Medical ultrasound diagnostic imaging method and system with nonlinear phase modulation pulse compression
US6241674A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 31, 1999 |
| Grant date | Jun 5, 2001 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 31, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC A)Human Necessities
- CPC primaryA61B8/08
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A medical ultrasonic diagnostic imaging method and apparatus uses a phased array transducer probe to transmit a fundamental coded ultrasonic pulse into a tissue. This pulse has a time-bandwidth product that is greater than 1 but less than 100. A receiver is coupled to the probe to receive an Nth harmonic echo signal from the tissue, and a compression filter compresses the harmonic echo signal with a compression function having a phase that varies about N times as fast as the fundamental coded ultrasonic pulse. In this way, the SNR of the resulting image is increased. The disclosed method and apparatus are particularly well adapted for use with tissue harmonic imaging, because of the typically low SNR characteristic of such imaging. Other aspects are well-suited for imaging with non-linear contrast agents.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.