Apparatus and method for medical scanning
OwnerStewart Gavin Bartlett, Paul James Hirschauseninventors
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Abstract
A hand held ultrasound imaging system with a probe unit having a transducer being adapted to transmit and receive ultrasonic signals and an orientation sensor adapted to sense the rotation of the probe unit, the output of the transducer and of the sensor being combined to produce a set of scanlines having a series of intensity values and a rotation value, the scanlines then being processed to produce a raster image for display on a display unit.
Claims28
An ultrasound imaging system adapted for hand held use including:
- a. a probe unit having a transducer in a fixed spatial relationship with the probe unit, the transducer being adapted to transmit and receive ultrasonic signals in substantially only one direction,
- b. an orientation sensor configured to sense a rotation of the probe unit about at least one axis,
- c. electronics configured to apply a pulsed electrical signal to the transducer and to process the electrical output signal of the transducer and of the sensor to produce scanlines, each scanline having a series of intensity values and a rotation value,
- d. a processor configured to process the scanlines to produce a raster image,
- e. a display configured to display the resultant raster image.
A method of ultrasound imaging including the steps of
- a. applying a probe unit to a target body, the probe unit including an ultrasound transducer configured to transmit and receive ultrasonic signals into and from the target body,
- b. transmitting ultrasonic pulses into the target body and receiving return signals,
- c. rotating the probe unit substantially in a single plane such that a two dimensional section of the target body is scanned,
- d. providing a sensor at the probe, the sensor being configured to provide rotation information about the rotation of the probe unit about at least one axis,
- e. receiving rotation information from the sensor,
- f. combining the return signals with the rotation information to produce scanlines,
- g. processing the scanlines to produce a raster image,
- h. displaying the raster image on a display.
A method of ultrasound imaging including:
- a. providing a probe unit having a transducer configured to scan substantially only in a single direction at any instant,
- b. providing an orientation detection sensor integral with the probe unit, and
- c. combining an output of the transducer with the output of the sensor to produce diagnostically useful 2D tomographic images of a body to be scanned.
28-29. (canceled)
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.