CPC A61B 34/20 (2016.02) [A61B 8/0841 (2013.01); A61B 8/4254 (2013.01); A61B 8/54 (2013.01); A61B 2034/2063 (2016.02)] | 18 Claims |
1. An ultrasound system for tracking movement of an object in a medical procedure, the ultrasound system comprising: an ultrasound probe having an imaging field of view (FOV); a motion detector configured to detect movement of the ultrasound probe relative to a body and generate data on the movement of the FOV relative to the body; and a controller, operatively coupled with the ultrasound probe and the motion detector, the controller configured to: detect the movement of the FOV relative to the body using the data generated by the motion detector, communicate with at least one of i) an ultrasound sensor incorporated in the object and configured to detect ultrasound signals transmitted by the ultrasound probe and ii) an ultrasound emitter incorporated in the object and configured to emit ultrasound signals for detection by the ultrasound probe, detect positions of the object within the FOV based on the communication with the at least one of the ultrasound sensor and the ultrasound emitter, record, over time, a history of the detected positions of the object within the FOV, generate an estimation of a direction of motion of the object based on the recorded history of the detected positions of the object within the FOV and based on the detected movement of the FOV relative to the body, and determine a range of possible current positions of a designated point of on the object within the FOV based on a known distance between the designated point and i) the ultrasound sensor or ii) the ultrasound emitter incorporated in the object and based on the detected positions of the object, wherein the determined range of possible current positions is a circle centered on i) the ultrasound sensor or ii) the ultrasound emitter with a radius equal to a distance between the designated point and i) the ultrasound sensor or ii) the ultrasound emitter, and narrow the range of possible current positions by selection of an arc of the circle of the possible current positions based on the generated estimation of the direction of motion of the object.
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