Patents Examined by Francis J. Jaworski
  • Performing ultrasound ranging in the presence of ultrasound interference
    Patent number: 6805132
    Abstract: A distance measuring system comprises first and second transducers, and an ultrasound ranging subsystem coupled to the first and second transducers for performing a plurality of distance measurements between the first and second transducers. The distance measurement system can have various applications, including medical applications, in which case, the first and second transducers can be mounted on a catheter. The distance measuring system further comprises a filter coupled to the ultrasound ranging subsystem for filtering ultrasound interference from the plurality of distance measurements (such as, e.g., eight), and outputting a distance based on the filtered distance measurements. The filter filters the ultrasound interference by selecting one of the plurality distance measurements, in which case, the outputted distance is the selected distance measurement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2004
    Assignee: SciMed Life Systems, Inc.
    Inventor: N. Parker Willis
  • Ultrasonic scatterer, ultrasonic imaging method and ultrasonic imaging apparatus
    Patent number: 6793626
    Abstract: The ultrasonic scatterer of the invention comprises gas-containing particles having an average particle size of 0.01 &mgr;m to 10 &mgr;m, the ultrasonic imaging method of the invention comprises transmitting an ultrasonic wave continuing for ten cycles or more; transmitting an ultrasonic wave continuing for four cycles or more and less than ten cycles after a predetermined period passes, and the ultrasonic imaging apparatus of the invention comprises transmitting means for sending a driving signal to the ultrasonic probe so as to transmit, to a subject, an ultrasonic wave continuing for four cycles or more and less than ten cycles after a predetermined period passes subsequently to transmitting, to the subject, of an ultrasonic wave continuing for ten cycles or more.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 17, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 21, 2004
    Assignee: Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Hirohiko Tsuzuki
  • Apparatus for improved sensor accuracy
    Patent number: 6792303
    Abstract: An electromagnetic sensor capable of maintaining its accuracy through temperature cycling is provided. The sensor element material of an electromagnetic sensor is covered by an encapsulant having substantially similar thermal expansion values as the sensor element material. By matching the thermal expansion values of the components, changes in component orientation may be minimized during temperature cycling thus reducing the need for recalibration of the sensor assembly. In one embodiment the encapsulant is doped with a ceramic material or glass microspheres to achieve a thermal expansion coefficient similar to the thermal expansion coefficient of the copper sensor element material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 11, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 14, 2004
    Assignee: SciMed Life Systems, Inc.
    Inventor: Miriam H. Taimisto
  • Device for examining a subject capable of marking a boundary range for insertion/retraction of an insertion/retraction member that is inserted in and retracted from the subject
    Patent number: 6786870
    Abstract: An ultrasound diagnostic device comprises an ultrasound endoscope, an ultrasound diagnostic signal processing device and a monitor and is arranged to obtain an ultrasound diagnostic image by performing transmission/reception of ultrasound signals with respect to a detection subject within a body cavity. The ultrasound endoscope comprises an insertion section inserted into a body cavity, an operating section and a connecting cord. A biopsy needle insertion/retraction section is employed for forward or backward insertion/retraction of a biopsy needle. The subject may be pierced by the needle tip of a biopsy needle that protrudes from a biopsy needle protrusion port at the tip of an insertion section of the ultrasound endoscope which has been inserted. The monitor displays the biopsy needle in the ultrasound diagnostic image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 7, 2004
    Assignee: Olympus Corporation
    Inventors: Hironaka Miyaki, Tsutomu Urakawa, Hiroshi Hattori, Tatsuo Kaimai
  • Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus
    Patent number: 6786867
    Abstract: In order to allow operation of key switches without awkwardly bending the elbow or wrist, and arranging key switches aesthetically in the appearance design while preventing confusion in operation and eliminating dead space within the area occupied by the key switches, key switches 1-1-1-6 are arranged horizontally in a row slantingly with respect to the horizontal and vertical directions of an operation panel 101.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 7, 2004
    Assignee: GE Medical Systems Global Technology Company, LLC
    Inventors: Shinichi Amemiya, Osamu Furuta, Yoshinori Sakamoto
  • Two-dimensional ultrasonic array with asymmetric apertures
    Patent number: 6783497
    Abstract: A sparse array that uses a small fraction of a fully populated array but yields a radiation pattern that is suitable for high quality medical imaging. The sparse array consists of two or more separate zones for transmitting and receiving as opposed to the overlapping arrays of the prior art. More specifically, a preferred embodiment sets forth an inner array of transmit elements with a narrow effective aperture and a separate non-overlapping outer array of receive elements with a wide effective aperture. The combination of asymmetric apertures is particularly useful for parallel processing applications. This abstract is provided as a tool for those searching for patents, and not as a limitation on the scope of the claims.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 23, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2004
    Assignee: Volumetrics Medical Imaging, Inc.
