US 12,257,104 B2
Hybrid robotic-image plane control of a tee probe
Paul Thienphrapa, Cambridge, MA (US); Sean Joseph Kyne, Brookline, MA (US); Molly Lara Flexman, Melrose, MA (US); Ameet Kumar Jain, Boston, MA (US); Sibo Li, Waltham, MA (US); Kunal Vaidya, Boston, MA (US); and Marcin Arkadiusz Balicki, Cambridge, MA (US)
Assigned to KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V., Eindhoven (NL)
Appl. No. 17/783,387
Filed by KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V., Eindhoven (NL)
PCT Filed Dec. 8, 2020, PCT No. PCT/EP2020/084971
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jun. 8, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/116051, PCT Pub. Date Jun. 17, 2021.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/947,153, filed on Dec. 12, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2023/0012353 A1, Jan. 12, 2023
Int. Cl. A61B 8/00 (2006.01); A61B 8/08 (2006.01); A61B 1/00 (2006.01)
CPC A61B 8/4245 (2013.01) [A61B 8/0883 (2013.01); A61B 1/0005 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An ultrasound (US) device, comprising:
a probe including a tube and ultrasonic transducers on a distal end of the tube, the tube including mechanical joints, the ultrasound transducers configured to generate an electronically steerable image plane defining a two-dimensional field of view (2D FOV) of an ultrasound image, and the mechanical joints configured to physically position the ultrasound transducers;
at least one electronic processor; and
at least one memory storing computer program code;
the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one electronic processor, cause the probe to steer to a target by an iterative process in which each iteration includes:
acquiring the ultrasound image using the ultrasound transducers; and
at least one of: (i) electronically steering the image plane of the ultrasonic transducers to electronically adjust the 2D FOV according to the ultrasound image, and (ii) adjusting the mechanical joints of the probe to physically reposition the ultrasound transducers according to the ultrasound image.