Abstract: The present invention, in one form, provides compensation for the effects of an oscillatory B0 eddy current Be(t) in an NMR apparatus. In an NMR apparatus having a transmitter generating a spin excitation signal and a receiver detecting an NMR signal, applied gradient signals are analyzed to estimate a resulting oscillatory B0 eddy current Be(t). The frequency of either the transmitter or the receiver of the NMR apparatus, or both, is shifted in frequency by an amount proportional to Be(t) to achieve compensation.
Abstract: An ultrasound imaging system having an adaptive spatial filter the filter coefficients of which, for particular image parameter sample, are determined by counting the number of neighboring image parameter samples having zero or near-zero values. If the number of zero or near-zero values in a data window is greater than a predetermined threshold, the data in the window is passed, not filtered. This filter has two advantages over other spatial filters. First, image parameter data samples having only zero or near-zero neighboring values (i.e., isolated "point noise") are not smeared. Second, boundaries such as the edge of color in a vessel (where the surrounding area is black, i.e., the color image parameter values are zero or near zero) are not smoothed as much as in conventional filters, preserving the sharpness of the edge.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
December 1, 1998
Date of Patent:
October 24, 2000
Assignee:
General Electric Company
Inventors:
Gregory R. Bashford, Edward D. Nonnweiler, David D. Becker, David John Muzilla