Method for enhancement of ultrasonic image data

Claim 1

A method for processing reflected acoustic signals from a body of material and for generating a display of at least a portion of said body, representative of characteristics of said material comprising: transmitting acoustic signals into a region of interest in said body in an ordered spatial progression; receiving reflected acoustic signals from said body; analyzing the frequency content of selected time portions of said received signal to derive spectral data representative of spectral power as a function of frequency for spatial samples of said body within said body region of interest; said spatial samples corresponding to said time portions of said received signal; normalizing said spectral data to values of said spectral data for an object with known reflection characteristics; deriving spectral characteristic values from said normalized spectral data independently for each of said spatial samples, said spectral characteristic values being selected from the group comprising frequency specific normalized spectral amplitude, spectral slope and spectral amplitude uncertainty; and generating a display of said body region of interest with a display characteristic for each of said spatial samples selected in accordance with said derived spectral characteristic values.

Claim 2

A method for processing reflected acoustic signals from a body of material and for generating a display of at least a portion of said body, representative of characteristics of said material comprising: transmitting acoustic signals into a region of interest in said body in an ordered spatial progression; receiving reflected acoustic signals from said body; analyzing the frequency content of selected time portions of said received signal to derive spectral data representative of spectral power as a function of frequency for spatial samples of said body within said body region of interest; said spatial samples corresponding to said time portions of said received signal; normalizing said spectral data to values of said spectral data for an object with known reflection characteristics; deriving spectral characteristic values from said normalized spectral data independently for each of said spatial samples, said spectral characteristic values being selected from the group comprising frequency specific normalized spectral amplitude, spectral slope and spectral amplitude uncertainty; and generating a display of said body region of interest with a display characteristic for each of said spatial samples selected in accordance with said derived spectral characteristic values.

Claim 9

A method for processing reflected acoustic signals from a body of material and for generating a display of at least a portion of a cross-section of said body, representative of characteristics of said material, comprising: transmitting acoustic signals into a region of interest in said body in an ordered spatial progression corresponding to said cross-section; receiving reflected acoustic signals from said body, said signals comprising signal time intervals corresponding to reflections from successive linear acoustic paths through said material in said spatial progression; dividing selected time periods of said received signals into signal time portions, each signal time portion comprising a selected time sample of one of said signal time intervals and corresponding to a spatial sample of said material along one of said acoustic paths in said region of interest; performing a spectral analysis of each of said signal time portions to derive therefrom spectral data representative of the spectral power level of said signal time portion at various frequencies within the frequency band of said acoustic pulse signals; normalizing said spectral data to values of said spectral data for an object with known reflection characteristics; deriving at least one spectral characteristic value from said normalized spectral data independently for each of said signal time portions corresponding to a segment of an acoustic path in a region of interest of said cross-section, said spectral characteristic value being selected from the group consisting of frequency specific normalized spectral amplitude, spectral slope and spectral amplitude uncertainity; and generating a display of said region of interest of said cross-section, said display having elemental display areas corresponding to said spatial samples, each of said display areas having a display characteristic representative of said spectral characteristic value.

Claim 10

A method for processing reflected acoustic signals from a body of material and for generating a display of at least a portion of a cross-section of said body, representative of characteristics of said material, comprising: transmitting acoustic signals into a region of interest in said body in an ordered spatial progression corresponding to said cross-section; receiving reflected acoustic signals from said body, said signals comprising signal time intervals corresponding to reflections from successive linear acoustic paths through said material in said spatial progression; dividing selected time periods of said received signals into signal time portions, each signal time portion comprising a selected time sample of one of said signal time intervals and corresponding to a spatial sample of said material along one of said acoustic paths in said region of interest; performing a spectral analysis of each of said signal time portions to derive therefrom spectral data representative of the spectral power level of said signal time portion at various frequencies within the frequency band of said acoustic pulse signals; normalizing said spectral data to values of said spectral data for an object with known reflection characteristics; deriving at least one spectral characteristic value from said normalized spectral data independently for each of said signal time portions corresponding to a segment of an acoustic path in a region of interest of said cross-section, said spectral characteristic value being selected from the group consisting of frequency specific normalized spectral amplitude, spectral slope and spectral amplitude uncertainity; and generating a display of said region of interest of said cross-section, said display having elemental display areas corresponding to said spatial samples, each of said display areas having a display characteristic representative of said spectral characteristic value.

