1. A method of ultrasound imaging comprising:
accessing a first cross-plane image of a first plane;
identifying a first region including a structure in the first cross-plane image,
wherein said identifying the first region comprises implementing a segmentation algorithm to identify a contour of the structure;
accessing a second cross-plane image of a second plane, where the second plane intersects the first plane;
identifying a second region including the structure in the second cross-plane image;
automatically configuring acquisition parameters based on at least one of the first region and the second region, wherein said automatically configuring the acquisition parameters comprises calculating a center of mass of the structure in the first cross-plane image based on the contour;
implementing the acquisition parameters to acquire data of the structure;
generating an image from the data; and
displaying the image.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein said implementing the acquisition parameters comprises acquiring two-dimensional data through the center of mass, where the two-dimensional data is parallel to the second plane.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein said automatically configuring the acquisition parameters comprises automatically configuring the acquisition parameters based on both the first region and the second region.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein said implementing the acquisition parameters comprises implementing the acquisition parameters to acquire volumetric data of the structure.
5. A method of ultrasound imaging comprising:
accessing a first cross-plane image of a first plane;
accessing a second cross-plane image of a second plane, where the second plane intersects the first plane;
identifying a first contour of a structure in the first cross-plane image;
identifying a second contour of the structure in the second cross-plane image;
automatically calculating size data and position data for the structure based on the first contour and the second contour, wherein said automatically calculating the position data comprises calculating a 3D location of a center of the structure based on both the first contour and the second contour;
automatically positioning a 3D region-of-interest (ROI) around the structure using the size data and the position data;
acquiring volumetric data of the 3D region-of-interest (ROI) after said automatically position the 3D region-of-interest (ROI) around the structure;
generating an image from the volumetric data; and
displaying the image.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein said identifying the first contour comprises implementing an algorithm to automatically identify the first contour.
7. The method of ultrasound imaging of claim 5, wherein the 3D region-of-interest (ROI) does not exceed the size of the structure by more than 10 percent in length, width, or height.
8. The method of claim 5, further comprising automatically providing a warning if either the size data or the position data indicate that the structure is outside of a field-of-view (FOV).
9. The method of claim 8, further comprising automatically providing an indication for how to adjust a position of a probe in order to capture all of the structure within a new field-of-view (FOV).
10. The method of ultrasound imaging of claim 5, wherein said automatically positioning the 3D region-of-interest around the structure comprises centering the 3D region-of-interest on the 3D location of the center of the structure.
11. An ultrasound imaging system comprising:
a probe adapted to scan a volume of interest;
a display device; and
a processor in electronic communication with the probe and the display device, wherein the processor is configured to:
control the probe to acquire a first cross-plane image of a first plane;
control the probe to acquire a second cross-plane image of a second plane;
implement a segmentation algorithm on the first cross-plane image to identify a first contour of a structure;
calculate a first center of mass of the structure based on the first contour;
implement a segmentation algorithm on the second cross-plane image to identify a second contour of the structure;
automatically configure acquisition parameters based on at least one of the first contour and the second contour;
implement the acquisition parameters to acquire data of the structure;
generate an image from the data; and
display the image on the display device.
12. The ultrasound imaging system of claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to calculate a second center of mass of the structure based on the second contour.
13. The ultrasound imaging system of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured to automatically control the probe in order to implement the acquisition parameters.
14. The ultrasound imaging system of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured to implement the acquisition parameters in order to acquire two-dimensional data.
15. The ultrasound imaging system of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured to automatically configure the acquisition parameters based on both the first contour and the second contour.
16. A method of ultrasound imaging comprising:
accessing a first cross-plane image of a first plane;
identifying a first region including a structure in the first cross-plane image, wherein said identifying the first region comprises implementing a segmentation algorithm to identify a first contour of the structure;
accessing a second cross-plane image of a second plane, where the second plane intersects the first plane;
identifying a second region including the structure in the second cross-plane image, wherein said identifying the second region comprises implementing a segmentation algorithm to identify a second contour of the structure;
calculating a center of the structure based on the first contour and the second contour;
automatically configuring acquisition parameters based on the center of the structure;
implementing the acquisition parameters to acquire data of the structure;
generating an image from the data; and
displaying the image.
17. The method of claim 16, wherein said calculating the center of the structure comprises calculating a location of a 3D center of the structure.
18. The method of claim 16, wherein said calculating the center of the structure comprises calculating a center of mass of the structure in the first cross-plane image.
