Patents by Inventor Jonathan Ophir
Jonathan Ophir has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
-
Patent number: 7905148Abstract: The invention is directed toward a new method for estimating and imaging the spatial and temporal mechanical behavior of materials in responses to a mechanical stimulus. This method is designed to work in inherently noisy applications, such as the imaging of the time-dependent mechanical behavior of biological tissues in vivo and using a preferred hand-held configuration of scanning.Type: GrantFiled: July 11, 2009Date of Patent: March 15, 2011Assignees: National Institute of Health (NIH), U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services (DHHS)Inventors: Raffaella Righetti, Jonathan Ophir
-
Publication number: 20110060222Abstract: The present invention relates to systems and methods for characterizing inhomogeneities in deformable target bodies. More particularly, the disclosure relates to methods and systems for axial-shear strain elastography (ASSE) and their use in analyzing inclusions such as but not limited to, tumors as well as directing cancer therapies such as HIFU.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 10, 2010Publication date: March 10, 2011Applicant: BOARD OF REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SYSTEMInventors: Arun K. THITTAI, Belfor GALAZ, Jonathan OPHIR
-
Publication number: 20100251820Abstract: The invention is directed toward a new method for estimating and imaging the spatial and temporal mechanical behavior of materials in responses to a mechanical stimulus. This method is designed to work in inherently noisy applications, such as the imaging of the time-dependent mechanical behavior of biological tissues in vivo and using a preferred hand-held configuration of scanning.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 11, 2009Publication date: October 7, 2010Inventors: Raffaella Righetti, Jonathan Ophir
-
Patent number: 7779692Abstract: The invention is directed toward a new method for estimating and imaging the spatial and temporal mechanical behavior of materials in responses to a mechanical stimulus. This method is designed to work in inherently noisy applications, such as the imaging of the time-dependent mechanical behavior of biological tissues in vivo and using a preferred hand-held configuration of scanning.Type: GrantFiled: May 17, 2006Date of Patent: August 24, 2010Assignee: The Board of Regents of the University of Texas SystemInventors: Raffaella Righetti, Jonathan Ophir
-
Publication number: 20100180684Abstract: The invention is directed toward a new method for estimating and imaging the spatial and temporal mechanical behavior of materials in responses to a mechanical stimulus. This method is designed to work in inherently noisy applications, such as the imaging of the time-dependent mechanical behavior of biological tissues in vivo and using a preferred hand-held configuration of scanning.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 11, 2009Publication date: July 22, 2010Inventors: Raffaella Righetti, Jonathan Ophir
-
Publication number: 20100010353Abstract: The invention is directed toward a new method for estimating and imaging the spatial and temporal mechanical behavior of materials in responses to a mechanical stimulus. This method is designed to work in inherently noisy applications, such as the imaging of the time-dependent mechanical behavior of biological tissues in vivo and using a preferred hand-held configuration of scanning.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 11, 2009Publication date: January 14, 2010Inventors: Raffaella Righetti, Jonathan Ophir
-
Publication number: 20090301204Abstract: The invention is directed toward a new method for estimating and imaging the spatial and temporal mechanical behavior of materials in responses to a mechanical stimulus. This method is designed to work in inherently noisy applications, such as the imaging of the time-dependent mechanical behavior of biological tissues in vivo and using a preferred hand-held configuration of scanning.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 11, 2009Publication date: December 10, 2009Inventors: Raffaella Righetti, Jonathan Ophir
-
Publication number: 20080009721Abstract: The invention is directed toward a new method for estimating and imaging the spatial and temporal mechanical behavior of materials in responses to a mechanical stimulus. This method is designed to work in inherently noisy applications, such as the imaging of the time-dependent mechanical behavior of biological tissues in vivo and using a preferred hand-held configuration of scanning.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 17, 2006Publication date: January 10, 2008Inventors: Raffaella Righetti, Jonathan Ophir
-
Patent number: 6687625Abstract: The present invention is directed toward an apparatus and method for determining localized strain in a target body by identifying sets of features in reflected echo sequences and by comparing sets of features to determine time shift values between features.Type: GrantFiled: April 22, 2002Date of Patent: February 3, 2004Assignee: The Board of Regents of the University of Texas SystemInventors: Seshadri Srinivasan, Jonathan Ophir
-
