Patent Application
20150038844
The present invention relates to the field of ultrasound imaging and is particularly well suited to the field of medical imaging. More specifically, the present invention relates to devices, methods and computer readable media for portable, ultrasound imaging.
Medical imaging is a field in which imaging systems are predominately very high cost and complex enough to require operation and interpretation by experienced and highly trained medical staff. Medical ultrasound is generally considered a low cost imaging modality within the medical imaging field but utilizes imaging systems costing as much as $250K. These high-tech, high-cost systems are useful for diagnostic ultrasound exams, however the cost and training requirements limit their use in many routine exams for which ultrasound can be clinical useful.
Over the past two decades a number of companies have attempted to develop low-cost, easy-to-use ultrasound systems for use in non-radiology settings for routine use. An example is Sonosite, which was the first to sell hand-carried ultrasound systems at lower costs. While far less expensive than high-end systems and much more portable, these systems are still fairly sophisticated and require a well-trained operator who can mentally map the image plane on the screen to the anatomy being imaged and adjust a large set of system parameters to optimize image quality.
Other companies have followed the success of the portable ultrasound systems and continue to make smaller and less costly systems. All of these systems, though, are still fundamentally miniaturized versions of their fully featured predecessors and the image formation and the separation between the ultrasound transducer and the system display require more training to be able to interpret the images. They system described here takes the approach of bringing the image closer to the anatomy of interest, by displaying the image in close proximity to the anatomy and in the same orientation as the anatomy.
Typically, currently available portable ultrasound systems have a display of some sort that is separated by a long cable from the portion of the system in contact with the patient that transmits and receives the ultrasound signals (the ultrasound transducer). These cables can be cumbersome for the operator and also add to the expense of the system for high channel count transducers, while at the same time making them relatively less portable. Furthermore, the separation between the transducer and the system display requires the operator to turn his/her attention away from the patient to view the display. This is particularly challenging during ultrasound-guided procedures.
The B-Mode image format is what most conventional ultrasound systems use and it is a representation of a slice through the body perpendicular to the transducer face (or the skin surface). This image format is less intuitive because as the transducer is moved the operator has to mentally reconstruct the image slices to understand the volume being interrogated for the anatomy below.
Several handheld ultrasound devices have been described that can be characterized as standalone systems that do not utilize commercially available mobile devices. U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 2009/0198132 A1 and 2012/0232380 A1 to Pelissier et al describe a hand-held ultrasound imaging device built as a dedicated, integrated custom unit. The system described in U.S. Patent Application No. 2009/0198132 A1 has an integrated transducer, whereas the system described in U.S. Patent Application No. 2012/0232380 A1 has a detachable transducer. Both of these systems are fully custom, including the display, user interface and processing components. U.S. Pat. No. 6,139,496 to Chen and Atlas describes a custom ultrasound imaging system where the insonifying transducer elements and display units are integrated into a probe assembly that is connected via a cable to a control and data processing unit. One ultrasound system described in U.S. Patent No. 2008/0208061 A1 specifically mentions a pocket-sized ultrasound imaging system utilizing a custom hand-carried device with an I/O port to attach a cabled transducer probe. U.S. Pat. No. 7,699,776 B2 to Walker et al describes a standalone handheld ultrasound system that performs C-mode imaging and collects 3D image data using a 2D transducer array that is integrated into the ultrasound system without a separate cable connection.
Several other handheld ultrasound devices have been described that are not standalone systems, but instead utilize commercially available mobile devices to handle functions such as display, user interface, and processing. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0239019 A1 to Richard et al describes an ultrasonic imaging probe consisting of an ultrasound transducer, front-end receive circuitry, logarithmic compressor, envelope detector and interface circuitry that communicates with, receives power from, and connects to a host computer via a passive interface cable. U.S. Patent Application No. 2011/0054296 A1 to McCarthy et al describes using a commercially available mobile device as a remote display that is tethered by way of a cable to a separate display and processing unit and ultrasound probe. U.S. Patent Application No. 2003/0097071 A1 to Halmann et al describes a handheld ultrasound system consisting of a beamforming module with detachable transducer head that interfaces with a personal digital assistant (PDA) device. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2013/0003502 A1 to Prakash et al describes an ultrasound Doppler transceiver that may be integrated with a mobile computing device. This device is limited to making Doppler measurements, such as finding the velocity of a target object or monitoring an in utero baby's heart rate; it does not form 2D or 3D ultrasound images.