19. The method of claim 16, wherein said automatically configuring the acquisition parameters based on the center of the structure comprises centering a 3D region-of-interest on the center of the structure.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. An array management function (AMF) apparatus involved in implementing hierarchical distributed cache coherence in a storage network having a first local AMF access group (LAAG) and a second LAAG, the first LAAG including first AMF devices and a first proxy agent, and the second LAAG including second AMF devices and a second proxy agent, the AMF apparatus comprising circuitry which is constructed and arranged to:
receive a write update from a host server, the write update identifying a set of storage blocks;
in a first send operation, send a first write invalidate command to all of the first AMF devices of the first LAAG, each first write invalidate command directing a respective first AMF device of the first LAAG to locally invalidate the set of storage blocks identified by the write update;
in a second send operation, send a proxy agent write invalidate command to the first proxy agent of the first LAAG, the proxy agent write invalidate command directing the first proxy agent of the first LAAG to forward the proxy agent write invalidate command to the second proxy agent of the second LAAG for distribution of a second write invalidate command to all of the second AMF devices of the second LAAG, each second write invalidate command directing a respective second AMF device of the second LAAG to locally invalidate the set of storage blocks identified by the write update;
in a first receive operation, receive a first write invalidate acknowledgement from all of the first AMF devices of the first LAAG, each first write invalidate acknowledgement indicating that a respective first AMF device of the first LAAG has successfully locally invalidated the set of storage blocks identified by the write update;
in a second receive operation, receive a proxy agent write invalidate acknowledgement from the first proxy agent of the first LAAG, the proxy agent write invalidate acknowledgement indicating that all of the second AMF devices of the second LAAG have acknowledged successful local invalidation of the set of storage blocks identified by the write update; and
upon completion of the first and second receive operations, send a write update acknowledgement to the host server.
2. An AMF apparatus as in claim 1 wherein the first AMF devices and the first proxy agent are constructed and arranged to communicate with each other through a high bandwidth communications medium;
wherein the first and second proxy agents are constructed and arranged to communicate with each other through a low bandwidth communications medium, the high bandwidth communications medium having a bandwidth which is higher than that of the low bandwidth communications medium; and
wherein the circuitry, when sending the first write invalidate command to all of the first AMF devices of the first LAAG, is constructed and arranged to transmit the first write invalidate command to all of the first AMF devices of the first LAAG at the bandwidth which is higher than that of the low bandwidth communications medium.
3. An AMF apparatus as in claim 2 wherein the circuitry, when transmitting the first write invalidate command to all of the first AMF devices of the first LAAG at the bandwidth which is higher than that of the low bandwidth communications medium, is constructed and arranged to broadcast the first write invalidate command to all of the first AMF devices of the first LAAG.
4. An AMF apparatus as in claim 2 wherein the first LAAG resides at a first location;
wherein the second LAAG resides at a second location;
wherein the first and second locations are different and remotely separated from each other; and
wherein the circuitry, when sending the proxy agent write invalidate command to the first proxy agent of the first LAAG, is constructed and arranged to direct the first proxy agent of the first LAAG to forward the proxy agent write invalidate command to the second proxy agent of the second LAAG via a point-to-point communications protocol.
5. An AMF apparatus as in claim 4 wherein the second AMF devices and the second proxy agent are constructed and arranged to communicate with each other through another high bandwidth communications medium having a bandwidth which is higher than that of the low bandwidth communications medium; and
wherein the circuitry, when directing the first proxy agent of the first LAAG to forward the proxy agent write invalidate command to the second proxy agent of the second LAAG, is constructed and arranged to direct the second proxy agent of the second LAAG to broadcast the second write invalidate command to all of the second AMF devices of the second LAAG.
6. An AMF apparatus as in claim 2 wherein the proxy agent write invalidate command further directs the first proxy agent of the first LAAG to forward the proxy agent write invalidate command to a third proxy agent of a third LAAG for distribution of a third write invalidate command to all of the third AMF devices of the third LAAG, each third write invalidate command directing a respective third AMF device of the third LAAG to locally invalidate the set of storage blocks identified by the write update.
7. An AMF apparatus as in claim 2 wherein the write update identifies, as the set of storage blocks, a block range of consecutive storage blocks; and
wherein local invalidation of the set of storage blocks identified by the write update includes invalidating a local cache for the block range of the consecutive storage blocks.
8. An AMF apparatus as in claim 2 wherein the circuitry is further constructed and arranged to perform array management functions as part of the first LAAG.
9. An AMF apparatus as in claim 8 wherein each AMF device couples to a set of storage devices to form a redundancy group; and
wherein each AMF device, including the AMF apparatus, operates as a front-end interface between a set of host servers and the redundancy group.
