Ultrasonic doppler imaging at high frame rates of display
AssigneeATL Ultrasound, Inc.
InventorsThanasis Loupas, Charles Powrie, Aline Laure Criton
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The Doppler imaging of blood flow or slowly moving tissue at high frame rates of display is performed by oversampled acquisition of a Doppler ensemble from the body and display of Doppler information within a display range of Doppler values which is less than the range defined by said rate of oversampling. Preferably, Doppler information is acquired at the highest PRF for the depth of Doppler imaging. In one embodiment Doppler data is scaled in proportion to the ratio of the acquisition PRF to the display PRF. Alternatively, an embodiment of the present invention performs Doppler estimation by autocorrelation or spectral analysis which operates upon nonadjacent samples in the Doppler ensemble.
Claims17
A method for operating an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system to image the motion of substances inside the body by Doppler techniques, including an ultrasonic probe which is operable by a user to transmit ultrasonic waves at a pulse rate frequency (PRF) and to receive Doppler signals from a point in the body in response to said transmitted waves, a Doppler processor which processes said Doppler signals for display within a range of Doppler values, and a display which displays Doppler values within said range comprising the steps of:
- controlling said system to acquire Doppler information down to a given depth from said probe;
- controlling said system to display a desired range of Doppler values which corresponds to a given PRF rate;
- controlling said probe to transmit ultrasonic waves at a rate which is greater than said given PRF rate but not greater than the maximum PRF for said given depth;
- and
- processing received Doppler signals for display of Doppler values within said desired range.
A method for operating an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system to image the motion of substances inside the body by Doppler techniques, including an ultrasonic probe which is operable by a user to transmit ultrasonic waves at a pulse rate frequency (PRF) and to receive Doppler signals from a point in the body in response to said transmitted waves which sample the effects of motion at said point, a Doppler processor which processes said Doppler signals for display of motion within a range of Doppler values, and a display which displays motion within said range comprising the steps of:
- controlling said system to display a desired range of motion which corresponds to a given sampling rate;
- controlling said probe to transmit ultrasonic waves at a rate which oversamples said motion in relation to said given sampling rate;
- and
- processing Doppler signals received in response to said oversampling for display within said desired range of motion.
An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system for imaging the motion of substances inside the body by Doppler techniques, comprising:
- an ultrasonic probe which is operable by a user to transmit ultrasonic waves at a pulse rate frequency (PRF) and to receive Doppler signals from a point in the body at an acquisition PRF in response to said transmitted waves;
- a Doppler processor which processes said Doppler signals for display within a range of Doppler values corresponding to a display PRF which is less than said acquisition PRF;
- and
- a display which displays Doppler values within said range.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.