Image orientation display for a three dimensional ultrasonic imaging system
AssigneeKoninklijke Philips Electronics N. V.
InventorsDouglas Armand Demers, McKee Dunn Poland
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A plurality of planes are scanned in real time to provide a display of images in the scanned planes in real time. The displayed images are accompanied by an orientation icon which depicts the relative inclination of the displayed planes. The icon includes a perspective view of the outline of one of the images as seen from the scanning transducer, with the aspect ratio of the outline varying to provide a visual depiction of the instantaneous inclination of the image planes. The icon may also include a numerical indication of the relative inclination and an indication of the left-right orientation of the images relative to the scanning transducer.
Claims21
An ultrasonic diagnostic image display comprising:
- a first two dimensional image having an image plane orientation in relation to a transducer;
- a second two dimensional image having a plane orientation relative to the plane of the first two dimensional image;
- and
- a plane orientation icon, displayed on a display screen concurrently with the first and second images, which depicts the relative angular planar orientation of the first and second images, wherein the icon comprises a depiction of at least one of the image planes as seen from a common reference as the plane of one of the images is tilted relative to the other
An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system comprising:
- an ultrasound probe which acts to scan two different image planes in real time;
- a controller, coupled to the ultrasound probe, which controls the relative orientation of the image planes to be scanned by the probe;
- a user control, coupled to the controller, by which a user can vary the relative orientation of the image planes;
- and
- a display, coupled to the probe, which simultaneously displays images of the two image planes and an indicator of the relative orientation of the image planes by depiction of the variation of the shape of at least one of the images as the relative orientation of the image planes is varied.
A method of displaying ultrasonic images of a volumetric region comprising:
- acquiring ultrasonic signals from at least two different planar areas of the volumetric region;
- processing the ultrasonic signals to develop images of the planar areas;
- and
- simultaneously displaying on an image display the images of the planar areas and an indicator of the relative inclination of the planes of the planar areas by an icon depicting the projection of at least one of the images from a given viewpoint.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.