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US 2013/0296707 A1Published application
User interface for ultrasound scanning system
AssigneeMassachusetts Institute of Technology
InventorsBrian W. Anthony, Shih-Yu Sun
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An ultrasound scanning system includes a graphical user interface that provides visually intuitive feedback to a user to assist the user in properly aligning an ultrasound scanner to a desired acquisition state. In addition to providing pose information, the feedback may direct the user as to a target contact force applied by the ultrasound scanner to a surface undergoing a scan.
Claims20
A method for providing feedback to an ultrasound probe user to recover an acquisition state, the method comprising:
- determining a current acquisition state of the ultrasound probe, the current acquisition state including current pose information and a current instantaneous contact force between the ultrasound probe and a surface;
- providing a target acquisition state of the ultrasound probe, the target acquisition state including target pose information and a target instantaneous contact force;
- displaying a graphical representation of the target acquisition state relative to the current acquisition state, wherein the graphical representation includes a first graphic corresponding to the target acquisition state and a second graphic representing the current acquisition state, the second graphic geometrically similar to and superimposed on the first graphic, wherein the second graphic is scaled according to a difference between the current instantaneous contact force and the target instantaneous contact force, and further wherein the second graphic is geometrically transformed according to a difference between the current pose information and the target pose information.
A device comprising:
- an ultrasound probe including one or more ultrasound transducers to capture an ultrasound image of a target through a skin surface;
- a sensor system configured to obtain current pose information for the ultrasound probe relative to the skin surface;
- a force sensor configured to obtain a current instantaneous contact force between the ultrasound probe and the skin surface;
- a memory that stores a current acquisition state and a target acquisition state for the ultrasound probe, the target acquisition state including target pose information and a target instantaneous contact force and the current acquisition state including the current pose information and the current instantaneous contact force;
- a processor configured to generate a graphical representation of a difference between the target acquisition state and the current acquisition state;
- and
- a display coupled to the processor to display the graphical representation for a user of the ultrasound probe.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.