Patents Examined by Carolyn Pehlke
  • Patent number: 10548568
    Abstract: An information providing method which is implementable by using an ultrasound apparatus includes obtaining ultrasound image data which relates to an object; displaying, on a first area of a screen, a gain setup window for setting a gain of the obtained ultrasound image data; receiving a gain which is set by a user on the gain setup window; and displaying, on a second area of the screen, an ultrasound image of the object to which the set gain is applied.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2020
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Eun-ho Yang, Hyoung-jin Kim, Jin-young Choi
  • Patent number: 10542955
    Abstract: A method of medical image registration with respect to a volume of interest (VOI) and an apparatus for performing the method are provided. In one embodiment, the method includes obtaining a first medical image of a selected section of the VOI, from a first medical apparatus, detecting a sectional image corresponding to the selected section from second medical images previously captured of the VOI, based on an anatomical feature appearing in the first medical image, mapping virtual coordinate schemes of the first and second medical images to produce a mapped virtual coordinate scheme, based on the detected sectional image and the first medical image, and tracking a movement of a section of the VOI captured by the first medical apparatus in the second medical images by using a mapped virtual coordinate scheme.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 28, 2020
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Jung-bae Kim, Young-kyoo Hwang, Won-chul Bang, Young-taek Oh, Do-kyoon Kim
  • Patent number: 10537307
    Abstract: An information providing method which is implementable by using an ultrasound apparatus includes obtaining ultrasound image data which relates to an object; displaying, on a first area of a screen, a gain setup window for setting a gain of the obtained ultrasound image data; receiving a gain which is set by a user on the gain setup window; and displaying, on a second area of the screen, an ultrasound image of the object to which the set gain is applied.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 21, 2020
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Eun-ho Yang, Hyoung-jin Kim, Jin-young Choi
  • Patent number: 10537293
    Abstract: Techniques are provided that enable displaying of medical images that depict cyclic motions in the subject. An X-ray CT system scans, with X-rays, the subject whose targeted region is experiencing a cyclic motion and acquires detection data. This X-ray CT system comprises a reconstruction processor, a moving image creator, and a display controller. The reconstruction processor generates a plurality of sets of volumetric data based on a plurality of sets of detection data that have been acquired during one cycle of the cyclic motion. The moving-image creator creates a moving image that shows the cyclic motion, on the basis of at least a part of the plural sets of volumetric data. The display controller superposes the moving image over an image based on the volumetric data and displays these images on the display unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 21, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 21, 2020
    Assignee: Canon Medical Systems Corporation
    Inventors: Go Mukumoto, Katsuhito Morino, Atsushi Fukano, Takahiro Yoda, Masakazu Matsuura
  • Patent number: 10524767
    Abstract: An ultrasound diagnostic apparatus includes an acquisition unit acquiring pieces of ultrasound image data at different deflection angles; a calculation unit calculating coefficients corresponding to respective positions in ultrasound image data corresponding to a certain deflection angle based on signal or pixel values corresponding to the respective positions in at least one piece of ultrasound image data corresponding to a deflection angle other than the certain deflection angle; a multiplication unit multiplying, by the coefficients, signal or pixel values corresponding to the respective positions in the piece of ultrasound image data corresponding to the certain deflection angle, or signal or pixel values corresponding to the respective positions in image data obtained by compounding ultrasound image data corresponding to respective deflection angles including the certain deflection angle; and a control unit causing a display unit to display an image based on the signal or pixel values multiplied by the c
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2020
    Assignee: Canon Medical Systems Corporation
    Inventor: Yasuhiko Abe
  • Patent number: 10524693
    Abstract: A registration device for patient registration comprises at least one reference marker adapted to be sensed by an imaging system and/or at least one position element adapted to be localized by a position sensing system, and fixation element for positioning the registration device in a patient's body cavity at a location comprising soft tissue. The registration device is adapted to be introduced into and positioned in the patient's body cavity, particularly in the viscerocranium such as the nasal cavity, the nasopharynx, the ear canal(s) and/or the neurocranium such as a cerebral ventricle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2020
    Assignee: Medizinische Universitaet Innsbruck
    Inventors: Wolfgang Freysinger, Florian Kral
  • Patent number: 10517573
    Abstract: Provided is a method of adjusting brightness of an ultrasound image including: generating at least one first image representing a region of interest (ROI) by using echo signals corresponding to ultrasound waves irradiated toward the ROI; adjusting brightness of the at least one first image based on an external signal for selecting at least one selected from a plurality of prestored gradation data and a plurality of prestored image data; and generating a second image representing the ROI based on the adjusted brightness.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2019
    Assignee: SAMSUNG MEDISON CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Sun-Mo Yang, Chul-An Kim, Jae-Moon Jo
  • Patent number: 10517563
    Abstract: An exemplary device for detecting a heartbeat of a patient can be provided which can include a transmitter which can provide ultrasonic waves, a receiver that can receive Doppler-shifted ultrasonic waves, and a hardware analyzer coupled to the receiver and which can evaluate a particular moment of the heartbeat of the patient based on a time-dependent signal obtained from the receiver. The hardware analyzer device can comprise a spectrum analyzer configured to extract time-varying frequency component(s) from the time-dependent signal provided by the receiver, and a processing module which can evaluate the moment of the heartbeat based on a variation of at least one of the frequency components in time. The processing module can determine a window of interest (WOI) in time from the variation of the frequency component(s) in time, and the moment when the time-dependent signal provided by the receiver assumes a maximum within the WOI as the moment of the heartbeat.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2019
