Patent · US Expired

Method and apparatus for coherence imaging

US6071240A · kind A · utility

18Cited by
4References
31Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 31, 1998
Grant dateJun 6, 2000
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 31, 2018

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG01S7/52077
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

A method and an apparatus for adaptively suppressing incoherent data in a coherent imaging system. A focused ultrasound beam is transmitted with conventional transmit beamforming time delays. The returning echo signals are processed along two separate receive signal processing paths. The time delays along one processing path are set for traditional coherent receive beamforming, while the time delays along the other processing path are set to apply incoherent summing to the same set of return signals (e.g., time delays equal to zero). Then at each point in the receive beam or vector, the coherent and incoherent summation signals are compared. If the coherent and incoherent summation signals are of like amplitude, the beamformed signal of the first processing path is deemed incoherent, and its display is suppressed in the final image.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.