An ultrasound research interface (URI) is a software tool loaded onto a diagnostic clinical ultrasound device which provides functionality beyond typical clinical modes of operation. A normal clinical ultrasound user only has access to the ultrasound data in its final processed form, typically a B-Mode image, in DICOM format. For reasons of device usability they also have limited access to the processing parameters that can be modified. A URI allows a researcher to achieve different results by either acquiring the image at various intervals through the processing chain, or changing the processing parameters.

Typical B-mode receive processing chain

A typical digital ultrasound processing chain for B-Mode imaging may look as follows: Multiple signals processed in this way are lined up together and interpolated and rasterized into a readable image.

Data access

A URI may provide data access at many different stages of the processing chain, these include: Where many diagnostic ultrasound devices have Doppler imaging modes for measuring blood flow, the URI may also provide access to Doppler related signal data, which can include:

Tools

A URI may include many different tools for enabling the researcher to make better use of the device and the data captured, some of these tools include: