Abstract
The prior art Ultrasound scanners are dedicated, custom architecture machines that are bulky, costly and have primitive features. The object of this invention is to overcome these drawbacks by designing a new architecture based on USB 2.0 PC standard. This architecture allows using any standard PC to process and display the ultrasound image. To interface with the PC we designed the beamformer with high end features including colour and pulse Doppler. It is compact in size and light in weight. As per this architecture, the beamformer can be plugged to any PC at run time. Thus we have made Ultrasound Scanner as a high speed USB peripheral which is unique. The advantages of this revolutionary architecture are lower cost, smaller size, rich features (like one million image storage, multiple window image display, automatic reporting in Microsoft WordTM and Microsoft ExceITM, voice navigation) and ultra portability. Because of the small size and portability we expect our invention to become the visual stereoscope to doctors of the coming generation.
Specification
FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY
This invention relates to the field of Medical Equipment/Instrument System. Further this invention relates to the area of medical equipment. More particularly this invention pertains to Hot Pluggable PC (Personal Computer) based portable Ultrasound Scanner using USB (Universal Serial Bus) 2.0 system for image processing and display of Ultrasound Image.
DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART
The present state of art relates to ultrasonic diagnostic imaging systems and, in particular, to ultrasonic diagnostic imaging systems designed using an integrated personal computer platform. The present ultrasound systems acquire, process and display acoustic information using dedicated DSPs (Digital Signal Processor) and microprocessors. Use of customized hardware and software limits machine size and features. For instance portable ultrasound machines weigh over 10Kgs, support 16 image storage, 32 frames of cine memory and have limited and proprietary GUI (Graphical User interface). The designs using a PC for image processing integrates the PC into the scanner. Thus a pluggable concept is nonexistent.
LIMITATIONS
Dedicated proprietary hardware based Ultrasound scanners have the following disadvantages:
• Portability: - Usually the weight of the machine is over 10kgs and bulky.
So portability is less;
• Battery Backup: - The power consumption is usually high. So providing
a battery backup is either difficult or not possible. It also adds to the
System weight and makes it less portable;
2
• Connectivity: - Limited connectivity to the PC and Internet; - Providing
all the PC standard connectivity (Ethernet, USB etc.) in custom
hardware is a costly and difficult affair. Providing the supporting
software is also difficult;
• Peripherals support like printers: - For adding every new printer the
software of the machine has to be modified. Software modifications
usually take longer time and are prone to software bugs;
• GUI features & user friendliness: - Providing a Microsoft Windows like GUI in custom software is difficult. The custom GUI will have its own unique features. So user friendliness will be less;
• Image management and archiving: - Cost effective image archiving is not possible because the non-volatile media used (usually flash memory) is very costly. Lack of a good GUI and user controls make the image management a tedious process;
• Multiple Images display and Image size: - 7 to 9" size CRT (Cathode
Ray Tube) display is used in most of the machines. So image size will
be less. Clarity of the image also will be affected when multiple images
are displayed;
• Frame rate: - NTSC(National Television System Committee) or PAL
(Phase alternate lines ) TV (Television) standard monitor is used and
the frame rate is 25 or 30Hz;
• Aesthetics: - Bulkier hardware components (like CRTs) give outdated
looks and affect aesthetics;
• Reporting tools: - Developing reporting tools in custom software to
generate/archive customizable reports in standard document formats
(like MS-Word, Excel etc) is difficult;
• Cost effectiveness: - Custom hardware and software are costlier
compared to PC-standard hardware and software;
• Productivity: - Inability to provide the above-mentioned tools/features
would lead to lesser productivity.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
It is the primary object of invention to invent a hot pluggable PC based portable Ultrasound Scanner using USB 2, which is unique.
It is another object of the invention to invent a novel hot pluggable PC based portable Ultrasound Scanner, which is having fully digital colour and Pulse Doppler beamformer.
It is another object of the invention to invent a hot pluggable PC based portable Ultrasound Scanner to use the PC for image processing and display of Ultrasound Image, thereby reducing the proprietary hardware and thus improving features, cost and portability.
It is another object of invention to invent a novel hot pluggable PC based portable Ultrasound Scanner with a new scheme, which would reduce the weigh of present Ultrasound Scanner and increase the efficiency in the system.
It is another object of invention to invent a novel hot pluggable PC based portable Ultrasound Scanner, which is low in cost compared to existing machines in this class.
It is another object of invention to invent a novel hot pluggable PC based portable Ultrasound Scanner with battery backup without sacrificing the portability.
It is another object of the invention to invent a novel hot pluggable PC based portable Ultrasound Scanner, which has 1 million images storage capacity and 1500 cine frames capacity.
Further it is another object of the invention to invent a novel hot pluggable PC based portable Ultrasound Scanner wherein, Windows GUI with automated reporting in Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint can be used.
It is another object of invention to invent a novel hot pluggable PC based portable Ultrasound Scanner with voice navigation aided measurement and annotation.
It is another object of invention to invent a novel hot pluggable PC based portable Ultrasound Scanner with support for all PC standard printers.
PROPOSED SOLUTION
We propose a new scheme called hot pluggable PC based portable Ultrasound Scanner using USB 2.0 system, which is unique and solves all the limitations mentioned above and addresses all the objectives mentioned above.
The key idea for inventing the system is to develop a new Ultrasound Scanner, which allows the use of any standard PC to process and display the ultrasound image interfacing through the USB 2.0 Bus.
