WO2022256970A1 - 超声波成像设备及超声波成像方法 - Google Patents

超声波成像设备及超声波成像方法 Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2022256970A1
WO2022256970A1 PCT/CN2021/098641 CN2021098641W WO2022256970A1 WO 2022256970 A1 WO2022256970 A1 WO 2022256970A1 CN 2021098641 W CN2021098641 W CN 2021098641W WO 2022256970 A1 WO2022256970 A1 WO 2022256970A1
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Prior art keywords
ultrasonic
receiving
receiving array
slice
ultrasonic signal
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PCT/CN2021/098641
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English (en)
French (fr)
Inventor
崔亮
董学
王雷
李扬冰
王迎姿
韩艳玲
王玉波
勾越
Original Assignee
京东方科技集团股份有限公司
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Application filed by 京东方科技集团股份有限公司 filed Critical 京东方科技集团股份有限公司
Priority to CN202180001465.7A priority Critical patent/CN115835822A/zh
Priority to PCT/CN2021/098641 priority patent/WO2022256970A1/zh
Priority to US17/778,119 priority patent/US20240168143A1/en
Publication of WO2022256970A1 publication Critical patent/WO2022256970A1/zh

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    • 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
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B8/00—Diagnosis using ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B8/00—Diagnosis using ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves
    • A61B8/08—Detecting organic movements or changes, e.g. tumours, cysts, swellings
    • 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
    • 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
    • G01S7/52019—Details of transmitters
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B8/00—Diagnosis using ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves
    • A61B8/13—Tomography
    • A61B8/14—Echo-tomography
    • A61B8/145—Echo-tomography characterised by scanning multiple planes
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B8/00—Diagnosis using ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves
    • A61B8/54—Control of the diagnostic device

Definitions

  • the present disclosure relates to the field of ultrasonic technology, in particular to an ultrasonic imaging device and an ultrasonic imaging method.
  • Ultrasonic imaging is to scan the human body with ultrasonic sound beams, and obtain images of internal organs by receiving and processing reflected signals.
  • ultrasonic instruments There are many kinds of ultrasonic instruments commonly used: the amplitude modulation type uses the height of the amplitude to indicate the strength of the reflected signal, and what is displayed is a kind of "echogram".
  • the light point scanning type uses the vertical direction to represent the spatial position from shallow to deep, and the horizontal direction to represent time, which is displayed as a moving curve of the light point at different times.
  • the above two types are one-dimensional displays, and their application range is limited.
  • the luminance modulation type that is, the ultrasonic slice imager, referred to as "B-ultrasound" uses light points with different brightness to indicate the strength of the received signal.
  • the light points on the display screen are also synchronized along the horizontal direction. Move, connect the track of the light spot into the section image scanned by the ultrasonic sound beam, which is a two-dimensional imaging.
  • the present disclosure provides an ultrasonic imaging device and an imaging method thereof.
  • the imaging method of the ultrasonic imaging device includes an ultrasonic signal transmitting source and a receiving array including a plurality of ultrasonic receiving circuits, which define a detection area, and the detection area includes the farthest interface, which is the part of the detection area far away from the receiving The edge interface of the array, the ultrasonic imaging device can detect the object to be tested in the detection area, and the imaging method includes: starting the ultrasonic signal emission source for the first time to emit ultrasonic waves to the detection area and make it propagate through the detection area , and then turn off the ultrasonic signal transmission source, the depth direction of the detection area is along the propagation direction of the ultrasonic wave; and after the first predetermined period of time passes after the ultrasonic signal transmission source is activated, the receiving array is activated at the first moment to The reflected echoes reflected from the detection area are simultaneously received by multiple ultrasonic receiving circuits included in the receiving array, and then the receiving array no longer receives signals and the reflected echoes are processed by the multiple ultrasonic receiving circuits
  • the imaging method further includes: re-starting the receiving array at a second moment, so as to pass through the plurality of ultrasonic receiving circuits included in the receiving array.
  • the receiving array To simultaneously receive the reflected echoes reflected from the detection area, and then make the receiving array no longer receive and store the reflected echoes through the plurality of ultrasonic receiving circuits and obtain a plurality of reflected echo signals as the first
  • the multiple reflected echo signals of the second slice are transmitted at the same time, and the multiple reflected echo signals of the second slice are sequentially read out from the multiple ultrasonic receiving circuits within the read time period.
  • the time difference between the second moment and the first moment is a slice image reading time; and the first predetermined time period is less than or equal to the ultrasonic signal transmitting source and the waiting time The time length obtained by dividing the sum of the distance between the surfaces of the test object and the distance between the surface of the test object and the receiving array by the sound velocity of the ultrasonic signal.
  • the receiving array is activated again immediately after sequentially reading out the plurality of reflected echo signals; after sequentially reading out the received plurality of reflected echo signals related to the second slice as the previous slice,
  • the imaging method also includes: step S1: start the receiving array again, to simultaneously receive reflected echoes reflected from the area to be measured through multiple ultrasonic receiving circuits included in the receiving array, and then pass the multiple ultrasonic waves
  • the receiving circuit stores the reflected echoes and obtains a plurality of reflected echo signals as a plurality of reflected echo signals of the next slice, and then sequentially reads out the next slice from the plurality of ultrasonic receiving circuits within a read time period
  • the number of arrays is the number N of individual wavelength slices.
  • the distance between the surface of the detection area and the farthest interface of the detection area is the detection distance s; The slices are beyond the furthest detection interface.
  • the imaging method further includes step S3: start the ultrasonic signal transmission source again to transmit ultrasonic waves to the detection area and make it propagate through the detection area , the depth direction of the detection area is along the propagation direction of the ultrasonic wave, and then the ultrasonic signal transmission source is turned off; after the second predetermined period of time passes after the ultrasonic signal transmission source is started again, the receiving array is activated to pass through the receiving array A plurality of ultrasonic receiving circuits are included to simultaneously receive reflected echoes reflected from the detection area, and then the receiving array is no longer received, and the reflected echoes are stored by the plurality of ultrasonic receiving circuits and obtained as retransmitting a plurality of reflected echo signals of the first slice, and sequentially reading out the plurality of reflected echo signals related to the retransmitted first slice from the plurality of ultrasonic receiving circuits within a read time period , wherein the second predetermined time period is longer than the first
  • the predetermined fine-tuning time length divided by 2 is greater than or equal to v/f*N and less than the image reading time of a pair of slices, where f is the ultrasonic signal frequency, N is the number of single wavelength slices, and v is the ultrasonic wave speed of sound.
  • the number of activations M of the ultrasonic signal transmitting source is equal to 1 plus the reading time of one slice/predetermined fine-tuning time length divided by 2.
  • the imaging method further includes: re-starting the receiving array after sequentially reading a plurality of reflected echo signals related to the first slice transmitted again; and sequentially executing the steps S3, S1 and Step S2.
  • the imaging method further includes: integrating the read reflected echo signals to determine the information of the object under test in the detection area.
  • the ultrasonic imaging device of the present disclosure includes: an ultrasonic signal transmitting source, which transmits ultrasonic waves to the object under test; and a receiving array, which includes a plurality of ultrasonic signal receiving circuits; wherein, the ultrasonic signal transmitting source and the receiving array define a The detection area and the farthest detection interface enable the receiving array to receive, store and read out the reflected echo signals returned by the object under test in the detection area; the ultrasonic signal emission source is a point emission source; the The receiving array and the receiving array are in a first plane; and the depth direction of the detection area is orthogonal to the first plane.
  • the ultrasonic signal transmitting source is located directly above or on the receiving array.
  • the ultrasonic signal transmitting source is located at the center of the receiving array.
  • the orthographic projection of the detection area on the receiving array falls within the range of the receiving array.
  • the multiple ultrasonic signal receiving circuits are arranged in an array.
  • the ultrasonic imaging device further includes a driving circuit, which is connected to the receiving array through a plurality of grid lines and a plurality of readout lines, wherein each grid line in the plurality of grid lines is connected to a row
  • the ultrasonic signal receiving circuit is connected to control the opening of the row of ultrasonic signal receiving circuits; and each of the multiple reading lines is connected to a row of ultrasonic signal receiving circuits for reading out the Stored reflected echo signal.
  • each of the plurality of ultrasonic signal receiving circuits includes: an ultrasonic receiver, a first transistor, a second transistor, and a third transistor, wherein the ultrasonic receiver includes a driving electrode, a piezoelectric material layer and a receiving electrode, the driving electrode is grounded, and the receiving electrode is used to receive the reflected echo signal;
  • the first transistor includes a control electrode, a first electrode and a second electrode, and the control electrode of the first transistor is connected to the reset signal terminal, The first pole of the first transistor is connected to the receiving electrode, and the second pole of the first transistor is connected to the bias voltage terminal;
  • the second transistor includes a control pole, a first pole and a second pole, and the first pole of the second transistor connected to a power supply voltage, the control electrode of the second transistor is connected to the receiving electrode;
  • the third transistor includes a control electrode, a first electrode and a second electrode, and the first electrode of the third transistor is connected to the second electrode of the second transistor. pole, the control pole of the third transistor is connected to
  • FIG. 1A shows a schematic structural diagram of an ultrasonic imaging device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure
  • FIG. 1B shows a schematic structural diagram of an ultrasonic imaging device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure
  • FIG. 2A shows a schematic diagram of segmenting a region to be treated in an imaging method of an ultrasonic imaging device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure
  • FIG. 2B shows a schematic diagram of an imaging method of an ultrasonic imaging device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure
  • FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of an imaging method of an ultrasonic imaging device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure
  • FIG. 4 shows a schematic structural diagram of a receiving array of an ultrasonic imaging device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure
  • Fig. 5 shows a working timing diagram of a receiving array of an ultrasonic imaging device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure
  • FIG. 6 shows a schematic circuit structure diagram of an ultrasonic signal receiving circuit included in a receiving array of an ultrasonic imaging device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure
  • Fig. 7 shows a kind of working sequence diagram of the ultrasonic signal receiving circuit shown in Fig. 6;
  • FIG. 8 shows a schematic diagram of integrating each slice by the ultrasonic signal receiving circuit shown in FIG. 7 .
  • ultrasonic imaging usually uses arrays to receive echo signals in real time, and convert time information and signal amplitudes into grayscale values for display. Due to the slow speed of sound, this imaging method needs to receive all the echoes returned from a distance, form a narrow strip area image with one emission, and synthesize a complete image after multiple repetitions, which takes a long time, resulting in a frame rate of image transmission Low, the display effect is poor.