Claim 11

A method for processing reflected acoustic signals from body tissue and for generating a display of at least a portion of said tissue, representative of clinicaly significant characteristics of said tissue comprising: transmitting ultrasonic signals into a region of interest of said tissue in an ordered spatial progression; receiving reflected ultrasonic signals from said tissue; performing a spectral analysis of selected time portions of said received signal to derive spectral data representative of spectral power as a function of frequency for spatial samples of said tissue within said region of interest, said spatial samples corresponding to said time portions of said received signal; normalizing said spectral data to values of said spectral data for an object with known reflection characteristics; deriving spectral characteristic values from said normalized spectral data independently for each of said spatial samples, said spectral characteristic values being selected from the group comprising frequency specific normalized spectral amplitude, spectral slope and spectral amplitude uncertainty; and generating a display of said tissue regionof interest with a display characteristic for each of said spatial samples selected in accordance with said derived spectral characteristic values.

Claim 12

A method for processing reflected acoustic signals from body tissue and for generating a display of at least a portion of said tissue, representative of clinicaly significant characteristics of said tissue comprising: transmitting ultrasonic signals into a region of interest of said tissue in an ordered spatial progression; receiving reflected ultrasonic signals from said tissue; performing a spectral analysis of selected time portions of said received signal to derive spectral data representative of spectral power as a function of frequency for spatial samples of said tissue within said region of interest, said spatial samples corresponding to said time portions of said received signal; normalizing said spectral data to values of said spectral data for an object with known reflection characteristics; deriving spectral characteristic values from said normalized spectral data independently for each of said spatial samples, said spectral characteristic values being selected from the group comprising frequency specific normalized spectral amplitude, spectral slope and spectral amplitude uncertainty; and generating a display of said tissue regionof interest with a display characteristic for each of said spatial samples selected in accordance with said derived spectral characteristic values.

Claim 19

A method for processing reflected ultrasonic signals from body tissue and for generating a display of at least a portion of a cross-section of said tissue, representative of clinically significant tissue characteristics, comprising: transmitting wideband ultrasonic pulse signals into a region of interest of said tissue in an ordered spatial progression corresponding to said cross-section; receiving reflected ultrasonic signals from said tissue, said signals comprising signal time intervals corresponding to reflections from successive linear acoustic paths through said tissue in said spatial progression; dividing selected time periods of said received signals into signal time portions, each signal time portion comprising a selected time sample of one of said signal time intervals and corresponding to a spatial sample of said tissue along a segment of one of said acoustic paths in said region of interest; performing a spectral analysis of each of said signal time portions to derive therefrom spectral data representative of the power level of said signal time portion at various frequencies with the frequency band of said ultrasonic pulse signals; normalizing said spectral data to values of spectral data for an object with known reflection characteristics; deriving spectral characteristic values from said normalized spectral data independently for each of said signal time portions corresponding to a segment of an acoustic path in a region of interest of said cross-section, said spectral characteristic value being selected from the group consisting of frequency specific normalized spectral amplitude, spectral slope and spectral amplitude uncertainty; and generating a display of said region of interest of said cross-section, said display having elemental display areas corresponding to said spatial samples, each of said display areas having a display characteristic representative of said spectral characteristic value.

Claim 20

A method for processing reflected ultrasonic signals from body tissue and for generating a display of at least a portion of a cross-section of said tissue, representative of clinically significant tissue characteristics, comprising: transmitting wideband ultrasonic pulse signals into a region of interest of said tissue in an ordered spatial progression corresponding to said cross-section; receiving reflected ultrasonic signals from said tissue, said signals comprising signal time intervals corresponding to reflections from successive linear acoustic paths through said tissue in said spatial progression; dividing selected time periods of said received signals into signal time portions, each signal time portion comprising a selected time sample of one of said signal time intervals and corresponding to a spatial sample of said tissue along a segment of one of said acoustic paths in said region of interest; performing a spectral analysis of each of said signal time portions to derive therefrom spectral data representative of the power level of said signal time portion at various frequencies with the frequency band of said ultrasonic pulse signals; normalizing said spectral data to values of spectral data for an object with known reflection characteristics; deriving spectral characteristic values from said normalized spectral data independently for each of said signal time portions corresponding to a segment of an acoustic path in a region of interest of said cross-section, said spectral characteristic value being selected from the group consisting of frequency specific normalized spectral amplitude, spectral slope and spectral amplitude uncertainty; and generating a display of said region of interest of said cross-section, said display having elemental display areas corresponding to said spatial samples, each of said display areas having a display characteristic representative of said spectral characteristic value.