Other inventions describe cases or housings for ultrasound systems that utilize commercially available mobile devices. U.S. Design Pat. No. D657,361 S to Goodwin et al describes an ornamental design for a housing surrounding a mobile device. Although not specifically covered by the design patent, the drawings show a transducer attached to the housing via a cable.
In one aspect of the present invention, a portable ultrasound imaging system includes: a mobile computing device; a detachable front end component configured for attachment to and communication with the mobile computing device, and configured to transmit and receive ultrasound signals; and programming, when installed on said mobile computing device, being executable by the mobile computing device to cause the mobile computing device to send signals to the front end component causing the front end component to transmit the ultrasound signals, and to receive signals from the front end component resulting from the front end component receiving the receive ultrasound signals, and process the receive signal and display an ultrasound image resulting from the processing; wherein the front end component is configured to be directly joined with the mobile computing device and directly connected, without the use of an external wire or cable.
In at least one embodiment, at least a portion of the front end component is movably mounted to the mobile computing device to allow relative rotation about at least one axis of rotation relative to the mobile computing device.
In at least one embodiment, the mobile computing device is a device selected from the group consisting of: a smartphone, a tablet computing device, and a personal digital assistant (PDA).
In at least one embodiment, the mobile computing device comprises a smartphone.
In at least one embodiment, the mobile computing device comprises a tablet computing device.
In at least one embodiment, at least a portion of the front end component is movably mounted to the mobile computing device to allow relative rotation about at least two axes of rotation relative to the mobile computing device.
In at least one embodiment, at least a portion of the front end component is movably mounted to the mobile computing device to allow relative rotation about three axes of rotation relative to the mobile computing device.
In at least one embodiment, the ultrasound image is displayed in real-time.
In at least one embodiment, the front end component further comprises a barrier element that shields the mobile computing device from contact with a patient when the front end component is applied to a patient.
In at least one embodiment, the barrier element forms a seal with the mobile computing device to provide a sterile barrier.
In at least one embodiment, the system further includes a locking element configured to fix the front end component relative to the mobile computing device to maintain a desired orientation of the front end component relative to the mobile computing device.
In at least one embodiment, the programming is configured so that, when a position of front end component relative to the mobile computing device is changed, the processor executes the programming to change a display mode of an image being displayed.
In at least one embodiment, the front end component comprises a two-dimensional ultrasound transducer.
In at least one embodiment, execution of the programming by the processor processes the receive signals to form an image similar to an image that would otherwise be formed by processing signals received from a front end component employing a one-dimensional transducer.
In at least one embodiment, the front end component comprises a one-dimensional ultrasound transducer.
In at least one embodiment, the front end component comprises multiple distinct transducer arrays which are capable of acquiring two separate sets of ultrasound data, each the distinct transducer array being configured to transmit and receive distinct ultrasound signals.
In at least one embodiment, a first of the two distinct transducer arrays operates at a first center frequency, and a second of the two distinct transducer arrays operates at a second center frequency, wherein the second center frequency is different from the first center frequency.
In at least one embodiment, a first of the two distinct transducer arrays is a one-dimensional transducer array, and a second of the two distinct transducer arrays is a two-dimensional transducer array.
In at least one embodiment, the two distinct transducer arrays are oriented in different directions on the front end component.
In another aspect of the present invention, a front end component is provided that is configured for communication with a mobile computing device to function as a portable ultrasound imaging system, the front end component including: a main body configured and dimensioned to fit over the mobile computing device; a mating connector configured and dimensioned to directly mate with a connector on the mobile computing device for direct connection of the front end component to the mobile computing device without any need for a connection wire or cable; and a transducer array movably mounted relative to the main body, to allow relative rotation of the transducer array about at least one axis of rotation relative to the main body; wherein the main body is configured to form a seal with the mobile computing device.
In at least one embodiment, the transducer array is configured for a predetermined footprint and element pitch; and wherein the front end comprises at least one application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) configured to enable a front end dimensional footprint and front end channel pitch, wherein the front end dimensional footprint and the front end channel pitch match the footprint and element pitch, respectively.