  • the present disclosure provides an ultrasonic imaging device and an imaging method thereof.
  • the ultrasonic imaging device of the present disclosure includes: an ultrasonic signal transmitting source 1, which transmits ultrasonic waves 10 to the object to be measured; a receiving array 2, which includes a plurality of ultrasonic signal receiving circuits 20, as shown in Figure 10
  • the receiving array 2 may include, for example, a plurality of ultrasonic signal receiving circuits 20 arranged in an array to simultaneously receive a plurality of reflected echoes reflected from the cut surface 4 of the object to be tested in the detection area 3, so as to be able to correspondingly generate a plurality of Reflecting the echo signal;
  • the combination of the ultrasonic signal transmitting source 1 and the receiving array 2 can define the detection area 3 and the farthest detection interface 30, so that the receiving array can receive, store and read out the waiting data in the detection area 3
  • the reflected echo signal returned by the measured object, wherein the farthest detection interface 30 is the edge interface of the detection area 3 away from the receiving array 2 .
  • the ultrasonic imaging device including the ultrasonic signal transmitting source 1 and the receiving array 2 can detect the object to be tested within the detection area 3 .
  • the ultrasonic wave 10 reaches the section 4 of the object under test in the detection area 3, and the reflected echo signal returned from the section 4 of the object to be tested propagates toward the receiving array 2, is received by the receiving array 2, and is further stored. and read out, so that the information of the section 4 of the object under test can be obtained.
  • the detection area 3 defines a farthest interface 30, and objects to be tested beyond the farthest interface 30 cannot be detected.
  • the upper limit of the detection distance of the ultrasonic imaging device is about 25 cm, that is, the distance between the farthest interface 30 and the receiving array is about 25 cm.
  • the ultrasonic emission source 1 and the receiving array 2 with specific parameters can be selected, which is not limited in the present disclosure.
  • the ultrasonic signal transmitting source 1 can be a point transmitting source, which will emit a spherical wave after it is started, so that all the objects under test within a predetermined distance around it (for example, the farthest interface 30) can receive the wave.
  • Ultrasonic spherical wave After the surface of the object to be measured reflects the ultrasonic wave, the receiving array 2 receives the reflected echo signal, thereby obtaining the information on the surface of the object to be measured.
  • the ultrasonic signal transmitting source 1 and the receiving array 2 are in the first plane D1; the detection area 3 can be determined by adjusting the relative positions of the ultrasonic signal transmitting source 1 and the receiving array 2, such as the detection area 3
  • the receiving array 2 may be located in the second plane D2, and the first plane D1 intersects with the second plane D2.
  • the first plane D1 and the second plane D2 may be orthogonal, and at this time, the depth direction of the detection area 3 may be regarded as being orthogonal to the first plane D1.
  • the reflected echo reflected by the cut surface 4 of the object to be measured in the detection area 3 The signals are generally received by the receiving array 4, so that the detection accuracy can be improved.
  • the distance between the ultrasonic signal transmitting source 1 and the receiving array 2 and the angle between the emitted ultrasonic wave and the received ultrasonic wave can be further designed so that the transmitted echo reflected by the object to be detected in the detection area 3 is perpendicular to The angle is incident on the receiving array 2, this arrangement can improve the amplitude of the detection signal, and increase the detection resolution and sensitivity.
  • the ultrasonic emission source 1 is located directly above the receiving array 1, and the ultrasonic waves emitted by it irradiate the cut surface 4 of the object to be tested, and are reflected by the cut surface 4 of the object to be measured, and the reflected echo signal is roughly They are all irradiated vertically to the receiving array 2 along the depth direction of the detection area 3, and are stored and read out by the receiving array 2, so as to obtain the information on the cut surface 4 of the object under test. That is to say, in this embodiment, the orthographic projection of the detection area 3 on the receiving array 2 falls within the range of the receiving array 2 .
  • the ultrasonic signal transmitting source 1 as shown in Figure 1A When the ultrasonic signal transmitting source 1 as shown in Figure 1A is arranged above the receiving array 2, the ultrasonic waves emitted by the ultrasonic signal transmitting source 1 will emit spherical waves, and if the object to be measured in the detection area is an object with uniform material, the The tangent surface that simultaneously reflects the spherical wave on the measured object can be a spherical surface; but the disclosure is not limited thereto, and the ultrasonic signal transmitting source 1 can also be set on the surface side of the tested object together with the receiving array 2, for example, on the surface of the tested object
  • the two sides of the vertical line of the surface for example, can also be symmetrically arranged on both sides of the vertical line, as shown in Figure 1B; or, according to the test requirements, the ultrasonic signal transmitting source 1 and the receiving array 2
  • the position setting is adjustable.
  • the object to be measured is usually not an object of uniform material, such as a human organ.
  • a surface on the object to be measured reflected by the multiple reflected echo signals received by the receiving array 2 at the same time may not be A sphere as above, but may be an irregular sphere.
  • the ultrasonic signal transmitting source 1 and the receiving array 2 are on a first plane D1
  • the receiving array 2 and the object under test 3 can be regarded as being on a second plane D2 .
  • the spherical ultrasonic waves emitted by the ultrasonic emission source 1 as a point emission source at the same time will pass through the object under test along the propagation direction of the ultrasonic waves.
  • the direction in which ultrasonic waves propagate sequentially through the object under test can be regarded as the depth direction of the object under test, that is, the propagation direction of the ultrasonic wave is consistent with the depth direction of the object under test.
  • the present disclosure provides an ultrasonic imaging method for the ultrasonic imaging device shown in FIG. 1A .
  • the ultrasonic signal emission source adopted by the ultrasonic imaging device is a point emission source, and the ultrasonic waves emitted by it are spherical waves.
  • the reflected echoes reflected by various parts of the object under test will reach the receiving array 4, and be received, stored and read out by multiple ultrasonic signal receiving circuits in the receiving array 4.
  • the receiving array 2 of the whole surface receives the reflected echo signal at the same time, the receiving array 2 will no longer continue to receive the reflected echo, because the receiving array 2 needs a predetermined reading time period as the reading time to read the data stored on it. Multiple reflected echo signals.
  • the length of the predetermined reading time period will depend on the product of the number of rows of the plurality of ultrasonic signal receiving circuits in the receiving array and the reading time of each row. Therefore, after the receiving array 2 has received the reflected echo signals on its entire surface, it will suspend receiving the reflected echo signals, but will sequentially read out multiple reflected echo signals stored thereon. After reading, start the receiving array 2 again to receive reflected echo signals.
  • the ultrasonic waves irradiated on the object to be tested will continue to propagate , so the tangent plane on the object under test reflected by the reflected echo signal received again by the receiving array 2 after a predetermined reading time will be far away from the previous tangent plane reflected by the reflected echo signal received by the receiving array last time.
  • Another cut plane of the receiving array at a predetermined distance. Since the characteristics of each part on the object to be tested are not uniform, for example, when an arm is detected by ultrasound, the speed of ultrasonic propagation will be different between the position with bones and the position without bones.
  • the two reflective surfaces reflected by the multiple reflected echo signals (hereinafter referred to as receiving slices) received by the subsurface may not be regular spherical surfaces, but this does not affect the use of reflected echo signals for data collection and analysis.
  • the object to be measured is virtually divided into multiple slices, and receiving the reflected echo signals of the ultrasonic waves from the slices facing the receiving array 2 will obtain these slices. characteristics, and then integrated to obtain the characteristics of the entire DUT. Therefore, the more slices are divided, the more information about the object to be obtained will be obtained, and the analysis of the object will be more accurate, but this will also consume more time and calculation, which may not be conducive to some type of analysis, so an appropriate number of slices can be selected according to actual needs.
  • the material and/or characteristics of each part of the object to be detected within the detection area 3 are usually not uniform.
  • the reflected echoes obtained by reflecting ultrasonic waves from the cut surface of the same slice (eg spherical or rectangular slice) of the object under test may not reach the receiving array 2 at the same time, even if the vertical distance between the cut plane and the receiving array is equal. Therefore, multiple reflected echo signals simultaneously received by multiple ultrasonic signal receiving circuits on the entire receiving array 2 do not necessarily reflect the section information of the same slice on the object under test, but this does not affect the ultrasonic imaging of the present disclosure. Advantages of the method.
  • each slice described below in the present disclosure roughly correspond to the multiple slices virtually divided on the object under test, and each slice actually represents multiple slices received by the receiving array 2 at the same time.
  • a reflected echo signal In the case where the receiving array 2 includes a plurality of ultrasonic receiving circuits 20 arranged in an array, a plurality of reflected echo signals of each slice is also arranged in an array.
  • the receiving array 2 since the receiving array 2 simultaneously receives multiple reflected echo signals from the entire surface at a time, a certain readout time is required (that is, the readout time for one image shown in FIG. 2 ).
  • the receiving array 2 will sequentially receive, store and read the reflected echo signals of multiple slices S11, S12, S13...S1N, and these slices will reflect specific areas on the object to be tested (that is, these slices will roughly reflect the information on the slices of several divided slices on the object to be measured), and the time difference between every two adjacent read-out slices is the readout time of an image.
  • the receiving array 2 first receives a plurality of reflected echo signals reflected on the surface of the object to be tested closest to the receiving array 2, that is, a plurality of reflected echo signals as shown in Figure 2B Slice S11 of wave signal, after receiving slice S11, receiving array 2 will stop receiving, but after a pair of image readout time, start again to receive slice S12, and so on, until the total time of the first transmission and reception exceeds The time to receive the reflected echo signal reflected from the farthest interface.
  • the receiving array 2 will sequentially receive, store and read the reflected echoes of multiple slices S21, S22, S23...S2N, each slice It will reflect the characteristics of the specific area on the object under test, but the reflected echo signal read out by the ultrasonic signal transmitting source 1 during this transmission reflects information different from the information of the specific area on the object under test obtained during the first transmission.
  • the multiple slices collected during the first transmission there is a slight time delay between the multiple slices collected sequentially during the second transmission, and the delay can be obtained by starting the receiving array 2 after the ultrasonic signal transmission source 1 transmits. The time difference between the previous to control.
