Ultrasound imaging system and method for improving resolution and operation

A method for generating a persistence filter coefficient of a region in an ultrasound-image frame comprising the steps of:

• (a) measuring image motion in an area of a region using at least two ultrasound-image frames;
• and then
• (b) applying a persistence filter coefficient for the region as a function of the measured motion in step (a), said function comprising a relationship wherein the persistence filter coefficient increases as the difference in pixel intensity decreases.

In an ultrasound imaging system comprising a transducer array, a transmit beamformer, and a receive beamformer, the improvement comprising:

• means, responsive to the receive beamformer, for measuring motion within a sequence of at least two ultrasound-image frames in a region of interest;
• and
• means, responsive to the receive beamformer, for generating a motion-compensated interpolated image inside the region of interest in response to measured motion.

A method for automatically applying ultrasound imaging parameters in an ultrasound image in response to transducer or image motion comprising the steps of:

• (a) measuring motion;
• and then
• (b) automatically applying a different set of imaging parameters inside the region of interest than outside the region of interest in response to the motion measured in step (a).

In an ultrasound imaging system comprising a transducer array, a transmit beamformer, and a receive beamformer, the improvement comprising:

• means, responsive to the receive beamformer, for measuring motion;
• and
• means, responsive to said means for measuring motion, for automatically applying a different set of imaging parameters inside the region of interest than outside the region of interest in response to measured motion.

A method of automatically altering an operating mode of an ultrasound transducer array in response to an absence of transducer motion comprising the steps of:

• (a) measuring motion of the transducer array by measuring motion of a sub-block of pixels between at least two ultrasound-image frames;
• and
• (b) automatically altering an operating mode of the transducer array in response to an absence of measured motion.

A method of automatically altering an operating mode of an ultrasound transducer array in response to an absence of transducer motion comprising the steps of:

• (a) measuring motion of the transducer array by performing one-dimensional correlations between successively acquired acoustic lines to determine a position of peak cross-correlation;
• and
• (b) automatically altering an operating mode of the transducer array in response to an absence of measured motion.

In an ultrasound imaging system comprising a transducer array, a transmit beamformer, and a receive beamformer, the improvement comprising:

• means for measuring motion of the transducer array by measuring motion of a sub-block of pixels between at least two ultrasound-image frames;
• and
• means, coupled to the transducer array and responsive to said means for measuring motion, for automatically altering an operating mode of the transducer array in response to an absence of measured motion.

A method for generating a distortion-corrected image inside a region of interest in response to measured image or transducer motion comprising the steps of

• (a) measuring motion;
• and then
• (b) automatically generating a distortion-corrected image inside a region of interest in response to the measured motion.

In an ultrasound imaging system comprising a transducer array, a transmit beamformer, and a receive beamformer, the improvement comprising:

• means, responsive to the receive beamformer, for measuring motion;
• and
• means, responsive to said means for measuring motion, for automatically generating a distortion-corrected image inside a region of interest in response to measured motion.