Heart rate demodulation of periodic movement in ultrasound data for object identification

1. A method for enhancing a signal of a target object comprising the steps of,

providing a rate of movement of said target object;

demodulating a signal with said rate of said target object;

calculating one or more statistics of one or more pixels corresponding to one or more non-moving noises;

determining an adaptive threshold for a magnitude of one or more object pixels based on one or more properties of said noise;

identifying said object pixels that correspond to one or more positive and negative velocities based on said threshold;

assigning labels to one or more of said object pixels that are substantially adjacent; and

locating said adjacent object pixels that define one or more objects based on one or more size and power criteria.

2. A system for automatically detecting an object associated with a rate of movement, comprising,

a processor for:

filtering a complex autocorrelation signal corresponding to said rate of movement;

demodulating said filtered complex autocorrelation signal;

calculating one or more statistics of one or more pixels corresponding to one or more non-moving noises;

determining an adaptive threshold for a magnitude of one or more object pixels based on one or more properties of said noise;

identifying said object pixels that correspond to one or more positive and negative velocities based on said threshold;

assigning labels to one or more of said object pixels that are substantially adjacent;

locating said adjacent object pixels that define one or more of said objects based on one or more size and power criteria; and

creating an image that comprises a location of one or more of said detected objects; and

a display device for displaying said image of said detected object.