Real time 3D imaging device using filtered ellipsoidal backprojection with extended transmitters

Claim 2

A medical ultrasound imaging device for imaging objects in a three dimensional volume, comprising: a) At least one extended transmitter means comprising a spherically curved extended transmitter which transmits an acoustic pulse which radiates through a wide solid angle; b) Receiver means for detecting echoes from reflecting points, caused by said pulse, simultaneously at three or more receiver elements; c) Sampling means for sampling said detected echoes form each said receiver element of said receiver elements whereby an echo sample set is created which is associated with the transmitter; d) Several of said transmitted means whereby system timing and control repeats a) through c) with different transmitters located at different positions and whereby a different set of echo samples becomes associated with each of the transmitters; e) Selecting and combining means for selecting and combining with each other, for each of the reflecting points, one of the echo samples from each of the receiver element's echo sample sets associated with each of the transmitters, whereby images are created of the reflecting points, said selecting and combining points, for echo sample selection: the sum of a) distance from center of curvature of the extended transmitter to the reflecting point minus transmitter's radius of curvature, with b) distance from the reflecting point to the receiver element, said sum then divided by propagation velocity of the echoes.

Claim 3

The device of claim 1 wherein the extended transmitter is one single flat large extended transmitter, whereby the radius of curvature of said transmitter is infinite.

Claim 4

The device of claim 1 wherein the extended transmitter is one single spherically curved large extended transmitter.

Claim 5

The device according to claim 1 wherein the transmitted pulse is a monopolar pulse.

Claim 6

A medical ultrasound imaging device for generating an image of reflecting points in a three dimensional volume, said device utilizing an array of receiver elements and one or more large curved extended transmitter element means, said device comprising: a) Large extended transmitter element means for transmitting a pulse of acoustic energy which will radiate uniformly through a solid angle in the three dimensional volume; b) A Receiver means for simultaneously detecting echoes, caused by said radiated pulses of energy reflecting from said reflecting points; c) Sampling means for sampling said detected echoes from each of the receiver elements of said array of receiver elements; d) Inverse triplet filter means for inverse triplet filtering said sampled detected echoes; e) Reconstruction processor means for combining said inverse triplet filtered sampled detected echoes into image points of the reflecting points within the three dimensional volume, whereby the image is reconstructed, said means utilizing total time of flight associated with each of the echo samples to determine into which of the image points the echo samples should be combined, wherein said time of flight consists of the sum of: 1) the distance from the center of curvature of the transmitter element means to the reflecting point which corresponds to the image point, minus the transmitter's radius of curvature, divided by the velocity of the transmitted pulse, and 2) the distance from the reflecting point which corresponds to the image point back to the receiver element, said sum then divided by the velocity of the echo.

Claim 7

A medical ultrasound imaging device for generating an image of reflecting points in a three dimensional volume, said device utilizing an array of receiver elements and one or more large curved extended transmitter element means, said device comprising: a) Large extended transmitter element means for transmitting a pulse of acoustic energy which will radiate uniformly through a solid angle in the three dimensional volume; b) A Receiver means for simultaneously detecting echoes, caused by said radiated pulses of energy reflecting from said reflecting points; c) Sampling means for sampling said detected echoes from each of the receiver elements of said array of receiver elements; d) Inverse triplet filter means for inverse triplet filtering said sampled detected echoes; e) Reconstruction processor means for combining said inverse triplet filtered sampled detected echoes into image points of the reflecting points within the three dimensional volume, whereby the image is reconstructed, said means utilizing total time of flight associated with each of the echo samples to determine into which of the image points the echo samples should be combined, wherein said time of flight consists of the sum of: 1) the distance from the center of curvature of the transmitter element means to the reflecting point which corresponds to the image point, minus the transmitter's radius of curvature, divided by the velocity of the transmitted pulse, and 2) the distance from the reflecting point which corresponds to the image point back to the receiver element, said sum then divided by the velocity of the echo.

Claim 8

The device of claim 5 wherein there is more than one transmitter, and further comprising: A system Timing and Control means for repeating a), b), c), d), e) whereby the echo samples received at each of the receiver elements due to pulses radiated from each transmitter means are combined into the image.

Claim 9

The device of claim 5 wherein the extended transmitter is one single flat large extended transmitter.

Claim 10

The device of claim 5 wherein the extended transmitter is one single spherically curved large extended transmitter.

Claim 11

The device according to claim 5 wherein said image is two dimensional.

Claim 12

The device according to claim 9 wherein the transmitted pulse is a low interference pulse.

