Ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system with automatically controlled contrast and brightness
AssigneeKoninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
InventorsGary Ng, Brian Hendee Smith
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system includes a predetermined TGC characteristic which is automatically selected or calculated at the initiation of a diagnostic procedure. An automatic TGC circuit analyzes current image data to calculate an adjustment to the predetermined TGC characteristic when activated by the clinician. The ultrasound system produces a displayed TGC curve which illustrates the predetermined TGC characteristic as modified by automatic adjustment and any manual refinement done by the clinician. In a preferred embodiment automatic TGC modification is accompanied by automatic overall gain and dynamic range adjustment to automatically optimize image quality.
Claims25
In an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system which uses a system-predetermined TGC characteristic for an imaging procedure, a method for optimizing the TGC characteristic comprising:
- obtaining an ultrasound image which has been produced in response to the system-predetermined TGC characteristic;
- analyzing the ultrasound image data with a system processor to produce an adjustment to a TGC characteristic relative to that provided by the system-predetermined TGC characteristic;
- and
- producing an ultrasound image which has been produced in response to the system-predetermined TGC characteristic as modified by the TGC characteristic adjustment.
In an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system which uses a system-predetermined TGC characteristic for an imaging procedure, a method for optimizing the TGC characteristic comprising:
- obtaining an ultrasound image which has been produced in response to the system-predetermined TGC characteristic;
- analyzing the ultrasound image data to produce an adjustment to a TGC characteristic relative to that provided by the system-predetermined TGC characteristic;
- and
- producing an ultrasound image which has been produced in response to the system-predetermined TGC characteristic as modified by the TGC characteristic adjustment,
- wherein obtaining further comprises obtaining an ultrasound image which has been produced to the exclusion of gain control from manual TGC adjustment.
In an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system which uses a system-predetermined TGC characteristic for an imaging procedure, a method for optimizing the TGC characteristic comprising:
- obtaining an ultrasound image which has been produced in response to the system-predetermined TGC characteristic;
- analyzing the ultrasound image data to produce an adjustment to a TGC characteristic relative to that provided by the system-predetermined TGC characteristic;
- and
- producing an ultrasound image which has been produced in response to the system-predetermined TGC characteristic as modified by the TGC characteristic adjustment,
- further comprising displaying a TGC characteristic which is a composite of the system-predetermined TGC characteristic and the TGC characteristic produced by the analyzing step.
In an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system which uses a system-predetermined TGC characteristic for an imaging procedure, a method for optimizing the TGC characteristic comprising:
- obtaining an ultrasound image which has been produced in response to the system-predetermined TGC characteristic;
- analyzing the ultrasound image data to produce an adjustment to a TGC characteristic relative to that provided by the system-predetermined TGC characteristic;
- and
- producing an ultrasound image which has been produced in response to the system-predetermined TGC characteristic as modified by the TGC characteristic adjustment,
- further comprising continuing to produce ultrasound images in response to a the system-predetermined TGC characteristic as modified by a given TGC characteristic adjustment until one of
- a) the system is actuated by the user to produce a new TGC adjustment;
- or
- b) the given TGC characteristic adjustment is reset.
In an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system, a method for optimizing an ultrasonic image comprising:
- automatically optimizing the TGC characteristic used to process the received echo data;
- and
- automatically optimizing the dynamic range used to process the received echo data,
- wherein the system stores a predetermined dynamic range characteristic, and further comprising:
- continuing to produce ultrasound images in response to a given automatically optimized dynamic range determination until one of:
- a) the system is actuated by the user to determine a new automatically optimized dynamic range determination;
- or
- b) the dynamic range is reset to the predetermined dynamic range characteristic.
In an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system, a method for optimizing an ultrasonic image comprising:
- automatically optimizing the TGC characteristic used to process the received echo data;
- and
- automatically optimizing the dynamic range used to process the received echo data;
- further comprising:
- automatically optimizing the overall gain applied to the received echo data,
- wherein the system stores a predetermined overall gain value, and further comprising:
- continuing to produce ultrasound images in response to a given automatically optimized gain determination until one of:
- a) the system is actuated by the user to determine a new automatically optimized gain determination;
- or
- b) the gain is reset to the predetermined overall gain value.
An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system comprising:
- means for producing a TGC characteristic using data stored on the ultrasound system;
- an image storage device which stores images produced by a system-produced TGC characteristic;
- an auto TGC processor which analyzes images produced by a system-produced TGC characteristic to produce a TGC characteristic adjustment;
- and
- a gain control circuit responsive to a system-produced TGC characteristic as modified by a TGC characteristic adjustment which produces echo data with gain controlled as a function of depth.
An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system comprising:
- means for producing a TGC characteristic using data stored on the ultrasound system;
- an image storage device which stores images produced by a system-produced TGC characteristic;
- an auto TGC processor which analyzes images produced by a system-produced TGC characteristic to produce a TGC characteristic adjustment;
- and
- a gain control circuit responsive to a system-produced TGC characteristic as modified by a TGC characteristic adjustment which produces echo data with gain controlled as a function of depth,
- further comprising a display which displays a system-produced TGC characteristic as modified by a TGC characteristic adjustment produced by the auto TGC processor, and
- further comprising a manual TGC characteristic control, wherein the display displays a system-produced TGC characteristic as modified by a TGC characteristic adjustment produced by the analysis software as modified by a manual TGC characteristic adjustment.
An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system comprising:
- an image storage device which stores images produced in response to a TGC characteristic;
- an auto TGC processor which analyzes images produced in response to the TGC characteristic to produce a TGC characteristic adjustment;
- and
- an auto log compression processor which analyzes images to determine a compression curve adjustment;
- and
- a signal path responsive to the auto TGC processor and the auto log compression processor which produces images in response to the TGC characteristic adjustment and the compression curve adjustment.
An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system comprising:
- an image storage device which stores images produced in response to a TGC characteristic;
- an auto TGC processor which analyzes images produced in response to the TGC characteristic to produce a TGC characteristic adjustment;
- and
- an auto log compression processor which analyzes images to determine a compression curve adjustment;
- and
- a signal path responsive to the auto TGC processor and the auto log compression processor which produces images in response to the TGC characteristic adjustment and the compression curve adjustment,
- further comprising:
- an auto gain processor which analyzes images to determine an overall gain adjustment,
- wherein the signal path is further responsive to the overall gain adjustment.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.