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US006468213B1
(12) United States Patent ao) Patent No.: us 6,468,213 Bi
Knell et al. (45) Date of Patent: Oct. 22,2002
(54) MEDICAL DIAGNOSTIC ULTRASOUND SYSTEM AND METHOD
(75) Inventors: Christopher B. Knell, Moorestown, NJ (US); Joseph A. Urbano, Audubon; Anthony P. Lannutti, Norristown, both of PA (US)
(73) Assignee: Ecton, Inc., Plymouth Meeting, PA (US)
( * ) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U.S.C. 154(b) by 0 days.
(21) Appl. No.: 09/396,834
(22) Filed: Sep. 14, 1999
(51) Int. C I. A61B 8/00
(52) U.S. CI 600/437; 600/459
(58) Field of Search 600/437, 440-447,
600/459; 73/625, 626; 367/7, 11, 130; 348/536;
382/300
(56) References Cited
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
RU 984463 12/1982
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
"The Flexibility of Configurable Computing," Villasenor and Hutchings, IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, Sep. 1998, vol. 15, No. 5, pp. 67-84.
(List continued on next page.)
Primary Examiner—Marvin M. Lateef
Assistant Examiner—Ali M. Imam
(57) ABSTRACT
A scan converter using a re-programmable logic device provides flexibility for converting data from an acoustic grid to a display format. A set of instruction codes is provided for implementing the flexibility. By changing the instruction codes, the scan conversion process changes. A single memory stores the incoming data where read and write operations are performed sequentially. The same memory may be used for storing the scan converted data. A field programmable gate array is preferably used to scan convert the data and is programmed differently for different modes of operation.
42 Claims, 36 Drawing Sheets
Microfiche Appendix Included
(47 Microfiche, 2772 Pages)