In another aspect of the present invention, a method of operating a portable ultrasound imaging system includes: directly connecting a front end device to a mobile computing device, without the use of an extension cable or wire, the front end component including a transducer array, configured for communication with the mobile computing device, and configured to transmit and receive ultrasound signals; positioning the transducer array over a location of a target to be imaged; selecting custom software installed on the mobile computing device to be used in performance of imaging; selecting imaging settings on the custom software; activating the custom software; propagating acoustic signals toward the target to be imaged; receiving acoustic signals reflected off of the target to be imaged; converting the acoustic signals received to digitized electrical signals; processing the digitized electrical signals; and displaying an image of the target on a display of the mobile computing device.
In at least one embodiment, the transducer, in a first angular orientation relative to the display, causes the custom software to display in a first imaging mode.
In at least one embodiment, the method further includes changing the transducer to a second angular orientation relative to the display, wherein the second angular orientation causes the custom software to display the image in a second imaging mode different from the first imaging mode.
In another aspect of the present invention, a non-transient computer readable medium including one or more sequences of instructions for performing ultrasound imaging system on a portable ultrasound imaging system, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors of the portable ultrasound imaging system causes the portable ultrasound imaging system to perform a process including: setting imaging settings for an imaging process to be performed on a mobile computing device loaded with the one or more sequences of instructions, and directly connected to a front end device including a transducer array; sending commands from the mobile computing device to a transmit and receive control module in the front end device; controlling ultrasound circuitry to transmit ultrasound signals in accordance with the imaging settings to the transducer array; propagating acoustic signals into a target to be imaged; receiving acoustic signals having been reflected off the target to be imaged; converting the acoustic signals received to electrical signals; processing the electrical signals; and displaying an image of the target on a display of the mobile computing device.
In at least one embodiment, the non-transient computer readable medium further includes instructions which, when executed by the portable ultrasound imaging system, cause the system to: display the image in a first imaging mode when the transducer is in a first angular orientation relative to the display; and, upon changing orientation of the transducer array relative to the display to a second angular orientation different from the first angular orientation, displaying the image in a second imaging mode different from the first imaging mode.
These and other advantages and features of the invention will become apparent to those persons skilled in the art upon reading the details of the systems, components, methods and computer readable media as more fully described below.
Before the present systems, programming, methods and computer readable media are described, it is to be understood that this invention is not limited to particular embodiments described, as such may, of course, vary. It is also to be understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only, and is not intended to be limiting, since the scope of the present invention will be limited only by the appended claims.
Where a range of values is provided, it is understood that each intervening value, to the tenth of the unit of the lower limit unless the context clearly dictates otherwise, between the upper and lower limits of that range is also specifically disclosed. Each smaller range between any stated value or intervening value in a stated range and any other stated or intervening value in that stated range is encompassed within the invention. The upper and lower limits of these smaller ranges may independently be included or excluded in the range, and each range where either, neither or both limits are included in the smaller ranges is also encompassed within the invention, subject to any specifically excluded limit in the stated range. Where the stated range includes one or both of the limits, ranges excluding either or both of those included limits are also included in the invention.
Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Although any methods and materials similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice or testing of the present invention, the preferred methods and materials are now described. All publications mentioned herein are incorporated herein by reference to disclose and describe the methods and/or materials in connection with which the publications are cited.
It must be noted that as used herein and in the appended claims, the singular forms “a”, “an”, and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, reference to “a transducer” includes a plurality of such transducers and reference to “the battery” includes reference to one or more batteries and equivalents thereof known to those skilled in the art, and so forth.
The publications discussed herein are provided solely for their disclosure prior to the filing date of the present application. Nothing herein is to be construed as an admission that the present invention is not entitled to antedate such publication by virtue of prior invention. Further, the dates of publication provided may be different from the actual publication dates which may need to be independently confirmed.
The term “B-mode image” as used herein, refers to an image resultant from B-mode ultrasonography, in which a position of a spot on the image display corresponds to an elapsed time (from time of sending an ultrasound pulse/wave until time of receipt of the echoed, ultrasound pulse/wave, and thus to the position of the echogenic surface off which the ultrasound pulse/wave was reflected) and the brightness of the spot corresponds to the strength of the echo and is in a plane roughly perpendicular to the surface.
