The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in 5 which it is to be performed.

FIELD OF THE PRSENT INVENTION

[001] The present disclosure relates to medical ultrasound image field, and more particularly to a hybrid high-frequency ultrasound imaging system and a method0 thereof.

BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

[002] Conventionally, high-Frequency (HF) ultrasound (US) waves (> 15 MHz) are utilized to obtain higher spatial resolution (<100 pm) at the cost of reduced5 imaging depth (~l-2 cm). For example, huge opportunities have been opened up in applications like pre -clinical imaging (PCI) using HF-ultrasound waves transmitted and received through a single US transducer 101. Such imaging has been shown to be useful in studies involving small-animal models for research on drug efficacy, treatment planning, etc., as depicted in Fig. 1. Further, the frequency of the US0 waves generated by a piezoelectric crystal of the US transducer is inversely related to its thickness. Since pre-clinical imaging utilizes high-frequency US waves to obtain better spatial resolution, the thickness of the crystal must be correspondingly reduced. However, manufacturing an array with thin crystals is a challenge. 5 [003] Therefore, one of the major challenges in translating the state-of-the-art clinical imaging (<15 MHz) performance to this PCI application associated in the manufacturing of the HF ultrasound transducers. Although the feasibility of using HF US for PCI has been demonstrated by several works, the image quality is still limited and techniques to improve it are currently under active research. 0

[004] Therefore, there is a need of art to which overcomes all the above-mentioned difficulties or drawbacks of disadvantages of prior arts mentioned above. SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

[005] The present disclosure overcomes one or more shortcomings of the prior art and provides additional advantages discussed throughout the present disclosure. Additional features and advantages are realized through the techniques of the present disclosure. Other embodiments and aspects of the disclosure are described in detail herein and are considered a part of the claimed disclosure.

[006] In one non-limiting embodiment of the present disclosure a hybrid high- frequency ultrasound imaging system is disclosed. The system comprising a first ultrasound transducer configured to transmit high-frequency ultrasound waves in a medium being imaged; a second ultrasound transducer and the first ultrasound transducer simultaneously, configured to receive reflected ultrasound waves from the medium being imaged and convert the reflected ultrasound waves into a plurality of electrical signals. The system further comprises a processor electronically coupled to the first ultrasound transducer and the second ultrasound transducer. The processor configured to receive the plurality of electrical signals; track position of the first ultrasound transducer and the second ultrasound transducer, during receipt of the plurality of electrical signals; and process the plurality of electrical signals along with the tracked position of the first ultrasound transducer and the second ultrasound transducer for generating an image.

[007] In still another non-limiting embodiment of the present disclosure, wherein the first ultrasound transducer is a focused ultrasound transducer and the second is an unfocussed ultrasound transducer.

[008] In still another non-limiting embodiment of the present disclosure, wherein position of the first ultrasound transducer and the second ultrasound transducer can be interchanged.

[009] In yet another non-limiting embodiment of the present disclosure, wherein the high-frequency ultrasound waves comprise frequency within a range from 5 MHz to 100MHz.

[010] In still another non-limiting embodiment of the present disclosure, wherein the first ultrasound transducer comprises a curved transmitting surface with a curvature (SI) and the second ultrasound transducer comprises a flat surface (S2) having wider connectivity for receiving the reflected ultrasound waves from the medium being imaged.

[Oil] In another non-limiting embodiment of the present disclosure, a method of performing hybrid high-frequency ultrasound imaging is disclosed. The method comprising transmitting, by a first ultrasound transducer, high-frequency ultrasound waves in a medium being imaged; and receiving, by a second ultrasound transducer and the first ultrasound transducer simultaneously, reflected ultrasound waves from the medium being imaged and convert the reflected ultrasound waves into a plurality of electrical signals. The method further comprises receiving, by a processor, the plurality of electrical signals; tracking position, by the processor, of the first ultrasound transducer and the second ultrasound transducer, during receipt of the plurality of electrical signals; and processing the plurality of electrical signals along with the tracked position, by the processor, of the first ultrasound transducer and the second ultrasound transducer for generating an image.

