ULTRASOUND INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEM AND ULTRASOUND INFORMATION EXCHANGE PROTOCOL THEREFOR

摘要

An ultrasound information processing system comprises a plurality of ultrasound devices (202) coupled to a high-speed serial ultrasound information bus (102), wherein device comprises a program for communicating according to an ultrasound information exchange protocol (UIEP) (212). The UIEP program (206) is adapted to receive a communication request from the application layer (214), open a connection-oriented communication session with the requested ultrasoud device (202), and transfer ultrasound information through the lower protocol layer (210) and across the ultrasound information bus (102) to the requested device (202). Advantageously, any ultrasound device manufacturer provided with the UIEP program (206) may readily generate application layer code capable of communicating with other manufacturers' ultrasound devices.