The term “C-mode image”, as used herein, refers to a two-dimensional image formed in a plane approximately parallel to the surface of the transducer at constant distance from the ultrasonic transducer or depth.
The term “azimuth” generally refers to the axis in the direction along the long side of the transducer array.
The term “elevation” generally refers to the axis in the direction along the short side of the transducer array.
The term “footprint” as used herein, refers to the surface space occupied by a structure (e.g. the area of an element in the transducer array, or the area occupied by the entire transducer array.)
The term “pitch”, as used herein, refers to the center to center distance of two adjacent structures (e.g. distance between centers of two adjacent elements in a transducer array or distance between centers of two adjacent front-end receive channels in the custom ASIC.).
The phrase “mobile computing device” refers to a mobile computing device that is not specifically designed, nor is it produced in a configuration for performing ultrasound scans. Rather it is a mobile device manufactured for general computing, for performing functions the same as or similar to a desktop computer such as a PC or Apple desktop computer. Additional functions may include use as a telephone, for example. Examples of “mobile computing devices” are those having been manufactured for use by the general population including, but are not limited to: tablet computers, such as the IPAD (Apple Computer, Cupertino, Calif.), Kindle (Amazon), or other tablets, such as those produced and readily available for general use by the public, such as by Samsung, Microsoft, etc.; smartphones, such as the iPHONE (Apple Computer, Cupertino, Calif.) smartphones operating on the ANDROID operating system (Google, Mountain View, Calif.), or other smartphone; personal digital assistant (PDA) device (e.g., iPOD Touch (Apple Computer), or other PDA), and the like.
“Real time”, as used herein, refers to a system that can acquire and process data fast enough to enable control of the source of the data. So for example, on our device real-time imaging means that the user can see images from a particular transducer position and orientation quickly enough that the user can use that information immediately to reposition the transducer.
The present invention provides a portable ultrasound system that is compact and, when assemble is fully integrated with no cables. The system is simple to operate and the user does not need to direct his/her attention away from the patient in order to interpret the images provided by the system, while operating the system. The user interface is simple and intuitive, easy to operate.
The present invention system utilizes a mobile device, which is readily publicly available and mass produced at low costs. A front end component according to an embodiment of the present invention, configured for communication with the mobile computing device, and configured to transmit and receive ultrasound signals is directly connected to the mobile computing device, without the use of an extension wire or cable. Programming, when installed on the mobile computing device, is executable by the mobile computing device to cause the mobile computing device to send signals to the front end component causing the front end component to transmit ultrasound signals, and to receive signals from the front end component resulting from the front end component receiving receive ultrasound signals, and process the receive signals and display an ultrasound image resulting from the processing on the display of the mobile computing device.
CPU 502 is also coupled to an interface (communication interface device) 510 that includes a connector for physically and directly connecting the custom front end device 10 thereto. For example, pin to socket connections can be made in a direct connection, without the use of any extension cable interconnecting the mobile computing device 500 and front end device 10. Alternatively, inductive or capacitive interfaces could be employed, which may not require a direct pin-to-socket connection. Mobile computing device 500 further includes as least one human interface device 514, which is typically a touch screen or integrated keyboard. Additionally or alternatively, one or more devices such as video monitors, track balls, mice, external keyboards, microphones, touch-sensitive displays, transducer card readers, magnetic or paper tape readers, tablets, styluses, voice or handwriting recognizers, or other well-known input devices such as, of course, other computers, may be employed, but are optional and not required.
The mobile computing device 500 typically include sensors 518, such as accelerometers, gyroscopic/positional sensors, compasses, thermometers, light sensors, cameras, GPS, proximity sensors, RFID readers, and other well-known sensing components. These sensors can be used in a human interface context (mentioned in the previous paragraphs) or non-human-interface context to augment the ultrasound imaging process, particularly for a system 1000 comprised of a physically integrated front end device 10 and mobile computing device 500. Examples include changing image plane orientation or acquisition based on the sensing of tilt, translation, or rotation of the imaging system 1000, detecting and removing (or enhancing) motion artifacts, and using cameras for optical tracking.
