Patent ID: 9151841
Filing Date: 2015-10-06
Classification: A61B,G01S

Abstract:
1. An ultrasound system, comprising: an ultrasound data acquisition unit including an ultrasound probe having a curved shape, configured to acquire ultrasound data by transmitting and receiving ultrasound signals; and a processing unit in communication with the ultrasound data acquisition unit, the processing unit being configured to: set a virtual common point at which a plurality of scan-lines intersect in consideration of positions of a plurality of transducer elements in the ultrasound probe having a curved shape, set a plurality of center lines, each of which intersects with the ultrasound probe, converging into the virtual common point including a first center line and a second center line, the first center line passing through a first transducer element from among the plurality of transducer elements and the second center line passing through a second transducer element, different from the first transducer element, from among the plurality of transducer elements, set a first sub-virtual common point on the first center line apart from the virtual common point and a second sub-virtual common point on the second center line apart from the virtual common point, set a first plurality of scan-lines corresponding to the first center line and converging to the first sub-virtual common point to form a first ultrasound image, the first plurality of scan-lines passing through only transducer elements located in a first portion of the ultrasound probe, set a second plurality of scan-lines corresponding to the second center line and converging to the second sub-virtual common point to form a second ultrasound image, the second plurality of scan-lines passing through only transducer elements located in a second portion of the ultrasound probe, different from the first portion of the ultrasound probe, and perform spatial compounding upon a plurality of ultrasound images including the first ultrasound image and the second ultrasound image to form an ultrasound spatial compound image, wherein a number of the plurality of center lines is determined depending on a number of the plurality of ultrasound images to be compounded.