WO2017207326A1 - Formeur de micro-faisceaux à sonde ultrasonore avec impédance de sortie réglable - Google Patents

Formeur de micro-faisceaux à sonde ultrasonore avec impédance de sortie réglable Download PDF

Info

Publication number
WO2017207326A1
WO2017207326A1 PCT/EP2017/062317 EP2017062317W WO2017207326A1 WO 2017207326 A1 WO2017207326 A1 WO 2017207326A1 EP 2017062317 W EP2017062317 W EP 2017062317W WO 2017207326 A1 WO2017207326 A1 WO 2017207326A1
Authority
WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
ultrasonic diagnostic
diagnostic imaging
microchannel
imaging system
output
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/EP2017/062317
Other languages
English (en)
Inventor
Steven Russell FREEMAN
Original Assignee
Koninklijke Philips N.V.
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Koninklijke Philips N.V. filed Critical Koninklijke Philips N.V.
Publication of WO2017207326A1 publication Critical patent/WO2017207326A1/fr

Links

Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S7/00—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00
    • G01S7/52—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S15/00
    • G01S7/52017—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S15/00 particularly adapted to short-range imaging
    • G01S7/52079—Constructional features
    • G01S7/5208—Constructional features with integration of processing functions inside probe or scanhead
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S15/00—Systems using the reflection or reradiation of acoustic waves, e.g. sonar systems
    • G01S15/88—Sonar systems specially adapted for specific applications
    • G01S15/89—Sonar systems specially adapted for specific applications for mapping or imaging
    • G01S15/8906—Short-range imaging systems; Acoustic microscope systems using pulse-echo techniques
    • G01S15/8909—Short-range imaging systems; Acoustic microscope systems using pulse-echo techniques using a static transducer configuration
    • G01S15/8915—Short-range imaging systems; Acoustic microscope systems using pulse-echo techniques using a static transducer configuration using a transducer array
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S15/00—Systems using the reflection or reradiation of acoustic waves, e.g. sonar systems
    • G01S15/88—Sonar systems specially adapted for specific applications
    • G01S15/89—Sonar systems specially adapted for specific applications for mapping or imaging
    • G01S15/8906—Short-range imaging systems; Acoustic microscope systems using pulse-echo techniques
    • G01S15/8909—Short-range imaging systems; Acoustic microscope systems using pulse-echo techniques using a static transducer configuration
    • G01S15/8915—Short-range imaging systems; Acoustic microscope systems using pulse-echo techniques using a static transducer configuration using a transducer array
    • G01S15/8927—Short-range imaging systems; Acoustic microscope systems using pulse-echo techniques using a static transducer configuration using a transducer array using simultaneously or sequentially two or more subarrays or subapertures
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S7/00—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00
    • G01S7/52—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S15/00
    • G01S7/52017—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S15/00 particularly adapted to short-range imaging
    • G01S7/52085—Details related to the ultrasound signal acquisition, e.g. scan sequences
    • G01S7/52095—Details related to the ultrasound signal acquisition, e.g. scan sequences using multiline receive beamforming

