Coherence factor adaptive ultrasound imaging methods and systems

A system for adaptive ultrasound imaging, the system comprising:

• a transducer having a plurality of elements;
• a coherence factor processor operable to determine a coherence factor as a function of ultrasound data from the elements;
• and
• an image forming processor configured to form images as a function of the coherence factor;
• wherein the image forming processor is configured to set one of:
• a number of simultaneous beams, a number of sequential beams, a number of sub-apertures, a number of focal zones in a same scan line, a number of beams compounded together, transmit multibeam parameters, receive multibeam parameters and combinations thereof for processing beamsummed data.

A method for adaptive ultrasound imaging, the method comprising:

• (a) obtaining ultrasound data from a plurality of transducer elements;
• (b) determining a coherence factor as a function of the ultrasound data;
• forming and displaying an image with a dynamic range, filtering with a nonlinear filter, and mapping with a nonlinear map;
• and
• (c) adaptively selecting the dynamic range used in the displaying, selecting the nonlinear filter used in the filtering, selecting the nonlinear map used in the mapping, or combinations thereof as a function of the coherence factor.

A system for adaptive ultrasound imaging, the system comprising:

• a transducer having a plurality of elements;
• a coherence factor processor configured to determine a coherence factor as a function of ultrasound data from the elements;
• and
• an image processor configured to adaptively select a dynamic range, a nonlinear filter, a nonlinear map, or combinations thereof as a function of the coherence factor and then operable to use the selected dynamic range, use the selected nonlinear filter, use the selected nonlinear map, or combinations thereof, respectively.