Patent ID: 7041059

Claim:
A method to determine amniotic fluid volume in digital images, the method comprising: positioning an ultrasound transceiver exterior to a patient such that at least a portion of the amniotic fluid is within a field of view of the transceiver, the ultrasound transceiver configured to send radio frequency ultrasound pulses and to receive echoes of the radio frequency ultrasound pulses; sending the radio frequency ultrasound pulses from the ultrasound transceiver to amniotic fluid regions; receiving echoes of the radio frequency ultrasound pulses reflected from the amniotic fluid regions to the transceiver; associating the received echoes to form a plurality of 2D scanplanes so that they form an array; enhancing the images of the amniotic fluid regions in each plane of the array using a plurality of algorithms; and determining the amniotic fluid volume of the amniotic fluid regions spanning between and through each plane in the array.