Publication number: 20030200036Abstract: The present invention is directed toward an apparatus and method for determining localized strain in a target body by identifying sets of features in reflected echo sequences and by comparing sets of features to determine time shift values between features.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 22, 2002Publication date: October 23, 2003Inventors: Seshadri Srinivasan, Jonathan Ophir
-
Patent number: 6494834Abstract: Elastography can produce quality strain images in vitro and in vivo. Standard elastography uses a coherent cross-correlation technique to estimate tissue displacement and tissue strain using a subsequent gradient operator. While coherent estimation methods generally have the advantage of being highly accurate and precise, even relatively small undesired motions are likely to cause enough signal decorrelation to produce significant degradation of the elastogram. For elastography to become more universally practical in such applications as hand-held, intravascular and abdominal imaging, the limitations associated with coherent strain estimation methods that require tissue and system stability, must be overcome. In this paper, we propose the use of a spectral shift method that uses a centroid shift estimate to measure local strain directly. Furthermore, we also show theoretically that a spectral bandwidth method can also provide a direct strain estimation.Type: GrantFiled: March 16, 2001Date of Patent: December 17, 2002Assignee: The Board of Regents of the University of Texas SystemInventors: Elisa Konofagou, Jonathan Ophir
-
Publication number: 20020010399Abstract: Elastography can produce quality strain images in vitro and in vivo. Standard elastography uses a coherent cross-correlation technique to estimate tissue displacement and tissue strain using a subsequent gradient operator. While coherent estimation methods generally have the advantage of being highly accurate and precise, even relatively small undesired motions are likely to cause enough signal decorrelation to produce significant degradation of the elastogram. For elastography to become more universally practical in such applications as hand-held, intravascular and abdominal imaging, the limitations associated with coherent strain estimation methods that require tissue and system stability, must be overcome. In this paper, we propose the use of a spectral shift method that uses a centroid shift estimate to measure local strain directly. Furthermore, we also show theoretically that a spectral bandwidth method can also provide a direct strain estimation.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 16, 2001Publication date: January 24, 2002Inventors: Elisa Konofagou, Jonathan Ophir
-
Patent number: 6270459Abstract: The present invention is directed toward a new method that combines interpolation between neighboring A-lines with cross-correlation for high precision estimation of the transverse displacement. Due to this high precision lateral estimation, the method of the present invention can produce quality lateral-elastograms that display the lateral component of the strain tensor. These higher precision lateral displacement estimates also allow a finer correction for the lateral decorrelation that corrupts the axial estimation. The method of the present invention may be employed to divide the lateral-elastogram by the axial-elastogram on a pixel-by-pixel basis, in order to produce a new image that displays the distribution of Poisson's ratios in the tissue.Type: GrantFiled: May 26, 1999Date of Patent: August 7, 2001Assignee: The Board of Regents of the University of Texas SystemInventors: Elisa Konofagou, Jonathan Ophir
-
Patent number: 5474070Abstract: An improved ultrasonic pulse-echo method and apparatus that has particular application in making precision measurements of compressibility in any backscattering material, in particular organic tissue, is disclosed. The method employs a standard transducer or transducer containing device which is translated transaxially, thereby compressing or displacing a proximal region of a target body in small known increments. At each increment, a pulse is emitted and an echo sequence (A-line) is detected from regions within the target along the sonic travel path or beam of the transducer. Resulting time shifts in echo segments corresponding to features in the target, corrected for regions of varying sonic speed along the sonic path, provide relative and quantitative information concerning the strain caused by the compressions. The stress imparted by the transducer and containing device is also determined, corrected for depth along the sonic path.Type: GrantFiled: March 11, 1994Date of Patent: December 12, 1995Assignee: The Board of Regents of the University of Texas SystemInventors: Jonathan Ophir, Ignacio Cespedes
-
Patent number: 5293870Abstract: An improved ultrasonic pulse-echo method and apparatus that has particular application in making precision measurements of compressibility in any backscattering material, in particular organic tissue, is disclosed. The method employs a standard transducer or transducer containing device which is translated transaxially, thereby compressing or displacing a proximal region of a target body in small known increments. At each increment, a pulse is emitted and an echo sequence (A-line) is detected from regions within the target along the sonic travel path or beam of the transducer. Resulting time shifts in echo segments corresponding to features in the target, corrected for regions of varying sonic speed along the sonic path, provide relative and quantitative information concerning the strain caused by the compressions. The stress imparted by the transducer and containing device is also determined, corrected for depth along the sonic path.Type: GrantFiled: September 3, 1992Date of Patent: March 15, 1994Assignee: Board of Regents The University of Texas SystemInventors: Jonathan Ophir, Ignacio Cespedes, Hari Ponnekanti
