Hand-held medical imaging system with thumb controller and associated systems and methods

A method executed by a processor to produce ultrasound images in a portable ultrasound system, the method comprising:

• receiving, from a transducer device, ultrasound signals corresponding to a target area within a patient obtained from an ultrasound scan;
• displaying an active image on a touchscreen display based on the ultrasound signals;
• displaying a thumb control area on the touchscreen display, wherein the thumb control area includes a thumbwheel having one or more controls that can be selectively activated and are rotatable on and off of the thumb control area;
• detecting movement of a user's thumb on the thumbwheel when the user is holding the portable ultrasound system;
• in response to detecting the movement, rotating the thumbwheel and individual controls onto and off of the thumb control area, wherein the rotating includes bringing one or more of the controls into view on the thumb control area and at least another one of the controls out of view;
• and
• detecting a selection of one of the individual controls.

A portable ultrasound system, comprising:

• a transducer device;
• and
• a hand-held base unit removably coupled to the transducer device and configured to perform an ultrasound scan, wherein the base unit includes—
• a touchscreen display,
• a programmable processor, and
• a non-transitory computer readable media having instructions stored therein,
• wherein the instructions are executable by the programmable processor to produce a split screen display at the touchscreen display, including—
• an active image area at which images of a patient obtained from ultrasound signals received by the transducer device are displayed, and
• a thumb control area that is accessible by a user's thumb when holding the portable ultrasound system, wherein the thumb control area includes a partially displayed thumbwheel that can be rotated by the user's thumb, wherein the thumbwheel has a number of soft buttons each associated with a different sector of the thumbwheel, wherein the soft buttons are rotatable on and off of the thumb control area by changing an angular position of the sectors on the thumbwheel, and wherein rotation of the thumbwheel places a previously hidden soft button onto the thumb control area such that it can be selectively activated by the user's thumb.