    Assignee: UNIVERSITÄTSKLINIKUM HAMBURG-EPPENDORF
    Inventors: Fabian Kording, Jin Yamamura, Christian Ruprecht, Kai-Kristoph Fehrs
  • Patent number: 10517568
    Abstract: An ultrasound cover for use with an ultrasound imaging system, a method of examining a patient with ultrasound, and an ultrasound diagnostic system. The ultrasound cover includes a central layer configured to conform to a shape of a patient's body and a plurality of ultrasound sensors positioned within the central layer. The ultrasound cover is positioned on a patent to be examined and conformed to the shape of the patient's body. RF ultrasound signals are acquired from the plurality of sensors and a 3-D model of the patient created from extracted echoes. The cover may be used with a diagnostic system that includes a computer configured to compare ultrasound data to a orthopedic-specific dataset to locate bony boundaries.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2019
    Assignee: JointVue, LLC
    Inventor: Ray C. Wasielewski
  • Patent number: 10512507
    Abstract: A method and system determines a utility of performing a re-planning on a patient during a radiation therapy planning. Quality improvements which may be made possible by re-planning the patient are automatically estimated, independent of clinician bias. This enables the clinician to make an informed decision regarding whether to re-plan the patient in a fast and efficient manner. This achieves more uniformity and predictability in the adaptive re-planning.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 24, 2019
    Assignee: KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V.
    Inventors: Prashant Kumar, Yogisha Mallya
  • Patent number: 10499871
    Abstract: An X-ray diagnostic apparatus according to an embodiment includes processing circuitry. The processing circuitry is configured to measure respective profiles on contrast media concentration in regions of interest including blood vessels set at about the same position in two subtraction images of subject's head taken from about the same direction at different radiography times. The processing circuitry is configured to determine a correction factor so that the two profiles measured are approximately matched. The processing circuitry is configured to correct at least one of the two subtraction images on the basis of the correction factor determined. The processing circuitry is configured to control so as to display information based on the two subtraction images that at least one thereof has been corrected on a display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2019
    Assignee: Canon Medical Systems Corporation
    Inventor: Satoru Ohishi
  • Patent number: 10492700
    Abstract: A method of assessing status of a biological tissue includes irradiating an electromagnetic signal, via a probe, into a biological tissue. The irradiated electromagnetic signal is received after being scattered/reflected by the biological tissue. Blood flow information pertaining to the biological tissue is provided, and the received signal is analyzed based at least upon the provided blood flow information and upon knowledge of electromagnetic signal differences in normal, suspicious, and abnormal tissue. Using a dielectric properties reconstruction algorithm, dielectric properties of the biological tissue are reconstructed based at least upon results of the analyzing step and upon blood flow information, and using a tissue properties reconstruction algorithm, tissue properties of the biological tissue are reconstructed based at least in part upon results of the reconstructing step and upon blood flow information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2019
    Assignee: EMTensor GmbH
    Inventor: Serguei Y Semenov
  • Patent number: 10478143
    Abstract: A method of updating a model of a luminal network. The method includes performing first imaging of a target, generating 3D image data including locations of fiducial markers using images captured in the first imaging, performing second imaging of the target from a first viewpoint and a second viewpoint, generating 2D image data including locations of the fiducial markers from the first viewpoint and the second viewpoint using images captured in the second imaging, determining locations of the fiducial markers in 3D space according to locations of the fiducial markers within the 2D image data of the first viewpoint, locations of the fiducial markers within the 2D image data of the second viewpoint, and the known angle, and registering the 3D image data generated using images captured in the first imaging with the determined locations of the fiducial markers in 3D space. The first viewpoint and the second viewpoint are oriented at a known angle relative to each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 2, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 19, 2019
    Assignee: COVIDIEN LP
    Inventors: Nicolas J. Merlet, Oren P. Weingarten
  • Patent number: 10456093
    Abstract: Reference part selection objects indicating the position and direction of the reference part of an object are displayed at a plurality of positions together with a body position setting image 3A showing the positional relationship between a scanning unit 10 and the object. Then, when a reference part selection object at an arbitrary position is selected, a body position corresponding to the selected object is set as a scanning condition. In addition, the display is switched to a body position setting image corresponding to the selected object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2019
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kentaro Takahashi, Hirohisa Izumo
  • Patent number: 10456116
    Abstract: Shadow suppression is provided in ultrasound imaging, such as in steered spatial compounding. Using a transform or other approach, the data of a frame of data along the steering direction is projected. The projection is used to determine weights. The frame is weighted with the projection-based weights, reducing or removing shadows based on the one frame rather than based on registration with other frames. In the steered spatial compounding example, a compounded frame with independently shadow suppressed component frames may have little or no fork-like image artifacts due to shadowing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2019
    Assignee: Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc.
