Methods and systems for managing outputs to peripheral devices

#This invention relates generally to imaging systems and more particularly to methods and systems for managing outputs to peripheral devices used with the imaging systems.

#In clinical ultrasound system applications, information relating to test results is often output to peripheral devices for a specific purpose. For example, the information may be output for communicating results, use in consulting with an expert, printing reports, maintaining backups, and archiving. There are circumstances when the peripheral devices may not be available during an examination, for example, when using a portable ultrasound imaging system. Portable ultrasound imaging systems are designed to address needs for mobile testing within, for example, a hospital, in satellite clinics, and in critical care environments.

#However, to minimize system size and weight of these portable devices, built-in removable media, which is used to transfer data from the ultrasound imaging system to the peripheral devices, usually is not included. Moreover, portability may be reduced if an operator takes several peripheral devices, such as a printer, a VCR, or a CD/MO/DVD writer, with the portable ultrasound imaging system in order to output information. On the other hand, if the peripheral devices are not immediately available (e.g., portable devices without peripherals), information cannot be output from the device until the operator connects the peripheral devices to the ultrasound imaging system and provides instructions for outputting the information. Thus, productivity and efficiency may be reduced.

#FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of an imaging system in which systems and methods for managing outputs to peripheral devices of various embodiments of the invention may be implemented.

#FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of an ultrasound imaging system in which systems and methods for managing outputs to peripheral devices may be implemented.

#FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a system for managing outputs to peripheral devices.

#FIG. 1 shows an exemplary embodiment of an imaging system 2 in which systems and methods for managing outputs to peripheral devices are implemented. Examples of imaging system 2 include an ultrasound imaging system, electron-beam tomography (EBT) imaging system, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system, single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging system, computed tomography (CT) imaging system, and positron emission tomography (PET) imaging system, among others. A processor 4 is operationally coupled to the imaging system 2, for example, via a wireless or a wired connection. In an alternative embodiment, processor 4 is located within imaging system 2. The processor 4 receives data from imaging system 2 and executes a method for managing outputs to peripheral devices as described herein.

#FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of an ultrasound imaging system 10 in which systems and methods for managing outputs to peripheral devices may be implemented. An example of the ultrasound imaging system 10 is an ultrasound imaging system that does not include built-in removable media. Examples of built-in removable media include a floppy disk, an analog video cassette, an analog audio cassette, a digital versatile device, an optical disk, a DVD, a removable hard disk, and a flash memory card.

#The ultrasound imaging system 10 can be a portable or a non-portable imaging system. The ultrasound imaging system 10 includes a transmitter 12, a front-end pre-processor 14, a beamformer 16, a radio frequency (RF) processor 18, a memory 20, a scan converter 22, a transducer, referred to as an ultrasound probe 24, a display device 26, and a peripheral interface 28. Examples of the display device 26 include a cathode ray tube (CRT) and a liquid crystal display (LCD) monitor. Examples of peripheral interface 28 include a network card, a bluetooth interface, a universal serial bus (USB), a parallel port, and a serial port. Examples of peripheral device 30 include a printer, an analog video cassette recorder (VCR), and digital storage media, such as, a CD-RW, a DVD rewriteable (DVD-RW), a floppy disk drive, an optical disk drive, a removable hard disk drive, a network, and a flash memory card drive, among others.