Patent ID: 8494226

Claim:
A system for measuring the relative content of intramuscular fat (IMF) in a portion of muscle tissue of a food animal, the system comprising: a probe configured and arranged to carry an ultrasound signal to the portion of muscle tissue; a mechanism configured and arranged to guide the probe to a desired location on the animal; an image sensor configured and arranged to generate image data from the ultrasound signal; a pressure sensor configured and arranged to sense pressure being exerted between the probe and the animal; and a data processor configured and arranged to measure the relative content of IMF in the portion of muscle tissue by processing the image data as a function of the sensed pressure, and to measure the relative content of IMF in the portion of muscle tissue using parameters that include Fourier intensity coefficient of variation, a ratio of Fourier powers within a first normalized freq range, a ratio of Fourier powers within a second normalized freq range, pixel grey scale histogram skew value, pixel grey scale histogram standard deviation and pixel grey scale histogram coefficient of variation.