Definitions

  • This invention relates to medical diagnostic ultrasound systems and, in particular, to ultrasound probes with microbeamformers .
  • Ultrasonic array transducers use beamformers to transmit, receive and appropriately delay and sum the ultrasonic echo signals received from elements of the transducer array. The delays are chosen in
  • the beamformer After the signals received from each element have been properly delayed by a channel of the beamformer, the delayed signals are combined to form a beam of properly steered and focused coherent echo signals.
  • the time of actuation of individual elements is the complement of the receive delay, steering and focusing the transmit beam. The choice of delays is known to be
  • the array transducer In a traditional ultrasound system the array transducer is located in a probe which is placed against the body of the patient during imaging and contains some electronic components such as tuning elements, switches, and amplification devices. The delaying and signal combining is performed by the beamformer which is contained in the ultrasound system mainframe, to which the probe is connected by a cable.
  • the number of transducer elements needed for this beam formation is usually in the thousands.
  • the crux of the problem then becomes the cable that connects the probe to the system mainframe where the
  • a cable of several thousand conductors of even the finest conductive filaments becomes thick and unwieldy, making manipulation of the probe cumbersome if not impossible.
  • beamforming is partitioned between the probe and the system mainframe. Initial beamforming of groups of elements is done in the probe by microcircuitry known as a microbeamformer, where partially beamformed sums are produced. These partially beamformed sums, being fewer in number than the number of transducer
  • the partial beamforming in the probe is done by what Larson, III refers to as intragroup processors, in a microbeamformer in the form of microelectronics attached to the array transducer.
  • Microbeamformers can also be used with one
  • microbeamformers shown in the above patents operate by forming partially delayed sum signals from contiguous transducer element groups referred to as
  • patches The signals received by all of the elements of a patch are appropriately individually delayed by the microbeamformer, then combined into a partial sum signal.
  • the patches are formed of small two-dimensional groups of elements, such as a 4x6 group or an 8x10 group of elements. This works well for phased array operation during 3D volume scanning, enabling real time scanning of the volume. However, the time required to scan a sizeable
  • volumetric region of the body can be lengthy, as time is required to transmit and receive all of the beams needed to form the volume image.
  • the scanning time can be reduced by multiline acquisition, whereby multiple spatially distinct receive lines are formed from the echo signals of a single transmit event.
  • To form tightly spaced multilines it is necessary differently delay and sum closely spaced distinct receive signals.
  • This objective can be limited, however, by the size of the patches of transducer elements, a problem which is overcome by the use of smaller patch sizes.
  • the partial sum signals from smaller patches can be of lesser currents or voltages than the partial sum signals of larger patches. This leads to a quantization problem when the partial sum signals are digitized.
  • Efforts to equalize the partial sum signals can result in saturation of amplifiers by over-current or over- voltage conditions which can clip peak signals, or use of more or less than the full dynamic range of an analog to digital converter when the signals are digitized, resulting in loss of resolution.
  • a diagnostic ultrasound system is
  • an array transducer probe having a microbeamformer and coupled to an ultrasound system mainframe.
  • the microbeamformer transmits and
  • each microchannel receives signals from different size patches of transducer elements, with the signals received by an element being processed by a microchannel of the microbeamformer .
  • a partial sum signal is produced by combining the outputs of the microchannels of elements of a patch, and partial sum signals of a plurality of patches are coupled by a probe cable to a mainframe ultrasound system for further processing.
  • each microchannel has a controllable output impedance which is set in consideration of the signal and noise level that each microchannel contributes to a combined patch partial sum signal.
  • FIGURE 1 illustrates in block diagram form an ultrasonic imaging system constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention.
  • FIGURE 2 illustrates a transducer array
  • FIGURE 3 illustrates the transducer array of FIGURE 2 reconfigured into smaller patch sizes for improved multiline beam formation.
  • FIGURE 4 illustrates in block diagram form a microchannel of a probe microbeamformer constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention .
  • FIGURE 5 illustrates the structure of a variable output impedance suitable for use in the
  • FIGURE 6 illustrates the input of an ultrasound system which is coupled by a probe cable to the microchannel of FIGURE 4.
  • FIGURE 7 illustrates a capacitive electronic signal storage device used to sample and delay signals from a transducer element in a
  • microbeamformer microchannel
  • FIGURE 8 illustrates in detailed block diagram form an ultrasonic imaging system constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention .
  • a probe 10 has a two dimensional array
  • transducer 12 which may be planar or curved as shown in this example.
  • the elements of the array are coupled to a microbeamformer 14 located in the probe behind the transducer array.
  • a microbeamformer is an integrated circuit located in the probe with
  • the microbeamformer applies timed transmit pulses to elements of each patch of the array to transmit beams in the desired directions and to the desired focal points in the image field in front of the array.
