Patents Examined by Amanda Lauritzen
  • Patent number: 11206969
    Abstract: Provided is a method for tracking a position of a capsule endoscope including: receiving, by an apparatus for tracking a position of a capsule endoscope, an image captured by the capsule endoscope; distinguishing, by the apparatus for tracking a position of a capsule endoscope, a gastrointestinal tract junction from the image using a machine-learned classification model based on the gastrointestinal tract junctions; and tracking, by the apparatus for tracking a position of a capsule endoscope, the position of the capsule endoscope based on the distinguished gastrointestinal tract junctions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 28, 2021
    Assignee: AJOU UNIVERSITY INDUSTRY-ACADEMIC COOPERATION FOUNDATION
    Inventors: Jung Won Lee, Ye Seul Park, Gyu Bon Hwang
  • Patent number: 11202678
    Abstract: The present invention relates to electromagnetic tracking of medical devices. In order to provide improved tracking of medical devices, a wireless readout unit (10) for an electromagnetic tracking system of medical devices is provided. The wireless readout unit comprises a data input (12), a data processor (14) and a data output (16). The data input is configured to receive raw signals (18) from an electromagnetic sensor, and the data processor is configured to at least partly pre-process the raw signals provided by the data input for further transformation. Further, the data output is configured for data transmission of the at least partly pre-processed data to a control unit of an electromagnetic tracking system of medical devices. The data output provides a wireless data link (20) to a control unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 21, 2021
    Assignee: KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V.
    Inventors: Alberto Fazzi, Maurice Alain Termeer
  • Patent number: 11191435
    Abstract: An optoacoustic probe including an ultrasound transducer array, an acoustic lens and a light path separated from the transducer array by an isolator to mitigate light energy from the light path from reaching the transducer array. The isolator being formed from a mixture including a flexible carrier, a coloring and between 10% and 80% by volume micro-bubbles. The isolator mixture being adapted to both absorb light energy and the optoacoustic response to light energy. In an embodiment, an optoacoustic probe also comprises an optical window and/or a diffuser, and the isolator also separating the transducer array from these components.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 7, 2021
    Assignee: SENO MEDICAL INSTRUMENTS, INC.
    Inventors: William Ackerman, Donald G. Herzog, Justin Casas
  • Patent number: 11172910
    Abstract: Methods for measuring mechanical properties of an object or subject under examination with an ultrasound system and using unfocused ultrasound energy are provided. Shear waves that propagate in the object or subject are produced by applying unfocused ultrasound energy to the object or subject, and measurement data is acquired by applying focused or unfocused ultrasound energy to at least one location in the object or subject at which shear waves are present Mechanical properties are then calculated from the acquired measurement data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 16, 2021
    Assignee: Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research
    Inventors: James F. Greenleaf, Shigao Chen, Armando Manduca, Pengfei Song
  • Patent number: 11160456
    Abstract: Provided herein are the systems, methods, components for a three-dimensional tomography system. The system is a dual-modality imaging system that incorporates a laser ultrasonic system and a laser optoacoustic system. The dual-modality imaging system generates tomographic images of a volume of interest in a subject body based on speed of sound, ultrasound attenuation and/or ultrasound backscattering and for generating optoacoustic tomographic images of distribution of the optical absorption coefficient in the subject body based on absorbed optical energy density or various quantitative parameters derivable therefrom. Also provided is a method for increasing contrast, resolution and accuracy of quantitative information obtained within a subject utilizing the dual-modality imaging system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 2, 2021
    Assignee: Tomowave Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Alexander A. Oraevsky, Sergey A. Ermilov, Andre Conjusteau, Mark Anastasio
  • Patent number: 11141133
    Abstract: A catheter includes a hollow body which extends longitudinally and has at least one first side window and a probe emitting a wave beam, the first side window allowing the radiation of the beam in a region next to the catheter for generating imaging, the catheter also including a longitudinal guiding device allowing a transmission of a movement to an intervention element, the intervention element moving in at least an area of the beam, the intervention angle between the first intervention element and the axis of the catheter being controlled by a remote control system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 12, 2021
    Inventors: Louis Marc Jean Lucien Labrousse, Lionel Jean Pierre Leroux
  • Patent number: 11134916
    Abstract: The invention relates to an ultrasound system (100) for sequentially performing a predetermined procedure for each of at least one region of interest. The ultrasound system (100) comprises an ultrasound probe (101) configured to transmit a first ultrasound signal (SG1) towards a region of interest and receive echo signals from the region of interest. The ultrasound system (100) also comprises a motion sensor (102) configured to detect a motion of the ultrasound probe (101) and generate a motion signal (MS) for indicating the motion of the ultrasound probe (101). The ultrasound system (100) also comprises a processor (103) configured to perform a predetermined procedure for a region of interest on the basis of the echo signals received from the region of interest if the motion signal (MS) indicates that the ultrasound probe (101) is stationary. The invention also relates to a corresponding ultrasound method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2021
    Assignee: KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V.
