Abstract:
A device and method for shielding an ultrasound probe are provided. The ultrasound probe includes a handle having an interior chamber with an open front end and a transducer assembly provided in the chamber. The transducer assembly converts acoustic energy received through the open front end to electrical signals. The ultrasound probe further includes a shielding portion provided between the transducer assembly and an exterior of the handle.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     This invention relates generally to ultrasound systems, and more particularly, to a device and method for shielding a probe of the ultrasound system.  
         [0002]     Ultrasound systems typically include ultrasound scanning devices, such as, ultrasound probes having different control components and transducers that allow for performing various different ultrasound scans (e.g., different imaging of a volume or body). These ultrasound probes may include control components within different portions of the probe, including, for example, the probe handle and the probe connection member for connecting to an ultrasound system. These control components within the probe allow for controlling operation of the probe by an ultrasound system, for example, to operate in different modes, such as, amplitude mode (A-mode), brightness mode (B-1 mode), power Doppler mode, color imaging mode, among others.  
         [0003]     Ultrasound probes may be used in connection with or in proximity to other equipment. For example, an ultrasound probe may be used in connection with a stress test in which it is in proximity to a treadmill. This other electrical equipment may generate electrical noise, and more particularly, electromagnetic interference (EMI) noise that can interfere with the operation of the ultrasound probe. Specifically, the ultrasound probe will receive not only acoustic noise, namely, echoes from ultrasonic waves transmitted from the probe, but also EMI noise and/or signals. This EMI noise from the other equipment can degrade or destroy the quality of an image acquired by the ultrasound probe.  
         [0004]     Thus, current probe designs may not adequately protect or shield against interference, and more particularly, EMI noise generated by equipment in proximity to the ultrasound probe.  
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0005]     In one embodiment, an ultrasound probe is provided that includes a handle having an interior chamber with an open front end and a transducer assembly provided in the chamber. The transducer assembly converts acoustic energy received through the open front end to electrical signals. The ultrasound probe further includes a shielding portion provided between the transducer assembly and an exterior of the handle.  
         [0006]     In another embodiment, a probe handle is provided that includes a housing having an interior chamber configured to receive an electronics subassembly, with the housing having an open front end. The probe handle further includes an electromagnetic shielding portion covering the open front end.  
         [0007]     In yet another embodiment, a method for shielding a probe includes providing an electromagnetic shielding portion between a transducer assembly and an exterior of a handle of the probe. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0008]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of an ultrasound system in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0009]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram of an ultrasound system in accordance with another exemplary embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0010]      FIG. 3  is a perspective view of an image of an object acquired by the systems of  FIGS. 1 and 2  in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0011]      FIG. 4  is a bottom plan view of an exemplary ultrasound probe constructed in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.  
         [0012]      FIG. 5  is a top plan view of an exemplary ultrasound probe constructed in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.  
         [0013]      FIG. 6  is a side elevation view of an exemplary ultrasound probe constructed in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.  
         [0014]      FIG. 7  is an exploded view of an exemplary ultrasound probe constructed in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.  
         [0015]      FIG. 8  is an exploded view of exemplary ultrasound probe constructed in accordance with another embodiment of the invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0016]     Exemplary embodiments of ultrasound probes providing shielding are described in detail below. In particular, a detailed description of exemplary ultrasound systems is first provided followed by a detailed description of various embodiments of ultrasound probes.  
         [0017]      FIG. 1  illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of an ultrasound system  100  that may be used, for example, to acquire and process ultrasonic images. The ultrasound system  100  includes a transmitter  102  that drives an array of elements  104  (e.g., piezoelectric crystals) within or formed as part of a transducer  106  to emit pulsed ultrasonic signals into a body or volume. A variety of geometries may be used and one or more transducers  106  may be provided as part of a probe (not shown). The pulsed ultrasonic signals are back-scattered from density interfaces and/or structures, for example, in a body, like blood cells or muscular tissue, to produce echoes that return to the elements  104 . The echoes are received by a receiver  108  and provided to a beamformer  110 . The beamformer performs beamforming on the received echoes and outputs an RF signal. The RF signal is then processed by an RF processor  112 . The RF processor  112  may include a complex demodulator (not shown) that demodulates the RF signal to form IQ data pairs representative of the echo signals. The RF or IQ signal data then may be routed directly to an RF/IQ buffer  114  for storage (e.g., temporary storage).  