  • the profile of the transmit beams in the elevation dimension can exhibit a point focus, a plane wave, or any intermediate beam
  • Echoes returned by cells and tissue from the transmitted beams are received by the array elements and coupled to channels of the
  • microbeamformer 14 where they are individually delayed.
  • the delayed signals from a contiguous patch of transducer elements are combined to form a partial sum signal for the patch.
  • microbeamformer implementation combining is done by coupling the delayed signals from the elements of the patch to a common bus, obviating the need for summing circuits.
  • the bus of each patch is coupled to a conductor of a cable 16, which conducts the partial sum patch signals to the system mainframe.
  • analog partial sum signals are digitized and coupled to channels of a system
  • System beamformers are well known in the art and may comprise electronic hardware components, hardware controlled by software, or a microprocessor executing beamforming algorithms.
  • the beamformer includes A/D converters which convert analog signals from the microbeamformer into sampled digital echo data.
  • the beamformer generally will include one or more microprocessors, shift registers, and or digital or analog memories to process the echo data into coherent echo signal data. Delays are effected by various means such as by the time of sampling of received signals, the write/read interval of data temporarily stored in memory, or by the length or clock rate of a shift register as described in US Pat. 4,173,007 (McKeighen et al . )
  • the beam signals from the image field are processed by a signal and image processor 24 to produce 2D or 3D images for display on an image display 30.
  • the signal and image processor may comprise electronic hardware
  • Control of ultrasound system parameters such as probe selection, beam steering and focusing, and signal and image processing is done under control of a system controller 26 which is coupled to various modules of the system.
  • the system controller may be formed by ASIC circuits or microprocessor circuitry and software data storage devices such as RAMs, ROMs, or disk drives. In the case of the probe 10 some of this control information is provided to the probe 10
  • microbeamformer from the system mainframe over data lines of the cable 16, conditioning the
  • This basic ultrasound system block diagram illustrates the partitioning of beamformation between the microbeamformer, which performs beamforming of the signals from a patch of elements, and the system beamformer which completes the beamformation process by combining the partial sum signals from the patches.
  • FIGURE 2 illustrates a portion of 2D array transducer 12 which is configured in eight element by ten element patches. For ease of illustration only the length dimension in the azimuth plane is shown.
  • the array of FIGURE 2 may alternatively be viewed as a one dimensional array configured in ten-element patches. In the drawing alternate patches are shaded. The number of elements of each patch is indicated above the respective patch.
  • the array transducer 12 may be operated to transmit a main beam 50 from the array and receive echo signals with each element of the array. The signals from the
  • individual elements of a patch are each delayed in microchannels 18 of the microbeamformer 14 and the delayed signals are combined at a node 28 at the microchannel output to form a partial sum signal PSi, PS 2 of the patch for the main beam.
  • the microchannel symbols are of different sizes to indicate the relative length of its delay time.
  • the partial sum signals PSi, PS 2 are then coupled through the probe cable 16 with other patch signals (not shown) to the system beamformer 22 where the partial sum signals are delayed relative to each other, then combined to form a main beam signal.
  • multilines 52 and 54 received signals, shown as multilines 52 and 54 on each side of the main beam 50.
  • multilines 52 and 54 received signals, shown as multilines 52 and 54 on each side of the main beam 50.
  • the multilines are very close to the main beam and within the dimensions of the same patch of the array, the patch indicated by the bracket above the array.
  • the problem is that there is only a single partial sum signal from this patch, which represents one particular focusing of the elements of the patch, that required for the main beam 50.
  • the partial sum signal cannot be undone and parsed into separate sub- signals which are needed to differently focus the multilines.
  • FIGURE 3 A solution to this problem is shown in FIGURE 3. This is to redefine the patches as smaller sized patches, particularly in the region where multilines 52 and 54 are to be formed on either side of the main beam 50.
  • this central portion of the array 12 has been configured with four 2 by N element patches. On each side of these patches is a pair of 3 by N patches, and outward from them are pairs of five by N patches, with the other visible lateral patches being ten by N patches.
  • the microchannels for three different size patches are shown in detail in FIGURE 3. A two-element patch has two
  • microchannels 18a coupled at their outputs to a partial sum node 28a
  • a three-element patch has three microchannels 18b coupled at their outputs to a partial sum node 28b
  • a five-element patch has five microchannels 18c coupled at their outputs to a partial sum node 28c.
  • the partial sum signals produced at the summing nodes including partial sum signals PS 3 , PS 4 , and PS5, are coupled by conductors of the probe cable 16 to the main system beamformer, where the beamformation process is completed and the multilines formed.
  • the numerous partial sum signals from the small central patches on either side of the main beam center can be relatively delayed differently in the formation of multilines 52 and 54, steering and focusing the multilines more precisely on either side of the main beam, which is itself a product of different delays of the same partial sum signals.
  • the main beam 50 and its lateral multilines 52 and 54 will be well defined in the resultant image, particularly in the near field.