-
Patent number: 5247937Abstract: An improved ultrasonic pulse-echo method and apparatus that has particular application in estimating sound velocity in organic tissue is disclosed. The method employs a standard transducer or transducer containing device which is translated transaxially, thereby compressing or displacing a proximal region of a target body in small known increments. At each increment, a pulse is emitted and an echo sequence (A-line) is acquired from regions within the target along the sonic travel path or beam of the transducer. Segments of the echo sequence corresponding to a distal region within the target are selected as a reference to estimate the incremental change in echo arrival time. A plot of these arrival time estimates versus the target compression depth is then generated and a least squares linear fit is made. The slope of the linear fit is c.sup.-1, where c is an estimate of the speed of sound in the target.Type: GrantFiled: February 27, 1992Date of Patent: September 28, 1993Assignee: Board of Regents, The University of Texas SystemInventors: Jonathan Ophir, Youseph Yazdi
-
Patent number: 5178147Abstract: An improved ultrasonic pulse-echo method and apparatus that has particular application in making precision measurements of compressibility in any backscattering material, in particular organic tissue, is disclosed. The method employs a standard transducer or transducer containing device which is translated transaxially, thereby compressing or displacing a proximal region of a target body in small known increments. At each increment, a pulse is emitted and an echo sequence (A-line) is detected from regions within the target along the sonic travel path or beam of the transducer. Resulting time shifts in echo segments corresponding to features in the target, corrected for regions of varying sonic speed along the sonic path, provide relative and quantitative information concerning the strain caused by the compressions. The stress imparted by the transducer and containing device is also determined, corrected for depth along the sonic path.Type: GrantFiled: May 10, 1991Date of Patent: January 12, 1993Assignee: Board of Regents, The University of Texas SystemInventors: Jonathan Ophir, Ignacio Cespedes, Hari Ponnekanti
-
Patent number: 5143070Abstract: An improved ultrasonic pulse-echo method and apparatus that has particular application in estimating sound velocity in organic tissue is disclosed. The method employs a standard transducer or transducer containing device which is translated transaxially, thereby compressing or displacing a proximal region of a target body in small known increments. At each increment, a pulse is emitted and an echo sequence (A-line) is acquired from regions within the target along the sonic travel path or beam of the transducer. Segments of the echo sequence corresponding to a distal region within the target are selected as a reference to estimate the incremental change in echo arrival time. A plot of these arrival time estimates versus the target compression depth is then generated and a least squares linear fit is made. The slope of the linear fit is c.sup.-1, where c is an estimate of the speed of sound in the target.Type: GrantFiled: November 17, 1989Date of Patent: September 1, 1992Assignee: The University of Texas Systems Board of RegentsInventors: Jonathan Ophir, Youseph Yazdi
-
Patent number: 5107837Abstract: An improved ultrasonic pulse-echo method and apparatus that has particular application in making precision measurements of compressibility in any backscattering material, in particular organic tissue, is disclosed. The method employs a standard transducer or transducer containing device which is translated transaxially, thereby compressing or displacing a proximal region of a target body in small known increments. At each increment, a pulse is emitted and an echo sequence (A-line) is detected from regions within the target along the sonic travel path or beam of the transducer. Resulting time shifts in echo segments corresponding to features in the target provide relative and quantitative information concerning compressibility of the target.Type: GrantFiled: June 8, 1990Date of Patent: April 28, 1992Assignee: Board of Regents, University of TexasInventors: Jonathan Ophir, Youseph Yazdi
-
Patent number: 4993416Abstract: The present invention provides a novel method and apparatus which allows concomitant imaging and rapid axial beam translation measurements used to calculate the attenuation characteristics of a target body. The present invention employs an ultrasonic scanner which contains a plurality of matched transducer elements. These elements are staggered on a mechanism which sequentially places each transducer opposite an acoustic window at axially spaced positions along a common axis. The present invention also enables axial beam translation techniques to be adapted to current ultrasonic imaging systems.Type: GrantFiled: April 25, 1989Date of Patent: February 19, 1991Assignee: Board of Reagents The University of Texas SystemInventor: Jonathan Ophir