  • the receiving array 2 after the first predetermined time period after the ultrasonic signal transmitting source 1 transmits for the first time
  • the difference between the first predetermined time period and the second predetermined time period is the predetermined fine-tuning time, which is equal to the aforementioned delay time. That is, relative to the first time difference when the ultrasonic signal transmitting source 1 activates the receiving array to receive the first slice S11 after the first transmission, the ultrasonic signal transmitting source 2 activates the receiving array to receive the first slice S21 after the second transmission.
  • the second time difference will be slightly greater than the first time difference, but it must be ensured that the second time difference will not fall on the acquisition time of the second slice S12 during the first transmission, that is, it must be ensured that the predetermined fine-tuning time length divided by 2 is greater than or equal to 1/f*N and less than the reading time of a pair of slice images, where f is the frequency of the ultrasonic signal, and N is the number of slices of a single wavelength, so that it can be ensured that the information of the object under test collected this time is the first transmission period Information not collected.
  • the data volume of a single wavelength slice represents the number of slices that can be obtained during one transmission of the ultrasonic signal. As shown in Figure 4, in some cases, the division of the detection area does not need to be as fine as that described in Figure 2. At this time, the ultrasonic signal
  • the receiving time difference between two consecutive slices can be determined, namely is the readout time of a pair of images, and multiplying the readout time of a pair of images by the speed of sound is the ultrasonic transmission distance within the readout time of a pair of images.
  • the approximate distance between two reflective surfaces on the measured object As shown in FIG. 2B , during the first emission, the information of the part between the two reflective surfaces on the object to be tested is not obtained, which may not meet the test accuracy requirement.
  • the second transmission of the ultrasonic signal transmission source 1 is performed to obtain the part of the object under test for which no information has been obtained.
  • the slices S21, S22...S2N obtained during the second transmission of the ultrasonic signal source will have a delay time compared with the slices S11, S12...S1N obtained during the first transmission, so that Information on the uninformed portion of the DUT during the first shot.
  • the reflected echo signals of M*N slices are read out multiple times, and the multiple reflected echo signals of these slices are read out separately, and then information integration as shown in Figure 2 can be performed to obtain the object under test characteristics.
  • the ultrasonic wave emitted by the ultrasonic signal transmitting source 1 will be transmitted along the propagation direction of the ultrasonic wave to pass through the thickness of the object to be measured, and echo signals will be reflected from each surface of the object to be measured, and these echo signals on different surfaces will be It is reflected to the receiving array 2 in turn, and the multiple reflected echo signals received by the receiving array 2 require a predetermined reading time period to be read out. Therefore, if timing control is not performed, the receiving array 2 transmits the ultrasonic signal at the source 1. When the ultrasonic signal is used, the reflected echo signals reflected from each cut surface will be received continuously, so that the desired information cannot be obtained.
  • the receiving array 2 includes a plurality of ultrasonic signal receiving circuits arranged in an array, and each ultrasonic signal receiving circuit includes at least one ultrasonic receiver, which receives the reflected echo signal reflected on it, and can store it and read to record the reflected echo signal for subsequent analysis and processing.
  • the plurality of ultrasonic signal receiving circuits arranged in an array included in the receiving array 2 will simultaneously receive and store reflected multiple reflected echo signals across the entire surface, and then read them out row by row. During this process, the receiving array 2 will no longer receive the reflected echo signal. Instead, after the multiple reflected echo signals of the entire specific slice are read within the predetermined reading time period, the receiving array 2 will be turned on again to receive the multiple reflected echo signals of the next specific slice.
  • the predetermined reading time period is determined by the reading time of a plurality of ultrasonic signal receiving circuits of the receiving array 2 .
  • the slice data received twice by the receiving array 2 will reflect the slice information of two spaced apart slices on the object to be measured.
  • the multiple slices received by the receiving array 2 of the ultrasonic signal transmitting source 1 during one transmitting period are called a slice group, then during the first transmitting period of the ultrasonic signal transmitting source 1, how many slices received by the receiving array 2 slice data is called the first slice group.
  • two adjacent slices in a slice group represent the slices received by the receiving array 2 adjacently started twice by the ultrasonic signal transmitting source 1 during one transmission, for example, the first slice group as shown in Figure 2B includes slices S11 to S1N, and the slices S11 and S12 are two adjacent slices, and the time difference between receiving the two adjacent slices by the receiving array 2 is the readout time of one image.
  • the number of slices between two adjacent slices (for example, slices S11 and S12) in the first slice group is the number of times the ultrasonic signal transmitting source 1 still needs to transmit, so the two adjacent slices
  • the number of slices between slices plus 1 is the number of slice groups into which the object under test is roughly divided. That is, the plurality of detection slices divided by the object to be tested is equal to the product of the number of slice groups and the number of slices in each slice group, that is, the total number of slices that the receiving array 2 needs to receive is equal to the number of slices in each slice group.
  • the number of slices and the number of slice groups are the number of times the ultrasonic signal transmitting source 1 still needs to transmit, so the two adjacent slices
  • the number of slices between slices plus 1 is the number of slice groups into which the object under test is roughly divided. That is, the plurality of detection slices divided by the object to be tested is equal to the product of the number of slice groups and the number of slices in each slice group, that is, the total number of slices that the receiving array 2 needs to receive
  • the ultrasonic imaging system includes an ultrasonic signal transmitting source 1 and a receiving array 2 , which cooperate with each other to define a detection area 3 , and the edge interface of the detection area 3 away from the receiving array 2 is the farthest interface 30 .
  • the ultrasonic signal transmitting source 1 After the ultrasonic signal transmitting source 1 is activated to emit ultrasonic waves, the information reflected by the slice data firstly received by the receiving array 2 should be the detection surface of the detection area (that is, the edge interface of the detection area close to the receiving array). Therefore, after the first predetermined period of time after the ultrasonic signal transmitting source 1 transmits for the first time, the receiving array 2 is controlled to turn on so that the multiple reflected echo signals of the first slice in the first slice group obtained by it are the detection area.
  • the interface reflection represents the information of the detection surface of the detection area.
  • the multiple reflected echoes of the first slice are stored after being received by the receiving array 2 , and then the receiving array 2 no longer performs signal reception but reads the received multiple reflected echo signals line by line.
  • the receiving array 2 is reset and then restarted to re-receive the reflected echoes reflecting the characteristics of the next specific detection section of the detection area and These reflected echo signals are stored, and then the receiving array 2 no longer receives but reads the received multiple reflected echo signals related to the next specific detection section line by line; and so on, until the ultrasonic signal transmitting source 1
  • the transmitted ultrasonic wave has exceeded the farthest interface, which can be obtained by multiplying the ultrasonic wave speed by the reading time of multiple images.
  • the distance between the two slices corresponding to the detection surface and the next specific detection section corresponds to the two opening times of the receiving array 2, which both reflect the speed of the sound wave and the response of the receiving array 2 to the multiple reflected echo signals of the entire slice. Read time.
  • the ultrasonic signal emission source 1 can be a specific emission source, for example, it can be a point emission source. Go through various parts of the object under test 1 in the depth direction.
  • the signal frequency f, the sound velocity v, the reading time of each row of the receiving array 2 (that is, the grid line Gate switching frequency) fgate and the number of times the receiving array includes The row number h of the ultrasonic signal receiving circuit, the number of single wavelength slices N (that is, the number of slices that the receiving array can receive when the ultrasonic wave is emitted once), the detection distance s (that is, the length in the depth direction of the detection area, that is, the detection surface to the The distance between the farthest interfaces) can determine how many slice groups the receiving array 2 needs to receive and how many slices in each slice group.
  • the first predetermined time period passes through, at the first time t0 (equal to the time when the receiving array 2 can receive a plurality of reflected echoes of the first slice in the first slice group ), turn on the receiving array 2 to receive and store a plurality of reflected echo signals of the entire first slice, and make the receiving array 2 no longer perform signal reception, and then read the multiple ultrasonic signals included in the receiving array 2 row by row Receive multiple reflected echo signals on the circuit and store them in the memory; it should also be mentioned here that the predetermined time t0 is very short, so the first slice usually reflects the information of the detection surface of the detection area, and for the second For one transmission, the ultrasonic signal transmitting source 1 and the receiving array 2 can be turned on at the same time.
  • the first predetermined time period is less than or equal to the sum of the distance between the ultrasonic signal transmitting source and the surface of the object under test and the distance between the surface of the object under test and the receiving array divided by the sound velocity of the ultrasonic signal The length of time obtained.
  • the receiving array 2 After the reading is completed, the receiving array 2 resets, starts receiving again, receives and stores multiple reflected echo signals of the second slice of the first slice group, so that the receiving array 2 no longer performs signal reception, and then reads the received signals line by line.
  • Ultrasonic signal source 1 emits ultrasonic waves for the second time:
  • the second predetermined time period passes, at the second moment t1 (equal to the time of multiple reflected echoes of the first slice of the second slice group received by the receiving array 2), such as As shown in FIG. 2B, the first slice of the second slice group should be between the first slice S11 and the second slice S12 in the first slice group shown in FIG.
  • the multiple reflected echo signals of the first slice of the slice group are received and stored, so that the receiving array 2 no longer performs signal reception, but reads multiple reflected echo signals row by row, the second moment and the first
  • the receiving array 2 is reset, and the receiving is started again, and the receiving array 2 receives and stores a plurality of reflected echo signals of the second slice of the second slice group, so that the receiving array 2 no longer performs signal reception, and then Read multiple reflected echo signals line by line;
  • the ultrasonic signal transmission source 1 transmits the ultrasonic wave for the Mth time, receives multiple reflected echo signals of the first slice of the Mth group, etc., until the multiple reflected echoes of the Nth slice of the Mth group The signal is received and stored and read out row by row.
  • rough scanning that is, the number of times the ultrasonic signal emission source is turned on
  • rough scanning can be used to obtain the image of the object 4 under test 4 in the detection area 3
  • Preliminary information for example, the information of N slices obtained only by one emission of the ultrasonic emission source 1; determine the approximate position of the object under test in the detection area according to these information and determine the depth of the object under test in the propagation direction of the ultrasonic signal, That is, determine the area of the object to be tested; then perform a fine scan only on the area of the object to be tested including the object to be tested by the above method, that is, use the determined area of the object to be tested as the above-mentioned detection area to perform a fine scan on the area of the object to be tested, Multiple times of ultrasonic signal transmission sources are activated to generate more slice data, and the receiving array 2 will receive more slice data for analysis and processing, thereby improving detection accuracy and detection speed.
