Artificial body part control system using ultrasonic imaging

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9931230-B2
Application number	US-201213564084-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 1, 2012
Priority date	Aug 1, 2011
Publication date	Apr 3, 2018
Grant date	Apr 3, 2018

Abstract

The artificial body part control system using ultrasonic imaging includes of an ultrasonic transducer coupled with an ultrasonic image analyzer which may be adapted to transmit a control signal to an artificial body part.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A control system, comprising:
at least one ultrasonic transducer configured to produce at least a temporal sequence of two-dimensional image ultrasound data of tissue associated with controlling individual movement of a plurality of artificial body parts; and
an image analyzer coupled to the at least one ultrasonic transducer configured to:
generate, in real time, output signals adapted to control individual movement of one or more of the plurality of artificial body parts, by:
detecting, by executing an image-processing algorithm, a characteristic pattern of echogenicity and a characteristic pattern of echo texture, wherein the characteristic pattern of echogenicity and the characteristic pattern of echo texture indicate an origin and a magnitude of movement of a plurality of muscle tissues and a plurality of bones,
generating, based on the detected characteristic pattern of echogenicity and the detected characteristic pattern of echo texture, image features corresponding to an intended activity comprising one or more movements of the one or more of the plurality of artificial body parts,
comparing the image features to each of a plurality of reference image features associated with the movement of the plurality of muscle tissues involved with the intended activity,
determining, based on the comparison, a best match for the intended activity, and
generating, based on the best match, the output signals adapted to control individual movement of the one or more of the plurality of artificial body parts.

2. The control system of claim 1 , wherein detecting, by executing the image-processing algorithm, the characteristic pattern of echogenicity and the characteristic pattern of echo texture comprises identifying movement of the plurality of muscle tissues by calculating pixel intensity changes between at least two ultrasonic image frames over time.

3. The control system of claim 2 , wherein the image processing algorithm determines the characteristic pattern of echogenicity and the characteristic pattern of echo texture by analyzing differences in pixel intensity between at least two ultrasound image frames over time.

4. The control system of claim 2 , wherein determining, based on the comparison, the best match for the intended activity comprises identifying the intended activity by finding a closest match to the characteristic pattern of echogenicity and the characteristic pattern of echo texture and corresponding image features associated with the intended activity from a database of characteristic patterns of echogenicity and echo texture and corresponding image features associated with different movements.

5. The control system of claim 1 , wherein the characteristic pattern of echogenicity comprises a pattern of brightness associated with a strength of backscattered echoes.

6. The control system of claim 1 , wherein the characteristic pattern of echo texture comprises a pattern of constructive and destructive interference as sound waves propagate through tissue microstructure.

7. The control system of claim 1 , wherein detecting, by executing the image-processing algorithm, the characteristic pattern of echogenicity and the characteristic pattern of echo texture comprises:
storing a first ultrasonic image frame received at a first time in a database;
storing a second ultrasonic image frame received at a second time in the database;
determining a pattern of dissimilarity between the pixel intensity between the second ultrasonic image frame and the first ultrasonic image frame; and
generating one or more dissimilarity waveforms that indicate the changes in pixel intensities over time.

8. The control system of claim 7 , wherein generating, based on the detected characteristic pattern of echogenicity and the detected characteristic pattern of echo texture, image features corresponding to the intended activity comprises analyzing the one or more dissimilarity waveforms to determine the intended activity.

9. The control system of claim 8 , wherein the image features corresponding to the intended activity comprise one or more of an intensity of movement of the plurality of muscle tissues and the plurality of bones, a rate of movement of the plurality of muscle tissues and the plurality of bones, or a duration of movement of the plurality of muscle tissues and the plurality of bones.

10. The control system of claim 9 , wherein analyzing the one or more dissimilarity waveforms to determine the intended activity comprises:
determining a height of the one or more dissimilarity waveforms as the intensity of movement of the plurality of muscle tissues and the plurality of bones;
determining the width of the one or more dissimilarity waveforms as the duration of movement of the plurality of muscle tissues and the plurality of bones; and
determining the slope of the one or more dissimilarity waveforms as the rate of movement of the plurality of muscle tissues and the plurality of bones.

11. The control system of claim 1 , wherein determining, based on the comparison, a best match for the intended activity comprises determining a correlation between the characteristic pattern of echogenicity and the characteristic pattern of echo texture and corresponding image features produced by the movement of the plurality of muscle tissues and the plurality of bones from a database of associated different movements.

12. A control system, comprising:
at least one ultrasonic transducer configured to produce at least a temporal sequence of two-dimensional image ultrasound data of tissue associated with controlling individual movement of a plurality of artificial body parts; and
an image analyzer coupled to the at least one ultrasonic transducer configured to:
generate, in real time, output signals adapted to control individual movement of one or more of the plurality of artificial body parts, by:
detecting, by executing an image-processing algorithm, a characteristic pattern of echogenicity and a characteristic pattern of echo texture, wherein the characteristic pattern of echogenicity and the characteristic pattern of echo texture indicate an origin and a magnitude of movement of a plurality of muscle tissues and a plurality of bones,
generating, based on the detected characteristic pattern of echogenicity and the detected characteristic pattern of echo texture, image features corresponding to an intended activity comprising one or more movements of the one or more of the plurality of artificial body parts,
wherein the image features comprise one or more of an intensity of movement of the plurality of muscle tissues and the plurality of bones, a rate of movement of the plurality of muscle tissues and the plurality of bones, or a duration of movement of the plurality of muscle tissues and the plurality of bones,

comparing the image features to each of a plurality of reference image features associated with the movement of the plurality of muscle tissues and the plurality of bones involved with the intended activity,
determining, based on the comparison, a best match for the intended activity, and
generating, based on the best match, the output signals adapted to control individual movement of the one or more of the plurality of artificial body parts.

13. The control system of claim 12 , wherein detecting, by executing the image-processing algorithm, the characteristic pattern of echogenicity and the characteristic pattern of echo texture comprises identifying movement of the plurality of muscle tissues and the plurality of the plurality of bones by calculating pixel intensity changes between at least two ultrasonic image frames over time.

Assignees

• Sikdar Siddhartha
• Pancrazio Joseph J
• Hunt Ira A
• Nelson Andrew J
• Al Imran Abdullah
• Univ George Mason

Inventors

• Sikdar Siddhartha
• Pancrazio Joseph J
• Hunt Ira A
• Nelson Andrew J
• Al-Imran Abdullah

Classifications

• A61B8/4227

  characterised by straps, belts, cuffs or braces · CPC title

• A61B8/5223

  for extracting a diagnostic or physiological parameter from medical diagnostic data (for algorithms to analyse biomedical images G06T7/0012) · CPC title

• A61B8/085

  for locating body or organic structures, e.g. tumours, calculi, blood vessels, nodules · CPC title

• A61F2/583

  Hands; Wrist joints · CPC title

• A61B5/1107

  Measuring contraction of parts of the body, e.g. organ or muscle · CPC title