Ultrasound gray-scale imaging system and method

Abstract

An ultrasound grayscale imaging system includes a probe; a transmitting circuit which excites the probe to transmit multiple groups of non-focused ultrasound beams to a flow; a receiving circuit which receives echoes to obtain multiple groups of non-focused ultrasound echo signals; a signal processing unit which obtains flow data according to the multiple groups of non-focused ultrasound echo signals; an image processing unit which obtains B mode ultrasound image sequence according to the flow data; and a display device which displays the B mode ultrasound image sequence.

1 . An ultrasound grayscale imaging system, comprising:
 a probe;   a transmitting circuit which excites the probe to transmit multiple groups of non-focused ultrasound beams to a flow;   a receiving circuit which receives echoes of the multiple groups of non-focused ultrasound beams returned from the flow to obtain multiple groups of non-focused ultrasound echo signals;   a signal processing unit which obtains flow data according to the multiple groups of non-focused ultrasound echo signals;   an image processing unit which obtains B mode ultrasound image sequence according to the flow data; and   a display device which displays the B mode ultrasound image sequence.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a wall filter which performs wall filtering on the multiple groups of non-focused ultrasound echo signals and sends the wall-filtered multiple groups of non-focused ultrasound echo signals to the signal processing unit to obtain wall-filtered flow data.   
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , further comprising a B mode signal processing unit,
 wherein the multiple groups of non-focused ultrasound echo signals are sent to the wall filter and the signal processing unit to obtain wall-filtered flow data, and are sent to the B mode signal processing unit which obtains ultrasound image data according to the multiple groups of non-focused ultrasound echo signals; and   wherein the image processing unit further overlays the wall-filtered flow data on the ultrasound image data and obtains the B mode ultrasound image sequence according to the ultrasound image data overlaid with the wall-filtered flow data.   
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein each group of non-focused ultrasound beams transmitted to the flow comprises multiple non-focused ultrasound beams with different transmission angles, the receiving circuit receives echoes of the multiple non-focused ultrasound beams with different transmission angles to obtain multiple non-focused ultrasound echo signals in one group of non-focused ultrasound echo signals, and non-focused ultrasound echo signals obtained at a same spatial location are spatially compounded based on the multiple non-focused ultrasound echo signals and then sent to the signal processing unit or the wall filter. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the image processing unit further calculates variances of I data and Q data demodulated from the flow data, determines non-flow regions and flow regions based on a variance threshold, and maps trends of the variances with grayscales and/or colors to obtain B mode ultrasound image sequence overlaid with the grayscales and/or colors or obtain B mode ultrasound image sequence overlaid with the grayscales and/or colors based on regions. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the image processing unit obtains B mode ultrasound image sequence through:
 calculating variances of I data and Q data demodulated from the wall-filtered flow data and mapping trends of the variances with grayscales and/or colors to obtain the B mode ultrasound image sequence;   converting I data and Q data demodulated from the wall-filtered flow data from polar coordinates to Cartesian coordinates and mapping trends of amplitudes of signal envelopes over time with grayscales and/or colors to obtain the B mode ultrasound image sequence; or   calculating energy of signals representing the flow based on I and Q data demodulated from the wall-filtered flow data and mapping the energy of signals with grayscales and/or colors to obtain the B mode ultrasound image sequence.   
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein coded pulses with wide bandwidth are used by the transmitting circuit to excite the probe to transmit the non-focused ultrasound beams to the flow. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein the image processing unit further calculates energy of signals representing the flow based on the wall-filtered flow data, determines flow regions and non-flow regions in the ultrasound image data based on an energy threshold, overlays the wall-filtered flow data on the flow regions and obtains the B mode ultrasound image sequence according to the ultrasound image data overlaid with the wall-filter flow data. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein each group of non-focused ultrasound beams transmitted to the flow comprises multiple non-focused ultrasound beams with virtual focuses in different locations. 
     