  • the imaging method of the ultrasonic imaging device of the present disclosure includes steps S101 to S106:
  • step S101 measure the distance from the ultrasonic signal transmitting source to the surface of the detection area, and calculate the time for the ultrasonic wave sent by the ultrasonic signal transmitting source to reach the surface according to the wave velocity, so as to calculate the multiple reflected echoes when the receiving array turns on the receiving surface reflection
  • the time of the signal (this time is equal to the distance between the source of the object under test and the surface of the object under test and the receiving array divided by the speed of sound), so as to accurately open the receiving array for the first reception and storage of the reflected echo signal;
  • step S102 according to the number of rows of the receiving array and the reading time of each row (that is, the reading time of the reflected echo signal of the entire surface of the receiving array), it is calculated that the receiving array can receive multiple reflected echo signals of the second slice Therefore, it is possible to determine the receiving time between two adjacent slices in each slice group (how many slices of reflected echo signals the receiving array can receive during one transmission of the transmitting source), and then determine the number of slices in each slice group The number of slices included, N;
  • step S103 determine how many further slices need to be filled between every two slices according to the detection accuracy, and then determine the number of slice groups that need to be divided, which corresponds to the number of times of emission by the emission source, M;
  • step S104 start the transmitting source to transmit, and then after the first predetermined time period (divided by the distance between the transmitting source and the surface and the distance between the surface and the receiving array divided by the speed of sound), the receiving array is started to receive the first slice group in sequence After the multiple reflection echo signals of the first slice in the first slice are integrally stored and read out, the receiving array is started to receive multiple anti-reflection echo signals of the second slice of the first slice group, integrally stored and read out, Repeat this step until all the reflected echo signals of the Nth slice are read out, and at this time, the information collection for the first emission of the emission source ends;
  • step S105 start the emission source again, and then after the second predetermined time period (at least the sum of dividing the thickness of each slice by 2 times the speed of sound and the first predetermined time period), start the receiving array, and repeat the above steps until The acquisition of information for the second emission of the emission source ends; and
  • the detection area is sliced in three-dimensional space, and correspondingly mapped to multiple reflected echo signals of multiple slices received by the receiving array 2 .
  • the receiving array 2 integrates multiple reflected echo signals of each slice each time, and the ultrasonic signal transmitting source can collect multiple entire images in one transmission, that is, the receiving array 2 will receive reflected echo signals of multiple slices. Multiple entire images obtained after multiple transmissions by the ultrasonic signal source are integrated to restore the image of the object under test in the detection area.
  • the transmission frame rate of the image is greatly improved and the display effect is enhanced. .
  • the receiving array 2 of the embodiment of the present disclosure includes a plurality of ultrasonic signal receiving circuits 20 arranged in multiple rows and columns, each row of ultrasonic signal receiving circuits 20 is connected to a grid line Gate, and each column of ultrasonic signal detection The circuit 20 is connected to a read line Read, and the read signal will be transmitted to the processor through the analog-to-digital converter ADC, waiting for further integration and processing.
  • the multiple reflected echo signals received by the multiple ultrasonic receiving circuits 20 of the receiving array 2 are sequentially read through the control of the grid line Gate connected thereto, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 .
  • the grid lines are turned on sequentially, so that the reflected echo signals on multiple ultrasonic receiving circuits 20 are sequentially read.
  • the ultrasonic signal receiving circuit 20 of the embodiment of the present disclosure includes: an ultrasonic receiver 100 , a first transistor M1 , a second transistor M2 and a third transistor M3 .
  • the ultrasonic receiver 100 includes a driving electrode 101, a piezoelectric material layer 102 and a receiving electrode 103, the driving electrode 101 is grounded, and the receiving electrode 103 is used to receive reflected echo signals;
  • the first transistor M1 includes a control pole, a first pole and a second pole , the control electrode of the first transistor M1 is connected to the reset signal terminal RST, the first electrode of the first transistor M1 is connected to the receiving electrode 103, both are connected to the node N0, and the second electrode of the first transistor M1 is connected to the bias Set the voltage terminal Vbias;
  • the second transistor M2 includes a control electrode, a first electrode and a second electrode, the first electrode of the second transistor M2 is connected to the power supply voltage VDD, and the control electrode of the second transistor M2 is
  • the first transistor M1 , the second transistor M2 and the third transistor M3 may be field effect transistors or MOS transistors.
  • the ultrasonic receiver 100 may be a piezoelectric transistor receiver (PVDF), which receives reflected echo signals and induces charges, and the waveform is a sine wave, as shown in FIG. 7 .
