8212 results about "Sonification" patented technology

A system for ultrasonic mammography includes an ultrasonic mammography device for constructing an ultrasonic image of a breast having a support structure with an ultrasonic transducer mounted on the support structure. The system also includes a personal digital assistant operatively connected to the ultrasonic transducer via a communication link, a patient computer system operatively connected to the personal digital assistant via a second communication link, and a healthcare provider computer system operatively connected to the patient computer system via an internet, for constructing the image of the breast. The method includes the steps of positioning the ultrasonic mammography device having an ultrasonic transducer on the patient and activating the ultrasonic transducer to generate a signal for constructing an image of the breast. The method also includes the steps of transmitting the signal from the ultrasonic transducer to the personal digital assistant, and transmitting the signal via an internet to a healthcare provider computer. The method further includes the steps of using the signal to construct an image of the patient's breast.

Ultrasound applicators able to both image a treatment site and administer ultrasound therapy include an array of transducer elements that can be focused. In several embodiments, an electronically phased array is used for controlling the focal point of an ultrasound beam. The ultrasound beam produced thereby can also be electronically steered. To reduce the quality factor or Q of the array when the array is used for imaging, an electronic switch is selectively closed, placing a resistance in parallel with each of the array elements. A flexible array is employed in several embodiments and is selectively bent or flexed to vary its radius of curvature and thus control the focal point and / or a direction of focus of the array. In another embodiment, each of the transducer elements comprising the array are individually mechanically pivotable to steer the ultrasonic beam produced by the transducer elements.

Exemplary systems and methods are provided by which multiple persons in remote physical locations can collaboratively interactively visualize a 3D data set substantially simultaneously. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, there can be, for example, a main workstation and one or more remote workstations connected via a data network. A given main workstation can be, for example, an augmented reality surgical navigation system, or a 3D visualization system, and each workstation can have the same 3D data set loaded. Additionally, a given workstation can combine real-time imagining with previously obtained 3D data, such as, for example, real-time or pre-recorded video, or information such as that provided by a managed 3D ultrasound visualization system. A user at a remote workstation can perform a given diagnostic or therapeutic procedure, such as, for example, surgical navigation or fluoroscopy, or can receive instruction from another user at a main workstation where the commonly stored 3D data set is used to illustrate the lecture. A user at a main workstation can, for example, see the virtual tools used by each remote user as well as their motions, and each remote user can, for example, see the virtual tool of the main user and its respective effects on the data set at the remote workstation. For example, the remote workstation can display the main workstation's virtual tool operating on the 3D data set at the remote workstation via a virtual control panel of said local machine in the same manner as if said virtual tool was a probe associated with that remote workstation. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention each user's virtual tools can be represented by their IP address, a distinct color, and / or other differentiating designation. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention the data network can be either low or high bandwidth. In low bandwidth embodiments a 3D data set can be pre-loaded onto each user's workstation and only the motions of a main user's virtual tool and manipulations of the data set sent over the network. In high bandwidth embodiments, for example, real-time images, such as, for example, video, ultrasound or fluoroscopic images, can be also sent over the network as well.