Ultrasound image enhancement using beam-nulling
US5548561A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Feb 27, 1995 |
| Grant date | Aug 20, 1996 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Feb 27, 2015 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01S15/8918
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
In a digital ultrasound imaging system, artifacts due to spurious ultrasound reflections from a highly reflective object outside the region of interest are reduced in magnitude by apparatus included in the beamforming system of the digital imaging system. A null is formed in a specified direction in the ultrasound beam patterns by perturbing the time delay on each receive channel. After estimating the direction of the highly reflective, interfering object and computing a time delay perturbation using a very fast algorithm, a null approximately 10 dB deep is introduced into each beam in the direction of the interfering object. This null reduces the magnitude of artifacts in the image, thereby providing image enhancement.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.