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US 10,380,399 B2Granted
Ultrasound imaging systems and methods for detecting object motion
AssigneeMaui Imaging, Inc.
InventorsJosef R. Call, Henry A. Davis, Donald F. Specht
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Abstract
Ping-based imaging systems may be used for tracking motion of hard or soft objects within an imaged medium. Motion detection and motion tracking may be performed by defining fingerprint points and tracking the position of each fingerprint point based on the echoes of multiple transmitted pings.
Claims16
A method of tracking motion of an object with an imaging system comprising the steps of:
- defining a fiducial region in a region of interest with a controller of the imaging system;
- transmitting a series of unfocused ultrasound pings into the region of interest from a transducer array of the imaging system;
- receiving echoes from the series of transmitted unfocused ultrasound pings with a plurality of transducer elements of the transducer array;
- identifying a fingerprint within the fiducial region, wherein the fingerprint comprises a pattern of data in the received echoes that is identifiable as a data string;
- storing echo data received by each of the plurality of transducer elements in a separate memory string;
- detecting movement of the fingerprint with the controller;
- and
- communicating a signal with the controller indicating that movement of the object relative to the transducer array has occurred.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.