10. An AMF apparatus as in claim 8 wherein the circuitry and the first proxy agent are disposed within an AMF device of the first LAAG.
11. In an array management function (AMF) apparatus, a method to facilitate hierarchical distributed cache coherence in a storage network having a first local AMF access group (LAAG) and a second LAAG, the first LAAG including first AMF devices and a first proxy agent, and the second LAAG including second AMF devices and a second proxy agent, the method comprising:
receiving a write update from a host server, the write update identifying a set of storage blocks;
in a first send operation, sending a first write invalidate command to all of the first AMF devices of the first LAAG, each first write invalidate command directing a respective first AMF device of the first LAAG to locally invalidate the set of storage blocks identified by the write update;
in a second send operation, sending a proxy agent write invalidate command to the first proxy agent of the first LAAG, the proxy agent write invalidate command directing the first proxy agent of the first LAAG to forward the proxy agent write invalidate command to the second proxy agent of the second LAAG for distribution of a second write invalidate command to all of the second AMF devices of the second LAAG, each second write invalidate command directing a respective second AMF device of the second LAAG to locally invalidate the set of storage blocks identified by the write update;
in a first receive operation, receiving a first write invalidate acknowledgement from all of the first AMF devices of the first LAAG, each first write invalidate acknowledgement indicating that a respective first AMF device of the first LAAG has successfully locally invalidated the set of storage blocks identified by the write update;
in a second receive operation, receiving a proxy agent write invalidate acknowledgement from the first proxy agent of the first LAAG, the proxy agent write invalidate acknowledgement indicating that all of the second AMF devices of the second LAAG have acknowledged successful local invalidation of the set of storage blocks identified by the write update; and
upon completion of the first and second receive operations, sending a write update acknowledgement to the host server.
12. A method as in claim 11 wherein the first AMF devices and the first proxy agent are constructed and arranged to communicate with each other through a high bandwidth communications medium;
wherein the first and second proxy agents are constructed and arranged to communicate with each other through a low bandwidth communications medium, the high bandwidth communications medium having a bandwidth which is higher than that of the low bandwidth communications medium; and
wherein sending the first write invalidate command to all of the first AMF devices of the first LAAG includes transmitting the first write invalidate command to all of the first AMF devices of the first LAAG at the bandwidth which is higher than that of the low bandwidth communications medium.
13. A method as in claim 12 wherein transmitting the first write invalidate command to all of the first AMF devices of the first LAAG at the bandwidth which is higher than that of the low bandwidth communications medium includes broadcasting the first write invalidate command to all of the first AMF devices of the first LAAG.
14. A method as in claim 12 wherein the first LAAG resides at a first location;
wherein the second LAAG resides at a second location;
wherein the first and second locations are different and remotely separated from each other; and
wherein sending the proxy agent write invalidate command to the first proxy agent of the first LAAG includes directing the first proxy agent of the first LAAG to forward the proxy agent write invalidate command to the second proxy agent of the second LAAG via a point-to-point communications protocol.
15. A method as in claim 14 wherein the second AMF devices and the second proxy agent are constructed and arranged to communicate with each other through another high bandwidth communications medium having a bandwidth which is higher than that of the low bandwidth communications medium; and
wherein directing the first proxy agent of the first LAAG to forward the proxy agent write invalidate command to the second proxy agent of the second LAAG includes directing the second proxy agent of the second LAAG to broadcast the second write invalidate command to all of the second AMF devices of the second LAAG.
16. A method as in claim 12 wherein the proxy agent write invalidate command further directs the first proxy agent of the first LAAG to forward the proxy agent write invalidate command to a third proxy agent of a third LAAG for distribution of a third write invalidate command to all of the third AMF devices of the third LAAG, each third write invalidate command directing a respective third AMF device of the third LAAG to locally invalidate the set of storage blocks identified by the write update.
17. A method as in claim 12 wherein the write update identifies, as the set of storage blocks, a block range of consecutive storage blocks; and
wherein local invalidation of the set of storage blocks identified by the write update includes invalidating a local cache for the block range of the consecutive storage blocks.
18. A method as in claim 12, further comprising:
performing a set of array management functions as part of the first LAAG.
19. A method as in claim 18 wherein each AMF device couples to a set of storage devices to form a redundancy group; and
wherein performing a set of array management functions as part of the first LAAG includes operating as a front-end interface between a set of host servers and the redundancy group.
20. A method as in claim 18, further comprising:
co-locating the AMF apparatus and the first proxy agent within an AMF device of the first LAAG.