         [0018]     The ultrasound system  100  also includes a signal processor  116  to process the acquired ultrasound information (i.e., RF signal data or IQ data pairs) and generate frames of ultrasound information for display on a display system  118 . The signal processor  116  is adapted to perform one or more processing operations according to a plurality of selectable ultrasound modalities on the acquired ultrasound information. Acquired ultrasound information may be processed in real-time during a scanning session as the echo signals are received. Additionally or alternatively, the ultrasound information may be stored temporarily in the RF/IQ buffer  114  during a scanning session and processed in less than real-time in a live or off-line operation.  
         [0019]     The ultrasound system  100  may continuously acquire ultrasound information at a frame rate that exceeds fifty frames per second, which is the approximate perception rate of the human eye. The acquired ultrasound information is displayed on the display system  118  at a slower frame-rate. An image buffer  122  may be included for storing processed frames of acquired ultrasound information that are not scheduled to be displayed immediately. In an exemplary embodiment, the image buffer  122  is of sufficient capacity to store at least several seconds of frames of ultrasound information. The frames of ultrasound information may be stored in a manner to facilitate retrieval thereof according to their order or time of acquisition. The image buffer  122  may comprise any known data storage medium.  
         [0020]     A user input device  120  may be used to control operation of the ultrasound system  100 . The user input device  120  may be any suitable device and/or user interface for receiving user inputs to control, for example, the type of scan or type of transducer to be used in a scan.  
         [0021]      FIG. 2  illustrates a block diagram of another exemplary embodiment of an ultrasound system  150  that may be used, for example, to acquire and process ultrasonic images. The ultrasound system  150  includes the transducer  106  in communication with the transmitter  102  and receiver  108 . The transducer  106  transmits ultrasonic pulses and receives echoes from structures inside a scanned ultrasound volume  152 . A memory  154  stores ultrasound data from the receiver  108  derived from the scanned ultrasound volume  152 . The scanned ultrasound volume  152  may be obtained by various techniques, including, for example, 3D scanning, real-time 3D imaging, volume scanning, scanning with transducers having positioning sensors, freehand scanning using a Voxel correlation technique, 2D scanning or scanning with a matrix of array transducers, among others.  
         [0022]     The transducer  106  is moved, such as along a linear or arcuate path, while scanning a region of interest (ROI). At each linear or arcuate position, the transducer  106  obtains a plurality of scan planes  156 . The scan planes  156  are collected for a thickness, such as from a group or set of adjacent scan planes  156 . The scan planes  156  are stored in the memory  154 , and then provided to a volume scan converter  168 . In some exemplary embodiments, the transducer  106  may obtain lines instead of the scan planes  156 , with the memory  154  storing lines obtained by the transducer  106  rather than the scan planes  156 . The volume scan converter  168  receives a slice thickness setting from a slice thickness setting control  158 , which identifies the thickness of a slice to be created from the scan planes  156 . The volume scan converter  168  creates a data slice from multiple adjacent scan planes  156 . The number of adjacent scan planes  156  that are obtained to form each data slice is dependent upon the thickness selected by the slice thickness setting control  158 . The data slice is stored in a slice memory  160  and accessed by a volume rendering processor  162 . The volume rendering processor  162  performs volume rendering upon the data slice. The output of the volume rendering processor  162  is provided to a video processor  164  that processes the volume rendered data slice for display on a display  166 .  
