Patent ID: 8323198

Claim:
A method for spatial and temporal alignment for volume rendering, the method comprising: acquiring a first plurality of frames of first ultrasound data for a first scan plane; acquiring, after the first plurality, a second plurality of frames of second ultrasound data for a second scan plane different than the first scan plane; identifying, with a processor, a first cycle as a function of time from the first ultrasound data for the first scan plane, the identifying of the first cycle being independent of any identification of other cycles including a second cycle, a first waveform representing the first cycle; identifying, with the processor, the second cycle as a function of time from the second ultrasound data for the second scan plane, the identifying of the second cycle being independent of the identification of the other cycles including the first cycle, a second waveform representing the second cycle; determining a phase shift between the first and second cycles, the determining being by shifting the first waveform representing the first cycle relative to the second waveform representing the second cycle, the phase shift being a function of correlation for different relative shifted positions of the first and second waveforms; forming first and second volumes from the first and second pluralities of frames, the forming being a function of the phase shift and the first and second cycles, the first volume formed from the first and second ultrasound data representing a first cyclic phase and the second volume formed from the first and second ultrasound data representing a second cyclic phase; displaying a sequence of three-dimensional representations of a cyclic organ from the first and second volumes.