[012] In yet another non-limiting embodiment of the present disclosure, wherein the first ultrasound transducer is a focused ultrasound transducer, and the second ultrasound transducer is an unfocussed ultrasound transducer.

[013] In yet another non-limiting embodiment of the present disclosure, wherein position of the first ultrasound transducer and the second ultrasound transducer can be interchanged.

[014] In still another non-limiting embodiment of the present disclosure, wherein the high-frequency ultrasound waves comprise frequency within a range from 5 MHz to 100MHz.

[015] In still another non-limiting embodiment of the present disclosure, wherein the first ultrasound transducer comprises a curved transmitting surface with a curvature (SI) and the second ultrasound transducer comprises a flat surface (S2) having wider connectivity for receiving the reflected ultrasound waves from the medium being imaged.

[016] The foregoing summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. In addition to the illustrative aspects, embodiments, and features described above, further aspects, embodiments and features will become apparent by reference to the drawings and the following detailed description.

EFFECTS/AD VANTAGES OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

[017] The present disclosure offers a novel hybrid two element combination of focused and unfocused ultrasound transducers produces better image quality without increasing array complexity. Further, the focused ultrasound transducer is provided to transmit high concentrations of energy thereby making it possible to achieve better signal to noise ratio and deeper penetration, whereas during the reception both the focused and the unfocused ultrasound transducer are utilized which contributes to better localization during beamforming. Since, two elements are used during reception, due to better triangulation, the overall performance of the system is enhanced.

[018] Other related advantages of the present disclosure are reduced weight and packaging size of the proposed system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS:

[019] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this disclosure, illustrate exemplary embodiments and, together with the description, serve to explain the disclosed embodiments. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. The same numbers are used throughout the figures to reference like features and components. Some embodiments of system and/or methods in accordance with embodiments of the present subject matter are now described, by way of example only, and with reference to the accompanying figures, in which:

[020] FIG. 1 illustrates high-frequency ultrasound imaging in accordance with conventional arts. [021] FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a hybrid high-frequency ultrasound imaging system, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[022] Fig. 3 illustrates various components involved in performing high frequency ultrasound imaging, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[023] FIG. 4 illustrates a scanning mechanism performed by a hybrid high frequency ultrasound imaging system, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[024] FIG. 5 discloses a flowchart of a method for performing high frequency ultrasound imaging, according to an embodiment of present disclosure.

[025] FIG. 6 illustrates experimental results achieved using proposed method vis- a-vis prior arts, according to an embodiment of present disclosure

[026] It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that any block diagrams herein represent conceptual views of illustrative systems embodying the principles of the present subject matter.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

[027] Referring now to the drawings, there is shown an illustrative embodiment of the disclosure “A hybrid high-frequency ultrasound imaging system and a method thereof’. It is understood that the disclosure is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms; specific embodiments thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail below. It will be appreciated as the description proceeds that the disclosure may be realized in different embodiments.

[028] In the present document, the word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration”. Any embodiment or implementation of the present subject matter described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments. [029] While the disclosure is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiment thereof has been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail below. It should be understood, however that it is not intended to limit the disclosure to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the disclosure is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternative falling within the scope of the disclosure.

[030] The terms “comprises”, “comprising”, “include(s)”, or any other variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a setup, system or method that comprises a list of components or steps does not include only those components or steps but may include other components or steps not expressly listed or inherent to such setup or system or method. In other words, one or more elements in a system or apparatus proceeded by “comprises... a” does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of other elements or additional elements in the system or apparatus.

[031] In non-limiting embodiment, the term first ultrasound transducer may be interchangeably used as focused ultrasound transducer throughout the disclosure. In another non-limiting embodiment, the term second ultrasound transducer may be interchangeably used as unfocused ultrasound transducer throughout the disclosure. In another embodiment, the term high frequency ultrasound waves may be interchangeably used as ultrasound waves throughout the disclosure.