         [0023]     It should be noted that the position of each echo signal sample (Voxel) is defined in terms of geometrical accuracy (i.e., the distance from one Voxel to the next) and one or more ultrasonic responses (and derived values from the ultrasonic response). Suitable ultrasonic responses include gray scale values, color flow values, and angio or power Doppler information.  
         [0024]     It should be noted that the ultrasound systems  100  and  150  may include additional or different components. For example, the ultrasound system  150  may include a user interface or user input  120  (shown in  FIG. 1 ) to control the operation of the ultrasound system  150 , including, to control the input of patient data, scan parameters, a change of scan mode, and the like.  
         [0025]      FIG. 3  illustrates an exemplary image of an object  200  that may be acquired by the ultrasound systems  100  and  150 . The object  200  includes a volume  202  defined by a plurality of sector shaped cross-sections with radial borders  204  and  206  diverging from one another at an angle  208 . The transducer  106  (shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 ) electronically focuses and directs ultrasound firings longitudinally to scan along adjacent scan lines in each scan plane  156  (shown in  FIG. 2 ) and electronically or mechanically focuses and directs ultrasound firings laterally to scan adjacent scan planes  156 . The scan planes  156  obtained by the transducer  106 , and as illustrated in  FIG. 1 , are stored in the memory  154  and are scan converted from spherical to Cartesian coordinates by the volume scan converter  168 . A volume comprising multiple scan planes  156  is output from the volume scan converter  168  and stored in the slice memory  160  as a rendering region  210 . The rendering region  210  in the slice memory  160  is formed from multiple adjacent scan planes  156 .  
         [0026]     The rendering region  210  may be defined in size by an operator using a user interface or input to have a slice thickness  212 , width  214  and height  216 . The volume scan converter  168  (shown in  FIG. 2 ) may be controlled by the slice thickness setting control  158  (shown in  FIG. 2 ) to adjust the thickness parameter of the slice to form a rendering region  210  of the desired thickness. The rendering region  210  defines the portion of the scanned ultrasound volume  152  that is volume rendered. The volume rendering processor  162  accesses the slice memory  160  and renders along the slice thickness  212  of the rendering region  210 .  
         [0027]     Referring now to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , during operation, a slice having a pre-defined, substantially constant thickness (also referred to as the rendering region  210 ) is determined by the slice thickness setting control  158  and is processed in the volume scan converter  168 . The echo data representing the rendering region  210  (shown in  FIG. 3 ) may be stored in the slice memory  160 . Predefined thicknesses between about 2 mm and about 20 mm are typical, however, thicknesses less than about 2 mm or greater than about 20 mm may also be suitable depending on the application and the size of the area to be scanned. The slice thickness setting control  158  may include a control member, such as a rotatable knob with discrete or continuous thickness settings.  
         [0028]     The volume rendering processor  162  projects the rendering region  210  onto an image portion  220  of an image plane(s)  222  (shown in  FIG. 3 ). Following processing in the volume rendering processor  162 , pixel data in the image portion  220  may be processed by the video processor  164  and then displayed on the display  166 . The rendering region  210  may be located at any position and oriented at any direction within the volume  202 . In some situations, depending on the size of the region being scanned, it may be advantageous for the rendering region  210  to be only a small portion of the volume  202 .  
         [0029]      FIGS. 4 through 6  illustrate an ultrasound probe  250  constructed in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention. The ultrasound probe  250  generally includes a housing  252  having a scan portion  254  and a connection portion  256 . The housing  252  generally includes therein control components and operating components for performing ultrasound scans. For example, and in general, the housing  256  may include therein a transducer array (not shown) having a plurality of elements, such as, for example, piezoelectric elements (not shown) and control components, for example, electrical components mounted to a printed circuit board (not shown). The scan portion  254  is used to scan, for example, a patient, by emitting therefrom ultrasonic waves and receiving echoes as is known. The connection portion  256  includes a system cable  258  for connection to, for example, a ultrasound system scanning controller via a connection (not shown) as is known.  
