Source: https://patents.justia.com/patent/5810008
Timestamp: 2019-10-21 10:03:57
Document Index: 712799227

Matched Legal Cases: ['arts 15', 'arts 15', 'arts 15', 'arts 15', 'arts 15', 'arts 15']

US Patent for Apparatus and method for visualizing ultrasonic images Patent (Patent # 5,810,008 issued September 22, 1998) - Justia Patents Search
Justia Patents US Patent for Apparatus and method for visualizing ultrasonic images Patent (Patent # 5,810,008)
Dec 3, 1996 - ISG Technologies Inc.
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The visualizing system of the present invention is shown generally in FIG. 1 by reference numeral 10. The system 10 comprises a first spatial determinator, shown generally as 12, for determining spatial positional information of a surgical instrument 14. The spatial positional information determined or obtained by the first spatial determinator 12 comprises the position and the orientation of the instrument 14 in a frame of reference. The first spatial determinator 12 also sends a first spatial signal SP.sub.1 representing the spatial positional information of the instrument 14 in the frame of reference.
The spatial positional information of an object comprises at least sufficient information to identify the spatial position, namely the position and orientation, of an object in a frame of reference. In a Cartesian coordinate system, the position of an object can be indicated by the x, y and z co-ordinates, which uniquely identify the position in three dimensions. The orientation of an object can be represented by azimuth (a), elevation (e) and roll (r). Accordingly, the first spatial signal Sp .sub.1 identifies the spatial position of the instrument 14 by representing the spatial positional information of the instrument 14, such as the x y z co-ordinates and the azimuth, roll and elevation.
With the first mapping signal Sm.sub.1, the image processing unit 28 can process the stored image signals S.sub.I, and generate processed image signals I.sub.s from a view related to the spatial position of the instrument 14. The image processing unit 28 does this by re-sampling the stored image signals S.sub.I, to generate processed image signals I.sub.s from a known position and orientation in the frame of reference. This known position is spatially related to the position and orientation of the instrument. In other words, the known position corresponds to a position on or near the instrument 14.
The processed image signals I.sub.s can be two-dimensional images along planes transaxial or orthogonal to the position of the instrument 14. The processed image signals I.sub.s can also be three-dimensional projection images. In either case, the processed image signals I.sub.s represent images of the body 20 from the view of the instrument 14, as if the observer was located at a position on or near the instrument 14 in the body 20 from which the image signals S.sub.I, are re-sampled. In the case of three dimensional projection images, the processed images will have a view and a perspective which is spatially related to the position and orientation of the instrument 14.
Clearly, a view from the perspective of the instrument 14 is preferred over a view from the perspective of the transducer 18 because the perspective of the instrument 14 assists the medical practitioner to visualize the internal features of the body 20 while guiding the instrument 14. In addition, at the medical practitioner's discretion, the image processing unit 28 could generate processed images I.sub.s from another perspective, such as the perspective of the transducer 18, or, simply display the unprocessed signal images S.sub.I, as is done in the prior art systems. Therefore, the present invention provides the medical practitioner with added versatility.
The display unit 30 receives the processed image signal I.sub.s and displays processed images 62 corresponding to the processed image signals I.sub.s The processed images 62 are the images acquired by the ultrasound imaging transducer 18 but generated from the view of the instrument 14 in the body 20 by the method described above. FIG. 1 shows an example of the processed images 62 from a view at a position just behind the end of the instrument 14, which in this case is a probe.
Once the position of the parts 15 of the instrument 14 with respect to a point 13 fixed to the instrument is determined, this information is stored in the memory unit 38. The spatial positional information of the parts 15 of the instrument 14 can be determined with respect to the frame of reference by the processing unit 39 combining the spatial positional information of the point 13 fixed to the instrument 14 with the spatial positional information of the parts 15 of the instrument 14 with respect to the point 13 fixed to the instrument 14. Preferably, the point 13 fixed to the instrument 14 corresponds to the location where the first spatial determinator 12 is attached to the instrument 14. Otherwise, the processing unit 39 can perform an additional step of deriving the spatial positional information of the point 13 fixed to instrument 14 from the first spatial signal Sp.sub.1. With this information, the mapping unit 34 maps the parts 15 of the instrument 14 onto the position of the images 32. The mapping signal Sm.sub.1 will then be indicative, not only of the position of the instrument 14, but also the position of the parts 15 of the instrument 14 with respect to the position of the images 32. This permits the image processing unit 28 to generate processed image signals I.sub.s from a view which is related to the spatial position of one of the parts 15 of the instrument 14. The precise view to be displayed on the display unit 30 can be selected by the user of the system 10.
Likewise, as is also known in the art, the slice stack of two dimensional images 32 can be combined to form a three dimensional representation of the anatomical features in the anatomical body 20. In this way, the image processing unit 28 can generate processed images I.sub.s comprising a three dimensional projection of the volume or space 33 within the body 20, and, from the perspective of the instrument 14 within the body 20.
Also, the user could select a view from a view spatially related to the other instrument 114. In this case, the image processing unit 28 can generate the processed image signals I.sub.s from the view of the other instrument 114. A representation 36 of the instrument 14 would then be generated and appear on the display unit 30.
In addition, the systems 10 and 110 can be expanded so that more than one transducer 18 is used. FIG. 5 shows a further embodiment, similar to the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, but with an additional transducer 118 acquiring images to be stored in the image processing unit 28 and used to generate the processed image signal I.sub.s in the same manner as discussed above with one transducer 18.
The additional transducer 118 sends a second image signal SI.sub.2 to the image processing unit 28 representing the images acquired. The image processing unit 28 stores the images acquired by the additional transducer 118 in a second slice stack 132. The second slice stack 132 and the slice stack 32 are used by the processing unit 28 to generate the processed image signals I.sub.s. The position and orientation of the additional transducer 118 is determined by the third spatial determinator 116 in the same manner as described above for the other instrument 114. Likewise, the position and orientation of the images 32 acquired by the additional transducer 118 can be determined in the same manner as described above with respect to the transducer 18.
Patent number: 5810008
Assignee: ISG Technologies Inc. (Mississauga)
Inventors: Doron Dekel (North York), Charles Ryan Hall (Toronto)
Law Firm: Orange & Associates
Application Number: 8/758,721
Current U.S. Class: 128/66007; Ultrasound 3-d Imaging (128/916)