Patent · US Active

Adaptive grating lobe suppression in ultrasound imaging

US7887486B2 · kind B2 · utility

50Cited by
14References
10Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMar 14, 2007
Grant dateFeb 15, 2011
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 15, 2029

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG10K11/346
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

Adaptive grating lobe suppression is provided. Received ultrasound data is measured, compared or otherwise processed to determine the presence of grating lobe energy. A further process is then altered as a function of the level of grating lobe energy. In one embodiment, the adaptive grating lobe suppression is implemented in the receive beamformer. Data representing a virtual element is formed as a normalized sum of data from adjacent sparse elements. The data from the adjacent elements is correlated to determine the presence of grating lobe energy as a function of the amount of shift associated with the peak correlation. A phase shift is applied to the data representing the virtual element where sufficient grating lobe energy is determined. In another embodiment, an amount of grating lobe energy is measured by comparing data from prior to a filter with filtered data. The filter is selected to isolate main lobe energy from grating lobe energy. A gain is modulated as a function of any detected grating lobe energy or filtered or unfiltered data is selected for further processing.

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