Patent ID: 6592523
Filing Date: 2003-07-15
Classification: G06T

Abstract:
An ultrasound imaging system comprising a data acquisition system for acquiring acoustic data, an image processor for converting acoustic data into a set of pixel intensity values for each image, a display monitor for displaying images, and a computer programmed to perform the following steps:(a) shrinking an initial image by a predetermined factor to produce a shrunken image; (b) creating a first binary mask as a function of whether pixels of said shrunken image have gradients greater than a gradient threshold and locations more than a predetermined distance from a near field in said shrunken image; (c) filtering pixels corresponding to structural components in said shrunken image in accordance with a first filtering algorithm, said structural components being identified by said first binary mask; (d) filtering pixels corresponding to non-structural components in said shrunken image in accordance with a second filtering algorithm different than said first filtering algorithm, said non-structural components being identified by said first binary mask (e) expanding said filtered image and said first binary mask by said predetermined factor to produce an expanded image and a first expanded binary mask; (f) blending one or more selected regions of the expanded image with a corresponding region or regions of the initial image, said blending being a function of said first binary mask; (g) adding uniform random noise to one or more selected echogenic non-structural regions of the expanded image; and (h) outputting a final image to said display monitor, said final image being derived by performing at least steps (a) through (h).