  • selectable gain control in each microchannel would boost the voltage gain in the output buffers of microchannels that are part of smaller patches so as to increase the signal and noise that eventually is summed in the partial sum signal.
  • a problem with this approach is that the analog signal path within a microchannel is ideally using the full available dynamic range of the output buffer on each
  • FIGURE 4 a microchannel which accommodates use in different patch sizes without signal degradation is shown in block diagram form In FIGURE 4.
  • Microchannel 18 is one of "U” microchannels in a group of microchannels in a microbeamformer 14, which has "B” groups of microchannels for the many elements of a 2D array transducer.
  • control data is loaded into the microbeamformer 14 from the mainframe system to condition the probe to scan as desired by a user.
  • this data is coupled over the probe cable as serial data, which is loaded into digital Shift Register and Logic circuitry 52 and a shift register for a TGC Controller 56.
  • Tx transmit
  • HV HV transmitter 54 in the microchannel to drive a transducer element 42 to produce the desired transmit waveform or pulse.
  • a T/R switch is open as shown in the drawing. Following transmit, echoes are received by element 42 and the T/R switch is closed to couple received signals to a TGC
  • the gain of the TGC amplifier is varied with depth under control of TGC Controller 56.
  • the output signals of the TGC amplifier are delayed by a delay time dT in a delay circuit 60 as
  • the delayed signals are coupled by an amplifier 74 to a cable driver 78.
  • the microchannel output signal produced by the cable driver 78 is coupled through a variable output impedance Outimp.
  • the output signal is directed by a multiplexer Outmux to a desired output node 28, where it is summed with the output signals of the other microchannels of the patch.
  • the summed signals are applied to a conductor ARX of the probe cable 16, which couples the signals to the mainframe ultrasound system.
  • microbeamformers Selection of a microchannel output impedance is done in consideration of the size of the patch, with a lower output impedance used for smaller size patches (fewer microchannel outputs combined) .
  • the control of the output impedances can maintain the same noise level among partial sum signals produced by different size patches.
  • FIGURE 5 shows the structure of the variable output impedance circuit 100 used in an integrated circuit implementation of the present invention.
  • the circuit is formed of a number of resistors R 0 - 7 which can be selectably connected in series or parallel or a combination thereof.
  • Microchannel output signals from the cable driver 78 are coupled to the top of the resistive network, and the bottom of the variable impedance circuit is coupled to a conductor of the probe cable. In the specific example of FIGURE 4, this is done by way of the output multiplexer,
  • the output impedance of circuit 100 always includes the resistance of resistor R 7 which is not switched.
  • the other seven resistors R 0 -R6 can be switched into and out of a parallel configuration with resistor R 7 by closing and opening MOSFET switches in series with the resistors, as shown by switches 70 and 76.
  • the selection of resistors is done by use of a three-bit decoder 102.
  • the three- bit input address to the decoder is decoded to define the levels of the seven outputs of the decoder, which in turn are applied to the control gates of the
  • MOSFET switches The three-bit address is loaded into the address register 104 from the Shift Register & Logic circuitry 52 during conditioning of the microchannel for a scanning procedure.
  • Each output line of the decoder 102 is coupled to control a gate of one of the seven MOSFET switches 70-76, with a "1" bit turning on a MOSFET (closing the switch) and a "0" bit turning off a MOSFET (opening the switch.)
  • resistors R0- 6 determines which of resistors R0- 6 are coupled in parallel with resistor R 7 .
  • FIGURE 6 illustrates a typical input for a mainframe ultrasound system.
  • a conductor 16 of the probe cable is coupled to the input of a preamplifier 82.
  • the preamplifier has an inherent input impedance, and the partial sum current on conductor 16 is applied to the preamplifier input and dropped across the input impedance.
  • FIGURE 7 illustrates an integrated circuit implementation of the delay circuit 60 .
  • the circuit 60 is a capacitive circuit which samples the signal produced by a transducer element 42 , stores the sample on a capacitor 62 of the circuit then, at a later time which defines the intended delay, the sample is read from the capacitor. The signal delayed in this manner is then available for further processing as shown by the subsequent circuit
  • the time that a signal is stored on a capacitor 62 i , 62 2 , ... 62 M is determined by the operation of a write controller 64 and a read controller 66.
  • the write controller is a pointer which determines the closure of one of switches 65 i , 652, ⁇ 65 M , the brief closing of which samples the signal of transducer 42 at the output of buffer amplifier 68 and stores the sample on a capacitor. After a switch has "written" one sample to a
  • the write controller then closes another switch 65 to store another sample of the signal on another capacitor 62 .
  • the write controller thus stores in rapid succession a plurality of samples of the signals received by transducer element 42 during its reception interval. The frequency with which samples are acquired exceeds the Nyquist rate for the received frequency band, and is usually well in excess of this rate.
  • the read controller 66 operates in a similar manner to read the stored signal samples after they have been stored on the capacitors for the desired delay period. The read controller closes one of switches 67 , coupling a stored signal sample to an output buffer 74 from which it is available for further processing. In a rapid succession a sequence of the sampled signals are read from capacitors 62 and the now-delayed samples are forwarded for further processing by the microchannel .
