Method and system for obtaining dimension related information for a flow channel

A method for use in noninvasively determining a blood flow rate through a blood flow channel of an organism, comprising the steps of:

• first noninvasively determining a first substantially real-time value related to blood flow velocity of said channel for a first time based on a signal received from said channel at substantially said first time;
• second determining a second value related to a dimension of said channel;
• and
• third determining a third substantially real-time value related to a quantitative flow rate of said flow channel at substantially said first time based on said first and second values.

A method for use in analyzing physiological material within an organism, comprising the steps of:

• receiving an input signal that has been modulated based on interaction with said physiological material so as to include modulated information, said signal including a first modulated signal component related to a first portion of said physiological material and a second modulated signal component related to a second portion of said physiological material, where said first portion is in motion relative to said second portion so as to define a relative velocity therebetween;
• first processing said modulated signal to provide a digital signal including a first digital component corresponding to said first modulated signal component and a second digital component corresponding to said second modulated signal component;
• providing a mathematical structure for modeling the digital signal as a signal portion of interest and an undesired signal portion;
• and
• second processing the first modulated signal component and the second modulated signal component using the mathematical structure to obtain information regarding a parameter related to motion of said first portion of said physiological material.

A method for use in analyzing physiological material within an organism, comprising the steps of:

• receiving an input signal that has been modulated based on interaction with physiological material including a flow of physiological fluid in a flow channel of said organism;
• first processing said input signal to provide a digital signal;
• providing a mathematical structure for modeling the digital signal as including a signal portion of interest regarding a parameter of said flow and an undesired signal portion;
• and
• performing an analysis based on said digital signal and said mathematical structure to determine a value of said parameter.

An apparatus for use in analyzing physiological material within an organism, comprising:

• input structure for receiving input information regarding a qualitative flow parameter of a physiological fluid in a flow channel of an organism based on an analysis of a flow in said flow channel;
• logic for deriving channel dimension related information based on said input information independent of any separately obtained dimensional information regarding said flow channel;
• and
• output structure for providing an output based on said channel dimension related information.

An apparatus for use in noninvasively analyzing a blood flow channel of an organism, comprising:

• a user interface system for receiving input commands and providing output information regarding said organism for use by a health care professional;
• a probe, operatively associated with said user interface system, including a sensor for receiving a signal from at least said blood flow channel and providing sensor information based on said received signal;
• a processing system for processing said sensor information to obtain first processed information regarding a qualitative flow parameter of said blood flow channel and second processed information related to a channel dimension of said channel;
• wherein said output information is based on at least one of said first information and said second information.

A computer program device for enabling a computer to analyze physiological material within an organism, comprising:

• logical instructions for enabling the computer to perform predetermined operations;
• and
• a computer readable medium bearing the logical instructions;
• said predetermined operations including:
• obtaining flow characteristic information for a flow of a physiological fluid in a flow channel of said organism based on an analysis of said flow;
• and
• using said flow characteristic information to obtain processed information related to a dimension of said flow channel.