Claim 13

A medical ultrasound imaging device for generating a image of reflecting points, said device utilizing an array of receiver elements and one or more large extended annular array transmitter means, said device comprising: a) Large extended annular array transmitter means for transmitting a wave of acoustic energy, with a specified Virtual Radius, which will radiate uniformly through a solid angle in the three dimensional volume, said transmitter means comprising an annular array and an annular array pulser; b) A means for simultaneously detecting echoes, caused by said radiated wave of energy reflecting from said reflecting points, at three or more of the receiver elements; c) Sampling means for sampling said detected echoes from each of the receiver elements of said array of receiver elements; d) Reconstruction processor means for combining said sampled detected echoes into image points of the reflecting points within the three dimensional volume, whereby the image is reconstructed, said means utilizing total time of flight associated with each of the echo samples to determine into which of the image points the echo samples should be combined, wherein said time of flight consists of the sum of: 1) the distance from the center of curvature of the transmitter element means to the reflecting point which corresponds to the image point, minus the Virtual Radius of said radiated wave, divided by the velocity of the radiated wave, and 2) the distance from the reflecting point which corresponds to the image point back to the receiver element, said sum then divided by the velocity of the echoes.

Claim 14

A medical ultrasound imaging device for generating a image of reflecting points, said device utilizing an array of receiver elements and one or more large extended annular array transmitter means, said device comprising: a) Large extended annular array transmitter means for transmitting a wave of acoustic energy, with a specified Virtual Radius, which will radiate uniformly through a solid angle in the three dimensional volume, said transmitter means comprising an annular array and an annular array pulser; b) A means for simultaneously detecting echoes, caused by said radiated wave of energy reflecting from said reflecting points, at three or more of the receiver elements; c) Sampling means for sampling said detected echoes from each of the receiver elements of said array of receiver elements; d) Reconstruction processor means for combining said sampled detected echoes into image points of the reflecting points within the three dimensional volume, whereby the image is reconstructed, said means utilizing total time of flight associated with each of the echo samples to determine into which of the image points the echo samples should be combined, wherein said time of flight consists of the sum of: 1) the distance from the center of curvature of the transmitter element means to the reflecting point which corresponds to the image point, minus the Virtual Radius of said radiated wave, divided by the velocity of the radiated wave, and 2) the distance from the reflecting point which corresponds to the image point back to the receiver element, said sum then divided by the velocity of the echoes.

Claim 15

The device of claim 11 further comprising a system timing and control which repeats a) through d) while supplying several different specified Virtual Radii to the annular array pulser.

Claim 16

The device according to claim 11 wherein said image is two dimensional.

Claim 17

The device according to claim 13 further comprising an inverse triplet filter for inverse triplet filtering the sampled detected echoes.

Claim 18

A medical ultrasound imaging device for generating an image of reflecting points, said device utilizing an array of receiver elements and one or more large extended annular array transmitter, said device comprising: a) Large extended annular array transmitter means for transmitting a wave of acoustic energy which will radiate uniformly through a solid angle in the three dimensional volume, said transmitter means comprising an annular array and an annular array pulser; b) A means for simultaneously detecting echoes, caused by said radiated wave of energy reflecting from said reflecting points, at three or more of the receiver elements; c) Sampling means for sampling said detected echoes from each of the receiver elements of said array of receiver elements; d) Inverse triplet filter means for inverse triplet filtering said sampled detected echoes; e) Reconstruction processor means for combining said inverse triplet filtered samples detected echoes into image points of the reflecting points within the three dimensional volume, whereby the image is reconstructed, said means utilizing total time of flight associated with each of the echo samples to determined into which of the image points the echo samples should be combined, wherein said time of flight consists of the sum of: 1) the distance from the Virtual Center of the transmitter element means to the reflecting point which corresponds to the image point, minus the Virtual Radius, divided by the velocity of the radiated wave, and 2) the distance from the reflecting point which corresponds to the image point back to the receiver element, said sum divided by the velocity of the echoes.

Claim 19

A medical ultrasound imaging device for generating an image of reflecting points, said device utilizing an array of receiver elements and one or more large extended annular array transmitter, said device comprising: a) Large extended annular array transmitter means for transmitting a wave of acoustic energy which will radiate uniformly through a solid angle in the three dimensional volume, said transmitter means comprising an annular array and an annular array pulser; b) A means for simultaneously detecting echoes, caused by said radiated wave of energy reflecting from said reflecting points, at three or more of the receiver elements; c) Sampling means for sampling said detected echoes from each of the receiver elements of said array of receiver elements; d) Inverse triplet filter means for inverse triplet filtering said sampled detected echoes; e) Reconstruction processor means for combining said inverse triplet filtered samples detected echoes into image points of the reflecting points within the three dimensional volume, whereby the image is reconstructed, said means utilizing total time of flight associated with each of the echo samples to determined into which of the image points the echo samples should be combined, wherein said time of flight consists of the sum of: 1) the distance from the Virtual Center of the transmitter element means to the reflecting point which corresponds to the image point, minus the Virtual Radius, divided by the velocity of the radiated wave, and 2) the distance from the reflecting point which corresponds to the image point back to the receiver element, said sum divided by the velocity of the echoes.

Claim 20

The device of claim 15 further comprising a system timing and control which repeats a) through e) while supplying several different specified Virtual Radii to the annular array pulser.

Claim 21

The device according to claim 15 wherein said image is two dimensional.

Claim 22

The device according to claim 17 wherein the transmitted pulse is a low interference pulse.