  • FIGURE 8 A detailed block diagram of an ultrasound system constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention is shown in FIGURE 8.
  • ultrasound probe 10 includes a two dimensional array transducer 12 which transmits electronically steered and focused beams over a planar or volumetric region and receives echo signals in response to each
  • the elements of the transducer array are coupled to microchannels of a microbeamformer
  • microchannel outputs to form a partial sum signal for each patch.
  • Suitable two dimensional arrays are described in U.S. Patent 6,419,633 (Robinson et al . ) and in U.S. Patent 6,368,281 (Solomon et al . )
  • characteristics of the probe are controlled by data from a beamformer controller 26, which causes the apodized aperture elements of the array to emit a focused beam of the desired breadth in a desired direction through a region of interest for imaging.
  • the system beamformer When transmit pulses are coupled directly to a transducer probe by the beamformer controller the system beamformer is protected from high voltages by a transmit/receive switch 18. The received partial sum signals from the microbeamformer 14 are coupled to the system beamformer 22. The partially
  • beamformed echo signals from the microbeamformer are delayed and summed in the system beamformer to form fully beamformed single or multiple receive beams in response to a transmit beam.
  • a suitable beamformer for this purpose is described in US Pat. 8,137,272 (Cooley et al . )
  • the receive beams formed by the beamformer 22 are coupled to a signal processor 24a which performs functions such as filtering and quadrature
  • the echo signals of the processed receive beams are coupled to a Doppler processor 28 and/or a B mode processor 24.
  • the Doppler processor 28 processes the echo information into Doppler power or velocity information.
  • For B mode imaging the receive beam echoes are envelope detected and the signals logarithmically compressed to a suitable dynamic range by the B mode processor 24.
  • the echo signals from a volumetric region are processed to form a 3D image dataset by a 3D image processor 32.
  • the 3D image data may be processed for display in several ways.
  • One way is to produce multiple 2D planes of the volume. This is described in U.S.
  • Such planar images of a volumetric region are produced by a multi-planar reformatter 34.
  • the three dimensional image data may also be rendered to form a perspective or kinetic parallax 3D display by a volume renderer 36.
  • the resulting images which may be B mode, Doppler or both as described in US patent 5,720,291 (Schwartz), are coupled to a display processor 38, from which they are displayed on an image display 40.
  • User control of the beamformer controller 26 and other functions of the ultrasound system are provided through a user interface or control panel 20.
  • controllable output impedances of the microbeamformer microchannels can be used to control the apodization of the received signal. More resistors can be coupled in parallel to produce lower output impedances and thus higher signal levels at the center of the receive aperture, and fewer resistors producing higher output impedances and lower signal levels at the lateral extremes of the receive
  • aperture can be implemented using the principles of the present invention, for instance.
  • the computer or processor may include a computing device, an input device, a display unit and an interface, for example, for accessing the Internet.
  • the computer or processor may include a microprocessor.
  • microprocessor may be connected to a communication bus, for example, to access a PACS system.
  • the computer or processor may also include a memory.
  • the memory may include Random Access Memory (RAM) and Read Only Memory (ROM) .
  • the computer or processor further may include a storage device, which may be a hard disk drive or a removable storage drive such as a floppy disk drive, optical disk drive, solid-state thumb drive, and the like.
  • the storage device may also be other similar means for loading computer programs or other instructions into the computer or processor.
  • the term "computer” or “module” or “processor” may include any processor-based or microprocessor-based system including systems using microcontrollers, reduced instruction set computers (RISC) , ASICs, logic circuits, and any other circuit or processor capable of executing the functions described herein.
  • RISC reduced instruction set computers
  • ASICs ASICs
  • logic circuits logic circuits, and any other circuit or processor capable of executing the functions described herein.
  • the above examples are exemplary only, and are thus not intended to limit in any way the definition and/or meaning of these terms.
  • the computer or processor executes a set of instructions that are stored in one or more storage elements, in order to process input data.
  • the storage elements may also store data or other
  • the storage element may be in the form of an information source or a physical memory element within a processing machine .
  • the set of instructions may include various commands that instruct the computer or processor as a processing machine to perform specific operations such as the methods and processes of the various embodiments of the invention.
  • the set of instructions may be in the form of a software program.
  • the software may be in various forms such as system software or application software and which may be embodied as a tangible and non-transitory computer readable medium. Further, the software may be in the form of a collection of separate programs or modules, a program module within a larger program or a portion of a program module.
  • the software also may include modular programming in the form of object-oriented programming.
  • the processing of input data by the processing machine may be in response to operator commands, or in response to results of previous processing, or in response to a request made by another processing machine.

