System and method for topographic mapping of ultrasonic image displays
US5540228A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 29, 1995 |
| Grant date | Jul 30, 1996 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 29, 2015 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01S7/52046
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
An interrogation region of a patient's body is scanned with an ultrasonic probe. At least one input data frame is generated representing the scanned interrogation region as a pattern of image elements, each with a corresponding input intensity value, that are stored in a memory. The input data frame is then displayed as a pattern of displayed intensity values, which the processor calculates as combination of a geometry-independent function of an ambient light input array and a geometry-dependent function of the input intensity values, in which the geometry-dependent function includes a coefficient term that multiplies the input intensity array and that itself is a function of the input intensity values. As part of the coefficient term is a filtered input data array, which results from noise-floor filtering, low-pass filtering, and surface normal vector averaging of the input intensity array. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the user selects an assumed light source vector, and/or an assumed viewer direction vector, which are the incorporated into the geometry-dependent function used to calculate displayed intensity values.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.