A display 516 is preferably included in device 500 and is used by the present invention to display images resultant from ultrasound procedures as described below. Additionally and optionally, data resulting from such processing and used to display images can be output to another device, such as an external display, printer or the like.
A battery 512 is typically provided in the mobile computing device and connected with the other components so as to power the operation of the CPU 502 and other components of the device 500. Optionally, a supplemental battery 512E may be provided as a part of the front end module 10 to supplement the power supply provided by the mobile device 500.
Further additionally and optionally, data resulting from such processing and used to display images can be transmitted to another computing device or external output device, via internet or wirelessly, preferably wirelessly. For example, device 500 optionally may be coupled via CPU 502 and known interface devices (wired or wireless) to a computer or telecommunications network. With such a network connection, it is contemplated that the CPU 502 might receive information from the network, or might output information to the network in the course of performing the methods described herein.
The front end device 10 is configured to readily and directly connect to the mobile computing device 500 without the need for any additional connection hardware or cable. Front end device 10 includes communication hardware 12 that includes a connector configured and dimensioned to mate with the connector of the communication interface 510 to directly connect and mount front end device 10 to mobile computing device 500, so that no external connection wire or cable is required. The communication hardware 12 is dictated in several ways by the communication interface 510. From a physical standpoint, the size, shape, and pin-out (function, size, pitch, and position of pins or other physical electrical power or signal terminations) of the communication hardware 12 connector constrains the means by which the communication hardware 12 can mechanically and electrically mate or interface with the mobile device 500. From a functional standpoint, the communication protocol employed by the communication interface 510 determines the hardware specifications necessary to implement this protocol (e.g. signal bandwidth, voltage/current requirements, analog vs. digital signaling, single-ended vs. differential, etc.) as well as the interface software 34 requirements. For example, many mobile devices to date use the Universal Serial Bus (USB) 2.0 standard, which specifies the cables, connectors, power supply parameters, and communication protocol. A mobile device communication interface 510 may follow the USB 2.0 standard in full, or it might follow only a portion of the standard, choosing to modify the mechanical, electrical, or communication protocol elements according to proprietary specifications. Alternatively, the communication interface 510 might be based on alternative industry standard or proprietary standard. Whatever communication interface 510 exists on the mobile device 500, the custom front-end 10 must cater the design of its communication hardware 12 such that it is mechanically, electrically, and functionally compatible with that of the communication interface 510. All or only a portion of the available pins, mechanical features, or functional characteristics of the communication interface 510 may or may not be useful to the purposes of the custom front-end 10.
Data capture hardware 14 is custom hardware which includes a programmable device which brokers configuration and data commands and requests originating from the communication hardware (12), passing them on to the custom ASICS (16). The data capture hardware can take several different forms, but in general it must be capable of deterministic synchronous I/O timing not subject to interrupts or non-deterministic delays common to most microprocessors. Examples of suitable data capture controllers include field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs), or microcontrollers, which contain synchronous memory buffers.
A custom ultrasound circuit (such as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), for example) 16 consists of front-end receive channels whose function is minimally to amplify, sample and digitize the electrical signal originating from the transducer elements making up the transducer array 18 (created by electromechanical conversion of the received acoustic echo pulse) to which it is connected. A receive channel may only be connected to a single, unique transducer element or multiple transducer elements might share the same receive channel through multiplexing. The receive channel circuit components commonly consist of a low-noise preamplifier, a variable gain amplifier (VGA), a low-pass or band-pass filter, a sample-and-hold (S/H) unit, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), and digital memory. High voltage switches or protection circuitry is often required to protect the receive circuitry (often implemented in a low-voltage IC process) from the high-voltage transmit pulse. The ADC and digital memory components may be implemented in every channel, shared by multiple channels, or implemented off-chip. An example of such a custom ultrasound ASIC is described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,057,392 to Blalock et al entitled, “Efficient architecture for 3D and planar ultrasonic imaging—synthetic axial acquisition and method thereof”, which is hereby incorporated herein, in its entirety, by reference thereto. The custom ultrasound ASICs 16 must be custom designed to enable the dimensional footprint and channel pitch to match the footprint and element pitch of the transducer array 18, which is critical to enabling the connection of these components (16 and 18) using advanced integrated circuit (IC) packaging techniques, which in turn eliminates the need for the cable-based connections typical of conventional ultrasound systems. The custom circuitry of the ultrasound ASICs 16 must also meet several specifications unique to the custom front-end 10, including, but not limited to, center frequency, frame-rate, samples acquired per frame, gain adjustment range, data readout bandwidth, and power budget.
