Providing an ultrasound spatial compound image in an ultrasound system
View Patent ↗An ultrasound system includes an ultrasound data acquisition unit and a processing unit. The ultrasound data acquisition unit transmits and receives ultrasound signals to and from a target object based on a plurality of steering angles to output a plurality of ultrasound data for obtaining a plurality of ultrasound images corresponding to the steering angles. The processing unit forms the ultrasound images based on the ultrasound data, decomposes each of the ultrasound images into a low pass image having a low frequency component and a high pass image having a high frequency component, performs a blending process of removing a seam artifact upon the low and high pass images for each of the ultrasound images, forms a plurality of restoration images by composing the blended low and high pass images, and forms an ultrasound spatial compound image based on the restoration images.
1. An ultrasound system, comprising:
an ultrasound data acquisition unit configured to transmit and receive ultrasound signals to and from a target object based on a plurality of steering angles to thereby output a plurality of ultrasound data for obtaining a plurality of ultrasound images corresponding to the steering angles; and
a processing unit in communication with the ultrasound data acquisition unit, the processing unit being configured to form the ultrasound images based on the ultrasound data, decompose each of the ultrasound images into a low pass image having a low frequency component and a high pass image having a high frequency component, perform a blending process for removing a seam artifact upon the low pass image and the high pass image corresponding to each of the ultrasound images, form a plurality of restoration images by composing the blending-processed low and high pass images corresponding to each of the ultrasound images, and form an ultrasound spatial compound image based on the restoration images,
wherein the processing unit is configured to perform the blending process upon the low pass image or the high pass image of one of the plurality of ultrasound images with the low pass image or the high pass image, respectively, of another one of the plurality of ultrasound images.
2. The ultrasound system of claim 1 , wherein the processing unit is configured to decompose each of the ultrasound images into the low pass image and the high pass image by using a low pass filter.
3. The ultrasound system of claim 1 , wherein the processing unit is configured to:
detect first boundary lines of the low pass images and second boundary lines of the high pass images;
set first blending area having a predetermined size on the low pass images based on the first boundary lines and second blending areas having the predetermined size on the high pass images based on the second boundary lines; and
perform the blending process upon the low pass images and the high pass images based on the first blending areas and the second blending areas.
4. The ultrasound system of claim 3 , wherein the processing unit is configured to perform the blending process by applying a first weight value to pixels of the first blending areas adjacent to a non-overlapped area of the low pass images, applying a second weight value to pixels of the first blending areas adjacent to an overlapped area of the low pass images, applying the first weight value to pixels of the second blending areas adjacent to a non-overlapped area of the high pass images, and applying the second weight value to pixels of the second blending areas adjacent to an overlapped area of the high pass images.
5. The ultrasound system of claim 1 , wherein the blending process comprises an alpha blending process.
6. A method of providing an ultrasound spatial compound image, comprising:
a) forming a plurality of ultrasound images based on a plurality of ultrasound data, wherein the ultrasound images correspond to a plurality of steering angles;
b) decomposing each of the ultrasound images into a low pass image having a low frequency component and a high pass image having a high frequency component;
c) performing a blending process for removing a seam artifact upon the low pass image and the high pass image corresponding to each of the ultrasound images;
d) forming a plurality of restoration images by composing the blending-processed low and high pass images corresponding to each of the ultrasound images; and
e) forming an ultrasound spatial compound image based on the restoration images,
wherein the blending process is performed upon the low pass image or the high pass image of one of the plurality of ultrasound images with the low pass image or the high pass image, respectively, of another one of the plurality of ultrasound images.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the step b) comprises:
decomposing each of the ultrasound images by using a low pass filter.
8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the step c) comprises:
c1) detecting first boundary lines of the low pass images and second boundary lines of the high pass images;
c2) setting first blending areas on the low pass images based on the first boundary lines and second blending areas on the high pass images based on the second boundary lines; and
c3) performing the blending process upon the low pass images and the high pass images based on the first blending areas and the second blending areas.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the step c3) comprises:
applying a first weight value to pixels of the first blending areas adjacent to a non-overlapped area of the low pass images;
applying a second weight value to pixels of the first blending areas adjacent to an overlapped area of the low pass images;
applying the first weight value to pixels of the second blending areas adjacent to a non-overlapped area of the high pass images; and
applying the second weight value to pixels of the second blending areas adjacent to an overlapped area of the high pass images.
10. The method of claim 6 , wherein the blending process comprises an alpha blending process.
11. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer executable instructions for performing following steps of:
a) forming a plurality of ultrasound images based on a plurality of ultrasound data, wherein the ultrasound images corresponding to a plurality of steering angles;
b) decomposing each of the ultrasound images into a low pass image having a low frequency component and a high pass image having a high frequency component;
c) performing a blending process for removing a seam artifact upon the low pass image and the high pass image corresponding to each of the ultrasound images;
d) forming a plurality of restoration images by composing the blending-processed low and high pass images; and
e) forming an ultrasound spatial compound image based on the restoration images,
wherein the blending process is performed upon the low pass image or the high pass image of one of the plurality of ultrasound images with the low pass image or the high pass image, respectively, of another one of the plurality of ultrasound images.