  • PVDF piezoelectric transistor receiver
  • the Vbias signal applied to the bias voltage terminal Vbias has two functions. One is that the pulse width of the Vbias signal represents the integration time of the reflected echo signal, that is, the received reflected echo signal is integrated within the pulse width time to obtain the signal at node NO in Figure 7; the second is , when the reset terminal Reset is reset, grounding is provided, as shown in Figure 7, in the reset phase, the signal at the reset terminal RST is at a high level, and the signal at the bias voltage terminal Vbias is at a low level, so that the node N0 Reset and wait for the next reception.
  • the integration time is approximately equal to the slice thickness, that is, corresponding to the time difference between two start-ups of the receiving array, the shorter the integration time, the higher the detection accuracy.
  • the thinner the slice the more slices are required, and the number of shots increases accordingly.
  • the signal on the reset terminal Reset performs a reset discharge after each frame of data reading is completed.
  • the signal on the gate line Gate is used to turn on the third transistor M3, so that the current output by the second transistor M2 (corresponding to the reflected echo signal received at the node N0) flows to the back-end receiving circuit through the third transistor M3.
  • the frequency of the ultrasonic signal sent by the ultrasonic signal transmitting source 1 is f
  • the wavelength is ⁇
  • n is the number of single wavelength slices (that is, each slice The number of slices contained in the group, as mentioned above N)
  • the number of Gate rows that is, the number of rows of multi-row and multi-column ultrasonic detection circuits in the receiving array 2) h
  • the speed of sound v that is, the number of rows in the detection area detect the distance between the surface and the furthest interface
  • the frame rate obtained by adopting the present disclosure is nearly 3 times higher than the 30 frames/s in the related art.
  • the three-dimensional space of the detection area is divided into multiple slices, and then mapped to the multiple slices received by the receiving array, and the multiple slices received by the receiving array are The reflected echo signals of each slice are integrated to obtain the information of the object under test in the entire detection area.
  • the receiving array comprising a plurality of ultrasonic signal receiving circuits arranged in an array to receive the reflected echo signals of the leather of each slice, the ultrasonic signal receiving circuit as each pixel will integrate each echo signal, and then It will be stored on the parasitic capacitance of the ultrasonic signal receiving circuit of the pixel, and the capacitance will be reset after the data is read out.
  • the slice scanning method of the imaging method of the present disclosure is as follows: for the first launch, the entire surface data is stored, and after being read out line by line, the entire surface data is stored and read until reaching the farthest interface; Finally (closer to the farthest interface) the slice position is fine-tuned, and the above process is repeated until the number of slices fills up the space occupied by the readout time of one image.
  • the three-dimensional space is sliced and integrated, and multiple entire images can be collected in one shot, and the images are integrated and restored after multiple shots.
  • the transmission frame rate of the image is greatly improved, and the display effect is enhanced.

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Abstract

一种超声波成像设备的成像方法，超声波成像设备包括超声波信号发射源（1）和多个超声波接收电路的接收阵列（2），成像方法包括：启动超声波信号发射源（1），以向待测物（3）发射超声波（10）并且传播经过待测物（3），待测物（3）的深度方向沿着超声波（10）的传播方向；以及在超声波信号发射源（1）启动之后经过第一预定时间段，启动接收阵列（2），以接收从待测物（3）的垂直于深度方向的第一切面反射回的反射回波，然后关闭接收阵列（2）并且通过多个超声波接收电路（20）对反射回波进行存储并且获得多个反射回波信号，以及在读取时间段内从多个超声波接收电路（20）依次读出多个反射回波信号。

Description

超声波成像设备及超声波成像方法 技术领域
本公开涉及超声波技术领域，具体涉及一种超声波成像设备及超声波成像方法。
背景技术
超声波成像是利用超声声束扫描人体，通过对反射信号的接收、处理，以获得体内器官的图像。常用的超声仪器有多种：幅度调制型是以波幅的高低表示反射信号的强弱，显示的是一种“回声图”。光点扫描型是以垂直方向代表从浅至深的空间位置，水平方向代表时间，显示为光点在不同时间的运动曲线图。以上两型均为一维显示，应用范围有限。辉度调制型，即超声切面成像仪，简称“B超”，是以亮度不同的光点表示接收信号的强弱，在探头沿水平位置移动时，显示屏上的光点也沿水平方向同步移动，将光点轨迹连成超声声束所扫描的切面图，为二维成像。
发明内容
本公开提供了超声波成像设备及其成像方法。
所述超声波成像设备的成像方法包括超声波信号发射源和包括多个超声波接收电路的接收阵列，其限定了检测区域，所述检测区域包括最远界面，其为所述检测区域的远离所述接收阵列的边缘界面，超声波成像设备能够对该检测区域内的待测物进行检测，所述成像方法包括：第一次启动超声波信号发射源以向检测区域发射超声波并且使其传播经过所述检测区域，然后关闭超声波信号发射源，所述检测区域的深度方向沿着所述超声波的传播方向；以及在超声波信号发射源启动之后经过第一预定时间段，在第一时刻启动所述接收阵列，以通过接收阵列所包括的多个超声波接收电路来同时接收从所述检测区域反射 回的反射回波，然后使得所述接收阵列不再接收信号并且通过所述多个超声波接收电路对反射回波进行存储并且获得多个反射回波信号作为第一次发射的第一切片的多个反射回波信号，以及在读取时间段内从所述多个超声波接收电路依次读出所述第一切片的多个反射回波信号。
在一个实施例中，在依次读出所述多个反射回波信号之后，所述成像方法还包括：在第二时刻再次启动所述接收阵列，以通过接收阵列所包括的多个超声波接收电路来同时接收从所述检测区域反射回的反射回波，然后使得所述接收阵列不再接收并且通过所述多个超声波接收电路对反射回波进行存储并且获得多个反射回波信号作为第一次发射的第二切片的多个反射回波信号，以及在读取时间段内从所述多个超声波接收电路依次读出所述第二切片的多个反射回波信号。
在一个实施例中，所述第二时刻和所述第一时刻之间的时间差为一副切片图像读取时间；以及所述第一预定时间段小于等于所述超声波信号发射源与所述待测物表面之间的距离和所述待测物表面与所述接收阵列之间的距离之和除以超声波信号的声速所获得的时间长度。
在一个实施例中，在依次读出所述多个反射回波信号之后立即再次启动接收阵列；在依次读出接收到的有关作为前一个切片的第二切片的多个反射回波信号之后，所述成像方法还包括：步骤S1：再次启动接收阵列，以通过接收阵列所包括的多个超声波接收电路来同时接收从所述待测区域反射回的反射回波，然后通过所述多个超声波接收电路对反射回波进行存储并且获得多个反射回波信号作为下一个切片的多个反射回波信号，然后在读取时间段内从所述多个超声波接收电路依次读出该下一个切片的所述多个反射回波信号；以及步骤S2:重复所述步骤S1，直到下一个切片超出了最远检测界面，以及步骤S2完成后，获取针对第一次启动超声波信号发射源期间启动接收阵列的次数作为单个波长切片数量N。
在一个实施例中，检测区域表面与检测区域最远界面之间的距离为探测距离s；以及在接收阵列的启动次数乘以一幅图像读取时间的和大于探测距离s时， 确定接收到的切片超出了最远检测界面。
在一个实施例中，在下一个切片超出了最远检测界面之后，所述成像方法还包括步骤S3:再一次启动所述超声波信号发射源以向检测区域发射超声波并且使其传播经过所述检测区域，所述检测区域的深度方向沿着所述超声波的传播方向，然后关闭超声波信号发射源；在超声波信号发射源再一次启动之后经过第二预定时间段，启动所述接收阵列，以通过接收阵列所包括的多个超声波接收电路来同时接收从所述检测区域反射回的反射回波，然后使得所述接收阵列不再接收并且通过所述多个超声波接收电路对反射回波进行存储并且获得作为再一次发射的第一切片的多个反射回波信号，以及在读取时间段内从所述多个超声波接收电路依次读出有关再一次发射的第一切片的多个反射回波信号，其中，所述第二预定时间段比作为前一个预定时间段的所述第一预定时间段长预定微调时间长度。
在一个实施例中，所述预定微调时间长度除以2大于等于v/f*N且小于一副切片图像读取时间，其中，f为超声波信号频率，N为单个波长切片数量，v为超声波声速。
在一个实施例中，超声波信号发射源的启动次数M等于1加上一副切片读取时间/预定微调时间长度除以2。
