A multirate scan conversion method

B-mode ultrasonic imaging requires that the acquired polar coordinate ultra sound data be converted to the Cartesian format used by digital monitors. I mage quality depends on the interpolation algorithm used to this purpose. I n this work a selective sampling technique, based on acquiring data at spec ific points of the scanned area together with a straightforward linear inte rpolation step, is proposed. Hardware complexity is avoided, because the in terpolation task can be carried out by software in real time, concurrently with data acquisition. The performances of the proposed approach are analys ed with regard to those provided by other algorithms and some implementatio n issues are addressed. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.