Patent ID: 7874987

Claim:
A method for calibrating an ultrasound probe having a beam plane, the method comprising: directing the probe to receive ultrasonic waves reflected from a target comprising one or more linear elements, arranged to intersect the beam plane at respective intersection points; receiving signals from the probe responsive to the reflected ultrasonic waves; and aligning the probe by modifying at least one of a position and an orientation of the probe responsively to the signals so that the intersection points occur in a desired location in the beam plane, said step of aligning the probe comprising: forming, using the signals, an ultrasound image in which the intersection points of the linear elements appear as one or more dots; and modifying at least one of the position and the orientation of the probe responsive to the dots appearing in the image; wherein the one or more linear elements comprise a plurality of linear elements, and modifying the at least one of the position and the orientation of the probe comprises modifying the orientation of the probe responsive to a distance between the dots in the image, and wherein the linear elements cross at a crossing point, and modifying the orientation comprises rotating the probe so that the one or more dots converge to a single dot corresponding to the crossing point.