在一个实施例中，所述成像方法还包括：在依次读出有关再一次发射的第一切片的多个反射回波信号之后再次启动接收阵列；以及依次执行所述步骤S3、步骤S1和步骤S2。
在一个实施例中，所述成像方法还包括：对所读取的反射回波信号进行整合以确定所述检测区域内的待测物的信息。
本公开的超声波成像设备，包括：超声波信号发射源，其向待测物发射超声波；以及接收阵列，其包括多个超声波信号接收电路；其中，所述超声波信号发射源和所述接收阵列限定了检测区域和最远检测界面，使得所述接收阵列能够接收、存储和读出处于所述检测区域内的待测物返回的反射回波信号；所述超声波信号发射源为点发射源；所述接收阵列与所述接收阵列处于第一平面； 以及所述检测区域的深度方向与所述第一平面正交。
在一个实施例中，所述超声波信号发射源位于所述接收阵列的正上方或者位于所述接收阵列上。
在一个实施例中，所述超声波信号发射源位于所述接收阵列的中心上。
在一个实施例中，所述检测区域在所述接收阵列上的正投影落入所述接收阵列的范围内。
在一个实施例中，所述多个超声波信号接收电路呈阵列排布。
在一个实施例中，所述超声波成像设备还包括驱动电路，其通过多条栅线和多个条读取线连接至所述接收阵列，其中，多条栅线中的每条栅线与一行超声波信号接收电路连接，用以控制该行超声波信号接收电路的开启；以及多条读取线中的每条读取线与一列超声波信号接收电路连接，用以读出该列超声波信号接收电路中存储的反射回波信号。
在一个实施例中，所述多个超声波信号接收电路中的每一个包括：超声波接收器、第一晶体管、第二晶体管和第三晶体管，其中，所述超声波接收器包括驱动电极、压电材料层和接收电极，驱动电极接地，所述接收电极用于接收所述反射回波信号；第一晶体管包括控制极、第一极和第二极，第一晶体管的控制极连接至复位信号端，第一晶体管的第一极连接至所述接收电极，第一晶体管的第二极连接至偏置电压端；第二晶体管包括控制极、第一极和第二极，第二晶体管的第一极连接至电源电压，第二晶体管的控制极连接至所述接收电极；以及第三晶体管包括控制极、第一极和第二极，第三晶体管的第一极连接所述第二晶体管的第二极，第三晶体管的控制极连接至对应栅线，第三晶体管的第二极连接至对应读取线。
附图说明
为了更清楚地说明本公开的实施例，下面将对本公开各个实施例的附图作简单介绍。显而易见地，下面描述中的附图仅仅是本公开的一些实施例，但是 本公开不限于此：
图1A示出了根据本公开实施例的超声波成像设备的结构示意图；
图1B示出了根据本公开实施例的超声波成像设备的结构示意图；
图2A示出了根据本公开实施例的超声波成像设备的成像方法中对待侧区域进行切分的示意图；
图2B示出了根据本公开实施例的超声波成像设备的成像方法的示意图；
图3示出了根据本公开实施例的超声波成像设备的成像方法的流程图；
图4示出了根据本公开实施例的超声波成像设备的接收阵列的结构示意图；
图5示出了根据本公开实施例的超声波成像设备的接收阵列的一种工作时序图；
图6示出了根据本公开实施例的超声波成像设备的接收阵列中所包括的超声波信号接收电路的电路结构示意图；
图7示出了图6所示的超声波信号接收电路的一种工作时序图；以及
图8示出了图7所示超声波信号接收电路对每个切片进行积分的示意图。
具体实施方式
为使本领域技术人员更好地理解本公开的技术方案，下面结合附图和具体实施方式对本公开的超声波成像设备及其成像方法作进一步详细描述。
相关技术中，超声波成像通常采用阵列实时接收回波信号，将时间信息及信号幅值转换为灰度值进行显示。由于声速较慢，这种成像方法需要将远处返回的回波全部接收，一次发射形成窄长条区域图像，多次重复后合成一幅完整图像，耗时较长，从而导致图像传输帧率低，显示效果差。
为此，本公开提供了一种超声波成像设备及其成像方法。
如图1A和1B所示，本公开的超声波成像设备，包括：超声波信号发射源1，其向待测物发射超声波10；接收阵列2，其包括多个超声波信号接收电路20，如图10所述，接收阵列2例如可以包括呈阵列布置的多个超声波信号接收电路 20，用以同时接收从检测区域3内的待测物切面4反射回的多个反射回波，从而能够对应产生多个反射回波信号；超声波信号发射源1与接收阵列2结合在一起可以限定检测区域3和最远检测界面30，使得所述接收阵列能够接收、存储和读出处于所述检测区域3内的待测物返回的反射回波信号，其中最远检测界面30为检测区域3的远离所述接收阵列2的边缘界面。即，包括超声波信号发射源1和接收阵列2的超声波成像设备能够检测到处于检测区域3内的待测物。例如图1所示，超声波10到达处于检测区域3内的待测物切面4，从该待测物切面4返回的反射回波信号朝向接收阵列2传播，被接收阵列2接收，并且进一步被存储和读出，从而能够获得该待测物切面4的信息。检测区域3限定了一个最远界面30，超出该最远界面30的待测物将无法被检测到。例如，图1所示，超声波成像设备的检测距离上限大概为25cm，即最远界面30距离接收阵列的距离大致为25cm。
根据对检测区域3和最远界面30的检测需求，可以选择特定参数的超声波发射源1和接收阵列2，本公开对此不进行限定。
在本公开实施例中，超声波信号发射源1可以为点发射源，启动后其将发出球面波，从而处于其周围预定距离(例如，最远界面30)内的待测物均可以接收到该超声球面波；待测物表面对超声波进行反射后，接收阵列2接收反射回波信号，从而获得待测物表面的信息。
在图1A所示的实施例中，超声波信号发射源1与接收阵列2处于第一平面D1；可以通过调整超声波信号发射源1和接收阵列2的相对位置，确定检测区域3，例如检测区域3与接收阵列2可以处于第二平面D2，第一平面D1和第二平面D2相交。在一个实施例中，第一平面D1与第二平面D2可以正交，此时检测区域3的深度方向可以视为与所述第一平面D1正交。这种布置，可以通过简单地控制超声波发射源1与接收阵列2的距离以及发射的超声波和接收到的超声波之间的角度，使得处于检测区域3内的待测物切面4反射的反射回波信号大体上均被接收阵列4接收到，从而能够提高检测精度。例如，可以进一步设计超声波信号发射源1和接收阵列2二者之间的距离以及发射的超声波和接收 到的超声波之间的角度，使得检测区域3内的待检测物反射的发射回波以垂直的角度入射到接收阵列2，这种布置方式可以提高检测信号的幅度，增大检测分辨率和灵敏度。
例如，如图1A所示，超声波发射源1处于接收阵列1的正上方，其发出的超声波照射到待测物切面4上，并且被待测物切面4反射，反射的反射回波信号大致上均沿着检测区域3的深度方向垂直射向接收阵列2，并被接收阵列2存储和读出，从而获得该待测物切面4上的信息。也就是说，在该实施例中，检测区域3在接收阵列2上的正投影落入接收阵列2的范围内。在如图1A所示的超声波信号发射源1设置在接收阵列2上方时，超声波信号发射源1发出的超声波将会发出球面波，而如果处于检测区域的待测物为材质均匀的物体，待测物上对球面波同时反射的切面可以为一个球面；但是本公开不限于此，超声波信号发射源1也可以和接收阵列2一起设置在待测物的表面一侧，例如设置在待测物表面的中垂线的两侧，再例如也可以对称地布置在中垂线的两侧，如图1B所示；再或者，也可以根据测试需求，将超声波信号发射源1和接收阵列2的位置设置为可调节的。又例如，待测物通常并不是均匀材质的物体，例如人体器官，在此情况下，被接收阵列2同时接收的多个反射回波信号所反映的待测物上的一个面可能不会是如上所述的球面，而可能是一个不规则的球面。
在本公开的一个实施例中，如图1A所示，超声波信号发射源1与接收阵列2处于第一平面D1上，而接收阵列2与待测物3可以视为处于第二平面D2上。作为点发射源的超声波发射源1在同一时刻发出的球面超声波将沿着超声波的传播方向穿过待测物。在本公开中，可以将超声波传播依次经过待测物的方向视为待测物的深度方向，即超声波的传播方向与待测物的深度方向一致。
为了提高图像的传输帧率并且增强显示效果，针对图1A所示的超声波成像设备，本公开提供了一种超声波成像方法。
如上所述，在本公开的一个实施例中，超声波成像设备采用的超声波信号发射源为点发射源，其发射的超声波为球面波。沿着超声波的传播方向，待测物的各个部分反射的反射回波将会到达接收阵列4，被接收阵列4中的多个超声 波信号接收电路接收、存储和读出。在整面的接收阵列2同时接收到反射的回波信号后，接收阵列2将不再继续接收反射回波，因为接收阵列2需要预定读取时间段作为读取时间来读取其上存储的多个反射回波信号。例如，该预定读取时间段的长度将取决于接收阵列的多个超声波信号接收电路的行数与每行读取时间的乘积。因此，在接收阵列2整面接收到反射回波信号后，将暂停接收反射回波，而是依次读出其上存储的多个反射回波信号。读出后，再次启动接收阵列2进行反射回波信号接收，在多个超声波信号接收电路上存储的多个反射回波信号依次读出的过程中，照射到待测物上的超声波将继续传播，因此接收阵列2在一预定读取时间后再次接收的反射回波信号所反映的待测物上的切面将是相对于接收阵列上一次接收到的反射回波所反映的前一个切面而远离所述接收阵列预定距离的另一个切面。由于待测物上各个部分的特性并不是均一的，例如，在超声检测胳膊时，有骨骼的位置和没有骨骼的位置，超声波传播的速度将有所不同，因此，接收阵列2上前后两个次整面接收的多个反射回波信号(以下成为接收切片)所反映的两个反射面可能不是规则的球面，但是这并不影响利用反射回波信号进行数据采集和分析。
例如，如图2A所示，沿着检测区的深度方向，虚拟地将待测物划分成多个切片，接收这些切片朝向接收阵列2的切面对超声波的反射回波信号将会获得这些切面的特性，然后进行整合来获得整个待测物的特性。因此，所划分的切片的数量越多，则所获得的待测物的相关信息越多，对待测物的分析将更加准确，但是这也会耗费更多的时间和计算，可能并不利于有些类型的分析，因此可以根据实际需要选择适当数量的切片。
如上所述，实际上，由于处于检测区域3内的待测物上各个部分的材质和/或特性通常是不均一的。待测物的同一切片(例如球形或矩形切片)的切面反射超声波获得的反射回波可能不会同时到达接收阵列2，即使该切面与接收阵列的垂直距离相等。因此，整个接收阵列2上的多个超声波信号接收电路同时接收到的多个反射回波信号不一定反映的是待测物上同一切片的切面信息，但是，这并不影响本公开的超声波成像方法的优势。
需要注意的是，本公开以下描述的多个切片表示的是与待测物上虚拟划分的多个切片大致对应的，每个切片实际上表示的是同时被接收阵列2整面接收到的多个反射回波信号。在接收阵列2包括阵列布置的多个超声波接收电路20的情况下，每个切片的多个反射回波信号也是阵列布置的。
如图2B所示，由于接收阵列2每次同时整面接收到多个反射回波信号，因此需要一定读出时间(即，图2中示出的一幅图像读出时间)。在超声波信号发射源1第一次发射期间，接收阵列2将依次接收、存储和读取多个切片S11，S12，S13……S1N的反射回波信号，这些切片将反映待测物上特定区域的信息(即，这些切片将大致反映待测物上的几个分割开的切片的切面上的信息)，而每两个相邻读出的切片之间的时间差为一副图像读出时间。
在超声波信号发射源1第一次发射期间，接收阵列2首先接收到待测物上最靠近接收阵列2的表面上反射的多个反射回波信号，即如图2B所示的多个反射回波信号的切面S11，接收到切片S11后，接收阵列2将停止接收，而是经过一副图像读出时间后，再次启动而接收切片S12，依次类推，直到第一次发射接收的总时间超出了接收最远界面反射回的反射回波信号的时间。
然后，启动超声波信号源1第二次发射，在第二次发射期间，接收阵列2将依次接收、存储和读取多个切片S21，S22，S23……S2N的反射回波，，每个切片将反映待测物上特定区域的特性，但是超声波信号发射源1此次发射期间读出的反射回波信号反映的则是不同于第一次发射期间获得的待测物上特定区域的信息。第二次发射期间依次采集的多个切片相比于第一次发射期间采集的多个切片在时间上稍存在一个延迟时间，该延迟可以通过在超声波信号发射源1发射后和启动接收阵列2前之间的时间差来控制。即，在超声波信号发射源1第一次发射后经过第一预定时间段后启动接收阵列2，而在超声波信号发射源2第二次发射后经过第二预定时间段来启动接收阵列2，第一预定时间段与第二预定时间段的差异即为预定微调时间，其等于上述延迟时间。即，相对于超声波信号发射源1第一次发射后启动接收阵列来接收第一切片S11的第一时间差，超声波信号发射源2第二次发射后启动接收阵列来接收第一切片S21的第二时 间差将会稍微大于第一时间差，但是又要确保第二时间差不会落到第一次发射期间的第二切片S12的采集时间上，即，要确保预定微调时间长度除以2大于等于1/f*N且小于一副切片图像读取时间，其中，f为超声波信号频率，N为单个波长切片数量，这样就可以确保此次采集到的待测物的信息是第一次发射期间未采集到的信息。其中，单个波长切片数据量表示超声波信号发射一次期间能够获得的切片数量。如图4所示，在某些情况下，对检测区域的划分并不需要如图2所述那样精细，此时在超声波信号
如图2B所示，在超声波信号发射源1第一次发射期间，根据接收阵列2对一个切片的多个反射回波信号的读取时间，可以确定连续两个切片之间的接收时间差，即为一副图像读出时间，一副图像读出时间乘以声速，即为一副图像读出时间内超声波传输距离，这一距离可以大致地反映一次发射期间采集的两次切片所反映的待测物上的两个反射面的大致距离。如图2B所示，在第一次发射期间，待测物上的两个反射面之间的部分的信息未被获得，这样可能无法满足测试精度需求。基于此，本公开的成像方法中，在超声波信号发射源1第一次发射获得多个切片数据后，进行超声波信号发射源1的第二次发射以获得待测物上未获得信息的部分。如图2B所示，在超声波信号发射源第二次发射期间获得的切片S21、S22……S2N将分别比第一次发射期间获得的切片S11、S12……S1N均存在一个延迟时间，从而获得第一次发射期间待测物的未获得信息的部分的信息。以此类推，如图2所示，直到第一次发射期间相邻的两个切片之间的一副图像读取时间被填满为止。如图2所示，多次读出M*N个切片的反射回波信号，这些切片的多个反射回波信号分别读出，然后可以根据图2所示进行信息整合来获得该待测物的特性。
