Patent ID: 6740034
Filing Date: 2004-05-25
Classification: G01N,G01S,G10K,Y10S

Abstract:
A three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound imaging system for forming a 3D image, comprising:a display device; one or more transducers, for transmitting ultrasound signals toward an object and receiving echo signals from target points surrounding a voxel corresponding to a pixel on the display device, wherein the voxel is on a scanning region of the object and the target points are on scan lines of two consecutive frames adjacent to the voxel within the scanning region; signal storing means for storing the echo signals from the one or more transducers; signal processing means for processing the echo signals stored in the signal storing means to obtain 3D data sets of the voxel; and image forming means for forming a 3D image based on the 3D data sets, wherein, at the signal processing means, the 3D data sets are obtained by determining weights for each of the echo signals based on distances between the voxel and the target points, and weighting the echo signals data with the determined weights, and wherein the weights are determined as follows: Ï‰nk=fn+1(fn+fn+1)Ã—Sk+1(Sk+Sk+1)Ï‰nk+1=fn+1(fn+fn+1)Ã—Sk(Sk+Sk+1)Ï‰(n+1)k=fn(fn+fn+1)Ã—Sk+1(Sk+Sk+1)Ï‰(n+1)k+1=fn(fn+fn+1)Ã—Sk(Sk+Sk+1)â€ƒwherein &ohgr;nk is a weight with respect to a target point on a kth scan line among the scan lines in a nth frame of the two consecutive frames; &ohgr;nk+1 is a weight with respect to a target point on a (k+1)th scan line among the scan lines in the nth frame; &ohgr;(n+1)k is a weight with respect to a target point on the kth scan line in a (n+1)th frame of the two consecutive frames; &ohgr;(n+1)k+1 is a weight with respect to a target point on the (k+1)th scan line in the (n+1)th frame; fn represents a distance between the voxel and the nth frame; fn+1 represents a distance between the voxel and the (n+1)th frame; Sk represents a distance between the voxel and the kth scan line; and Sk+1 represents a distance between the voxel and the (k+1)th scan line.