Method and apparatus for locating and distinguishing blood vessel

1. A method comprising:

transmitting a signal directed to a blood vessel via a self-contained, battery operated, wireless, and autoclavable Doppler ultrasound waveform apparatus comprising a confidence gauge to indicate a confidence level of an artery or a vein, wherein the confidence gauge comprises a plurality of lights and wherein a number of illuminated lights of the plurality of lights indicates the confidence level;

receiving, by the Doppler ultrasound waveform apparatus, a reflected signal from the blood vessel;

determining, by a processing device, whether the blood vessel is an artery or a vein based on a blood flow velocity in the blood vessel;

determining, by the processing device, a confidence level as to whether the blood vessel is an artery or a vein; and

displaying the confidence level on the confidence gauge.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining a phase of a Doppler shift and transmitting the results to a file.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the Doppler ultrasound waveform apparatus is a tone burst excitation differential Doppler apparatus, further comprising:

determining a location of the blood vessel; and

displaying an indication of the location of the blood vessel.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the blood vessel is located in a human arm, further comprising:

determining that the blood vessel is an artery when the blood flow velocity is between 60 cm/sec and 100 cm/sec; and

determining that the blood vessel is a vein when the blood flow velocity is between 10 cm/sec and 20 cm/sec.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:

determining a high confidence level that the blood vessel is an artery when the blood flow velocity is between 75 cm/sec and 85 cm/sec; and

determining a high confidence level that the blood vessel is a vein when the blood flow velocity is between 14 cm/sec and 16 cm/sec.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining the blood flow velocity based on an equation, wherein the equation is:

V blood =( C tissue /2 cos(α))( f o −f doppler )

wherein:

V blood is the blood flow velocity in the blood vessel;

C tissue is a speed of sound in soft tissue;

α is an angle of incidence of the ultrasound waveform apparatus;

f o is a resonant frequency of the ultrasound waveform apparatus; and

f doppler is a frequency of Doppler shifted echo.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the resonant frequency is between and includes 1.0 MHz and 10.0 MHz.

8. An apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

a processing device communicably coupled to the memory and to:

transmit a signal directed to a blood vessel via a Doppler ultrasound waveform;

receive a signal reflected from the blood vessel;

determine whether the blood vessel is an artery or a vein based on a blood flow velocity in the blood vessel;

determine a confidence level as to whether the blood vessel is an artery or a vein; and

display, on a confidence gauge to indicate a confidence level of an artery or a vein, an indication of whether the blood vessel is an artery or a vein and an indication of the confidence level, wherein the apparatus is a self-contained, battery operated, wireless, and autoclavable Doppler ultrasound waveform apparatus comprising the confidence gauge on the apparatus, wherein the confidence gauge comprises a plurality of lights and wherein a number of illuminated lights of the plurality of lights indicates the confidence level.

9. The apparatus claim 8 , wherein the Doppler ultrasound waveform having a resonant frequency between and including 1.0 MHz and 10.0 MHz.

10. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to perform operations comprising:

transmitting a signal directed to a blood vessel via a self-contained, battery operated, wireless, and autoclavable Doppler ultrasound waveform apparatus comprising a confidence gauge to indicate a confidence level of an artery or a vein, wherein the confidence gauge comprises a plurality of lights and wherein a number of illuminated lights of the plurality of lights indicates the confidence level;

receiving, by the Doppler ultrasound waveform apparatus, a reflected signal from the blood vessel;

determining, by the processing device, whether the blood vessel is an artery or a vein based on a blood flow velocity in the blood vessel;

determining, by the processing device, a confidence level as to whether the blood vessel is an artery or a vein,

displaying the confidence level on the confidence gauge.