Object-pose-based initialization of an ultrasound beamformer

A beamforming method for enhancing visualization of an object comprising at least one sensor, the method comprising:

• repeatedly transmitting, by an ultrasound transducer array, ultrasound signals to the at least one sensor in a one-way beamforming process;
• repeatedly acquiring initialization frames by a processor operating with the ultrasound transducer array in the one-way beamforming process;
• repeatedly localizing the at least one sensor in a coordinate system based on the initialization frames;
• repeatedly deriving a tool-pose-estimation comprising an estimate of a location and an orientation of the object by the processor based on localizing the at least one sensor in the coordinate system;
• repeatedly initializing, with respect to tool-specific imaging frames and based on the tool-pose-estimation, a beamformer as an initialized beamformer for operating with the ultrasound transducer array to place a transmit focus at the object;
• repeatedly transmitting, by the ultrasound transducer array, ultrasound signals in a two-way beamforming process, wherein the two-way beamforming process is concurrent with the one-way beamforming process, and wherein the transmissions of ultrasound signals in the two-way beamforming process are interspersed with the transmissions of the ultrasound signals in the one-way beamforming process;
• and
• operating the ultrasound transducer array with the initialized beamformer and the processor based in the two-way beamforming process to alternately acquire the tool-specific imaging frames and tissue-specific imaging frames using pulse-echo imaging, in the coordinate system,
• wherein the tool-specific imaging frames are for acquisition of images of the object and the tissue-specific imaging frames are for acquisition of images of a region of interest.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium embodying computer instructions which, when executed by a processor, configure the processor to perform acts of:

• repeatedly transmitting, by an ultrasound transducer array, ultrasound signals to at least one sensor in a one-way beamforming process;
• repeatedly acquiring initialization frames by a processor operating with the ultrasound transducer array in the one-way beamforming process;
• repeatedly localizing the at least one sensor in a coordinate system based on the initialization frames;
• repeatedly deriving a tool-pose-estimation comprising an estimate of a location and an orientation of an object, having at least one sensor, based on localizing the at least one sensor in the coordinate system;
• repeatedly initializing, with respect to tool-specific imaging frames and based on the tool-pose-estimation, a beamformer for operating with an ultrasound transducer array to place a transmit focus at the object;
• repeatedly transmitting, by the ultrasound transducer array, ultrasound signals in a two-way beamforming process, wherein the two-way beamforming process is concurrent with the one-way beamforming process, and wherein the transmissions of ultrasound signals in the two-way beamforming process are interspersed with the transmissions of ultrasound signals in the one-way beamforming process;
• and
• operating the ultrasound transducer array with the initialized beamformer and the processor in the two-way beamforming process to alternately acquire the tool-specific imaging frames and tissue-specific imaging frames using pulse-echo imaging, in the coordinate system,
• wherein the tool-specific imaging frames are for acquisition of images of the object and the tissue-specific imaging frames are for acquisition of images of a region of interest.

An ultrasound system, comprising:

• an ultrasound transducer array configured to transmit ultrasound signals to a sensor on an object for deriving a position of the object;
• a beamformer coupled to the ultrasound transducer array;
• and
• a processor configured to receive an output of the sensor, to derive a tool-pose-estimation of the object including the position of the object, and to provide the tool-pose-estimation to the beamformer,
• wherein, the ultrasound transducer array repeatedly transmits the ultrasound signals to the sensor in a one-way beamforming process for deriving the position of the object;
• wherein the processor operates with the beamformer and the ultrasound transducer array in the one-way beamforming process to repeatedly, acquire initialization frames, localize the sensor in a coordinate system based on the initialization frames, derive the tool-pose-estimation of the object based on localizing the sensor in the coordinate system, and initialize the beamformer with respect to tool-specific imaging frames based on the tool-pose-estimation;
• wherein the ultrasound transducer array repeatedly transmits ultrasound signals in a two-way beamforming process, concurrent with one-way beamforming process and wherein the transmissions in the two-way beamforming process are interspersed with the acquisitions of the initialization frames in the one-way beamforming process;
• and
• wherein the processor operates with the initialized beamformer and the ultrasound transducer array based on the two-way beamforming to alternately acquire the tool-specific imaging frames and tissue-specific imaging frames using pulse-echo imaging, in the coordinate system.