    Inventors: Jingping Xu, Balasundar Iyyavu Raju, Shougang Wang, Mckee Dunn Poland, Anthony M. Gades
  • Patent number: 11116445
    Abstract: Methods for locating blood vessels, lesions, and other discontinuities in tissue such as, but not limited to, the greater palatine artery (GPA) in the hard palate using an optical imaging process, surgical procedures utilizing the identified locations of discontinuities, and devices suitable for use during surgical procedures. According to one aspect, such a method locates a blood vessel or lesion in tissue by imaging the tissue via a diffuse optical imaging (DOI) process that measures light that travels through the tissue, and then locates the blood vessel or lesion in the tissue based on a difference in absorption of the light between the tissue and the blood vessel or lesion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 14, 2021
    Assignee: Purdue Research Foundation
    Inventors: Brian Zahler Bentz, Kevin John Webb, Timothy Cheng-Hsien Wu, Vaibhav Gaind
  • Patent number: 11109773
    Abstract: Embodiments receive images of a body area of a patient; identify abnormal tissue in the image; generate a data set with the abnormal tissue masked out; deform a model template in space so that features in the deformed model template line up with corresponding features in the data set; place data representing the abnormal tissue back into the deformed model template; generate a model of electrical properties of tissues in the body area based on the deformed and modified model template; and determine an electrode placement layout that maximizes field strength in the abnormal tissue by using the model of electrical properties to simulate electromagnetic field distributions in the body area caused by simulated electrodes placed respective to the body area. The layout can then be used as a guide for placing electrodes respective to the body area of the patient to apply TTFields to the body area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 7, 2021
    Assignee: Novocure GmbH
    Inventors: Noa Urman, Zeev Bomzon
  • Patent number: 11103213
    Abstract: A probe cap for use with an ultrasound probe including a head portion and an acoustic surface is disclosed. In one embodiment, the probe cap includes a body that defines a cavity sized for releasably receiving the head portion of the probe therein. The probe cap body further defines a hole that is proximate the acoustic surface of the head portion. A compliant spacer component is disposed in the hole. The spacer component can include a hydrogel and provides an acoustic path between the acoustic surface and a tissue surface of a patient. The spacer component includes a skin contact surface that defines a concavity and is deformable against the tissue surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: C. R. Bard, Inc.
    Inventors: Eddie K. Burnside, Eric W. Lindekugel, Jeremy B. Cox, Daniel B. Blanchard, Paul D. Morgan, Kevin W. Stinger
  • Patent number: 11096597
    Abstract: Provided are a method for measuring blood pressure information and a blood pressure measuring apparatus using the same as which improve the battery efficiency, the possibility of portability, and easy measurement of the device equipped with the blood pressure measurement function by both minimizing power consumption and optimizing signal delivery system in the measurement of the blood pressure information using ECG and PPG. The blood pressure measuring apparatus includes a first peak detection unit for detecting a first peak information from an electrocardiographic signal of a patient obtained from an electrocardiogram detection unit; a second peak detection unit for detecting a second peak information from an optical pulse waveform detection signal of the patient obtained from an optical pulse wave detection unit; and a control unit for calculating a pulse wave arrival time information indicating a blood pressure information depending on the first peak information and the second peak information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2021
    Assignee: KOREA ADVANCED INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
    Inventors: Seong Hwan Cho, Dong Hee Kim
  • Patent number: 11096603
    Abstract: NMR spectroscopy is performed on intervertebral disc tissue. Extent of degeneration is determined based on the NMR spectroscopy. Correlation between NMR spectral regions and at least one of tissue degeneration and pain are made. Accordingly, NMR spectroscopy is used to determine location and/or extent of at least one of degeneration or pain associated with a region of tissue, such as for example in particular disc degeneration, or discogenic pain. NMR spectral peak ratios, such as between N-Acetyl/cho and cho/carb, are readily acquired and analyzed to predict degree of tissue degeneration and/or pain for: tissue samples using HR-MAS spectroscopy; and larger portions of anatomy such as joint segments such as a spine, using clinical 3T MRI systems with surface head or knee coils; and tissue regions such as discs within spines of living patients using 3T MRI systems with a surface spine coil, thus providing a completely non-invasive diagnostic toolset and method to image and localize degeneration and/or pain.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 9, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2021
    Assignee: THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
    Inventors: Sharmila Majumdar, John Kurhanewicz, Jeffrey C. Lotz, David S. Bradford, Kayvan Keshari
  • Patent number: 11096672
    Abstract: Methods and systems for suppressing clutter effects in ultrasonic imaging systems are presented. Two or more receive beams with different and distinct beam patterns are employed for each reception boresight and each reception phase center. The clutter suppression processing is applied to the beamformed data, and is based on computing one or more features for each range-gate. These features may include variability features, providing an estimate of the variability of the signal received by the different elements of the transducer array for the range-gate, and/or derivative/slope features that are an estimation of a function of spatial derivatives of the signal received by the different elements of the transducer array for the range-gate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2021
    Inventor: Gil Zwirn
  • Patent number: 11089941
    Abstract: A method for identifying material to be removed from a patient may use an imaging device, a display, a control unit, and an insertion device. The method may include obtaining a first set of image data from the imaging device, sending the first set of image data to the control unit from the imaging device, and analyzing the first set of image data based on at least one of a darkness, a contrast, or a saturation. The method may include generating a coded image identifying the material to be removed from the patient to be displayed on the display. The method may further include displaying the coded image on a first screen of the display, and indicating the material to be removed with the insertion device based on the displayed coded image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 17, 2021
    Assignee: Boston Scientific Scimed, Inc.
