Patent ID: 7862509

Claim:
A method for measuring transducer movement for multi-dimensional ultrasound imaging, the method comprising: moving, by free-hand motion, a transducer across a patient's skin; positioning the transducer at an angle other than perpendicular to the patient's skin; scanning a plurality of planes below the patients skin with ultrasound from the transducer, the plurality of planes at different locations within the patient due to the moving; translating at least a portion of the transducer on the patient's skin during the scanning wherein translating comprises translating the transducer while substantially maintaining the angle; measuring, from ultrasound data, a first distance of the transducer translation during translating, the first distance being a function of the angle; directing an optical sensor and a blue-green light source at the patients skin during the moving; determining the different locations of the plurality of planes from the first distance and with the optical sensor responsive to blue-green light from the blue-green light source reflected from the patient skin; and rendering, from ultrasound data responsive to the scanning of the plurality of planes, a three-dimensional representation, the rendering using positions of the planes, represented by the ultrasound data, that are a function of the different locations.