# US 2008/0188747 A1 · Automated movement detection with audio and visual information > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2008/0188747 A1 - Document ID: US20080188747A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 11/671,104 - Filed: 2007-02-05 - Published: 2008-08-07 - Earliest claimed: 2007-02-05 - Assignees: Penrith Corporation - Inventors: Kevin S. Randall; Joseph A. Urbano; Lawrence A. Engle; Anthony P. Lannutti; Jodi Schwartz Klessel; Raymond F. Weymer; Michael G. Cannon - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20080188747A1 ## CPC - G01S 7/52073: {Production of cursor lines, markers or indicia by electronic means} - A61B 8/06: Measuring blood flow - A61B 8/08: Clinical applications (A61B8/02, A61B8/04, A61B8/06 take precedence) - A61B 8/13: Tomography (A61B8/10, A61B8/12 take precedence) - A61B 8/4472: {Wireless probes} - A61B 8/463: {characterised by displaying multiple images or images and diagnostic data on one display} - A61B 5/489: {Blood vessels} - G01S 15/582: {using transmission of interrupted pulse-modulated waves and based upon the Doppler effect resulting from movement of targets} - G01S 15/8979: {Combined Doppler and pulse-echo imaging systems} - G01S: RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES - A61B: DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION (usefulness limited to only animals A61D) ## Abstract The embodiments contemplate systems and methods for detecting moving tissue within an object. In one such method, a first and second ultrasound pulse are transmitted at a first sample volume within an object. A first echo signal of the first ultrasound pulse is received from the first sample volume and a second echo signal of the second ultrasound pulse is received from the first sample volume. An estimate of position displacement data of the first sample volume is computed from the first and second echo signals, and the estimate of position displacement data is compared to a predetermined position displacement data threshold indicative of moving tissue. A determination is made, based on the comparison, whether the first sample volume corresponds to moving tissue and, based on the determination, the transmitting, receiving, computing and determining is repeated for a second sample volume. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method of locating moving tissue, the method comprising: transmitting a first and second ultrasound pulse at a first sample volume within an object; receiving a first echo signal of the first ultrasound pulse from the first sample volume and a second echo signal of the second ultrasound pulse from the first sample volume; computing an estimate of position displacement data of the first sample volume from the first and second echo signals; comparing the estimate of position displacement data to a predetermined position displacement data threshold indicative of moving tissue; determining, based on the comparison, whether the first sample volume corresponds to moving tissue; and repeating, based on the determination, said transmitting, receiving, computing and determining for a second sample volume. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising computing a size and location of the first sample volume based on the estimate of position displacement data. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, further comprising collecting data from the sample volume. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The method of claim 3, further comprising repeating said transmitting, receiving, computing and determining for the first sample volume. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein said determining comprises determining whether the estimate of position displacement data exceeds the predetermined position displacement data threshold. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the moving tissue is located within the first sample volume comprises comparing a characteristic of the estimated position displacement data to a predetermined position displacement characteristic. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The method of claim 6, wherein the predetermined position displacement characteristic comprises position displacement data corresponding to a vein or position displacement data corresponding to an artery. ### Claim 8 (depends on 6) The method of claim 6, wherein the position displacement characteristic comprises information relating to any one of: mean velocity, modal velocity, maximum velocity, variance, power, acceleration, deceleration, pulsatility and amplitude. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the second sample volume is located further from a surface of the object than the first sample volume. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising, if the moving tissue is determined to be within the first or second sample volume, presenting an audible representation of position displacement data corresponding to the moving tissue. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, wherein presenting an audible representation of the position displacement data comprises outputting the position displacement data in a digital audio stream. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11, further comprising storing the audible representation of the position displacement data. ### Claim 13 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11, further comprising transmitting the position displacement data to a processing station for analysis. ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: graphically representing the position displacement data on a display; and labeling the representation of the position displacement data on the display. