PATENT CLAIM ANALYSIS

Application Number: 16000507
Application Type: Utility
Filing Date: 2018-06
Publication Date: 2018-10
Patent Classification: ["600", "443000"]

Abstract:
A Multiple Aperture Ultrasound Imaging system and methods of use are provided with any number of features. In some embodiments, a multi-aperture ultrasound imaging system is configured to transmit and receive ultrasound energy to and from separate physical ultrasound apertures. In some embodiments, a transmit aperture of a multi-aperture ultrasound imaging system is configured to transmit an omni-directional unfocused ultrasound waveform approximating a first point source through a target region. In some embodiments, the ultrasound energy is received with a single receiving aperture. In other embodiments, the ultrasound energy is received with multiple receiving apertures. Algorithms are described that can combine echoes received by one or more receiving apertures to form high resolution ultrasound images. Additional algorithms can solve for variations in tissue speed of sound, thus allowing the ultrasound system to be used virtually anywhere in or on the body.

Claim (Index 1):
A method of constructing an ultrasound image, comprising:\n transmitting an omni-directional unfocused ultrasound waveform through a target region from a transmit aperture comprising at least one transducer element and approximating a first point source; receiving ultrasound echoes from the target region with first and second receiving elements of a first receive aperture, the first receive aperture separated from the first transmit aperture; digitizing phase information and magnitude information of the ultrasound echoes received at the first receiving element as first echo data, and digitizing phase information and magnitude information of the ultrasound echoes received at the second receiving element as second echo data; retrieving position data describing a mechanical and acoustic position of each of the first receiving element, the second receiving element, and the at least one transducer element of the transmit aperture relative to a common reference point; determining, using the position data, a first time for the waveform to propagate from the first point source to a first pixel location in the target region and return to the first receiving element, and determining a second time for the waveform to propagate from the first point source to the first pixel location in the target region to return to the second receiving element; and forming a first image of the first pixel location by combining magnitude and phase of the first echo data received at the first receiving element with magnitude and phase of the second echo data received at the second receiving element.

Metadata:
- Claim Count in Document: 44.0
- Percentile: 94.0
- Lexical Diversity: 1.82143
- Patent Class: 600.0
- Transitional Phrase Type: open
- Component Type: 1
- Foreign Priority: False
- Related Applications: ['15364075', '13029907', '14846374', '13730346', '13690989']

Analysis Scores:
- 35 USC 101 Eligibility (BERT): 0.4991404351069939
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.5270000650983402
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.5019263981061286
- Mean Citation Score: 326.896076
- Max Citation Score: 368.24396
- Similarity Product: 356.02255313013086

Labels:
- Claim Label 101: 1
- Claim Label 102: 1
- Claim Label 103: 1
- Claim Label 112: 1
- Combined Label: 1
- Label 101 Adjusted: 1

Dataset: test