即，超声波信号发射源1发出的超声波会沿着超声波的传播方向传输从而历经待测物的厚度，经过待测物的每个面均会反射回波信号，不同面的这些回波信号将会依次被反射到接收阵列2，而接收阵列2正面接收到的多个反射回波信号需要预定读取时间段来读出出来，因此如果不进行时序控制，接收阵列2在超声波信号发射源1发射超声波信号时将会连续地接收到从各个切面上反射 回的反射回波信号，从而无法获得想要的信息。
本公开中，接收阵列2包括阵列排布的多个超声波信号接收电路，每个超声波信号接收电路至少包括一个超声波接收器，其接收反射到其上的反射回波信号，并且可以对其进行存储和读取，以记录该反射回波信号，用于后续分析处理。
在本公开中，接收阵列2所包括的阵列排布的多个超声波信号接收电路将同时整面接收反射的多个反射回波信号并且存储，然后逐行读出。在这个过程中，接收阵列2将不会再接收反射回的反射回波信号。而是在预定的读取时间段内读完该整个特定切片的多个反射回波信号后，接收阵列2将被再次开启重新接收下一个特定切片的多个反射回波信号。该预定读取时间段由接收阵列2的多个超声波信号接收电路的读取时间来决定。在本公开中，例如，一副切片读取时间等于多行读取时间＝h/fgate，其中，fgate为Gate开关频率(其倒数为每行读取时间)，h为行数。
鉴于接收阵列2的整个切片的读取时间，超声波信号发射源1一次发射期间，接收阵列2先后两次接收的切片数据所反映的将是待测物上的间隔开的两个切片的切面信息。本公开中，将超声波信号发射源1在一个发射期间接收阵列2所接收到的多个切片称为一个切片组，那么超声波信号发射源1第一次发射期间，接收阵列2所接收到的多个切片数据被称为第一切片组。而一个切片组中两个相邻切片表示的是超声波信号发射源1在一次发射期间接收阵列2相邻两次启动接收到的切片，例如如图2B所示的第一切片组中包括切片S11至S1N，而切片S11和S12为两个相邻切片，接收阵列2对这两个相邻切片进行接收的时间差为一副图像读出时间。
如图2B所示，第一切片组中两个相邻切片(例如，切片S11和S12)之间的切片数量即为超声波信号发射源1还需要进行发射的次数，因此这两个相邻切片之间的切片数量加1即为待测物大致被划分的切片组的数量。即，待测物4所划分的多个检测切片等于切片组的数量与每个切片组内的切片数量的乘积，也即，接收阵列2总共需要接收到的切片数量等于每一个切片组中的切片数量 与切片组数量。
具体地，如上所述，超声波成像系统包括超声波信号发射源1和接收阵列2，二者相互配合，共同限定了检测区域3，检测区域3的远离接收阵列2的边缘界面为最远界面30。
启动超声波信号发射源1发射超声波后，接收阵列2首先接收到的切片数据所反映的信息应当是检测区域的检测表面(即，检测区域的靠近接收阵列的边缘界面)的。因此，超声波信号发射源1第一次发射后经过第一预定时间段控制接收阵列2开启使得其获得的第一切片组中的第一切片的多个反射回波信号是检测区域的检测界面反射的，表征的是检测区域的检测表面的信息。
第一切片的多个反射回波被接收阵列2接收后进行存储，然后接收阵列2不再进行信号接收而是对接收到的多个反射回波信号进行逐行读取。在大致反映检测区域的检测表面的特性的多个反射回波信号读取完成后，接收阵列2复位，然后再次启动，重新接收反映检测区域的下一个特定检测切面的特性的反射回波并且对这些反射回波信号进行存储，然后接收阵列2不再接收而是对所接收到的有关下一个特定检测切面的多个反射回波信号进行逐行读取；依次类推，直到超声波信号发射源1发射的超声波已经超出了最远界面为止，这可以根据超声波波速乘以多副图像读取时间来获得。
检测表面和下一个特定检测切面分别对应的两个切片之间的距离与接收阵列2的两次开启时间相对应，均反映了声波速度和接收阵列2对整个切片的多个反射回波信号的读取时间。
由以上可以看出，由于接收阵列2两次接收时间或者两次开启时间之间的差异，因此两个切片S11和S12所对应的检测表面和下一个特定检测切面之间存在一定距离，待测物在这两个特定检测切面之间的部分的信息未被接收阵列2接收存储和读出，因此在此过程中，未获得有关该部分的信息。这些信息将在超声波信号发射源1接下来发射超声波的过程中获得。
如上所述，超声波信号发射源1可以为特定发射源，例如其可以为点发射源，其发射的超声波在同一时刻会覆盖待测物的检测面，这些超声波沿着超声 波的传播方向传播，沿深度方向上历经待测物1的各个部分。在本公开中，根据超声波信号发射源1发射的超声波波长λ、信号频率f、声速v、接收阵列2的每行读取时间(即，栅线Gate开关频率)fgate和接收阵列所包括的多行超声波信号接收电路的行数h、单个波长切片数量N(即，超声波发射一次时接收阵列能够接收到的切片数量)、探测距离s(即，检测区域深度方向上的长度，即检测表面至最远界面之间的距离)，可以确定接收阵列2需要接收多少个切片组以及每个切片组中多少个切片。
例如，在本公开实施例中，在超声波信号发射源1第一次发出超声波期间：
在超声波信号发射源1第一次启动之后经过第一预定时间段，在第一时刻t0(等于接收阵列2能够接收到第一切片组中的第一切片的多个反射回波的时间)，开启接收阵列2进行整个第一切片的多个反射回波信号的接收和存储，并且使得接收阵列2不再进行信号接收，然后逐行读取接收阵列2所包括的多个超声波信号接收电路上的多个反射回波信号，并且存储到存储器中；这里还需要提及的是，预定时间t0非常短，因此第一切片通常反映的是检测区域的检测表面的信息，对于第一次发射而言，超声波信号发射源1和接收阵列2可以同时开启。所述第一预定时间段小于等于所述超声波信号发射源与所述待测物表面之间的距离和所述待测物表面与所述接收阵列之间的距离之和除以超声波信号的声速所获得的时间长度。
读取完成后，接收阵列2复位，再次启动接收，接收第一切片组的第二切片的多个反射回波信号并且存储，使得接收阵列2不再进行信号接收，然后逐行读取接收阵列2所包括的多个超声波信号接收电路上的多个反射回波信号；
以此类推，直到超声波信号发射源1第一发射的超声波信号已经传输到远离最远界面。
超声波信号发射源1第二次发出超声波：
在超声波信号发射源1第二次启动之后经过第二预定时间段，在第二时刻t1(等于接收阵列2接收的第二切片组的第一切片的多个反射回波的时间)，如图2B所示，第二切片组的第一切片应当处于图2B所示的第一切片组中的第一 切片S11和第二切片S12之间，开启接收阵列2进行有关整个第二切片组的第一切片的多个反射回波信号接收、存储，使得接收阵列2不再进行信号接收，而是逐行读取多个反射回波信号，所述第二时刻和所述第一时刻之间的时间差为一副切片图像读取时间，而所述第二预定时间段比作为前一个预定时间段的所述第一预定时间段长预定微调时间长度并且所述预定微调时间长度除以2大于等于v/f*N且小于一副切片图像读取时间，其中，f为超声波信号频率，N为单个波长切片数量，v为超声波声速；
读取完成后，接收阵列2复位，再次启动接收，接收阵列2接收第二切片组的第二切片的多个反射回波信号，并对其存储，使得接收阵列2不再进行信号接收，然后逐行读取多个反射回波信号；
以此类推，，直到超声波信号发射源1第一发射的超声波信号已经传输到远离最远界面。
以此类推，使得超声波信号发射源1第M次发射超声波，接收第M组的第一切片的多个反射回波信号等等，直到第M组的第N个切片的多个反射回波信号被接收存储并且逐行读出后为止。
另外，为了获得更高检测精度和避免获得太多的无用数据，在检测之前，可以利用粗扫(即，超声波信号发射源开启次数较少)来获得处于检测区域3内的待测物4的初步信息，例如，仅仅通过超声波发射源1的一次发射获得的N个切片的信息；根据这些信息确定待测物在检测区域的大致位置并且确定待测物在超声波信号的传播方向上的深度，即，确定待测物区域；然后通过上述方法仅仅对包括待测物的待测物区域进行细扫，即将所确定的待测物区域作为上述的检测区域来将待测物区域进行细描，启动多次超声波信号发射源来产生更多的切片数据，而接收阵列2将接收更多的切片数据来进行分析处理，从而提高检测精度和检测速度。
具体地，如图3所示，本公开的超声波成像设备的成像方法包括步骤S101至S106：
在步骤S101，测量超声波信号发射源到达检测区域的表面的距离，并且根据波速计算出超声波信号发射源发出的超声波到达该表面的时间，以计算出接收阵列开启接收表面反射的多个反射回波信号的时间(该时间等于待测物发射源与待测物表面与接收阵列之间的距离除以声速)，以能准确地开启接收阵列进行反射回波信号的首次接收和存储；
在步骤S102，根据接收阵列的行数和每行读取时间(即，接收阵列对整个表面的反射回波信号读取时间)，计算出接收阵列能够接收第二切片的多个反射回波信号的时间，因此可以确定每个切片组(发射源一次发射期间接收阵列能够接收多少个切片的反射回波信号)中两个相邻切片之间的接收时间，进而可以确定每个切片组中所包含的切片数量，N个；
在步骤S103，根据检测精度确定每两个切片之间需要多少个进一步的切片填充，进而确定所需要分割的切片组的数量，其对应于发射源发射次数，M个；
在步骤S104，启动发射源发射，然后经过第一预定时间段(发射源到表面之间的距离和表面到接收阵列之间的距离和除以声速)，启动接收阵列依次接收第一切片组中的第一切片的多个反射回波信号、积分存储、读出后，启动接收阵列接收第一切片组的第二个切片的多个防反射回波信号、积分存储、读出，重复该步骤，直到第N个切片的多个反射回波信号均被读出，此时针对发射源第一次发射的信息采集结束；
在步骤S105，再次启动发射源发射，然后经过第二预定时间段(至少为每个切片厚度除以声速的2倍与第一预定时间段之和)，启动接收阵列，重复上述步骤，直到针对发射源第二次发射的信息采集结束；以及
在S106，针对第3个切片组到第M个切片组，重复上述步骤。
在本公开的上述超声波成像方法中，假定将检测区域在三维空间上进行切片，相应地映射到接收阵列2所接收到的多个切片的多个反射回波信号。接收阵列2每次每个切片的多个反射回波信号进行积分，超声波信号发射源一次发射可采集多张整幅图像，即，接收阵列2将接收多个切片的反射回波信号。超声波信号发射源多次发射后获得的多张整幅图像被整合还原出检测区域内的待 测物的图像，在保证实时性的前提下，大大提高了图像的传输帧率，增强了显示效果。
本公开实施例的接收阵列2包括多个超声波信号接收电路20，多个超声波信号接收电路20呈多行多列布置，每行超声波信号接收电路20连接至一条栅线Gate，每列超声波信号检测电路20连接至一条读取线Read，读取的信号通过模数转换器ADC将被传输到处理器，以等待进一步整合处理。
在本公开中，接收阵列2的多个超声波接收电路20所接收到的多个反射回波信号，通过与其连接的栅线Gate的控制被依次读取，如图4和图5所示，多条栅线依次开启，使得多个超声波接收电路20上的反射回波信号被依次读取。
具体地，如图6所示，本公开实施例的超声波信号接收电路20包括：超声波接收器100、第一晶体管M1、第二晶体管M2和第三晶体管M3。超声波接收器100包括驱动电极101、压电材料层102和接收电极103，驱动电极101接地，接收电极103用于接收反射回波信号；第一晶体管M1包括控制极、第一极和第二极，第一晶体管M1的控制极连接至复位信号端RST，第一晶体管M1的第一极连接至所述接收电极103，二者均连接至节点N0，第一晶体管M1的第二极连接至偏置电压端Vbias；第二晶体管M2包括控制极、第一极和第二极，第二晶体管M2的第一极连接至电源电压VDD，第二晶体管M2的控制极连接至所述接收电极103和节点N0；第三晶体管M3包括控制极、第一极和第二极，第三晶体管M3的第一极连接所述第二晶体管M2的第二极，第三晶体管M3的控制极连接至对应栅线Gate，第三晶体管M3的第二极连接至对应读取线RL。
在本公开实施例中，第一晶体管M1、第二晶体管M2和第三晶体管M3可以为场效应晶体管或MOS晶体管。超声波接收器100可以为压电晶体管接收器(PVDF)，其接收反射回波信号并且感应出电荷，波形为正弦波，如图7所示。
偏置电压端Vbias上施加的Vbias信号具两个作用。一是，Vbias信号的脉冲宽度表示对反射回波信号的积分时间，即在该脉冲宽度时间内对接收到的反射回波信号进行积分，获得如图7中的节点NO处的信号；二是，为复位端Reset进行复位时，提供接地，如图7所示，在复位阶段，复位端RST的信号为高电 平，而偏置电压端Vbias的信号为低电平，以对节点N0进行复位，等待下一次接收。
另外，如图8所示，积分时间大致等于切片厚度，即对应于接收阵列两次启动的时间差，积分时间越小，检测精度越高。但切片厚度越薄，需要切片数量就越多，发射次数也随之增多。
复位端Reset上信号在每完成一帧数据读取后，进行复位放电。
栅线Gate上的信号作用为打开第三晶体管M3，使第二晶体管M2输出的电流(对应于在节点N0处接收到的反射回波信号)通过第三晶体管M3流向后端接收电路。
在一个示例中，假设：超声波信号发射源1发出的超声波信号频率为f，波长为λ，栅线Gate开关频率(每行读取时间)fgate，n为单个波长切片数量(即，每个切片组中所含有的切片数量，如上所述的N)，Gate行数(即，接收阵列2中多行多列超声波检测电路的行数)h，声速v，探测距离s(即，检测区域中检测表面到最远界面之间的距离),则：
1)一幅切片图读取时间＝多行读取时间＝1/fgate*h＝h/fgate；
2)一幅切片图读取时间内传输距离＝一幅切片图读取时间*声速＝h*v/fgate；
3)两幅切片图中切片填充个数＝一幅切片图读取时间内传输距离/(波长/单个波长切片数量)＝h*v/fgate/(v/(f*n))＝h*f*n/fgate，这个值为上限值，即可以在两幅切片中最多填充切片数量，例如某些情况，可以减小两幅切片之间填充的切片数，以节省处理时间，但是这样会降低测量精度；
4)一次发射后采集时间＝探测距离×2/声速＝2s/v；
5)整个三维图像采集时间＝一次发射后采集时间*两幅切片图中切片填充个数＝2s*h*f*n/(fgate*v)；
6)帧率＝1/整个三维图像采集时间＝fgate*v/(2s*h*f*n).