[032] Conventionally, manufacturing of high frequency array transducers used to improve the image quality imposes certain challenges and complexities. To overcome such challenges and complexities, the present disclosure provides a novel hybrid high frequency ultrasound imaging system. The system may comprise a focused ultrasound transducer configured to transmit high frequency ultrasound waves into a medium being imaged. The focused ultrasound transducer due to its larger diameter increases the concentration of energy, thereby making it possible to achieve better signal to ratio and deeper penetration. During the reception, the system utilizes an unfocussed ultrasound transducer and the focused ultrasound transducer to receive reflected ultrasound waves from the medium. Thus, the novel hybrid combination of focused and unfocused high frequency ultrasound transducer used during reception helps in providing improved image quality without increasing the array complexity.

[033] In the following detailed description of the embodiments of the disclosure, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part thereof and are shown by way of illustration of specific embodiments in which the disclosure may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the disclosure, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. The following description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense.

[034] Fig. 2 show a block diagram of a system 201 of high frequency ultrasound imaging, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Description of Fig. 2 is provided in conjunction with Fig. 4 for ease of understanding.

[035] In an exemplary embodiment, the system 201 may comprise a first ultrasound transducer 202, a second ultrasound transducer 204, a processor 206, and a memory 208. The first ultrasound transducer may refer to a focused ultrasound transducer and the second ultrasound transducer 204 may refer to an unfocused ultrasound transducer. It may be well appreciated to a person skilled in the art that the transducer may be referred as a device that converts energy from one form to another. In particular, the transducer may be configured to convert a signal in one form (i.e., voltage) of energy to a signal in another (i.e., ultrasound waves). In some embodiments, the transducers may be comprised of a piezoelectric material or an electroacoustic transduction principle. In a non-limiting example, the piezoelectric material may refer to, but not limited to, lead zirconium titanate (PZT), composites, and domain-engineered single crystals etc.,

[036] In an aspect of the present disclosure, the focused ultrasound transducer may be configured to transmit high-frequency ultrasound waves in a medium being imaged. In some embodiments, the medium may be referred to, but not limited to, scanning a tissue or organ of an animal body, human body etc., In some embodiments, the high-frequency ultrasound waves may comprise frequency within range from 5 MHz to 100 MHz. In some embodiments, the first ultrasound transducer may be comprised of a larger diameter (D) used to increase the concentration of energy during transmission. As shown in Fig. 4, due to larger diameter D, the width of the beam at focus (w) will be narrower thus improving the lateral resolution (LR). Since the LR is worst of pitch (p, distance between successive center of transmit element) and beam width (BW), the system 201 may select the p by varying the “speed of scanning” and the “pulse repletion frequency” in such a way to obtain optimum LR along with depth (i) as given in equation (1): LR (i) = max {p, BW(i)}

Where LR (i) represent Lateral resolution at depth I, p is the pitch and BW (i) represent the beam with at depth (i). In non-limiting embodiments, in order to achieve the better resolution, the medium being imaged is to be present in the DOF region. As shown in Fig. 3, the proposed hybrid two-element transducers (focused (tl) and unfocused (t2) ultrasound transducers) scan the medium from left to right in lateral direction. However, the main problem of increasing the diameter of the focused transducer has to do with the degradation in delay calculation because of the “source localization” error. This error occurs because the “point source approximation” is no more valid due to large diameter and also due to the curvature (SI) of the focused ultrasound transducer which leads to “Geometrical error”.

[037] In order to address the above issue, the system 201 may further utilizes combination of the unfocused ultrasound transducer (t2) and the focused ultrasound transducer (tl) to receive reflected high frequency ultrasound waves and convert the reflected ultrasound waves into a plurality of electrical signals. In some embodiments, the unfocused ultrasound transducer of small diameter (d) with a flat surface (S2) may be utilized for receiving reflected ultrasound waves from the medium being imaged. In some embodiments, the diameter of both the focused and unfocused ultrasound transducer may vary and should not be taken into limiting sense. Since smaller diameter unfocused ultrasound transducer with the flat surface is used, the “point source” approximation is valid and will lead to greater accuracy of the delay calculations. Moreover, the flat surface (S2) of the unfocused ultrasound transducer has wider directivity which contributes to better localization during beamforming.

