Patent ID: 6071240
Filing Date: 2000-06-06
Classification: A61B,G01N,G01S,G03B

Abstract:
An imaging system comprising:a transducer array comprising a multiplicity of transducer elements;a transmit beamformer for pulsing said transducer array in a transmit mode to transmit a beam of wave energy focused in a transmit focal zone;a receive beamformer coupled to said transducer array in a receive mode for forming a first vector of acquired data by summing echo signals with time delays designed to beamform echoes from said transmit focal zone;a incoherent summer coupled to said transducer array in said receive mode for forming a second vector of acquired data by incoherently summing said echo signals;a signal processing chain for converting said first vector of acquired data into a vector of imaging data, said signal processing chain comprising a suppression circuit for suppressing acquired data of said first vector in response to a control signal;a coherence processor programmed to output said control signal to said suppression circuit if at least a predetermined degree of similarity exists between said first and second vectors of acquired data; anda display device for displaying an image having an image line representing said vector of imaging data.