Patent ID: 7905147

Claim:
A method for imaging the displacement of a target body comprising: a. coupling a transducer to the target body; b. applying a mechanical stimulus to a target body, wherein said application commences at a time T 0 ; c. emitting a first pulse of ultrasound energy from the transducer into the target body; d. receiving with the transducer a first ultrasound echo sequence from the first pulse at time interval T 1 after T 0 ; e. emitting a second pulse of ultrasound energy from the transducer into the target body; f. receiving with the transducer a second ultrasound echo sequence from the second pulse at time interval T 2 after T 0 ; g. emitting a third pulse of ultrasound energy from the transducer into the target body; h. receiving with the transducer a third ultrasound echo sequence from the third pulse at time interval T 3 after T 0 ; i. emitting a fourth pulse of ultrasound energy from the transducer into the target body; j. receiving with the transducer a fourth ultrasound echo sequence from the fourth pulse at time interval T 4 after T 0 ; k. estimating the displacement, D 1 , between the first ultrasound echo sequence and the second ultrasound sequence; l. estimating the displacement, D 2 , between the second ultrasound echo sequence and the third ultrasound sequence; m. estimating the displacement, D 3 , between the third ultrasound echo sequence and the fourth ultrasound sequence; n. deriving a polynomial comprising at least 1 coefficient defining a functional relationship between time and D 1 , D 2 , and D 3 ; and o. imaging the coefficients of the polynomial derived in the preceding step.