[038] In some embodiments, the position of the focused ultrasound transducer and the unfocused ultrasound transducer may be interchanged. For example, as shown in Fig. 4, the focused ultrasound transducer is placed at first position and the unfocused ultrasound transducer is placed on a second position adjacent to the focused ultrasound transducer. In an alternative embodiment, the unfocused ultrasound transducer may be placed at first position and the focused ultrasound transducer may be placed at second position. According to the present disclosure, since two ultrasound transducers are utilized during reception, due to better triangulation, the overall performance of the system enhances. Thus, the novel hybrid high frequency ultrasound imaging system provides an improved quality image without increasing the array complexity.

[039] In some embodiments, the plurality of electrical signals or received reflected ultrasound waves of the focused ultrasound transducer 202 and the second ultrasound transducer 204 may be processed by the processor 206 of the system 201 to generate an US image of the medium. As used herein, the term “processor” may be referred to an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group), a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable components that provide the described functionality. It will be appreciated that such units may be represented as a single unit or a combination of different units.

[040] Now according to the present disclosure, as already discussed, the processor 206 may be configured to receive the plurality of electrical signals from the focused ultrasound transducer 202 and the unfocused ultrasound transducer 204. The processor 206 may be configured to track position of the first ultrasound transducer and the second ultrasound transducer 204 based on the plurality of electrical signals. In non-limiting embodiment, the processor 206 may be configured to generate a scanning path comprising dimension of the scanned medium perpendicular to the depth direction over which the received reflected ultrasound waves from the medium may be utilized to form an image. In other words, the processor 206 may be configured to perform mechanical scanning of the focused ultrasound transducer and the unfocused ultrasound transducer over a pre -identified/ pre-programmed path or trajectory at a certain speed. Thus, the position of the focused ultrasound transducer and the unfocused ultrasound transducer with respect to the reflected ultrasound waves of the medium is tracked to generate an image.

[041] In another aspect of the present disclosure, the processor 206 may be configured to process the plurality of electrical signals along with the tracked position of the focused ultrasound transducer and the unfocused ultrasound transducer for generating the image. In a non-limiting embodiment, the processor 206 may be configured to generate the image by collecting the plurality of electrical signals or points from where the reflected ultrasound waves are received from the medium based on the position of focused and unfocused ultrasound transducers. This is clearly shown in Fig. 4, where the scanning mechanism starts from left to right. At the starting point of the scanning mechanism, the focused ultrasound transducer is configured to transmit the high frequency ultrasound waves and during the reception, both the focused and unfocused ultrasound transducers are utilized to receive the reflected ultrasound waves or echoes from the medium. This whole process may be considered as receiving one electrical signal or point for one frame. The same process is repeated for n number of frames until a scanned image with the plurality of signals is formed upon completion of the scanning mechanism. However, the description should not be taken into limiting sense. Thus, the present disclosure offers a novel hybrid two element combination of focused and unfocused ultrasound transducers produces better image quality without increasing array complexity. Further, the focused ultrasound transducer is provided to transmit high concentrations of energy thereby making it possible to achieve better signal to noise ratio and deeper penetration, whereas during the reception both the focused and the unfocused ultrasound transducer are utilized which contributes to better localization during beamforming. Since, two elements are used during reception, due to better triangulation, the overall performance of the system is enhanced. [042] In some embodiments, the present disclosure may utilize Filtered Delay Euclidian-weighted Multiply and Sum (F-DewMAS) beamformer post the delay calculation step. In F-DewMAS, the combinatorial combinations of the window coefficients generated post multiplication step are raised to the power of ‘Euclidian distance’. Mathematically, F-DewMAS is computed as in (2). The sign preservation is done by (3), while final output of F-DewMAS is given by (4).

DewMASt. ) = (q | ) ((n 2-n)/2)| z(.) (4)] where, the RF data obtained after applying delays that were initially acquired by the q ^th and r ^th transducer crystals are denoted by d(q) and d(r), respectively. x(q,r) is the combinatorically coupled data after weighting operation, y(q,r) computes the square root of x(q,r) after sign preservation. The F-DewMAS beamformer is utilized in the present disclosure to further improve the image quality.

