Patent ID: 7261695

Claim:
A trigger extraction system for obtaining an event trigger for an event occurring in a region of interest while the region of interest is scanned by an ultrasound imaging system, the ultrasound imaging system having image memory and a display, the image memory storing image data defining a series of ultrasound images of a region of interest, the display displaying the ultrasound images, the trigger extraction system comprising: a processor; a memory coupled to the processor; and a trigger extraction program stored in the memory for execution by the processor, the trigger extraction program comprising instructions for accessing ultrasound trigger data obtained from a trigger region, analyzing the trigger data for a trigger characteristic, and storing an event trigger based on the trigger characteristic, the trigger data being recorded with an ultrasound beam defocused in an azimuth direction, the event trigger being used in connection with controlling display of the ultrasound images, wherein the instructions for analyzing comprise instructions for filtering the trigger data, the filter utilizing a cutoff frequency that is set based on the trigger characteristic independent of the image data.