     
         10 . An ultrasound grayscale imaging system, comprising:
 a probe;   a transmitting circuit which excites the probe to transmit multiple groups of non-focused ultrasound beams and focused ultrasound beams to a scanning target containing a flow;   a receiving circuit which receives echoes of the multiple non-focused ultrasound beams returned from the flow to obtain multiple groups of non-focused ultrasound echo signals and receives echoes of the multiple focused ultrasound beams returned from the scanning target to obtain multiple groups of focused ultrasound echo signals;   a signal processing unit which obtains flow data according to the multiple groups of non-focused ultrasound echo signals;   a B mode signal processing unit which obtains ultrasound image data according to the multiple groups of focused ultrasound echo signals;   an image processing unit which overlays the flow data on the ultrasound image data and obtains B mode ultrasound image sequence according to the ultrasound image data overlaid with the flow data; and   a display device which displays the B mode ultrasound image sequence.   
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 a wall filter which performs wall filtering on the multiple groups of non-focused ultrasound echo signals and send the wall-filtered multiple groups of non-focused ultrasound echo signals to the signal processing unit to obtain wall-filtered flow data;   wherein the image processing unit overlays the wall-filtered flow data on the ultrasound image data and obtains the B mode ultrasound image sequence according to the ultrasound image data overlaid with the wall-filtered flow data.   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein each group of non-focused ultrasound beams transmitted to the scanning target containing the flow comprises multiple non-focused ultrasound beams with different transmission angles, the receiving circuit receives echoes of the multiple non-focused ultrasound beams with different transmission angles to obtain multiple non-focused ultrasound echo signals in one group of non-focused ultrasound echo signals, and non-focused ultrasound echo signals obtained at a same spatial location are spatially compounded based on the multiple non-focused ultrasound echo signals and then sent to the signal processing unit or the wall filter. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the image processing unit further calculates variances of I data and Q data demodulated from the flow data, determines non-flow regions and flow regions based on a variance threshold, and maps trends of the variances with grayscales and/or colors to obtain B mode ultrasound image sequence overlaid with the grayscales and/or colors or obtain B mode ultrasound image sequence overlaid with the grayscales and/or colors based on regions. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the image processing unit obtains the B mode ultrasound image sequence through:
 calculating variances of I data and Q data demodulated from the wall-filtered flow data and mapping trends of the variances with grayscales and/or colors to obtain the B mode ultrasound image sequence;   converting I data and Q data demodulated from the wall-filtered flow data from polar coordinates to Cartesian coordinates and mapping trends of amplitudes of signal envelopes over time with grayscales and/or colors to obtain the B mode ultrasound image sequence; or   calculating energy of signals representing the flow based on I and Q data demodulated from the wall-filtered flow data and mapping the energy of signals with grayscales and/or colors to obtain the B mode ultrasound image sequence.   
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein coded pulses with wide bandwidth are used by the transmitting circuit to excite the probe to transmit the non-focused ultrasound beams and the focused ultrasound beams. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the non-focused ultrasound beams and the focused ultrasound beams are transmitted alternately. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the image processing unit further calculates energy of signals representing the flow based on the wall-filtered flow data, determines flow regions and non-flow regions in the ultrasound image data based on an energy threshold, overlays the wall-filtered flow data on the flow regions and obtains the B mode ultrasound image sequence according to the ultrasound image data overlaid with the wall-filter flow data. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein each group of non-focused ultrasound beams transmitted to the flow comprises multiple non-focused ultrasound beams with virtual focuses in different locations. 
     