A transducer or plurality of transducers arranged in an array 18 is provided to communicate with the custom ultrasound circuit 16, to transmit ultrasound energy from the transducer array 18 in accordance with electrical signal input received from the circuit 16, and to send electrical signals converted from reflected ultrasound energy received by the transducer array 18. Throughout we refer to the transducer or plurality of transducers arranged in an array as the transducer array 18. Transducer array 18 may be externally mounted on the front end device 10. Alternatively, transducer array may be incorporated within the body of the front end device 10. The transducer array footprint and element pitch must match or approximate the footprint and receive channel pitch of the custom ultrasound ASICs 16 in order to enable direct electrical and mechanical integration of these two components 16 and 18 in such a way that the cable or cables commonly used in most ultrasound systems to connect transducer elements to receive channels are eliminated. The direct electrical and mechanical connection can be implemented using a variety of IC packaging methods and technologies that are well known to those skilled in the art, including wire-bond, flip-chip, and wafer-level packaging (WLP) methods. Since the ultrasound ASICs 16 are custom, this means the transducer array 18 will be custom, unless the ultrasound ASICs 16 are designed to be integrated with an existing proprietary or commercially available transducer array 18. The transducer array 18 can be a separate component that is later integrated with the custom ultrasound ASICs 16, or it can be built directly on the custom ultrasound ASICs 16, on a substrate containing the custom ultrasound ASICs 16, or on its own substrate that is itself later integrated with the custom ultrasound ASICs 16 or custom ultrasound ASICs substrate.
Transmit control hardware 20 is connected to and communicates with the data capture hardware 14 (or alternatively it could connect and communicate with the communication hardware 12 or another hardware component not shown) with the function of generating the transmit signal and driving the transmit signal onto the transducer array 18. Those skilled in the art will recognize the transmit signal may be a single signal that drives a single transducer element or is shared by multiple transducer elements, or it may consist of multiple transmit signals each driving one or more transducer elements. For the latter case of multiple transducer signals, each signal typically differs in terms of phase (for the purpose of focusing on transmit), but can also differ in amplitude, frequency, bandwidth, and other characteristics. The timing of the transmit signal must be carefully controlled not only in terms of transducer resonance and bandwidth, but also in terms of the front end receive circuit timing and any relative phase delays of multiple transmit signals for the case of focusing on transmit. This precise control over timing typically necessitates the use of a microcontroller or FPGA with sufficient clock speed and deterministic I/O timing. The transmit signal is typically, but not always, a high-voltage signal often exceeding 5 Vpp (typically >100 V), in which case discrete high-voltage switches (e.g. field-effect transistors (FETs), bipolar junction transistors (BJTs)) or integrated high-voltage driver circuits are required to drive the transducer element or elements and logic level translator components are necessary to enable interfacing to lower-voltage (typically <5 V) controller circuitry such as the data capture hardware 14.
Custom device software 30 is implemented in both the front end device 10 and in the mobile computing device 500 to control and coordinate ultrasound processing in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. In the front end device, data capture programming/software is provided for control of transmission of ultrasound energy from the transducer array 18 (via the control circuit 16), as well as for control of data capture from the electrical signals received from the transducer array 18 (via ultrasound control circuit 16). The custom software residing on the Front End hardware 10 is referred to general as the Transmit/Data Capture Software 32. This includes Interface Software 34, Data Capture Software 36 and Transmit Software 38 as generally described in the following paragraphs.]