    Inventors: Stephen Michael Grenon, Ronald E. Hileman
  • System and method for analysis of a tissue
    Patent number: 6785570
    Abstract: A method and system for assessing a spatial regularity of reflecting members in a tissue. The method comprises irradiating the tissue and detecting waves reflected by the tissue. One or more parameters are then calculated, based upon the reflected waves, indicative of a degree of spatial disorder of reflecting members in the tissue.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2004
    Assignee: MD Medical Diagnostics Inc.
    Inventor: Dror Nir
  • Ultrasound probe with integrated electronics
    Patent number: 6783493
    Abstract: A hand-held ultrasound system includes integrated electronics within an ergonomic housing. The electronics includes control circuitry, beamforming and circuitry transducer drive circuitry. The electronics communicate with a host computer using an industry standard high speed serial bus. The ultrasonic imaging system is operable on a standard, commercially available, user computing device without specific hardware modifications, and is adapted to interface with an external application without modification to the ultrasonic imaging system to allow a user to gather ultrasonic data on a standard user computing device such as a PC, and employ the data so gathered via an independent external application without requiring a custom system, expensive hardware modifications, or system rebuilds.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2004
    Assignee: TeraTech Corporation
    Inventors: Alice M. Chiang, Michael P. Litchfield, Michael Brodsky, Eric R. Kischell
  • Method and apparatus for tracking a medical instrument based on image registration
    Patent number: 6782287
    Abstract: An apparatus, method and system for tracking a medical instrument, as it is moved in an operating space to a patient target site in the space, by constructing a composite, 3-D rendition of at least a part of the operating space based on an algorithm that registers pre-operative 3-D diagnostic scans of the operating space with real-time, stereo x-ray or radiograph images of the operating space. The invention has particular utility in tracking a flexible medical instrument and/or a medical instrument that moves inside the patient's body and is not visible to the surgeon.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2004
    Assignees: The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University, General Electric Company
    Inventors: Robert Grzeszczuk, Ramin Shahidi
  • Mechanism and system for 3-dimensional scanning of an ultrasound beam
    Patent number: 6780153
    Abstract: An ultrasound probe capable of scanning an ultrasound beam in a region of 3D space, characterized by that an ultrasound transducer array is mounted to a 1st shaft that can rotate in bearings mounted in a fork that can be moved. The fork can be rotated around a 2nd shaft in a bearing, or moved through a sliding system, or a combination of the two. The shaft and the fork are connected to two separate electric motors for electric steering of the array direction within a region of 3D space. Position measurement systems are mounted to the shaft and the fork so that the beam direction can be steered with a feed-back control system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2004
    Inventors: Bjørn A. J. Angelsen, Tonni F. Johansen, Stig B. Kjøde
  • In vivo biocompatible acoustic coupling media
    Patent number: 6776757
    Abstract: A medical ultrasound coupling media and lubricant, in gel or liquid form, comprised of polyethylene oxide (PEO), at least one of polyalkylene glycols and polyhydric alcohols, and the balance water. The inventive coupling media provides long-term biocompatibility (bio-inert, bio-erodable or biodegraded and excreted) in vivo with human tissue and body fluids. The ultrasound coupling and lubricating media is formulated and manufactured in such manner and form that produces higher viscosity gels with decreased amounts of polymer and renders the acoustic media sterile, non-cross-linked, pseudoplastic, and containing acceptably low levels of pyrogens.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 17, 2004
    Assignee: Sonotech, Inc.
    Inventors: Margaret J. Larson, John W. Rutter, Larry L. Smith
  • Ultrasonic transducer array and method of manufacturing the same
    Patent number: 6776763
    Abstract: In a method of manufacturing an ultrasonic transducer array a plurality of discrete transducer elements are formed on an initially flat flexible substrate together with electrically conductive tracks, through which the transducer elements will be energised in use, the flexible substrate with the discrete transducer elements and conductive tracks mounted thereon then being formed into a cylinder and mounted on the end of a catheter tube, the substrate being radially outwardly of the transducer elements so that it is in a position to act also as an acoustic matching layer between the material of the transducer elements and the human tissues or blood when in use.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 17, 2004
    Assignee: Volcano Therapeutic, Inc.
