US 12,133,771 B2
Combined frequency and angle compounding for speckle reduction in ultrasound imaging
Yilei Li, Stanford, CA (US); Steven Chu, Stanford, CA (US); Noah Yuzo Toyonaga, Stanford, CA (US); James Y Jiang, Newton, NJ (US); and Alex E. Cable, Newton, NJ (US)
Assigned to The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University, Stanford, CA (US); and THORLABS, INC., Newton, NJ (US)
Appl. No. 17/257,251
Filed by The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University, Stanford, CA (US); and THORLABS, INC., Newton, NJ (US)
PCT Filed May 21, 2019, PCT No. PCT/US2019/033272
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Dec. 30, 2020,
PCT Pub. No. WO2019/226626, PCT Pub. Date Nov. 28, 2019.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/675,032, filed on May 22, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2021/0212668 A1, Jul. 15, 2021
Int. Cl. A61B 8/00 (2006.01); A61B 8/08 (2006.01); G01S 15/89 (2006.01); G01S 17/66 (2006.01)
CPC A61B 8/5269 (2013.01) [A61B 8/4218 (2013.01); A61B 8/4254 (2013.01); A61B 8/4263 (2013.01); A61B 8/4488 (2013.01); A61B 8/463 (2013.01); A61B 8/5253 (2013.01); G01S 15/8915 (2013.01); G01S 15/8952 (2013.01); G01S 15/8995 (2013.01); G01S 17/66 (2013.01); A61B 2562/0219 (2013.01); A61B 2562/0247 (2013.01)] 26 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of generating an ultrasound image with reduced speckle, the method comprising:
generating, using an ultrasound probe at a first position, first image data for a voxel of an object corresponding to a first angle and first multiple frequencies of the ultrasound probe, wherein the voxel is in a region of interest, the region of interest comprising a plurality of voxels including the voxel, and wherein the region of interest is in a field of view of and at a given radial distance from the ultrasound probe at the first position;
displacing the ultrasound probe in a curve extending from a first position to a second position, wherein at the second position, the region of interest is in the field of view of and at the given radial distance from the ultrasound probe;
generating, using the ultrasound probe at the second position, second image data for the voxel of the object corresponding to a second angle and second multiple frequencies of the ultrasound probe, wherein the first image data and the second image data correspond to the same voxel imaged from different angles;
frequency compounding and angle compounding the first image data and the second image data to generate at least a portion of an ultrasound image that corresponds to the voxel; and
outputting the ultrasound image.