Claim 21

A method for generating a display at least a portion of a cross-section of eye tissue representative of the presence in said cross-section of at least one known tissue type, comprising: transmitting ultrasonic signals into said eye tissue in an ordered spatial progression of acoustic paths corresponding to said cross-section; receiving reflected ultrasonic signals from said tissue comprising signal time intervals corresponding to reflections from said acoustic paths through said tissue; dividing selected time periods of said received signals into signal time portions, each signal time portion comprising a selected time sample of one of said signal time intervals and corresponding to a spatial sample of said tissue along a segment of one of said acoustic paths in a region of interest of said eye tissue; performing a spectral analysis of each of said signal time portions to derive therefrom spectral data representative of the power level of said signal time portions at various frequencies within the frequency band of interest of said ultrasonic pulse signals; normalizing said spectral data to values of said spectral data for an object with known reflection characteristics; deriving spectral characteristic values from said normalized spectral data independently for each of said signal time portions corresponding to a segment of an acoustic path in a region of interest in said cross-section, said spectral characteristic value being selected from the group consisting of frequency specific normalized spectral amplitude, spectral slope and spectral amplitude uncertainty, said selection being made to correspond with distinguishing properties of aaid known tissue types; and generating a display of said region of interest of said cross-section, said display having elemental display areas corresponding to said spatial sample, each of said display areas having a spectral characteristic value corresponding to said known tissue type being provided with a distinguishing display characteristic; whereby a predominance of said distinguishing display characteristic in a portion of said display is indicative of the presence of said known tissue type.

Claim 22

A method for generating a display at least a portion of a cross-section of eye tissue representative of the presence in said cross-section of at least one known tissue type, comprising: transmitting ultrasonic signals into said eye tissue in an ordered spatial progression of acoustic paths corresponding to said cross-section; receiving reflected ultrasonic signals from said tissue comprising signal time intervals corresponding to reflections from said acoustic paths through said tissue; dividing selected time periods of said received signals into signal time portions, each signal time portion comprising a selected time sample of one of said signal time intervals and corresponding to a spatial sample of said tissue along a segment of one of said acoustic paths in a region of interest of said eye tissue; performing a spectral analysis of each of said signal time portions to derive therefrom spectral data representative of the power level of said signal time portions at various frequencies within the frequency band of interest of said ultrasonic pulse signals; normalizing said spectral data to values of said spectral data for an object with known reflection characteristics; deriving spectral characteristic values from said normalized spectral data independently for each of said signal time portions corresponding to a segment of an acoustic path in a region of interest in said cross-section, said spectral characteristic value being selected from the group consisting of frequency specific normalized spectral amplitude, spectral slope and spectral amplitude uncertainty, said selection being made to correspond with distinguishing properties of aaid known tissue types; and generating a display of said region of interest of said cross-section, said display having elemental display areas corresponding to said spatial sample, each of said display areas having a spectral characteristic value corresponding to said known tissue type being provided with a distinguishing display characteristic; whereby a predominance of said distinguishing display characteristic in a portion of said display is indicative of the presence of said known tissue type.

Claim 23

A method for processing reflected acoustic signals from a body of material and for generating a display of at least a portion of said body, representative of characteristics of said material comprising: transmitting acoustic signals into a region of interest in said body in an ordered spatial progression; receiving reflected acoustic signals from said body; performing a spectral analysis of selected time portions of said received signal to derive spectral data representative of received signal characteristics for spatial samples of said body within said body region of interest, said spatial samples corresponding to said time portions of said received signal; normalizing said spectral data to values of spectral data for a object with known reflection characteristics; deriving periodicity data from said normalized spectral data for each of said spatial samples; deriving periodicity characteristic values from said periodicity data, said periodicity values being selected to correlate with significant characteristics of said material; and generating a display of said body region of interest with a display characteristic for each spatial sample of said region selected in accordance with said derived periodicity characteristic values.

