Patent ID: 8055075

Claim:
An image processor for an ultrasound device comprising: an edge detection filter to compute an edge detection value comprising a magnitude and a direction based on a plurality of pixels of an ultrasound image acquired in a clinical application; a filter select look-up table to store a plurality of image filters based on the clinical application, each of the plurality of image filters comprising a plurality of filter coefficients, to select one of two or more smoothing filters of the plurality of image filters based on the magnitude of the edge detection value if the magnitude is less than or equal to a threshold value, and to select one of two or more edge enhancement filters of the plurality of image filters based on the magnitude and the direction if the magnitude of the edge detection value is greater than the threshold value; and an image process filter to receive a plurality of filter coefficients associated with the selected one of the plurality of image filters and to apply the plurality of filter coefficients associated with the selected one of the plurality of image filters to the plurality of pixels of the ultrasound image.