例如，在接收阵列2包括100行×100列的超声波信号接收电路20时，f＝5MHz,T＝200ns,λ＝0.3mm,fgate＝100MHz,h＝100,v＝1500m/s,s＝25cm.
1)积分时间30ns，n＝200/30≈7.
2)整个三维图像采集时间＝0.25*2*100*5M*7/(100M*1500)≈11.66ms.
3)帧率＝1/11.66ms≈86(帧/s)
采用本公开获得帧率比相关技术中的30帧/s，传输速率提高了接近3倍。
综上，在本公开提供的超声波成像设备及其成像方法中，对检测区域三维立体空间划分成多个切片，然后映射到接收阵列所接收到的多个切片，对接收阵列所接收到的多个切片的反射回波信号进行整合来获得整个检测区域的待测物的信息。利用包括阵列排布的多个超声波信号接收电路的接收阵列对每一个切片的地皮革反射回波信号进行接收，作为每个像素的超声波信号接收电路将对每个回波信号进行积分，然后其会被存储到该像素的超声波信号接收电路的寄生电容上，数据读出后复位电容。而本公开的成像方法的切片扫描方式为：第一次发射，将整面数据存下来，逐行读出后，再存整面数据读出，直到到达最远界面；然后再一次发射，向后(靠近最远界面)微调切片位置，重复上述过程，直到切片数量将一幅图读出时间所占空间填满为止。本公开中将三维空间进行切片积分，一次发射可采集多张整幅图像，多次发射后整合还原图像，在保证实时性的前提下，大大提高了图像的传输帧率，增强了显示效果。
为了说明和描述的目的，已经给出了本公开的实施例的上述描述。其不是穷举的，也不是要将本公开限制为所公开的精确形式或示例性实施例。因此，前面的描述应当被认为是说明性的而不是限制性的。显然，许多修改和变化对于本领域技术人员将是显而易见的。选择和描述这些实施例是为了解释本公开的原理，从而使得本领域技术人员能够理解本发明的各种实施例以及适合于所考虑的特定使用或实现的各种修改。本发明的范围旨在由所附权利要求及其等价物来限定。

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  1. 一种超声波成像设备的成像方法，所述超声波成像设备包括超声波信号发射源和包括多个超声波接收电路的接收阵列，其限定了检测区域，所述检测区域包括最远界面，其为所述检测区域的远离所述接收阵列的边缘界面，超声波成像设备能够对该检测区域内的待测物进行检测，所述成像方法包括：
    第一次启动超声波信号发射源以向检测区域发射超声波并且使其传播经过所述检测区域，然后关闭超声波信号发射源，所述检测区域的深度方向沿着所述超声波的传播方向；以及
    在超声波信号发射源启动之后经过第一预定时间段，在第一时刻启动所述接收阵列，以通过接收阵列所包括的多个超声波接收电路来同时接收从所述检测区域反射回的反射回波，然后使得所述接收阵列不再接收信号并且通过所述多个超声波接收电路对反射回波进行存储并且获得多个反射回波信号作为第一次发射的第一切片的多个反射回波信号，以及在读取时间段内从所述多个超声波接收电路依次读出所述第一切片的多个反射回波信号。
  2. 根据权利要求1所述的成像方法，在依次读出所述多个反射回波信号之后，所述成像方法还包括：在第二时刻再次启动所述接收阵列，以通过接收阵列所包括的多个超声波接收电路来同时接收从所述检测区域反射回的反射回波，然后使得所述接收阵列不再接收并且通过所述多个超声波接收电路对反射回波进行存储并且获得多个反射回波信号作为第一次发射的第二切片的多个反射回波信号，以及在读取时间段内从所述多个超声波接收电路依次读出所述第二切片的多个反射回波信号。
  3. 根据权利要求2所述的成像方法，其中，
    所述第二时刻和所述第一时刻之间的时间差为一副切片图像读取时间；以及
    所述第一预定时间段小于等于所述超声波信号发射源与所述待测物表面之间的距离和所述待测物表面与所述接收阵列之间的距离之和除以超声波信号的声速所获得的时间长度。
  4. 根据权利要求3所述的成像方法，其中，
    在依次读出所述多个反射回波信号之后立即再次启动接收阵列；
    在依次读出接收到的有关作为前一个切片的第二切片的多个反射回波信号之后，所述成像方法还包括：
    步骤S1：再次启动接收阵列，以通过接收阵列所包括的多个超声波接收电路来同时接收从所述待测区域反射回的反射回波，然后通过所述多个超声波接收电路对反射回波进行存储并且获得多个反射回波信号作为下一个切片的多个反射回波信号，然后在读取时间段内从所述多个超声波接收电路依次读出该下一个切片的所述多个反射回波信号；以及
    步骤S2:重复所述步骤S1，直到下一个切片超出了最远检测界面，以及
    步骤S2完成后，获取针对第一次启动超声波信号发射源期间启动接收阵列的次数作为单个波长切片数量N。
  5. 根据权利要求4所述的成像方法，其中，
    检测区域表面与检测区域最远界面之间的距离为探测距离s；以及
    在接收阵列的启动次数乘以一幅图像读取时间的和大于探测距离s时，确定接收到的切片超出了最远检测界面。
  6. 根据权利要求5所述的成像方法，其中，在下一个切片超出了最远检测界面之后，所述成像方法还包括步骤S3:
    再一次启动所述超声波信号发射源以向检测区域发射超声波并且使其传播经过所述检测区域，所述检测区域的深度方向沿着所述超声波的传播方向，然后关闭超声波信号发射源；
    在超声波信号发射源再一次启动之后经过第二预定时间段，启动所述接收阵列，以通过接收阵列所包括的多个超声波接收电路来同时接收从所述检测区域反射回的反射回波，然后使得所述接收阵列不再接收并且通过所述多个超声波接收电路对反射回波进行存储并且获得作为再一次发射的第一切片的多个反射回波信号，以及在读取时间段内从所述多个超声波接收电路依次读出有关再一次发射的第一切片的多个反射回波信号，其中，
    所述第二预定时间段比作为前一个预定时间段的所述第一预定时间段长预定微调时间长度。
  7. 根据权利要求6所述的成像方法，其中，所述预定微调时间长度除以2大于等于v/f*N且小于一副切片图像读取时间，其中，f为超声波信号频率，N为单个波长切片数量，v为超声波声速。
  8. 根据权利要求6或7所述的成像方法，其中，
    超声波信号发射源的启动次数M等于1加上一副切片读取时间/预定微调时间长度除以2。
  9. 根据权利要求8所述的成像方法，还包括：在依次读出有关再一次发射的第一切片的多个反射回波信号之后再次启动接收阵列；以及
    依次执行所述步骤S3、步骤S1和步骤S2。
  10. 根据权利要求9所述的成像方法，还包括：对所读取的反射回波信号进行整合以确定所述检测区域内的待测物的信息。
  11. 一种执行权利要求1至10中任一项的成像方法的超声波成像设备，包括：
    超声波信号发射源，其向待测物发射超声波；以及
    接收阵列，其包括多个超声波信号接收电路；
    其中，所述超声波信号发射源和所述接收阵列限定了检测区域和最远检测界面，使得所述接收阵列能够接收、存储和读出处于所述检测区域内的待测物返回的反射回波信号；
    所述超声波信号发射源为点发射源；
    所述接收阵列与所述接收阵列处于第一平面；以及
    所述检测区域的深度方向与所述第一平面正交。
  12. 根据权利要求11所述的超声波成像设备，其中，所述超声波信号发射源位于所述接收阵列的正上方或者位于所述接收阵列上。
  13. 根据权利要求12所述的超声波成像设备，其中，所述超声波信号发射源位于所述接收阵列的中心上。
  14. 根据权利要求11所述的超声波成像设备，其中，所述检测区域在所述接收阵列上的正投影落入所述接收阵列的范围内。
  15. 根据权利要求12所述的超声波成像设备，其中，
    所述多个超声波信号接收电路呈阵列排布。
  16. 根据权利要求15所述的超声波成像设备，还包括驱动电路，其通过多条栅线和多个条读取线连接至所述接收阵列，其中，
    多条栅线中的每条栅线与一行超声波信号接收电路连接，用以控制该行超声波信号接收电路的开启；以及
    多条读取线中的每条读取线与一列超声波信号接收电路连接，用以读出该列超声波信号接收电路中存储的反射回波信号。
  17. 根据权利要求16所述的超声波成像设备，其中，所述多个超声波信号接收电路中的每一个包括：超声波接收器、第一晶体管、第二晶体管和第三晶体管，其中，
    所述超声波接收器包括驱动电极、压电材料层和接收电极，驱动电极接地，所述接收电极用于接收所述反射回波信号；
    第一晶体管包括控制极、第一极和第二极，第一晶体管的控制极连接至复位信号端，第一晶体管的第一极连接至所述接收电极，第一晶体管的第二极连接至偏置电压端；
    第二晶体管包括控制极、第一极和第二极，第二晶体管的第一极连接至电源电压，第二晶体管的控制极连接至所述接收电极；以及
    第三晶体管包括控制极、第一极和第二极，第三晶体管的第一极连接所述第二晶体管的第二极，第三晶体管的控制极连接至对应栅线，第三晶体管的第二极连接至对应读取线。
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