Claim 24

A method for processing reflected acoustic signals from a body of material and for generating a display of at least a portion of said body, representative of characteristics of said material comprising: transmitting acoustic signals into a region of interest in said body in an ordered spatial progression; receiving reflected acoustic signals from said body; performing a spectral analysis of selected time portions of said received signal to derive spectral data representative of received signal characteristics for spatial samples of said body within said body region of interest, said spatial samples corresponding to said time portions of said received signal; normalizing said spectral data to values of spectral data for a object with known reflection characteristics; deriving periodicity data from said normalized spectral data for each of said spatial samples; deriving periodicity characteristic values from said periodicity data, said periodicity values being selected to correlate with significant characteristics of said material; and generating a display of said body region of interest with a display characteristic for each spatial sample of said region selected in accordance with said derived periodicity characteristic values.

Claim 28

A method for processing reflected ultrasonic signals from body tissue material and for generating a display of at least a portion of said tissue, representative of average particle size of said tissue comprising: transmitting ultrasonic signals into a region of interest of said tissue in an ordered spatial progression; receiving reflected ultrasonic signals from said tissue; performing a spectral analysis of selected time portions of said received signal to derive spectral data representative of received signal characteristics for spatial samples of said tissue within said region of interest, said spatial samples corresponding to said time portions of said received signal; normalizing said spectral data to values of spectral data for an object with known reflection characteristics; deriving periodicity data from said normalized spectral data for each of said spatial samples; deriving periodicity characteristic values from said periodicity data, said periodicity values being selected to correlate with average particle size of said tissue; and generating a display of said body region of interest with a displaycharacteristic for each spatial sample of said region selected in accordance with said derived periodicity characteristic values.

Claim 29

A method for processing reflected ultrasonic signals from body tissue material and for generating a display of at least a portion of said tissue, representative of average particle size of said tissue comprising: transmitting ultrasonic signals into a region of interest of said tissue in an ordered spatial progression; receiving reflected ultrasonic signals from said tissue; performing a spectral analysis of selected time portions of said received signal to derive spectral data representative of received signal characteristics for spatial samples of said tissue within said region of interest, said spatial samples corresponding to said time portions of said received signal; normalizing said spectral data to values of spectral data for an object with known reflection characteristics; deriving periodicity data from said normalized spectral data for each of said spatial samples; deriving periodicity characteristic values from said periodicity data, said periodicity values being selected to correlate with average particle size of said tissue; and generating a display of said body region of interest with a displaycharacteristic for each spatial sample of said region selected in accordance with said derived periodicity characteristic values.

Claim 32

A method for processing reflected ultrasonic signals from body tissue and for generating a display of said tissue representative of clinically significant tisue characteristic, comprising: transmitting ultrasonic signals into said tissue in an ordered spatial progression; receiving reflected ultrasonic signals from said tissue; performing a spectral analysis of selected time interval portions of said received signal corresponding to spatial samples of said tissue to derive spectral data representative of spectral power as a function of frequency for each spatial sample of said tissue within a tissue region of interest; normalizing said spectral data to values of said spectral data for an object with known reflection characteristics; deriving spectral characteristic values from said normalized spectral data independently for each of said spatial samples, said spectral characteristic values being selected from the group comprising frequency specific normalized spectral amplitude, spectral slope and spectral amplitude uncertainty; generating correlation values for each spatial sample by comparing said spectral characteristic values to corresponding values for tissue having known tissue characteristics; and generating a display of said tissue region representative of said correlation values for each spatial sample.

Claim 33

A method for processing reflected ultrasonic signals from body tissue and for generating a display of said tissue representative of clinically significant tisue characteristic, comprising: transmitting ultrasonic signals into said tissue in an ordered spatial progression; receiving reflected ultrasonic signals from said tissue; performing a spectral analysis of selected time interval portions of said received signal corresponding to spatial samples of said tissue to derive spectral data representative of spectral power as a function of frequency for each spatial sample of said tissue within a tissue region of interest; normalizing said spectral data to values of said spectral data for an object with known reflection characteristics; deriving spectral characteristic values from said normalized spectral data independently for each of said spatial samples, said spectral characteristic values being selected from the group comprising frequency specific normalized spectral amplitude, spectral slope and spectral amplitude uncertainty; generating correlation values for each spatial sample by comparing said spectral characteristic values to corresponding values for tissue having known tissue characteristics; and generating a display of said tissue region representative of said correlation values for each spatial sample.