         [0030]     It should be noted that the ultrasound probe  250  may include additional component parts, for example, a control knob  260 . The control  260  is rotatable between an engaged and a disengaged position to control operation of the ultrasound probe  250 .  
         [0031]     One exemplary probe  250  constructed in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention is shown in  FIG. 7 . The probe  250  includes the housing  252 , which in this embodiment is formed in a two piece design and generally forms a handle portion  253  of the ultrasound probe  250 . The two pieces may be secured together using screws, adhesive, and/or other securing means as are known and form an interior chamber  255  having an open front end  257 . The interior chamber  255  may be configured to receive therein, for example, an electronics subassembly as is known and be surrounded by electromagnetic shielding. The probe  250  at the scan portion  254  generally includes a nosepiece  262  (having a recess on a back side thereof) and a lens assembly  264 . In one exemplary embodiment, the lens assembly  264  includes a lens  266  formed of silicon and a shielding portion  268  (e.g., a planar shielding portion) formed of copper. In this embodiment, the silicon lens  266  and copper shielding portion  268  are formed using a molding process (e.g., comolded) to provide a bonded construction. For example, a copper foil may be bonded to a silicon lens using an injection molding process. However, it should be noted that other materials may be used for constructing the lens assembly  264 . For example, the shielding portion  268  may be formed of gold, aluminum or tin. Additionally, the shielding portion  268  may be formed in shapes other than an open-backed box as shown, for example, as a flat planar member as described in more detail below.  
         [0032]     The ultrasound probe  250  also includes a connection member  270 , which in one embodiment is a flexible printed circuit board. The connection member  270  may be formed of multiple layers, and include a portion  272  for receiving therebetween a plate  272 . The connection member  270  may be connected to the plate  272 , for example, using pressure sensitive adhesive tape  274 . Connectors  276  also may be provided as part of the connection member  270  for interfacing and connection therewith.  
         [0033]     The connection member  270  also may form an opening  278  for receiving therein a ceramic composite  280 , a backing strip  282  and a block  284 , together forming a transducer assembly as is known. A screw  286  or other securing member also may be provided for connecting or securing the various components together. A first matching layer  288  and a second matching layer  290  may be provided on a mounting surface  292  of the connection member  270 .  
         [0034]     It should be noted that the shielding portion  268  may be modified as desired or needed. For example, the shielding portion  268  may be formed as a separate portion (e.g., separate copper foil), and laminated, for example, using an epoxy, to the lens assembly  264  as shown in the probe  250  of  FIG. 8 . Thus, the shielding portion is still provided between the lens  266  and the transducer assembly. Additionally, the shielding portion  268  may be configured for positioning in different portions of the probe  250 . For example, in an exemplary embodiment the shielding portion  268  may be provided (e.g., metalized) along the length of the lens  266 . In another exemplary embodiment, the shielding portion  268  may be provided (e.g., metalized) to the transducer assembly of the probe  250 . In still another exemplary embodiment, the shielding portion may be provided (e.g., metalized) between matching layers of the transducer assembly of the probe  250 .  
         [0035]     Additional components also may be provided as desired or needed. For example, a light emitting diode (LED)  294  for indicating an operating status (e.g., on or off) for the ultrasound probe  250  may be provided.  
         [0036]     Thus, various embodiments of the present invention provide an ultrasound probe having shielding, for example, to shield from EMI noise. The probe includes a shielding portion provided generally between an open front end of a handle of the ultrasound probe, which may have a lens, and a transducer array. This shielding portion shields the transducer array from, for example, EMI noise. It should be noted that the various embodiments of probes described herein are not limited to a particular application, but may be used in different applications as desired or needed, for example, in medical imaging, non-destructive testing and/or sonar evaluation.  
         [0037]     While the invention has been described in terms of very specific embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention can be practiced with modification within the spirit and scope of the claims.