Abstract: Pose of an ultrasound transducer is recovered. In one approach, inertial measurement units are positioned on the ultrasound transducer. The measurements from the inertial measurement units are used with pose or measurements from another position sensor (e.g., x-ray, electromagnetic, or optical) to improve accuracy and/or provide pose information at a greater rate. In another approach, a curve, line, or other connected shape of light emitting diodes are incorporated into the transducer. Optical tracking, with a filter specific to the light emitting diodes, using the connected shape pattern is used to determine the pose.

Abstract: A single transducer, such as a phased array transducer, is provided for various imaging situations with limited loss of resolution and/or penetration. The transducer includes different groups of elements, such as a center group with a fine pitch and outer groups with a larger pitch. The difference in pitch allows for an increased lateral extent of the array, and the fine pitched grouping allows for higher resolution and higher frequency imaging. The same transducer can be used for different imaging situations, such as for neonate imaging as well as imaging 140 pound adults. The difference in pitch also allows for the use of ultrasound imaging systems or beamformers with a limited number of channels even with the total lateral extent provided by the transducer array.

Abstract: Duplex operation for ultrasound imaging uses a single fixed voltage level. Both B-mode and color-mode imaging are performed using a power level that may be less than the power level for single-mode B-mode imaging, and may be greater than the power level for single-mode color-mode imaging. A duty cycle of color-mode pulses may be reduced. To enhance image quality, the number of cycles in the B-mode pulse profile may be increased. To enhance image quality, the center frequency of the B-mode pulse profile may be reduced, and dynamic filtering for B-mode received pulses may be appropriately modified.

Abstract: A BcD mode ultrasound imaging system including a Doppler processor which is configured to receive a Doppler signal having components that are corrupted by residue from color mode interleaving. The Doppler processor is configured to analyze the residue effect and compensate for the residue by filtering the received Doppler signal.

Abstract: An ultrasound medical imaging system having a flexible, versatile and programmable architecture, particularly with respect to a back end subsystem. The architecture for the back end subsystem is generalized and includes multiple identical and interchangeable processing elements or boards that combine to produce sufficient processing power to support real time imaging in the various modes of ultrasound operations. The architecture may also tune front end parameters for a front end subsystem based on back end processing, bypass faulty processing elements or boards, and/or distribute processing load across operational processing elements or boards. A method for operating such an ultrasound medical imaging system is also disclosed.