Handheld ultrasound imaging systems

Abstract

A handheld ultrasound device is provided, having a transducer assembly for emitting and receiving sonic signals, a configurable signal processing unit, and a data processor configured to provide configuration data to the signal processing unit. The configuration data defines a beamforming configuration, filtering configuration and envelope detection configuration for an operational mode. The operational mode may be selected by the user or may be determined based on a detected type of the transducer assembly.

1 . A handheld ultrasound system comprising:
 a transducer assembly comprising an array of transducer elements;   driving circuits connected to the transducer assembly to excite the transducer elements to emit sonic signals;   receive circuits for conditioning signals detected at the transducer assembly;   a display for displaying an image based at least in part on the signals detected at the transducer assembly;   a configurable signal processing unit;   a data processor configured to provide configuration data to the signal processing unit and to thereby configure the signal processing unit for signal processing operation associated with a particular operational mode.   
   
   
       2 . A system according to  claim 1  wherein the data processor is configured to provide one of a plurality of sets of configuration data to the signal processing unit and to thereby configure the signal processing unit for signal processing operation associated with a particular one of a plurality of operational modes, wherein each of the plurality of sets of configuration data is associated with a corresponding one of the plurality of operational modes. 
   
   
       3 . A system according to  claim 2  wherein the transducer assembly includes identification information relating the transducer array and wherein the data processor is configured to select the one of the plurality of sets of configuration data based at least in part on the identification information. 
   
   
       4 . A system according to  claim 3  wherein the identification information comprises information indicating that the array of transducer elements comprises at least one of: a convex array, a linear array and a phased array. 
   
   
       5 . A system according to  claim 2  comprising one or more user interface controls for providing user input to the data processor and wherein the data processor is configured to select the one of the plurality of sets of configuration data based at least in part on the user input. 
   
   
       6 . A system according to  claim 1  wherein the signal processing operation associated with the particular operational mode comprises provision of transmit beamformers and wherein the configuration data comprises data which defines a transmit beamforming configuration for the particular operational mode. 
   
   
       7 . A system according to  claim 1  wherein the signal processing operation associated with the particular operational mode comprises provision of receive beamformers and wherein the configuration data comprises data which defines a receive beamforming configuration for the particular operational mode. 
   
   
       8 . A system according to  claim 1  wherein the signal processing operation associated with the particular operational mode comprises digital filtering of the signals detected at the transducer assembly and wherein the configuration data comprises data which defines one or more digital filters for the particular operational mode. 
   
   
       9 . A system according to  claim 1  wherein the signal processing operation associated with the particular operational mode comprises envelope detection of the signals detected at the transducer assembly and wherein the configuration data comprises data which defines one or more envelope detectors for the particular operational mode. 
   
   
       10 . A system according to  claim 2  wherein the signal processing operation associated with the particular one of the plurality of operational modes comprises provision of transmit beamformers and wherein the one of the plurality of sets of configuration data comprises data which defines a transmit beamforming configuration for the particular one of the plurality of operational modes. 
   
   
       11 . A system according to  claim 2  wherein the signal processing operation associated with the particular one of the plurality of operational modes comprises provision of receive beamformers and wherein the one of the plurality of sets of configuration data comprises data which defines a receive beamforming configuration for the particular one of the plurality of operational modes. 
   
   
       12 . A system according to  claim 2  wherein the signal processing operation associated with the particular one of the plurality of operational modes comprises digital filtering of the signals detected at the transducer assembly and wherein the one of the sets of configuration data comprises data which defines one or more digital filters for the particular one of the plurality of operational modes. 
   
   
       13 . A system according to  claim 2  wherein the signal processing operation associated with the particular one of the plurality of operational modes comprises envelope detection of the signals detected at the transducer assembly and wherein the one of the sets of configuration data comprises data which defines one or more envelope detectors for the particular one of the plurality of operational modes. 
   
   
       14 . A system according to  claim 1  wherein the configuration data provided to the signal processing unit comprises data which defines any two or more of: a transmit beamforming configuration for the particular operational mode; a receive beamforming configuration for the particular operational mode; a filtering configuration for the particular operational mode; and an envelope detection configuration for the particular operational mode. 
   
   
       15 . A system according to  claim 2  wherein the one of the plurality of sets of configuration data provided to the signal processing unit comprises data which defines any two or more of: a transmit beamforming configuration for the particular one of the plurality of operational modes; a receive beamforming configuration for the particular one of the plurality of operational modes; a filtering configuration for the particular one of the plurality of operational modes; and an envelope detection configuration for the particular one of the plurality of operational modes. 
   
   
       16 . A system according to  claim 2  wherein the data processor is configured to provide a different one of the plurality of sets of configuration data to the signal processing unit and to thereby re-configure the signal processing unit for signal processing operation associated with a different one of the plurality of operational modes. 
   
