Patent ID: 6238341
Filing Date: 2001-05-29
Classification: A61B,G01S

Abstract:
A system comprising:an ultrasound transducer probe comprising an array of piezoelectric transducer elements and a user-operable switch operable to transition between first and second states; andan ultrasound imaging system electrically coupled to said probe and comprising:means for pulsing said transducer array to transmit ultrasound beams;means for forming receive beams of acoustic data derived from echo signals detected by the transducer array subsequent to said beam transmits;signal processing means for converting said acoustic data into a respective set of imaging data for each successive scan;means for displaying an image for each scan which is a function of said respective set of imaging data; andmeans for performing a function on a selected set of imaging data in response to a transition from said first state to said second state of said user-operable switch.