The scanner hardware consists of a Desktop or Laptop PC, a beamformer box and the ultrasound transducer. The ultrasound transducer transmits and receives the Ultrasound echoes from the patient's body. The beamformer box receives the
echoes, amplifies and filters them and sends it to the PC through the USB bus. The PC processes the data, constructs the image and displays it on its screen. The beamformer box, which interfaces to the PC through the USB bus, is hot pluggable. That means the beamformer box can be unplugged when the scanning is on or plugged in when the PC is on. These three basic modules are explained further.
The following description explains the salient features of the invention. The description will be with reference to drawings accompanying the Provisional Specification. Fig. (1) of the drawings gives in detail the modules used in the construction of the device. The following modules are explained in detail:
1. Beamformer Module,
2. Transducer Module and
3. The PC.
1. Beamformer Module:
This is a 3.1cm thick 30 x 25 mm rectangular box weighing 2Kg. This has connectivity to the ultrasound transducer, USB and power supply. This has the following functional sub-modules: -
a) Transmit Beamformer Block: This is a 32 channel transmitter, with
15nS delay resolution and 60-120V pulse amplitude;
b) Receive Beamformer Block: This is a 32 channel, folded architecture
digital beamformer. The preamplifier block has 70db Signal sensitivity
and a bandwidth response up to 20MHz. The ADC's (Analog to Digital
Converter) are 12 bit, 40 MHz. The receive beamforming and
processing are done by a high speed CPLD(Complex Programmable
Logic Device). The final doppler and Black & white data is presented to
the frame memory block;
c) The frame memory block has dual bank architecture for simultaneous
reading and writing. The writing is by the Receive beamformer block.
The reading is by the USB peripheral controller;
d) The USB peripheral controller (high speed USB 2.0) handles the USB
bus protocols as well as bank reading and bank switching. This high
speed USB2.0 controller supports Isochronous and bulk transfers. The
image data is sent through the USB bus as an isochronous stream at
the rate of 128 bytes per frame. It also receives user commands from
the PC and communicates to the beamformer. Status information from
the beamformer is periodically updated to the PC;
e) Power Supply Module: This is a Smart Battery System, which generates
multiple low noise voltages for the beamformer. The battery has 3.6 Ah
capacity which can power the system for 7hrs of continuous operation;
f) Ultrasound Keyboard: The beamformer box has a retractable ultrasound
keyboard, which has 6 slider TGC and a gain knob.
2. Transducer Module:
The beamformer supports a number of convex and linear phased array transducers. The elements vary from 64 to 128. The transducer is connected to the beamformer through a ZIF connector. The transducer can be disconnected and connected from the beamformer during live scan.
3. The PC:
It is a standard PC or Laptop with the following minimum configuration:
1. Pentium III 866 MHz and above or equivalent
2. 128 MB PC133 RAM
3. 20GB Hard Disk Drive
4. Display resolution 1024x768 with 24 bit colour
5. 4MB Video Memory
6. Windows 2000 or XP
7. Mother board with USB 2.0 support
The PC does the following functions:
a) Image Acquisition: This is a windows USB driver. It takes care of the
data transfer through the USB bus. The image data is acquired from the
isochronous stream and the Acoustic Frame Memory is recreated in PC
memory. The Image Processing and display module will use this data.
This also supports bulk transfer for communicating messages from the
beamformer to the GUI;
b) Image Processing and Display: This module performs all the image
processing functions including frame averaging, gamma correction and
dynamic range mapping, scan conversion using quad point interpolation
algorithm, colour and Doppler processing. Live image display is done
using Direct Draw methods supported by Microsoft Windows. This also
sends and receives messages to the beamformer through bulk
transfers;
c) Graphic User Interface (GUI): The GUI has the look and feel of any
Windows application and co-exists with them. The Ultrasound image is
presented to the user using MDI (Multi Document Interface)
architecture. Any number of such windows - limited only by PC RAM
(Random access memory) size - can be opened with its own image
parameters and cine. They can be freely resized, tiled or cascaded in
live or frozen mode.
The GUI also handles keyboard and mouse events. It implements all diagnostic tools, cine, measurement and calculation, voice navigation and reporting.
The GUI integrates the Offline Scanner module, which archives images, image parameters and cine. This can be retrieved offline - The beamformer is powered off/disconnected - for measurements and reporting. Such offline reporting greatly improves patient throughput.
WE CLAIM
1. Hot Pluggable PC based portable Ultrasound Scanner using USB 2.0
comprising a new architecture based on USB 2.0 which allows the use of any
standard PC to process and display ultrasound image and also allows hot
pluggability of the ultrasound beamformer.
2. Hot Pluggable PC based portable Ultrasound Scanner using USB 2.0 as
claimed in Claim 1 wherein the ultrasound beamformer is fully digital and has
pulse and colour Doppler capabilities.
3. Hot Pluggable PC based portable Ultrasound Scanner using USB 2.0 as
claimed in Claim 1 wherein the said equipment comprises the following
modules:
1. Beamformer Module,
2. Transducer Module and
3. The PC.
4. Hot Pluggable PC based portable Ultrasound Scanner using USB 2.0 as
claimed in Claim 1 wherein the scanner has the following capabilities:
a) B-Mode, M-Mode and A-Mode processing.
b) Colour Doppler imaging
c) Pulse Doppler imaging
5. Miniaturised design of the digital colour and Pulse Doppler ultrasound
beamformer hardware.
6. Retractable ultrasound keyboard integrated with the beamformer.
7. GUI with MDI (Multiple Document Interface) architecture with each image
window having its own cine and image parameter settings.
8. The "Offline Scanner" feature of the GUI for measurements and reporting on
archived images when the beamformer is offline.
