Patent ID: 8920323

Claim:
An apparatus for obtaining elasticity images indicating elastic properties of a material subject to periodic compression comprising: an imaging apparatus for obtaining reference and target image information at different compressions, the image information having at least two spatial dimensions; an electronic computer executing a stored program and receiving the image information to: (a) compare corresponding portions of the reference and target image information to produce for each compared portion, match-quality information providing quantitative measures of a matching between the corresponding portions at multiple points each quantitative measure denoting different relative displacements in at least two spatial dimensions between the compared portions at which the matching occurs; (b) it a match-model having at least two spatial dimensions to the match-quality information for each compared portion; (c) extract a displacement value for at least one of the compared portions from a predetermined point of the fitted match-model; and (d) output human readable information indicating tissue elasticity based on multiple extracted displacement values of the predetermined points of the fitted match-model; wherein the match-model is a function derived from a point spread function of the imaging apparatus and represents expected matching in an elastic material; and wherein the match-quality information and the match-model have at least two spatial dimensions and wherein the match-model is fit to the match-quality information in at least two spatial dimensions identify single match center point as the predetermined point.