   
       17 . A system according to  claim 16  wherein the signal processing unit comprises a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) and each of the plurality of sets of configuration data comprises a corresponding set on interconnects for configuration of the FPGA. 
   
   
       18 . A system according to  claim 2  wherein the signal processing unit comprises a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) and each of the plurality of sets of configuration data comprises a corresponding set of interconnects for configuration of the FPGA. 
   
   
       19 . A system according to  claim 1  wherein the signal processing unit comprises a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) and the configuration data comprises a set of interconnects for configuration of the FPGA. 
   
   
       20 . A system according to  claim 1  comprising a storage medium for storing the configuration data. 
   
   
       21 . A system according to  claim 2  comprising a storage medium for storing the plurality of sets of configuration data. 
   
   
       22 . A system according to  claim 1  comprising one or more input/output interfaces for receiving the configuration data into the system. 
   
   
       23 . A system according to  claim 22  wherein the one or more input/output interfaces comprise at least one of: an interface to a removable memory medium; a wireless communication interface; a serial data interface; a parallel data interface; and a universal serial bus (USB) interface. 
   
   
       24 . A system according to  claim 1  comprising one or more user interface controls for providing user input to the system and wherein the data processor is configured to interpret the user input from each user interface control in a manner which is dependent on the particular operational mode. 
   
   
       25 . A system according to  claim 24  wherein the one or more user interface controls are manipulable to provide a help request to the system and wherein the data processor is configured to respond to the help request in a manner which is dependent on the particular operational mode. 
   
   
       26 . A system according to  claim 25  comprising a storage medium for storing user guide information and wherein the data processor is configured to respond to the help request by providing a subset of the user guide information associated with the particular operational mode. 
   
   
       27 . A system according to  claim 1  wherein the display comprises one or more touch-sensitive user interface controls for providing user input to the system. 
   
   
       28 . A system according to  claim 2  wherein the plurality of operational modes comprise two or more of: a line placement operational mode; a labour and delivery operational mode; an abdominal aortic aneurysm operational mode; and a Doppler operational mode. 
   
   
       29 . A system according to  claim 1  wherein the data processor is configured to provide different configuration data to the signal processing unit and to thereby configure the signal processing unit for different signal processing operation for different lines of an ultrasound image. 
   
   
       30 . A system according to  claim 1 , wherein the handheld ultrasound system weighs less than 10 pounds. 
   
   
       31 . A system according to  claim 1 , wherein the handheld ultrasound system has transverse and longitudinal dimensions less than about 15 centimetres and a width less than about 5 cm. 
   
   
       32 . A method for initializing a handheld ultrasonic system having a data processor, a configurable signal processing unit and a transducer assembly, the method comprising:
 determining an operational mode of the handheld ultrasonic device; and   providing configuration data to the signal processing unit to thereby configure the signal processing unit for signal processing operation associated with the operational mode.   
   
   
       33 . A method according to  claim 32  wherein determining the operational mode comprises determining a particular operational mode from among a plurality of operational modes and wherein providing the configuration data to the signal processing unit comprises providing a corresponding one of a plurality of sets of configuration data to the signal processing unit to thereby configure the signal processing unit for signal processing operation associated with the particular operational mode. 
   
   
       34 . A method according to  claim 32  wherein determining the operational mode comprises: ascertaining identification information from the transducer assembly, the identification information related to a type of transducer array associated with the transducer assembly; and determining the operational mode based at least in part on the identification information. 
   
   
       35 . A method according to  claim 34  wherein the identification information comprises an indication that the type of transducer array comprises one or more of: a convex array of transducer elements, a linear array of transducer elements and a phased array of transducer elements. 
   
   
       36 . A method according to  claim 32  wherein the configuration information comprises one or more of: data which defines a transmit beamforming configuration for the operational mode; data which defines a receive beamforming configuration for the operational mode; data which defines one or more digital filters for the operational mode; and data which defines one or more envelope detectors for the operational mode. 
   
   
       37 . A method according to  claim 32  wherein the signal processing unit comprises a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) and wherein providing configuration data to the signal processing unit comprises creating interconnects for configuration of the FPGA. 
   
   
       38 . A method according to  claim 32  comprising receiving user input from one or more user interface controls and interpreting the user input in a manner which is dependent on the operational mode. 
   
   
       39 . A method according to  claim 38  wherein receiving the user input comprises receiving a help request and interpreting the user input comprises interpreting the help request in a manner which is dependent on the operational mode. 
   
   
       40 . A method according to  claim 39  wherein interpreting the help request in a manner which is dependent on the operational mode comprises outputting a user guide that is dependent on the operational mode. 
   
   
       41 . A method according to  claim 33  wherein the plurality of operational modes comprise two or more of: a line placement operational mode; a labour and delivery operational mode; an abdominal aortic aneurysm operational mode; and a Doppler operational mode. 
   
   
       42 . A computer readable medium having recorded thereon statements and instructions which when executed by a suitably configured processor cause the processor to perform the method of  claim 33 .