Ultrasound method and apparatus
AssigneeKing's College London
InventorsRobert ECKERSLEY, Joseph HAJNAL, Alberto GOMEZ, Laura PERALTA PEREIRA
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Abstract
Embodiments described provide an ultrasound method, and an ultrasound apparatus and computer program product operable to perform that method. In some embodiments, the method allows for provision of a multi-transducer ultrasound imaging system by providing a robust method to accurately localize the transducers in the system in order to beamform a final image. The method and apparatus described allow for improvements in imaging quality in terms of resolution, depth penetration, contrast and signal to noise ratio (SNR).
Claims21
An ultrasound method comprising:
- providing, from each of two or more separate ultrasound transmitters, a signal into a coincident region;
- receiving, at a receiving array, wavefronts representative of the provided signal from each of the two or more separate ultrasound transmitters after interaction of the provided signal with a medium located within the coincident region;
- analyzing the received wavefronts to determine a relative spatial position of each of the two or more separate ultrasound transmitters;
- and
- based on the determined relative spatial position of each of the two or more separate ultrasound transmitters, performing a coherent signal combination of the received wavefronts received at the receiving array based on the provided signal from each of the two or more separate ultrasound transmitters after interaction of the provided signal with the medium located within the coincident region.
(canceled)
An ultrasound apparatus comprising:
- two or more separate ultrasound transmitters positioned to transmit a signal into a coincident region,
- a receiving array for receiving a wavefront representative of a transmitted signal from each of the two or more separate ultrasound transmitters after interaction of the transmitted signal with a medium located within the coincident region;
- location processing logic to analyze each of the received wavefronts and determine a relative spatial position of each of the two or more separate ultrasound transmitters;
- and
- signal combination logic to use the determined relative spatial position of each of the two or more separate ultrasound transmitters to perform coherent signal combination of the received wavefronts received at the receiving array from each of the two or more separate ultrasound transmitters after interaction of the transmitted signal with the medium located within the coincident region.
A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions thereon that, when executed by at least one processor, cause a computer device to:
- provide, from each of two or more separate ultrasound transmitters, a signal into a coincident region;
- receive, at a receiving array, wavefronts representative of the provided signal from each of the two or more separate ultrasound transmitters after interaction of the provided signal with a medium located within the coincident region;
- analyze the received wavefronts to determine a relative spatial position of each of the two or more separate ultrasound transmitters;
- and
- based on the determined relative spatial position of each of the two or more separate ultrasound transmitters, perform a coherent signal combination of the received wavefronts received at the receiving array based on the provided signal from each of the two or more separate ultrasound transmitters after interaction of the provided signal with the medium located within the coincident region.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.