    Inventors: Peter J. Pereira, Chad Schneider, Brandon W. Craft, Kimberly Degraaf, Jozef Slanda, James M. Goddard, Christopher P. Gauvin
  • Patent number: 11076824
    Abstract: Embodiments of the disclosure provide methods and systems for detecting COVID-19 from a lung image of a patient. The exemplary system may include a communication interface configured to receive the lung image acquired of the patient's lung by an image acquisition device. The system may further include at least one processor, configured to determine a region of interest comprising the lung from the lung image and apply a COVID-19 detection network to the region of interest to determine a condition of the lung. The COVID-19 detection network is a multi-class classification learning network that labels the region of interest as one of COVID-19, non-COVID-19 pneumonia, non-pneumonia abnormal, or normal. The at least one processor is further configured to provide a diagnostic output based on the determined condition of the lung.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 3, 2021
    Assignee: SHENZHEN KEYA MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Xin Wang, Youbing Yin, Bin Kong, Yi Lu, Junjie Bai, Zhenghan Fang, Qi Song
  • Patent number: 11074693
    Abstract: An ultrasound diagnostic apparatus, which transmits an ultrasonic wave toward a subject by an ultrasound probe, produces ultrasound image data based on obtained reception data by a diagnostic apparatus body, and displays an ultrasound image, includes a dilation processor which performs dilation processing on the ultrasound image data based on a dilation radius to produce dilated image data, an erosion processor which performs erosion processing on the ultrasound image data based on an erosion radius different in magnitude from the dilation radius to produce eroded image data, a difference processor which calculates difference between the dilated image data and the eroded image data to produce difference image data, and an edge enhancer which performs edge enhancement processing on the ultrasound image data based on the difference image data to produce edge enhanced image data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 27, 2021
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventor: Masafumi Noguchi
  • Patent number: 11013452
    Abstract: The present invention relates to an artificial intelligence-based Parkinson's disease diagnosing apparatus and method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 25, 2021
    Assignee: Heuron Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Soo Hwa Song, Hwan Heo
  • Patent number: 11016160
    Abstract: Disclosed are Parkinson's disease diagnosing apparatus and method and a configuration which includes an image acquiring unit which acquires a multi-echo magnitude and a phase image from MRI obtained by capturing a brain of a patient, an image processing unit which post-processes only substantia nigra and a nigrosome-1 region proposed as an imaging biomarker of the Parkinson's disease from the acquired image to be observed; an image analyzing unit which classifies images including the nigrosome-1 region by analyzing the processed images and detects the nigrosome-1 region from the classified image, and a diagnosing unit which determines whether the nigrosome-1 region is normal in the classified image to diagnose the Parkinson's disease is provided so that only the image which includes the nigrosome-1 region is classified in the MRI and the nigrosome-1 region is analyzed from the classified image to diagnose the Parkinson's disease.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 5, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 25, 2021
    Assignee: Heuron Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Dong Hoon Shin, Hwan Heo, Eung Yeop Kim, Young Hee Sung
  • Patent number: 11006844
    Abstract: A pulse wave measuring device includes a processor and a memory. The processor obtains a visible light image, in a visible light wavelength range, of a user irradiated with visible light by a visible light source, obtains an infrared light image, in an infrared light wavelength range, of the user irradiated with infrared light by an infrared light source, extracts a visible light wave indicative of a user's pulse wave from the visible light image, extracts an infrared light wave indicative of a user's pulse wave from the infrared light image, computes a correlation value between the visible and infrared light waves, supplies a control signal for controlling the amount of infrared light emitted from the infrared light source to the infrared light source in accordance with the correlation value, calculates biological information by using at least one of the visible and infrared light waves, and outputs the biological information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 2, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 18, 2021
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kenta Murakami, Mototaka Yoshioka, Jun Ozawa
  • Patent number: 11002814
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method for decoding brain imaging data of individual subjects by using additional imaging data from other subjects includes receiving a plurality of functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) datasets corresponding to a plurality of subjects. Each fMRI dataset corresponds to a distinct subject and comprises brain activation patterns resulting from presentation of a plurality of stimuli to the distinct subject. A group dimensionality reduction (GDR) technique is applied to the example fMRI datasets to yield a low-dimensional space of response variables shared by the plurality of subjects. A model is trained to predict a set of target variables based on the low-dimensional space of response variables shared by all subjects, wherein the set of target variables comprise one or more characteristics of the plurality of stimuli.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 11, 2021
    Assignee: Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc.
    Inventors: Francisco Pereira, Ahmet Tuysuzoglu, Bin Lou, Tommaso Mansi, Dorin Comaniciu