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The method of claim 14, wherein graphically representing the position displacement data on the display comprises displaying a B-mode image with a sample volume indicator. ### Claim 16 (depends on 14) The method of claim 14, wherein the moving tissue corresponds to moving blood in a blood vessel, and wherein labeling the representation of the position displacement data on the display comprises, if the blood vessel is determined to be within the sample volume, identifying a type of the blood vessel that is determined to be located within the sample volume. ### Claim 17 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: estimating position displacement data at a plurality of locations in proximity to said first sample volume. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The method of claim 17, further comprising creating a binary map of characteristics of position displacement data from said plurality of locations; and filtering the binary map to determine edges of the moving tissue. ### Claim 19 (depends on 18) The method of claim 18, wherein filtering the binary map comprises comparing each of a plurality of estimates of position displacement data computed from a plurality of echo signals received from a plurality of sample volumes to the predetermined position displacement data threshold indicative of moving tissue. ### Claim 20 An ultrasound system comprising: a probe comprising: a transducer that transmits a first and second ultrasound pulse at a first sample volume within an object, and wherein the transducer further receives a first echo signal of the first ultrasound pulse from the first sample volume and a second echo signal of the second ultrasound pulse from the first sample volume; and a main unit comprising: a vessel locator that computes an estimate of position displacement data of the first sample volume from the first and second echo signals, compares the estimate of position displacement data to a predetermined position displacement data threshold indicative of moving tissue, determines, based on the comparison, whether the first sample volume corresponds to moving tissue and causes, based on the determination, repeating of said transmitting, receiving, computing and determining for a second sample volume. ### Claim 21 (depends on 20) The system of claim 20, wherein the vessel locator further computes a first sample volume size and location based on the estimate of position displacement data. ### Claim 22 (depends on 20) The system of claim 20, wherein the second sample volume is located further from a surface of the object than the first sample volume. ### Claim 23 (depends on 20) The system of claim 20, wherein main unit further comprises a data collector that collects data from the first sample volume. ### Claim 24 (depends on 20) The system of claim 20, wherein the vessel locator determines whether the first sample volume corresponds to moving tissue by determining whether the estimate of position displacement data exceeds the predetermined position displacement data threshold. ### Claim 25 (depends on 20) The system of claim 20, wherein the vessel locator determines whether the sample volume corresponds to moving tissue by comparing a characteristic of the computed position displacement data to a predetermined position displacement characteristic. ### Claim 26 (depends on 25) The system of claim 25, wherein the predetermined position displacement characteristic comprises position displacement data corresponding to a vein or position displacement data corresponding to an artery. ### Claim 27 (depends on 25) The system of claim 25, wherein the predetermined position displacement characteristic comprises information relating to any one of: mean velocity, modal velocity, maximum velocity, variance, power, acceleration, deceleration, pulsatility and amplitude. ### Claim 28 (depends on 20) The system of claim 20, wherein the moving tissue corresponds to moving blood in a blood vessel, and wherein the main unit further comprises a speaker that, if the vessel locator determines that the first or second sample volume is within the blood vessel, presents an audible representation of the position displacement data. ### Claim 29 (depends on 20) The system of claim 20, wherein the main unit further comprises a communication interface that transmits the position displacement data to a processing station for analysis. ### Claim 30 (depends on 29) The system of claim 29, wherein the communication interface further outputs the position displacement data in a digital audio stream. ### Claim 31 (depends on 20) The system of claim 20, wherein the main unit further comprises a memory that stores a representation of the position displacement data. ### Claim 32 (depends on 20) The system of claim 20, wherein the main unit further comprises a display that graphically represents the position displacement data and labels the representation of the position displacement data. ### Claim 33 (depends on 32) The system of claim 32, wherein the display graphically represents the position displacement data by displaying a B-mode image with a sample volume indicator. ### Claim 34 (depends on 33) The system of claim 33, wherein the moving tissue corresponds to moving blood in a blood vessel, and wherein the display labels the representation of the position displacement data by, if the blood vessel is determined to be within the first sample volume, identifying a type of the blood vessel that is determined to be located within the first sample volume. ### Claim 35 (depends on 20) The system of claim 20, wherein the vessel locator further computes position displacement data at a plurality of locations in proximity to said first or second sample volumes. ### Claim 36 (depends on 35) The system of claim 35, wherein the vessel locator further creates a binary map of characteristics of position displacement data from said plurality of locations and filters the binary map to determine edges of the blood vessel. ### Claim 37 (depends on 36) The system of claim 36, wherein the vessel locator filters the binary map by comparing each of a plurality of estimates of position displacement data computed from a plurality of echo signals received from a plurality of sample volumes to the predetermined position displacement data threshold indicative of moving tissue.