The data capture software 36 generally resides on the data capture hardware 14 and serves to properly configure the front end ASICs for accurately sampling the returning acoustic data. The custom software on the mobile device 40 passes ultrasound receive parameters (e.g. sampling time, number of samples, channel gain, etc.) and instructions to the data capture software 36 via the interface software 34 and these instructions are translated into the specific signaling and low-level interactions with the front end circuits required to implement the function requested. Upon completion of the requested receive operation, digitized acoustic data is then read out from the front end ICs via the data capture software 36 and hardware 14, and the data undergoes further processing (e.g. error decoding, sorting, signal conditioning, etc.) prior to being passed back to the mobile device through the communication hardware. Once the data has been successfully transferred back to the mobile device, the data capture software prepares the front-end chips for the next receive operation.
Interface software (programming) 34 is provided in front end device 10 to provide a simple interface for the higher level application software on the mobile device to communicate with the transmit/receive hardware. The interface software resides on the communication hardware 12 and the protocol will depend on the protocol used by the mobile device (for example USB). This interface software allows for the transfer of commands from the mobile device software to the front end PCB to properly configure the front end hardware for the transmission of acoustic energy and the reception and digitization of the returning ultrasound echoes. The interface software also allows for the transfer of ultrasound echo data, acquired on the front end, to the mobile device CPU 502.
Transmit Software 38 in conjunction with the Transmit Control Hardware 20 is provided on the front end device 10 to generate the transmit driving signal, which electrically drives the ultrasound array emitting an acoustic pulse. The Transmit Software 38 properly configures the Transmit Control Hardware 20 to transmit an acoustic pulse with desired characteristics such as amplitude, frequency, bandwidth and timing across the array elements in the case of transmit focusing.
The mobile computing device is programmed with a custom software application 40 that is executable by CPU 502 via the operating system software 530 that the device 500 is provided with as generally available to the public. Custom software application 40 is executable and interfaces with the communication software 532 and user interface software 534 of the device 500. The software application includes the communication software 532, custom ultrasound software 42, user interface software 534, and OS software 530 needed to interface with the mobile device. The custom software application controls the operations of the front end hardware 10, receives and interprets commands from the human interface devices 514 using the user interface software 534, and processes and displays images resulting from ultrasound procedures and other aspects of ultrasound procedures described herein, using custom ultrasound software 42 provided in custom software application 40. The custom software application 40 may be downloaded to the mobile computing device 500 in any manner currently available for what is commonly referred to as “downloading apps”, or may be programmed into the device 500 by numerous other software uploading techniques that would be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art.
The custom ultrasound control circuitry 16 is also contained within the front end device 10 and, in this embodiment is located between the transducer array 18 and back wall 60 of the device 10, on printed circuit board 19. The communication hardware 12 includes a connector configured and dimensioned to mate with and directly connect to the connector 510 provided to the mobile computing device 500. Connector/communication hardware 12 thus electrically connects with the mobile computing device 500 and further, is electrically connected to the ultrasound control circuitry 16 as shown in
The main body of the front end device 10 may further be provided with side and end walls 62, 64, respectively (e.g., see
At event 404 the user selects the custom software on the mobile device to be used in performance of the imaging. Selection of the custom software may be performed, for example, by touching an icon 522 (see
At event 414, the custom circuitry receives electrical signals having been converted by the transducer array 18 from the received acoustic signals, and digitizes the electrical signals. At event 416, the data capture software 32 processes the digitized signals and forms image data that is sent via the data capture hardware 14 and communication hardware 12 to the mobile computing device, where the custom software 40 and CPU 502 cooperate to display an ultrasound image resulting from the processing on display 516 at event 418.
The custom device software programming 30 is configured so that, when a position/orientation of the transducer 18 relative to the mobile computing device is changed, the system 1000 executes the software programming to change a display mode of an image being displayed. For example,
For transducer and mobile device orientations which are between the 0 and 90 degree orientations, in one embodiment of this invention this software program would be configured to detect the angled orientation and display an imaging plane corresponding to that particular orientation of the display plane relative to the transducer array face plane. As the orientation angle 18A of the transducer with the mobile device is changed a different imaging plane would be displayed. This angled plane imaging mode is different from the standard C-mode and B-mode imaging planes previously described and accepted by those skilled in the art.
While the present invention has been described with reference to the specific embodiments thereof, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation, material, composition of matter, process, process step or steps, to the objective, spirit and scope of the present invention. All such modifications are intended to be within the scope of the claims appended hereto.