[043] In some embodiments, the system 201 may comprise the memory 208 which may be communicatively coupled to the processor 206. In a non-limiting example, memory 208 may be an external memory chip, as a part of the system 201 component or an inbuilt EEPROM memory. In an embodiment, the memory 208 may be a computer-readable medium known in the art including, for example, volatile memory, such as static random-access memory (SRAM) and dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), and/or synchronous dynamic random-access memory (SDRAM) and/or non-volatile memory, such as read only memory (ROM), erasable programmable ROM, flash memories, hard disks, optical disks, and magnetic tapes.

[044] In an embodiment, the data/information may be stored within the memory 208 in the form of various data structures. For example, the memory 208 may be configured to store, but not limited to, input voltage values of the transducers, output voltage values of electrical signals, radio frequency (RF) data, transmit power of the transducers, mechanical motion, speed of transducers, position data, electrical signal of the transducers etc., The memory 208 may also store other data such as temporary data and temporary files, generated by the focused and unfocused transducers, processor for performing the various functions of the system 201.

[045] FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of various components involved in performing high frequency ultrasound imaging, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The detailed description of Fig. 3 is provided in conjunction with Figs. 2 and 4 for ease of understanding.

[046] While the components 302-310 are illustrated and described herein with respect to an embodiment of a proof of concept (PoC) device developed to perform the operation of the system 201. It may be worth noted that the system 201 may comprise other/additional components as well which are not shown for the sake of brevity and are used in conjunction with the illustrated components to implement present disclosure.

[047] In accordance with the present disclosure, as shown in Fig. 2, an electronic device 302 may be electronically coupled to a master controller 304 which is further coupled to the pulsar and data acquisition unit 306, motor driver unit 308, and the position sensor 310. In some embodiments, the electronic device 302 may include or refer to, but limited to, a portable handheld device, a mobile device, a computer, a laptop, etc., In some embodiments, the master controller unit 304 may be referred to, but not limited to processing unit which processes or senses electrical signals and send the signals to the processor for further processing. In some embodiments, the pulsar, and data acquisition unit 306 may be configured to excite the focused and unfocused ultrasound transducers or to receive the digitized RF data. In some embodiments, the motor driver unit 308 may be configured to provide mechanical motion to the focused and unfocused ultrasound transducers. For example, the motor driver unit 308 may be configured to move the transducers on a desired trajectory path or pre-programmed path at a certain speed. In some embodiments, the position sensor may refer to, but not limited to, linear position sensor or rotary position sensors etc. It may be well appreciated that the position sensor may be configured to provide position or location information of the focused and unfocused ultrasound transducers. However, the description should not be taken into limiting sense.

[048] In accordance with the present disclosure, initially, the transducer scanning mechanism is calibrated for relating the angle measurement obtained from the position sensor of the focused ultrasound transducer and the unfocused ultrasound transducer to the location of the linear motion as shown in Fig. 3. After calibration, the PoC device is ready for regular operation. During the regular operation, the master controller 304 sends a common trigger signal to motor driver unit, pulsar and data acquisition unit, position sensor unit and electronic device, simultaneously. Because of this simultaneous common trigger signal, the motor motion, transducer excitation, position sensor data acquisition and RF data in computer are synchronized. Once the RF data and the position sensor data completes storing in the electronic device, a trigger signal gets generated from electronic device 302 to the master controller 304. Further, a next trigger signal is sent by the master controller 304 and the mechanism starts scanning the imaging medium as shown in Fig. 4. The scanning mechanism is performed with the help of the focused and unfocused ultrasound transducers as discussed earlier. Therefore, the description of the focused and unfocused ultrasound transducer is avoided for the sake of brevity. As discussed earlier, once one frame of data is obtained, the scanning mechanism reverses its direction to obtain the next frame of data and this process continues till the scanning mechanism is stopped. The RF data that was acquired can either be beamformed simultaneously during the scanning or can be stored and processed later. However, the description should not be taken into limiting sense.

[049] As used herein, the term ‘unit’ refers to an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group), a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable components that provide the described functionality. It will be appreciated that such units may be represented as a single unit or a combination of different units.

