Miniaturized ultrasound apparatus and method

Abstract

Ultrasound apparatus for examining tissue in a region of interest in a body comprising a housing having a viewing aperture. An ultrasonic transducer is provided comprised of an array of ultrasonic elements disposed in the viewing aperture. Electrical pulses are supplied to the transducer for transducer excitation to introduce ultrasonic signals into the body for reflection from the tissue in the region of interest. The transducer is capable of converting ultrasonic signals reflected from the tissue within the body to the transducer to provide electrical signals. The electrical signals are gain corrected in accordance with time. In-phase and out-of-phase components of the electrical signals are provided and then digitized. The digitized electrical signals are collected to form one image for a single frame of the tissue in the region of interest in the body from transducer excitations less than thirty-three in number which is then displayed.

What is claimed:  
     
         1 . Ultrasound apparatus for examining tissue in a region of interest in a body comprising a housing having a viewing aperture, an ultrasonic transducer comprised of an array of ultrasonic elements disposed in the viewing aperture and having an inherent resolution, means substantially transparent to ultrasound carried by the housing forming an impedance matching lens overlying the array and having a surface capable of being placed in contact with the body, means for supplying transmitted electrical pulses to said at least one transducer for single transducer excitation but less than six to introduce ultrasonic signals into the body for reflection from the tissue in the region of interest, said transducer being capable of converting ultrasonic signals reflected from within the body to provide electrical signals, means providing gain correction of the electrical signals in accordance with time, mixing means for providing in-phase and out-of-phase components of the gain corrected electrical signals, means for digitizing the in-phase and out-of-phase components of the electrical signals, means for collecting the digitized electrical signals to form one image for a single frame of the tissue in the region of interest in the body from transducer excitations less than thirty-three in number, memory means for storing the digitized electrical signals of the single frame by storing the magnitude, phase angle and time of receipt of each received digitized electrical signal to provide preprocessed data, display means to utilize the preprocessed data and means coupling the memory means to the display means to provide a visual image of the tissue in the region of interest in the body.  
     
     
         2 . Apparatus as in  claim 1  further including means for increasing the visual resolution of the visual image to the inherent resolution of the transducer.  
     
     
         3 . Apparatus as in  claim 1  for use with a remote display unit and further including means for exporting the preprocessed data to the remote display unit.  
     
     
         4 . Apparatus as in  claim 1  further including means for averaging the digitized electrical signals for a plurality of frames prior to collection of the digitized electrical signals for image construction to improve the resolution of the visual image.  
     
     
         5 . Apparatus as in  claim 1  wherein said array is a linear array.  
     
     
         6 . Apparatus as in  claim 1  wherein said array is a phased array.  
     
     
         7 . Apparatus as in  claim 1  wherein said array is a curved array  
     
     
         8 . Apparatus as in  claim 1  wherein said display is disposed in a separate display module separate from the housing.  
     
     
         9 . Apparatus as in  claim 1  wherein said display module is a cathode ray tube.  
     
     
         10 . Apparatus as in  claim 1  wherein said display is a liquid crystal display.  
     
     
         11 . Apparatus as in  claim 1  wherein said housing is formed in first and second parts, said second part being detachable from the first part, said second part having the viewing aperture therein, an array of ultrasonic transducers disposed in the viewing aperture and an impedance matching lens overlying the array of ultrasonic transducers.  
     
     
         12 . Apparatus as in  claim 11  wherein a plurality of second parts are provided with each of the second parts having a different frequency range suited for a specific imaging objective.  
     
     
         13 . Apparatus as in  claim 12  further including cooperative means including a non-volatile memory carried by the second part for informing the first part of the frequency range of the second part so that viewing can take place of the region of interest.  
     
     
         14 . Apparatus as in  claim 1  wherein said display is integrated into said housing.  
     
     
         15 . Apparatus as in  claim 1  further comprising a separate display module and wherein said display means is disposed in the display module and electrical circuit means interconnecting the housing with the display module.  
     
     
         16 . Apparatus as in  claim 1  wherein electrical circuit means includes an interconnecting cable.  
     
     
         17 . Apparatus as in  claim 11  wherein said housing also includes a main module and wherein said main module and display module are formed into a mating clam-shell-like construction.  
     
     
         18 . Apparatus as in  claim 1  for use with a probe and further including a support platform adapted to be placed on the surface of the body and being formed to receive the housing for positioning the housing for movement with respect to the support structure and the body and a carriage formed to receive the probe and slidably mounted on the support platform.  
     
