Time reversal and phase coherent music techniques for super-resolution ultrasound imaging
AssigneeLos Alamos National Security, LLC
InventorsLianjie Huang, Yassin Labyed
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Abstract
Systems and methods for super-resolution ultrasound imaging using a windowed and generalized TR-MUSIC algorithm that divides the imaging region into overlapping sub-regions and applies the TR-MUSIC algorithm to the windowed backscattered ultrasound signals corresponding to each sub-region. The algorithm is also structured to account for the ultrasound attenuation in the medium and the finite-size effects of ultrasound transducer elements. A modified TR-MUSIC imaging algorithm is used to account for ultrasound scattering from both density and compressibility contrasts. The phase response of ultrasound transducer elements is accounted for in a PC-MUSIC system.
Claims14
A method of performing ultrasound imaging of a medium, the method comprising:
- exciting a first transducer element in an array of transducer elements to direct an ultrasound signal into a target region of the medium;
- receiving a backscatter signal from the target region within the medium from the array of transducer elements;
- generating an inter-element transfer matrix of the received backscatter signal;
- said inter-element transfer matrix comprising density contrast data relating to one or more scatterers within said medium;
- generating a generalized time-reversal (TR) matrix from the inter-element transfer matrix;
- and
- generating a pseudo-spectrum for generalized TR-Music imaging of the target region,
- said pseudo-spectrum comprising density contrast data relating to one or more scatterers within said medium,
- wherein generating the inter-element transfer matrix comprises calculating the inter-element transfer matrix as a function of an electro-mechanical response of each transducer element in the array, a diffraction response of each transducer element in the array, and attenuation in the target region.
An ultrasound imaging system for imaging of a medium, the system comprising:
- (a) a processor;
- and
- (b) programming executable on said processor for:
- (i) exciting a first transducer element in an array of transducer elements to direct an ultrasound signal into a target region of the medium;
- (ii) receiving a backscatter signal from the target region within the medium from the array of transducer elements;
- (iii) generating an inter-element transfer matrix of the received backscatter signal;
- (iv) said inter-element transfer matrix comprising density contrast data relating to one or more scatterers within said medium;
- (v) generating a generalized time-reversal (TR) matrix from the inter-element transfer matrix;
- and
- (vi) generating a pseudo-spectrum for generalized TR-Music imaging of the target region,
- said pseudo-spectrum comprising density contrast data relating to one or more scatterers within said medium,
- wherein generating the inter-element transfer matrix comprises calculating the inter-element transfer matrix as a function of an electro-mechanical response of each transducer element in the array, a diffraction response of each transducer element in the array, and attenuation in the target region.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.