Patent ID: 8123692

Claim:
An apparatus to adaptively control a frame interval between ultrasound scanning frames of an ultrasound elasticity imaging scan comprising: a first module configured to acquire a plurality of ultrasound beam echoes from tissue undergoing strain, wherein some of the beam echoes are generated in response to a number of detective beams directed to determine a strain variation of the tissue undergoing strain, the detective beams comprising a reduced number of ultrasound beams relative to a number of ultrasound beams normally used to perform an ultrasound elasticity imaging scan of the tissue undergoing strain; a second module configured to process the acquired plurality of ultrasound beam echoes resulting from the detective beams to determine the strain variation of the tissue undergoing strain; a third module configured to calculate a value for an ultrasound scanning frame interval adapted to image the tissue undergoing the determined strain variation, wherein the calculated value is based at least on the determined strain variation of the tissue; and a fourth module configured to set the value of the ultrasound scanning frame interval for acquiring ultrasound elasticity images of the tissue undergoing the determined strain variation.