Method and apparatus for real time ultrasound multi-plane imaging
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorEric Normann Steen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An ultrasound system is provided that includes a probe for successively acquiring ultrasound information from an object along at least three distinct scan planes. The scan planes intersect one another along an axis extending from the probe through the object. A memory is included for storing data slices corresponding to the at least three distinct scan planes based on the ultrasound information. Also included is a processor that accesses the memory to select and obtain the data slices and generates ultrasound images based on the data slices. A display is included for co-displaying the ultrasound images.
Claims29
An ultrasound system, comprising:
- a probe configured to successively acquire ultrasound information from an object along at least three distinct scan planes intersecting one another to form a common rotational axis, said scan planes each formed from ultrasound signals emitted from a surface of the probe using electronic steering, said common rotational axis extending from the surface of the probe;
- memory storing the ultrasound information acquired along the at least three distinct scan planes as data slices;
- a processor accessing said memory to obtain said data slices and generating ultrasound images corresponding to said data slices, wherein the processor comprises a plurality of display processors processing different ones of the data slices to produce corresponding two-dimensional images for said data slices;
- and
- a display co-displaying said ultrasound images formed from said data slices and a tri-plane three-dimensional (3D) image representative of said at least three scan planes while the probe is scanning.
An ultrasound method, comprising:
- successively acquiring ultrasound information from an object along at least three distinct scan planes each intersecting one another to form a common rotational axis, said scan planes formed from ultrasound signals emitted simultaneously from a surface of a probe using electronic steering, said common rotational axis extending from said probe through the object;
- storing the ultrasound information acquired along the at least three distinct scan planes as data slices;
- generating ultrasound images corresponding to said data slices using a plurality of dedicated image processors programmed to process predetermined different ones of the data slices;
- and
- co-displaying said ultrasound images formed from said data slices and a tri-plane three-dimensional (3D) image representative of said at least three scan planes.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.