Patent ID: 6368279
Filing Date: 2002-04-09
Classification: A61B,G01S

Abstract:
An ultrasound imaging method comprising the following steps:transmitting into a region of interest of a patient's body a transmit beam of ultrasound from a plurality of elements in a transducer array; receiving an echo signal back from the region of interest, each transducer array element thereby generating a respective receive waveform, the waveforms together constituting a receive beam; for at least one group of at least three receive waveforms, maximizing a group waveform similarity factor, which is a predetermined function of the waveforms in the group; for each group of waveforms, determining a locally optimal time compensation value; calculating a global time compensation profile as a predetermined function of the locally optimal time compensation values; time-shifting each receive waveform according to the global time compensation profile, thereby forming a time-compensated receive beam; and generating at least one image of the region of interest as a predetermined function of the time-compensated receive beam.