Performing ultrasound ranging in the presence of ultrasound interference

Abstract

A distance measuring system comprises first and second transducers, and an ultrasound ranging subsystem coupled to the first and second transducers for performing a plurality of distance measurements between the first and second transducers. The distance measurement system can have various applications, including medical applications, in which case, the first and second transducers can be mounted on a catheter. The distance measuring system further comprises a filter coupled to the ultrasound ranging subsystem for filtering ultrasound interference from the plurality of distance measurements (such as, e.g., eight), and outputting a distance based on the filtered distance measurements. The filter filters the ultrasound interference by selecting one of the plurality distance measurements, in which case, the outputted distance is the selected distance measurement. Because the ultrasound interference will typically represent itself as the shortest distance measurement, the selected distance measurement is preferably greater than the minimum distance measurement (such as, e.g., the maximum distance measurement), thereby filtering the ultrasound interference out.