     
         19 . An ultrasound grayscale imaging method, comprising:
 transmitting multiple groups of non-focused ultrasound beams to a flow;   receiving echoes of the multiple groups of non-focused ultrasound beams to obtain multiple groups of non-focused ultrasound echo signals;   obtaining flow data according to the multiple groups of non-focused ultrasound echo signals;   obtaining B mode ultrasound image sequence according to the flow data; and   displaying the B mode ultrasound image.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein obtaining the flow data according to the multiple groups of non-focused ultrasound echo signals comprises:
 wall filtering the multiple groups of non-focused ultrasound echo signals to obtain filtered signals; and   obtaining wall-filtered flow data according to the filtered signals.   
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein obtaining the flow data according to the multiple groups of non-focused ultrasound echo signals comprises:
 wall-filtering and processing the multiple groups of non-focused ultrasound echo signals to obtain wall-filtered flow data; and   obtaining ultrasound image data according to the multiple groups of non-focused ultrasound echo signals;   wherein obtaining B mode ultrasound image sequence according to the flow data comprises:   overlaying the wall-filtered flow data on the ultrasound image data and obtaining the B mode ultrasound image sequence according to the ultrasound image data overlaid with the wall-filtered flow data.   
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein each group of non-focused ultrasound beams transmitted to the flow comprises multiple non-focused ultrasound beams with different transmission angle, and wherein receiving echoes of the multiple groups of non-focused ultrasound beams to obtain multiple groups of non-focused ultrasound echo signals comprises:
 receiving echoes of the multiple non-focused ultrasound beams with different transmission angles to obtain multiple non-focused ultrasound echo signals in one group of non-focused ultrasound echo signals; and   spatially compounding non-focused ultrasound echo signals obtained at a same spatial location based on the multiple non-focused ultrasound echo signals.   
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 transmitting focused ultrasound beams to a scanning target containing the flow;   receiving echoes of the focused ultrasound beams returned from the scanning target to obtain focused ultrasound echo signals; and   obtaining ultrasound image data according to the focused ultrasound echo signals;   wherein obtaining the B mode ultrasound image sequence according to the flow data comprises:   overlaying the wall-filtered flow data on the ultrasound image data and obtaining the B mode ultrasound image sequence according to the ultrasound image data overlaid with the wall-filtered flow data.   
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein obtaining the B mode ultrasound image sequence according to the flow data comprises:
 calculating variances of I data and Q data demodulated from the flow data, determining non-flow regions and flow regions based on the variances, and mapping trends of the variances with grayscales and/or colors to obtain B mode ultrasound image sequence overlaid with the grayscales and/or colors or obtain B mode ultrasound image sequence overlaid with the grayscales and/or colors based on regions.   
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein overlaying the wall-filtered flow data on the ultrasound image data and obtaining the B mode ultrasound image sequence according to the ultrasound image data overlaid with the wall-filtered flow data comprises:
 calculating variances of I data and Q data demodulated from the wall-filtered flow data and mapping trends of the variances with grayscales and/or colors to obtain the B mode ultrasound image sequence;   converting I data and Q data demodulated from the wall-filtered flow data from polar coordinates to Cartesian coordinates and mapping trends of amplitudes of signal envelopes over time with grayscales and/or colors to obtain the B mode ultrasound image sequence; or   calculating energy of signals representing the flow based on I and Q data demodulated from the wall-filtered flow data and mapping the energy of signals with grayscales and/or colors to obtain the B mode ultrasound image sequence.   
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein coded pulses with wide bandwidth are used to excite the probe to transmit the non-focused ultrasound beams and/or the focused ultrasound beams. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein the non-focused ultrasound beams and the focused ultrasound beams are transmitted alternately. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein overlaying the wall-filtered flow data on the ultrasound image data and obtaining the B mode ultrasound image sequence according to the ultrasound image data overlaid with the wall-filtered flow data comprises:
 calculating energy of signals representing the flow based on the wall-filtered flow data;   determining flow regions and non-flow regions in the ultrasound image data based on an energy threshold;   overlaying the wall-filtered flow data on the flow regions; and   obtaining the B mode ultrasound image sequence according to the ultrasound data overlaid with the wall-filtered flow data.   
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein each group of non-focused ultrasound beams transmitted to the flow comprises multiple non-focused ultrasound beams with virtual focuses in different locations.