     
         19 . Apparatus as in  claim 18  further including a scale on the support platform for ascertaining movement of the carriage on the support platform and a scale carried by the display corresponding to the scale on the support platform whereby the relative positioning between the probe and the region of interest in the body can be ascertained by viewing the display means.  
     
     
         20 . Apparatus as in  claim 1  wherein said housing includes means for receiving a removable memory card.  
     
     
         21 . Apparatus as in  claim 1  wherein said memory card is an industry standard modem card.  
     
     
         22 . Apparatus as in  claim 1  further including means for recording multiple images of the region of interest at spaced apart locations.  
     
     
         23 . Apparatus as in  claim 1  wherein said location are sequential and are equally spaced apart.  
     
     
         24 . Apparatus as in  claim 21  further including means for displaying said multiple images on the display means to create a kinetic image of the region of interest.  
     
     
         25 . Apparatus as in  claim 22  wherein said means for recording multiple images at spaced apart locations includes support means for supporting the housing and being adapted to be seated on the surface of the body, said support means including means permitting the movement of the housing relative to the support means whereby different views can be taken of the region of interest.  
     
     
         26 . Apparatus as in  claim 25  wherein said means permitting movement of the housing relative to the support means permits pivotal movement.  
     
     
         27 . Apparatus as in  claim 25  wherein said means for supporting the housing and permitting movement of the housing relative to the support means is constructed to permit linear movement.  
     
     
         28 . Apparatus as in  claim 25  further including means actuated by movement of the housing relative to the support means to cause the taking of sequential images as the movement is occurring.  
     
     
         29 . Apparatus as in  claim 28  wherein said means includes a trigger mechanism.  
     
     
         30 . Apparatus as in  claim 29  wherein said trigger mechanism is an optical reader.  
     
     
         31 . Apparatus in  claim 1  wherein the means for collecting the digitized electrical signals includes means for selecting a wave packet of electrical signals in space having a center, means for selecting a point (x,y) in the wave packet, means for calculating the distance from the center of the wave packet around the point (x,y) to a selected element of the array of the transducer, means for converting distance to time to select the sample points, means for interpolating the phase and magnitude between the nearest sample points and the point to be calculated to determine the corrected phase and magnitude of the point being calculated, means for repeating the same sequence of steps for each of the ultrasonic elements of the array of the transducer and means for summing the calculated points of corrected phase and magnitude.  
     
     
         32 . Apparatus as in  claim 31  further including means for incrementing (x,y) to obtain the center of the next wave packet to be utilized for calculating additional points of the image.  
     
     
         33 . A method for examining tissue in a region of interest in a body by the use of an ultrasound transducer comprised of an array of ultrasonic elements in which the transducer is excited by received ultrasonic signals to provide electrical signals, the method comprising the steps of receiving the electrical signals from the transducer and providing in-phase and out-of-phase components of the electrical signals, digitizing the electrical signals, collecting the digitized electrical signals at one time to form one image for a single frame of the tissue in the region of interest in the body from transducer excitations less than thirty-three in number, storing the collected electrical digitized signals of the single frame by storing the magnitude, phase angle and time of receipt of each electrical signal and displaying the stored electrical digitized signals of the single frame as a visual image of the tissue in the region of interest in the body.  
     
     
         34 . A method as in  claim 31  which includes the use of electronics and a microprocessor for controlling the electronics, further including the step of using the microprocessor for placing at least certain parts of the electronics in a sleep mode when those parts have performed their functions to conserve power.  
     
     
         35 . A method as in  claim 33  further including the step of averaging the digitized electrical signals for a plurality of frames prior to collection of the digitized electrical signals for image construction to improve the resolution of the visual image.  
     
     
         36 . A method as in  claim 31  wherein the step of collecting the digitized electrical signals includes the steps of selecting a wave packet of electrical signals in space having a center, selecting a point (x,y) in the wave packet, calculating the distance from the center of the wave packet around the point (x,y) to a selected element of the array of the transducer, interpolating the phase and magnitude between the nearest adjacent points in the wave packet to determine the corrected phase and magnitude of the point being calculated, repeating the same steps for each of the ultrasonic elements of the array of the transducer and summing the calculated points of corrected phase and magnitude to provide an image.  
     
     
         37 . A method as in  claim 36  further including incrementing x (x,y) to obtain the center of the next wave packet to be utilized for calculating additional points of the image.