Patent ID: 6390983
Filing Date: 2002-05-21
Classification: A61B,G01S

Abstract:
A system for producing audible sound waves from electrical signals representing sequences of samples of Doppler signals acquired from a sample volume containing moving ultrasound scatterers, comprising:an ultrasound probe; a data acquisition subsystem connected to said ultrasound probe for acquiring Doppler signal samples; a digital signal processor for processing said Doppler signal samples to produce frequency data representing the velocities over time of ultrasound scatterers in said sample volume and directional flow data representing the flow of ultrasound scatterers in a predetermined direction in said sample volume; an audio subsystem for generating audible sound waves which are a function of the frequency data produced by said digital signal processor; and an audio muting subsystem for de-activating said audio subsystem in the event that significant energy above a threshold is detected within a frequency band associated with probe-motion-induced clutter in said Doppler signal samples, wherein said audio muting subsystem comprises a bandpass filter designed to pass a band of frequencies that are characteristic of motion of said ultrasound probe.