Ultrasound imaging apparatus
US9754185B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Aug 7, 2012 |
| Grant date | Sep 5, 2017 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 29, 2034 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01S15/8927
- WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A weight value used for a beamforming process performed on received signals in an ultrasound imaging apparatus is obtained with a small amount of computations and with a high degree of precision, even when a method of adaptive signal processing is employed.Multiple elements 401 receive ultrasound signals from a test subject, and the similarity operator 404 obtains the similarity between the received signals x(n). By using the similarity C(n) between the received signals obtained by the similarity operator 404, the adaptive weight operator 407 computes the adaptive weight w(n) in association with the similarity. The beamforming operator 408 uses the adaptive weight w(n) and the received signal x(n) to generate a beamforming output. The imaging processor 108 uses the beamforming output to generate image data. By way of example, the similarity operator 404 performs computations of the similarity in the time direction.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.