    Inventors: David P. Duncan, Manoj G. Menon
  • Patent number: 10448901
    Abstract: An embodiment in accordance with the present invention provides a method and system for evaluating regional cardiac function and dyssynchrony from an imaging modality using the motion of endocardial features of the heart. In the method and system, an imaging modality such as a CT scanner is used to obtain an image sequence that is then processed using a computer program. The computer program is configured to create an endocardial mesh formed from triangular components that represents at least the region of interest of the subject's heart. From tracking the motion of conserved topological features on this endocardial mesh at least two time points a displacement map can be modeled. The displacement map can be further analyzed to determine metrics of regional cardiac function such as SQUEEZ, myocardial strain, torsion etc., and the displacement map can also be used to create visual representations of the function of the subject's heart.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2019
    Assignee: The Johns Hopkins University
    Inventors: Elliot Ross McVeigh, Amir Pourmorteza
  • Patent number: 10448924
    Abstract: An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system for shear wave measurement transmits push pulses in the form of a sheet of energy. The sheet of energy produces a shear wavefront which is a plane wave, which does not suffer from the 1/R radial dissipation of push pulse force as does a conventional push pulse generated along a single push pulse vector. The sheet of energy can be planar, curved, or in some other two or three dimensional shape. A curved sheet of energy can produce a shear wave source which focuses into a thin line, which increases the resolution and sensitivity of the measuring techniques used to detect the shear wave effect.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2019
    Assignee: KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V.
    Inventors: John Douglas Fraser, Roy Peterson, Jean-Luc Robert, Vijay Shamdasani, Hua Xie
  • Patent number: 10441248
    Abstract: An ultrasonic device includes a substrate and a support member. The substrate has an element array including a plurality of ultrasonic transducer elements arranged in an array form. The support member has a surface adhered to the substrate in an area including the element array, and an opposite surface opposite from the surface adhered to the substrate, a distance from the surface adhered to the substrate to the opposite surface being different with respect to two adjacent ones of the ultrasonic transducer elements in the element array.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2019
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Tomoaki Nakamura, Yasunori Onishi, Tomohide Onogi
  • Patent number: 10433742
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and devices are disclosed for implementing magnetoencephalography (MEG) source imaging. In one aspect, a method includes determining a covariance matrix based on sensor signal data in the time domain or frequency domain, the sensor signal data representing magnetic-field signals emitted by a brain of a subject and detected by MEG sensors in a sensor array surrounding the brain, defining a source grid containing source locations within the brain that generate magnetic signals, the source locations having a particular resolution, in which a number of source locations is greater than a number of sensors in the sensor array, and generating a source value of signal power for each location in the source grid by fitting the selected sensor covariance matrix, in which the covariance matrix is time-independent based on time or frequency information of the sensor signal data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 5, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2019
    Assignee: The Regents of the University of California
    Inventors: Ming-Xiong Huang, Roland R. Lee
  • Patent number: 10420530
    Abstract: The invention generally relates to intravascular imaging system and particularly to processing in multimodal systems. The invention provides an imaging system that splits incoming image data into two signals and performs the same processing step on each of the split signals. The system can then send the two signals down two processing pathways. Methods include receiving an analog image signal, transmitting the received signal to a processing system, splitting the signal to produce a first image signal and a second image signal, and performing a processing operation on the first image signal and the second image signal. The first and second signal include substantially the same information as one another.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 24, 2019
    Assignee: VOLCANO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Andrew Hancock, Jerome Mai, Joseph Hoffman