Method and apparatus for rendering an ultrasound image

1. A method for rendering an image from ultrasound image data, comprising:

dividing the ultrasound image data into at least a first group of voxels and a second group of voxels, based on comparing voxel echo intensity to a threshold value;

processing the first group of voxels according to a first protocol;

processing the second group of voxels according to a second protocol;

generating an image that includes the first group of processed voxels and the second group of processed voxels to enhance realism of the rendered image; and

wherein the second protocol includes assigning transport color as a function of echo intensity, and

the second protocol assigns the transport color to approximate a wavelength function of water.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first protocol and the second protocol further comprise:

propagating and attenuating incident radiance.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the propagating and attenuating are accomplished via ray casting from at least one light source.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the threshold value is selected such that the first group of voxels have echo intensity values associated with tissue and the second group of voxels have echo intensity values associated with a non-tissue material.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the non-tissue material includes bone and/or fluids.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the threshold value is selected such that the first group of voxels have echo intensity values associated with fetal tissue and the second group of voxels have echo intensity values associated with amniotic fluid.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first protocol sets values of at least one optical property according to a first function and the second protocol sets values of the at least one optical property according to a second function, the second function being different from the first function.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the at least one optical property includes one of opacity, surface color, phase function, or refraction coefficient.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein each voxel is divided into the first group if it has an echo intensity of greater than or equal to about 0.2.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein each voxel is divided into the second group if it has an echo intensity of less than about 0.2.

11. A method for rendering an image from ultrasound image data, comprising:

dividing the ultrasound image data into at least a first group of voxels and a second group of voxels, based on comparing voxel echo intensity to a threshold value;

processing the first group of voxels according to a first protocol;

processing the second group of voxels according to a second protocol;

generating an image that includes the first group of processed voxels and the second group of processed voxels to enhance realism of the rendered image;

wherein the first protocol and the second protocol further comprise: propagating and attenuating incident radiance; and

wherein under the second protocol the attenuation coefficient is considered as a non-zero value that is no larger than a least value assigned to the attenuation coefficient according to the first protocol.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the threshold value is selected such that the first group of voxels have echo intensity values associated with tissue and the second group of voxels have echo intensity values associated with a non-tissue material.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the non-tissue material includes bone and/or fluids.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the threshold value is selected such that the first group of voxels have echo intensity values associated with fetal tissue and the second group of voxels have echo intensity values associated with amniotic fluid.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the first protocol sets values of at least one optical property according to a first function and the second protocol sets values of the at least one optical property according to a second function, the second function being different from the first function.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the at least one optical property includes one of opacity, surface color, transport color, phase function, or refraction coefficient.

17. The method of claim 11 , wherein each voxel is divided into the first group if it has an echo intensity of greater than or equal to about 0.2.

18. A method for visualizing amniotic fluid via ultrasound imaging comprising:

obtaining ultrasound image data, the data containing multiple voxels;

identifying tissue voxels and amniotic fluid voxels from the multiple voxels, wherein the step of identifying tissue voxels and amniotic fluid voxels includes comparing an echo intensity of the multiple voxels to a threshold value;

assigning a non-zero value to an attenuation coefficient of the amniotic fluid voxels;

generating an ultrasound image that includes the amniotic fluid as well as tissue; and

assigning transport color to the amniotic fluid voxels as a function of echo intensity.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the transport color is set to approximate a wavelength function of water.

20. The method of claim 18 , wherein the threshold value is about 0.2.