Back to results
US 8,911,370 B2Granted
Ultrasonic cellular tissue screening system
AssigneeSonocine, Inc.
InventorsKevin M. Kelly, Roger Royce, Richard J. Peterson, Christopher Mark Underbrink, Luis E. Ponce, Matthew Warren Smith, Donald C. Goss
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system for screening breast tissue includes an ultrasound probe and a carrier adapted to support the ultrasound probe and to progressively move the probe over the breast tissue. A pad is employed to cover the nipple of the breast tissue, and a fabric covering is adapted to hold the breast tissue and the pad in place as the probe is moved over the breast tissue.
Claims15
A system for screening cellular tissue, comprising:
- an ultrasound probe adapted to generate image data and configured to be manually positioned and oriented, with respect to the cellular tissue, by a human operator;
- a sensor system configured to track a linear position and an angular orientation of the ultrasound probe and to provide feedback to the human operator as the ultrasound probe is manually positioned and orientated by the human operator across the cellular tissue, wherein the sensor system is configured to provide the feedback to the human operator upon determining whether a speed of the ultrasound probe being manually moved by the human operator over the cellular tissue matches a predetermined speed, and to provide the feedback to the human operator upon determining whether a linear position and an angular orientation of the ultrasound probe being manually positioned by the human operator at a start of a scan row matches a predetermined linear position and a predetermined angular orientation of the ultrasound probe, respectively, for the start of the scan row;
- a receiver adapted to acquire image data from the ultrasound probe, the image data representing a plurality of scan images, and to receive linear position and angular orientation data from the sensor system, such that each scan image is associated with linear position and angular orientation data;
- and
- an image viewer configured to rapidly and sequentially display the scan images at a predetermined frame rate as frames in a video, wherein each first scan image in the subsequent scan rows is displayed immediately following a respective last scan image in a prior scan row.
2 more elements
A method for screening cellular tissue comprising:
- monitoring a linear position and an angular orientation of an ultrasound probe as the ultrasound probe is manually positioned and oriented, with respect to the cellular tissue, by a human operator;
- acquiring image data from the ultrasound probe and position and orientation data, wherein the image data represents a plurality of sequential scan images of the cellular tissue, such that each scan image is associated with position and orientation data;
- providing feedback to an operator as the operator manually positions and orients the ultrasound probe across cellular tissue, the feedback being provided to the operator upon a determination that a speed of the ultrasound probe being manually moved by the operator over the cellular tissue matches a predetermined speed, and upon determining whether a linear position and an angular orientation of the ultrasound probe being manually positioned by the operator at a start of a scan row matches a predetermined linear position and a predetermined angular orientation of the ultrasound probe, respectively, for the start of the scan row;
- recording the images and the associated position and orientation data;
- and
- displaying the recorded images in rapid and sequential succession on an image viewer, wherein each first scan image in the subsequent scan rows is displayed immediately following a respective last scan image in a prior scan row.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.