[050] FIG. 5 discloses a flowchart of a method for performing hybrid high- frequency ultrasound imaging, according to an embodiment of present disclosure. The method starts at block 502 by transmitting high frequency ultrasound waves in a medium being imaged. The method at block 502 may be performed by the first ultrasound transducer 202. In some embodiments, the high frequency ultrasound waves may comprise frequency within ranging from 5 MHz to 100 MHz.

[051] At block 504, the method may describe receiving reflected ultrasound waves from the medium being imaged and converting the reflected ultrasound waves into a plurality of electrical signals. The method at block 504 may be performed by the second ultrasound transducer 204 and the first ultrasound transducer 202.

[052] At block 506, the method may describe receiving the plurality of electrical signals from the first and second ultrasound transducers (202, 204). At block 508, the method may describe tracking position of the first ultrasound transducer 202 and the second ultrasound transducer 204 during the receipt of the plurality of signals. At block 510, the method may describe processing the plurality of electrical signals along with the tracked position of the first ultrasound transducer 202 and the second ultrasound transducer 204 for generating an image. The method at blocks 506, 508, 510 may be performed by the processor 206.

[053] In some embodiments, the method may further describe that the first ultrasound transducer 202 may be referred to as focused ultrasound transducer and the second ultrasound transducer 204 may be referred to as unfocused ultrasound transducer. In some embodiments, the method may further describe that position of the first ultrasound transducer 202 and the second ultrasound transducer 204 may be interchanged.

[054] In some embodiments, the method may describe that the first ultrasound transducer 202 comprises a curved transmitting surface with a curvature (SI) and the second ultrasound transducer 204 comprise a flat surface (S2) having wider connectivity for receiving the reflected ultrasound waves from the medium being imaged.

[055] According to an aspect of the present disclosure, Fig. 6 illustrates experimental images (d and g) obtained using the proposed method and system disclosed in above paragraphs vis-a-vis prior arts (a-c, and e-f). As shown in the images, the present disclosure provides improved spatial resolution by more than 63% and contrast (CR and GCNR) by more than 57% over the prior arts. Thus, the results clearly discloses that the proposed method and system provides superior image quality.

[056] It may be worth noted that the method described in above paragraphs offers a novel hybrid two element combination of focused and unfocused ultrasound transducers produces better image quality without increasing array complexity. Further, the focused ultrasound transducer is provided to transmit high concentrations of energy thereby making it possible to achieve better signal to noise ratio and deeper penetration, whereas during the reception both the focused and the unfocused ultrasound transducer are utilized which contributes to better localization during beamforming. Since, two elements are used during reception, due to better triangulation, the overall performance of the system is enhanced.

[057] The illustrated steps are set out to explain the exemplary embodiments shown, and it should be anticipated that ongoing technological development will change the manner in which particular functions are performed. These examples are presented herein for purposes of illustration, and not limitation. Further, the boundaries of the functional building blocks have been arbitrarily defined herein for the convenience of the description. Alternative boundaries can be defined so long as the specified functions and relationships thereof are appropriately performed.

[058] Furthermore, one or more computer-readable storage media may be utilized in implementing embodiments consistent with the present disclosure. A computer- readable storage medium refers to any type of physical memory on which information or data readable by a processor may be stored. Thus, a computer- readable storage medium may store instructions for execution by one or more processors, including instructions for causing the processor(s) to perform steps or stages consistent with the embodiments described herein. The term “computer- readable medium” should be understood to include tangible items and exclude carrier waves and transient signals, i.e., are non-transitory. Examples include random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), volatile memory, nonvolatile memory, hard drives, CD ROMs, DVDs, flash drives, disks, and any other known physical storage media.

[059] Suitable processors include, by way of example, a general-purpose processor, a special purpose processor, a conventional processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in association with a DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) circuits, any other type of integrated circuit (IC), and/or a state machine.

[060] Those of skill would further appreciate that the various illustrative blocks, units, modules and algorithm steps described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present disclosure.

[061] While the present disclosure has been described by way of example and in terms of the preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. To the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements (as would be apparent to those skilled in the art). Therefore, the scope of the appended claims should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements.

[062] Reference Numerals: