Abstract: A Multiple Aperture Ultrasound Imaging (MAUI) probe or transducer is uniquely capable of simultaneous imaging of a region of interest from separate apertures of ultrasound arrays. Some embodiments provide systems and methods for designing, building and using ultrasound probes having continuous arrays of ultrasound transducers which may have a substantially continuous concave curved shape in two or three dimensions (i.e. concave relative to an object to be imaged). Other embodiments herein provide systems and methods for designing, building and using ultrasound imaging probes having other unique configurations, such as adjustable probes and probes with variable configurations.

Abstract: A method of calibrating an ultrasound probe includes mounting an ultrasound probe onto a calibration system, transmitting an ultrasound test signal from an element of the probe through a test medium of the calibration system, and receiving the test signal on a matrix of hydrophones such that an element's position relative to other elements and other arrays within the same probe can be computed. Further, the system described herein is configured to detect the acoustic performance of elements of a probe and report the results to an end user or service provider.

Abstract: A non-invasive screening technique for visualizing coronary arteries which overcomes the problems of visualizing the curved arteries by projecting the three dimensional volume of the arteries onto a two dimensional screen. Blood filled areas such as the coronary arteries and veins, are highlighted to contrast with other nearby tissues using non-linear classification and segmentation techniques. Data is gathered as a sequence of 2D slices stored as a 3D volume. Software interpolates voxels intermediate to the slices. Wiener filtering or LMS spatial filtering can be implemented on each 2D scan to improve lateral resolution and reduce noise prior to the use of the scan data with the classification and segmentation algorithms. A traditional handheld ultrasound probe is employed to enable the technician to locate the area of interest, but a gyroscopic stabilizer is added to minimize unwanted variation on two axes of rotation.

Abstract: A combination of an ultrasonic scanner and an omnidirectional receive transducer for producing a two-dimensional image from the echoes received by the single omnidirectional transducer is described. Two-dimensional images with different noise components can be constructed from the echoes received by additional transducers. These can be combined to produce images with better signal to noise ratios and lateral resolution. Also disclosed is a method based on information content to compensate for the different delays for different paths through intervening tissue is described. Specular reflections are attenuated by using even a single omnidirectional receiver displaced from the insonifying probe. The disclosed techniques have broad application in medical imaging but are ideally suited to multi-aperture cardiac imaging using two or more intercostal spaces.

Abstract: A combination of an ultrasonic scanner and an omnidirectional receive transducer for producing a two-dimensional image from the echoes received by the single omnidirectional transducer is described. Two-dimensional images with different noise components can be constructed from the echoes received by additional transducers. These can be combined to produce images with better signal to noise ratios and lateral resolution. Also disclosed is a method based on information content to compensate for the different delays for different paths through intervening tissue is described. Specular reflections are attenuated by using even a single omnidirectional receiver displaced from the insonifying probe. The disclosed techniques have broad application in medical imaging but are ideally suited to multi-aperture cardiac imaging using two or more intercostal spaces.

Abstract: A Multiple Aperture Ultrasound Imaging system and methods of use are provided with any number of features. In some embodiments, a multi-aperture ultrasound imaging system is configured to transmit and receive ultrasound energy to and from separate physical ultrasound apertures. In some embodiments, a transmit aperture of a multi-aperture ultrasound imaging system is configured to transmit an omni-directional unfocused ultrasound waveform approximating a first point source through a target region. In some embodiments, the ultrasound energy is received with a single receiving aperture. In other embodiments, the ultrasound energy is received with multiple receiving apertures. Algorithms are described that can combine echoes received by one or more receiving apertures to form high resolution ultrasound images. Additional algorithms can solve for variations in tissue speed of sound, thus allowing the ultrasound system to be used virtually anywhere in or on the body.

Abstract: The benefits of a multi-aperture ultrasound probe can be achieved with add-on devices. Synchronization and correlation of echoes from multiple transducer elements located in different arrays is essential to the successful processing of multiple aperture imaging. The algorithms disclosed here teach methods to successfully process these signals when the transmission source is coming from another ultrasound system and synchronize the add-on system to the other ultrasound system. Two-dimensional images with different noise components can be constructed from the echoes received by individual transducer elements. The disclosed techniques have broad application in medical imaging and are ideally suited to multi-aperture cardiac imaging using two or more intercostal spaces.

Abstract: Increasing the effective aperture of an ultrasound imaging probe by including more than one probe head and using the elements of all of the probes to render an image can greatly improve the lateral resolution of the generated image. In order to render an image, the relative positions of all of the elements must be known precisely. A calibration fixture is described in which the probe assembly to be calibrated is placed above a test block and transmits ultrasonic pulses through the test block to an ultrasonic sensor. As the ultrasonic pulses are transmitted though some or all of the elements in the probe to be tested, the differential transit times of arrival of the waveform are measured precisely. From these measurements the relative positions of the probe elements can be computed and the probe can be aligned.

Abstract: A Multiple Aperture Ultrasound Imaging (MAUI) probe or transducer is uniquely capable of simultaneous imaging of a region of interest from separate physical apertures. Construction of probes can vary by medical application. That is, a general radiology probe can contain multiple transducers that maintain separate physical points of contact with the patient's skin, allowing multiple physical apertures. A cardiac probe may contain only two transmitters and receivers where the probe fits simultaneously between two or more intracostal spaces. An intracavity version of the probe can space transmit and receive transducers along the length of the wand, while an intravenous version can allow transducers to be located on the distal length the catheter and separated by mere millimeters. Algorithms can solve for variations in tissue speed of sound, thus allowing the probe apparatus to be used virtually anywhere in or on the body.

Abstract: A combination of an ultrasonic scanner and an omnidirectional receive transducer for producing a two-dimensional image from the echoes received by the single omnidirectional transducer is described. Two-dimensional images with different noise components can be constructed from the echoes received by additional transducers. These can be combined to produce images with better signal to noise ratios and lateral resolution. Also disclosed is a method based on information content to compensate for the different delays for different paths through intervening tissue is described. Specular reflections are attenuated by using even a single omnidirectional receiver displaced from the insonifying probe. The disclosed techniques have broad application in medical imaging but are ideally suited to multi-aperture cardiac imaging using two or more intercostal spaces.

Abstract: A non-invasive screening technique for visualizing coronary arteries which overcomes the problems of visualizing the curved arteries by projecting the three dimensional volume of the arteries onto a two dimensional screen. Blood filled areas, and in particular, the coronary arteries and veins, are highlighted to contrast them with other nearby tissues using non-linear classification and segmentation techniques. Data is gathered as a sequence of 2D slices stored as a 3D volume. Software is employed to interpolate voxels intermediate to the slices. Wiener filtering or LMS spatial filtering can be implemented on each 2D scan to improve lateral resolution and reduce noise prior to the use of the scan data with the classification and segmentation algorithms.

Abstract: An improved neuron and corresponding search operation for use in matching strings of characters from a character set or strings of pixels from an image is at least partly based on ZISC technology. Each neuron contains only one character in the string of characters to be searched or, equivalently, one pixel in the image to be searched. The neurons are lined up in order (unlike standard ZISC). The inventive system matches two strings of base-pairs, one of which is stored in the neurons, and the other of which is entered into the system input one character at a time and thereafter broadcast to all of the neurons. The inputs, outputs and contents of each neuron in the system include one stored base pair, a left_errors register; a right_errors register; a parallel sort bus; and a neuron number or location register. The operation may include the following steps: at the start of the operation, all left_errors and right_errors registers are reset to “0”.

Abstract: A neural network integrated circuit comprises many neuron circuits each with a distance resister that is compared in a competition for the closest-hit with all the other neurons. Such closest-hit comparison is conducted bit-by-bit over the many bit positions of a distance measure in binary format each time after the neurons fire. A single-wire AND-bus interconnects every neuron in a whole system. Each neuron drives the single-wire AND-bus with an open-collector buffer. All neurons press the single-wire AND-bus with their respective distance measures in successive cycles, starting with the most significant bit. For example, a fourteen-bit binary distance word requires fourteen comparison cycles. Any neuron that sees a “0” on the single-wire AND-bus when its own corresponding bit in its distance measure is a “1”, automatically drops from the competition. By the time the least significant bit cycle is run, a single closest distance will have been determined.

Abstract: A method and apparatus enhance visible contrast within an acquired image for display. The contrast enhancement utilizes all N bands of an original N-band spectral image to produce an M-dimensional enhanced image for display. The method creates an enhanced image from an original image in which the visible contrast in the original image is improved. The original image includes pixels, each pixel having N spectral intensities. The display or printer device which must display the relevant information may be limited to a number of bands M which is smaller than N. Maximum contrast of objects is obtained by emphasizing differences in the N-dimensional pixels by as large differences as possible within the dynamic range of the M-band display space. When M=N=3, this means moving pixels in the display space to utilize the full color palette available on a color monitor or printer. When N>M, a mapping from N space to M space must also be accomplished.

Abstract: A photomask and reticle inspection method and apparatus wherein a selected surface area of an object is inspected and a first stream of data having signal values representing the image content of each pixel thereof is generated, a second stream of data having signal values representing the intended image content of each pixel of the first stream of data is generated, corresponding portions of the first and second streams of data are stored in memory, any misalignment between the stored portions of the first and second streams of data is detected, the misaligned first and second portions of data are then aligned using shifts of an integral number of pixels and/or subpixel interpolation to correct the detected misalignment therebetween, corresponding subportions of the stored and aligned first and second portions of data are then compared to detect difference therebetween, and upon detecting a difference exceeding a predetermined threshold, the presence of a defect at a particular pixel location on the inspecte

Abstract: Tomographic images are obtained at a plane of interest by taking a series of x-ray exposures, producing a series of multiple images therefrom, arranging these multiple images so that points residing within a desired plane of interest are coincident to form a first order clarified image, repeating the step for a predetermined number of other planes which are parallel to the first plane of interest, to produce a first order clarified image for each of these planes, and then producing a smeared image for each of such planes, except one, by replicating the first order image for said plane a predetermined number of times and shifting each of the replicated images in the plane as a function of the distance between that particular plane and the x-ray source, the distance between that particular plane and the x-ray image device, the same distances but taken relative to a plane of interest, and the distance moved between exposures by the x-ray source.

Abstract: The apparatus includes an input controller connected to receive input data representing ultrasonic sector images of a patient for digitizing selected ones of the images thereby representing those images in a digital format. A front panel interface is provided for specifying the selected ones of the sector images to be digitized. Storage means are provided for storing the digitized data and processor means are provided for controlling the digitizing and storing of the input sector data and for enhancing the digital images. Display means are provided for displaying the enhanced sector images.

Abstract: An ultrasonic transducer assembly and system including a disc-shaped transducer element surrounded by ring-shaped transducer elements of different width to permit dynamic focusing and minimum phase cancellation. The elements are switched so that the output signals for various depths have a small dynamic range whereby the dynamic range of associated amplifiers is significantly reduced.