ULTRASOUND IMAGING METHOD AND APPARATUS WITH DYNAMIC NON-LINEAR FILTERING

摘要

Method and apparatus for enhancing the clarity of diagnostic information in real-time B-mode and M-mode ultrasound displays including a beamformer (1) for acquiring ultrasound signals, a signal processor for processing the ultrasound signal with programmable dynamically variable non-linear filters (4, 7), and a display (9) for viewing the ultrasound signals. The non-linear filters (4, 7) may process video signals in range along each ultrasound scan line or azimuthally along multiple ultrasound scan lines of a two-dimensional B-mode image. The non-linear filters (4, 7) also can be two-dimensionally programmable for processing video signals both in range along each ultrasound scan line and azimuthally along multiple ultrasound scan lines over regions of a two-dimensional B-mode image. The non-linear filter (4, 7) may be responsive to a local signal measurement and to spatial positions in a B-mode image for control of filter parameters. The non-linear filter (4, 7) can also be programmable to accomodate variable system characteristics for particular imaging applications.