Claim 40

A method for analyzing tissue characteristics comprising: transmitting ultrasonic signals into said tissue; receiving reflected ultrasonic signals from said tissue; dividing said received signals into signal time periods representative of ultrasonic signals reflected from regions of increasing depthin said tissue; analyzing said received signals for each of said signal time periods to derive spectral data representative of the spectral characteristics for each of said signal time periods; normalizing said spectral data to values of said spectral data for an object with known reflection characteristics; analyzing said normalizing spectral data to derive values representative of spectral slope for each of said signal time periods; analyzing said spectral slope values to define a linear function representative of the variation in spectral slope as a function of depth in said tissue; and determining the maximum positive deviation of said spectral slope values from said linear function.

Claim 41

A method for analyzing tissue characteristics comprising: transmitting ultrasonic signals into said tissue; receiving reflected ultrasonic signals from said tissue; dividing said received signals into signal time periods representative of ultrasonic signals reflected from regions of increasing depthin said tissue; analyzing said received signals for each of said signal time periods to derive spectral data representative of the spectral characteristics for each of said signal time periods; normalizing said spectral data to values of said spectral data for an object with known reflection characteristics; analyzing said normalizing spectral data to derive values representative of spectral slope for each of said signal time periods; analyzing said spectral slope values to define a linear function representative of the variation in spectral slope as a function of depth in said tissue; and determining the maximum positive deviation of said spectral slope values from said linear function.

Claim 45

A method of identifying a tissue type within a region of intrest of body tissue, comprising: transmitting ultrasonic signals into said tissue; receiving reflected ultrasonic signals from said region of interest of said tissue; performing a spectral analysis on said received signal to derive spectral data; normalizing said spectral data to values of said spectral data for an object with known reflection characteristics; analyzing said normalized spectral data to derive at least two spectral characteristic values, said values being selected from the group consisting of frequency specific normalized spectral amplitude, spectral slope and spectral amplitude uncertainty; computing at least one discriminant function from said at least two values, said function being computed according to a formula selected to provide discrimination among tissue types based on spectral characteristic values for signals reflected from tissues having known tissue types; and identifying said tissue on the basis of the value of said discriminant function.

Claim 46

A method of identifying a tissue type within a region of intrest of body tissue, comprising: transmitting ultrasonic signals into said tissue; receiving reflected ultrasonic signals from said region of interest of said tissue; performing a spectral analysis on said received signal to derive spectral data; normalizing said spectral data to values of said spectral data for an object with known reflection characteristics; analyzing said normalized spectral data to derive at least two spectral characteristic values, said values being selected from the group consisting of frequency specific normalized spectral amplitude, spectral slope and spectral amplitude uncertainty; computing at least one discriminant function from said at least two values, said function being computed according to a formula selected to provide discrimination among tissue types based on spectral characteristic values for signals reflected from tissues having known tissue types; and identifying said tissue on the basis of the value of said discriminant function.

Claim 49

A method for determining average particle size of scattering particles in a body of material, comprising: transmitting acoustic signals into said material; receiving reflected acoustic signals from at least a portion of said material; analyzing said received signals to derive spectral data representative of spectral characteristics of said reflected signals; normalizing said spectral data to values of said spectral data for an object with known reflection characteristics; analyzing said normalized spectral data to derive spectral slope values thereof; and computing average particle size from said spectral slope values using a formula relating particle size to spectral slope.

Claim 50

A method for determining average particle size of scattering particles in a body of material, comprising: transmitting acoustic signals into said material; receiving reflected acoustic signals from at least a portion of said material; analyzing said received signals to derive spectral data representative of spectral characteristics of said reflected signals; normalizing said spectral data to values of said spectral data for an object with known reflection characteristics; analyzing said normalized spectral data to derive spectral slope values thereof; and computing average particle size from said spectral slope values using a formula relating particle size to spectral slope.