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Radar, Positioning & Navigation (AREA)
  • Remote Sensing (AREA)
  • Acoustics & Sound (AREA)
  • Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Ultra Sonic Daignosis Equipment (AREA)

Abstract

L'invention concerne un système de diagnostic à ultrasons qui comprend une sonde de transducteur en réseau couplée à un ordinateur central de système à ultrasons comportant un formeur de faisceaux de système. Le réseau de transducteurs est actionné en tant que pièces de tailles différentes de groupes d'éléments. Chaque élément d'une pièce est couplé à un microcanal d'un formeur de microfaisceaux qui traite les signaux reçus par un élément. Les signaux de sortie des microcanaux d'une pièce sont additionnés pour former des signaux de pièce qui sont couplés au formeur de faisceaux du système. Les microcanaux d'une pièce présentent des impédances de sortie variables qui sont définies en tenant compte du nombre d'éléments de la pièce.
PCT/EP2017/062317 2016-06-02 2017-05-23 Formeur de micro-faisceaux à sonde ultrasonore avec impédance de sortie réglable WO2017207326A1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US201662344570P 2016-06-02 2016-06-02
US62/344570 2016-06-02

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
WO2017207326A1 true WO2017207326A1 (fr) 2017-12-07

Family

ID=58794058

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
PCT/EP2017/062317 WO2017207326A1 (fr) 2016-06-02 2017-05-23 Formeur de micro-faisceaux à sonde ultrasonore avec impédance de sortie réglable

Country Status (1)

Country Link
WO (1) WO2017207326A1 (fr)

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN109223035A (zh) * 2018-08-21 2019-01-18 青岛海信医疗设备股份有限公司 超声信号处理方法、装置、设备及存储介质

Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20060042390A1 (en) * 2004-08-27 2006-03-02 Thomas Halvorsrod Systems and methods for adjusting gain within an ultrasound probe
US20070225604A1 (en) * 2004-09-29 2007-09-27 Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Ultrasonic Diagnostic System
US20120092954A1 (en) * 2009-03-04 2012-04-19 Hitachi Medical Corporation Ultrasonic transmitting/receiving circuit and ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus
US20160183927A1 (en) * 2014-12-29 2016-06-30 General Electric Company Method and system for dynamically changing an impedance of a transmit/receive switch

Patent Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20060042390A1 (en) * 2004-08-27 2006-03-02 Thomas Halvorsrod Systems and methods for adjusting gain within an ultrasound probe
US20070225604A1 (en) * 2004-09-29 2007-09-27 Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Ultrasonic Diagnostic System
US20120092954A1 (en) * 2009-03-04 2012-04-19 Hitachi Medical Corporation Ultrasonic transmitting/receiving circuit and ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus
US20160183927A1 (en) * 2014-12-29 2016-06-30 General Electric Company Method and system for dynamically changing an impedance of a transmit/receive switch

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN109223035A (zh) * 2018-08-21 2019-01-18 青岛海信医疗设备股份有限公司 超声信号处理方法、装置、设备及存储介质
CN109223035B (zh) * 2018-08-21 2021-09-28 青岛海信医疗设备股份有限公司 超声信号处理方法、装置、设备及存储介质

Similar Documents

Publication Publication Date Title
US6183419B1 (en) Multiplexed array transducers with improved far-field performance
CN101858972B (zh) 基于延时参数实时计算和流水线的多波束合成方法和装置
JP7121838B2 (ja) マルチライン受信ビームフォーマ及び方法
JP2008514335A (ja) マイクロビーム形成を行うトランスデューサの構造
CN109564278B (zh) 用于128元件阵列探头的超声系统前端电路
EP3248027B1 (fr) Systèmes et procédés de mise en forme du faisceau à l'aide d'un échantillonnage variable
US11364014B2 (en) Ultrasound system front-end circuit with pulsers and linear amplifiers for an array transducer
US11911218B2 (en) Two dimensional ultrasonic array transducer with one dimensional patches
US20040122321A1 (en) Multiplexer for connecting a multi-row ultrasound transducer array to a beamformer
JP7059258B6 (ja) マルチラインデジタルマイクロビーム形成器を含む超音波プローブ
WO2017207326A1 (fr) Formeur de micro-faisceaux à sonde ultrasonore avec impédance de sortie réglable
US20210338209A1 (en) High quality high frame rate ultrasound imaging with diverging transmit beams
WO2017207815A1 (fr) Systèmes ultrasonores à compression temporelle et multiplexage temporel de signaux ultrasonores reçus
WO2017168279A1 (fr) Transducteur matriciel ultrasonore bidimensionnel à sous-parties unidimensionnelles
US20220416910A1 (en) Ultrasound imaging system with transmit apodization
US11607194B2 (en) Ultrasound imaging system with depth-dependent transmit focus
US11224410B2 (en) Methods and systems for filtering ultrasound image clutter
WO2020020867A1 (fr) Système d'imagerie par ultrasons à formes d'onde d'ouverture d'émission sélectionnables
EP3382423A1 (fr) Procédés et systèmes de filtrage de brouillage d'image ultrasonore
WO2018041636A1 (fr) Sonde à ultrasons dotée d'un micro formeur de faisceaux numériques à lignes multiples
EP3818941A1 (fr) Cathéter d'imagerie à ultrasons
DE10038653A1 (de) Flexible Integrierte Schaltungsarchitektur zur Empfangsstrahlformung
Hassan et al. 27 th National Radio Science Conference

Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
121 Ep: the epo has been informed by wipo that ep was designated in this application

Ref document number: 17726245

Country of ref document: EP

Kind code of ref document: A1

NENP Non-entry into the national phase

Ref country code: DE

122 Ep: pct application non-entry in european phase

Ref document number: 17726245

Country of ref document: EP

Kind code of ref document: A1