    Inventors: Elvin Leonard Nix, George Woodrow Keilman, Robert Julian Dickinson
  • Ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus and operation device
    Patent number: 6773398
    Abstract: An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprises: an operation device which is configured to communicate with a main frame connected to an ultrasonic probe and which an operator of the main frame and the ultrasonic probe may carry and; a system controller to execute a workflow system which switches the operation of the main frame by sequentially executing a plurality of execution items (activities), which is executed by operation of the main frame, according to the work procedure (workflow protocol) predetermining the execution sequence of execution items, and alters the sequence of the execution items in compliance with the operation of the operation device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 10, 2004
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Yoichi Ogasawara, Naohisa Kamiyama, Akihiro Sano
  • Block-switching in ultrasound imaging
    Patent number: 6773399
    Abstract: Systems and methods of generating and manipulating an ultrasound beam are disclosed. The methods include using selective sets of ultrasound elements to generate an ultrasound beam, scanning the beam over a series of ultrasound elements in order to collected echo data covering an area, and generating an image from the resulting data. The scanning process includes shifting the set of ultrasound elements used to form the ultrasound beam by more then one ultrasound element (block-switching) between each step in the scanning process. This is accomplished without loss of image resolution by using area-forming techniques. The block-switching technique enables use of cross-correlation methods during image construction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 10, 2004
    Assignee: Zonare Medical Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Xufeng Xi, Glen McLaughlin, Umit Tarakci
  • Imaging method and device using shearing waves
    Patent number: 6770033
    Abstract: The invention concerns an image method for observing the propagation of low-frequency shearing pulse wave simultaneously in multiple points of a diffusing viscoelastic medium. The method consists in transmitting at a very high rate ultrasonic compression waves enabling to obtain a succession of images of the medium; then in delayed processing of the resulting images by intercorrelation to determine in each point of each image the movements of the medium while the shearing wave is being propagated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 8, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 3, 2004
    Assignee: Societe d'Elastographie Impulsionnelle pour les Systemes de Mesure de l'Elasticite (SEISME)
    Inventors: Mathias Fink, Laurent Sandrin, Michaël Tanter, Stefan Catheline
  • Ultrasound therapy
    Patent number: 6770031
    Abstract: A method of delivering ultrasound signals includes providing an image of at least a portion of a subject intended to receive ultrasound signals between sources of the ultrasound signals and a desired region of the subject for receiving focused ultrasound signals, identifying, from the image, physical characteristics of portions of material between the sources and the desired region, and using a spectral propagation analysis to determine at least one of phase corrections and amplitude corrections for the sources depending on the respective physical characteristics of the portions of the material disposed between each source and the desired region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 3, 2004
    Assignee: Brigham and Women's Hospital, Inc.
    Inventors: Kullervo Hynynen, Gregory T. Clement
  • Method and apparatus for intravascular two-dimensional ultrasonography
    Patent number: 6764450
    Abstract: A catheter is provided for insertion in the he blood vessel of a patient for ultrasonically imaging the vessel wall. The catheter includes a tubular element and an internally housed drive cable for effective circumferential scan about the catheter of an ultrasonic generating means. Both the tubular element and the drive cable are of a size and flexibility sufficient to permit their introduction into the vessel and subsequent advancement through the vessel to the location of the vessel wall where imaging is desired.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 2003
    Date of Patent: July 20, 2004
    Assignee: SciMed Life Systems, Inc.
    Inventor: Paul G. Yock
  • Image forming method used in ultrasonic diagnosis, ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, signal processing apparatus, and recording medium for recording signal processing program
    Patent number: 6761691
    Abstract: An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus by which an image having superior space resolution is obtained. The apparatus includes: first means for transmitting an ultrasonic wave, which is continued for at least two cycles, to an object to be inspected, and for detecting an echo signal which is produced by reflection of the transmitted ultrasonic wave from tissue of the object to be inspected to thereby obtain a detection signal; second means for delaying the detection signal by such a time duration corresponding to one cycle of the transmitted ultrasonic wave to thereby obtain a delayed detection signal; and third means for obtaining image information related to the tissue of the object to be inspected based upon a difference between the detection signal and the delayed detection signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2001
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2004
    Assignee: Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Hirohiko Tsuzuki
  • High frequency and multi frequency band ultrasound transducers based on ceramic films
    Patent number: 6761692
    Abstract: A design and a manufacturing method of ultrasound transducers based on films of ferro-electric ceramic material is presented, the transducers being particularly useful for operating at frequencies above 10 MHz. The designs also involve acoustic load matching layers that provides particularly wide bandwidth of the transducers, and also multiple electric port transducers using multiple piezoelectric layers, for multi-band operation of the transducers over an even wider band of frequencies that covers ˜4 harmonics of a fundamental band. A transceiver drive system for the multi-port transducers that provides simple selection of the frequency bands of transmitted pulses as well as transmission of multi-band pulses, and reception of scattered signals in multiple frequency bands, is presented.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2004
    Assignee: Eagle Ultrasound AS
    Inventors: Bjorn A. J. Angelsen, Tonni F. Johansen, Jarle Østgård
  • Pulse wave detector
    Patent number: 6758816
    Abstract: There is provided a pulse wave detector enabling pulse wave detection with reduced power consumption, and prolonged usage time. Ultrasonic waves having a frequency of 10 MHz are transmitted from a transmitter towards an artery, and reflected waves that have undergone frequency modulation as a result of the Doppler effect of the artery are received by a receiver, pulse waves are extracted by FM detection, and a pulse rate is counted and displayed. Transmission of ultrasonic waves by the transmitter and reception of reflected waves by the receiver are carried intermittently at a frequency of 64 Hz to reduce the power consumption, to enable installation even in a small portable device with low battery capacity such as a watch, and to enable prolonged usage time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2000
    Date of Patent: July 6, 2004
    Assignee: Seiko Instruments Inc.
    Inventors: Keisuke Tsubata, Hiroshi Odagiri, Chiaki Nakamura, Kazumi Sakumoto, Masataka Shinogi, Takashi Kamimoto