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

• A61B8/54

  Control of the diagnostic device · CPC title

• A61B8/462

  characterised by constructional features of the display · CPC title

• A61B8/4254

  using sensors mounted on the probe · CPC title

• A61B8/4444

  related to the probe · CPC title