Time gain compensation circuit and related apparatus and methods

• US 10,082,488 B2
• Filed: 12/02/2015
• Issued: 09/25/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/02/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BFLY Operations, Inc. (Butterfly Network, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Butterfly Network, Inc.
• Inventors: Chen, Kailiang, Ralston, Tyler S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Harshad R
• Application Number:
  US14/957,443
• Publication Number:
  US 20170160239A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,028 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2291/015 Attenuation, scattering
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2291/02475 Tissue characterisation
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/0654 Imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/11 by measuring attenuation of acoustic waves
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/44 Processing the detected response signal , e.g. electronic circuits specially adapted therefor digital signal processing per se G06F17/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/52033 Gain control of receivers for seismic signals G01V1/245
• CPC Class Codes: H03H 7/25 comprising an element controlled by an electric or magnetic variable H03H7/27 takes precedence

Abstract

An ultrasound device, including a profile generator, an encoder configured to receive a profile signal from the profile generator, and an attenuator configured to receive a signal representing an output of an ultrasound sensor and coupled to the encoder to receive a control signal from the encoder, the attenuator including a plurality of attenuator stages, the attenuator configured to produce an output signal that is an attenuated version of the input signal.

Claims

1. An ultrasound device, comprising:

a profile generator;

an encoder configured to receive a profile signal from the profile generator;

an attenuator configured to receive an input signal representing an output of an ultrasound sensor and coupled to the encoder to receive a control signal from the encoder, the attenuator comprising a plurality of binary attenuator stages, the attenuator configured to produce an output signal that is an attenuated version of the input signal; and

a fixed gain amplifier having a gain greater than 0 dB and configured to receive the output signal from the attenuator and amplify the output signal.

2. The ultrasound device of claim 1, wherein the profile generator provides a target attenuation profile.

3. The ultrasound device of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of binary attenuation stages provides about 0.2 dB of attenuation.

4. The ultrasound device of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of binary attenuation stages comprises at least one complementary switch.

5. The ultrasound device of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of binary attenuation stages is single-ended.

6. The ultrasound device of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of binary attenuation stages is differential.

7. The ultrasound device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of binary attenuation stages are connected in parallel to form the attenuator.

8. The ultrasound device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of binary attenuation stages are connected in series to form the attenuator.

9. The ultrasound device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of binary attenuation stages are connected in series and parallel to form the attenuator.

19. The ultrasound device of claim 1, wherein the fixed gain amplifier has a gain between approximately 1 dB and 100 dB.

20. The ultrasound device of claim 1, wherein the attenuator and the fixed gain amplifier are configured to perform time-gain compensation on the input signal.

10. An ultrasound device, comprising:

a profile generator;

an encoder configured to receive a profile from the profile generator;

an attenuator configured to receive an input signal representing an output of an ultrasound sensor and coupled to the encoder to receive a control signal from the encoder, the attenuator comprising a plurality of stages, each stage in the plurality of stages having a predetermined attenuation, the attenuator configured to produce an attenuated output signal that is an attenuated version of the input signal; and

a fixed gain amplifier having a gain greater than 0 dB and configured to receive the output signal from the attenuator and amplify the output signal.

11. The ultrasound device of claim 10, wherein the profile generator provides a target attenuation profile.

12. The ultrasound device of claim 10, wherein each of the plurality of stages provides about 0.2 dB of attenuation.

13. The ultrasound device of claim 10, wherein each of the plurality of stages comprises at least one complementary switch.

14. The ultrasound device of claim 10, wherein each of the plurality of stages is single-ended.

15. The ultrasound device of claim 10, wherein each of the plurality of stages is differential.

16. The ultrasound device of claim 10, wherein the plurality of stages are connected in parallel to form the attenuator.

17. The ultrasound device of claim 10, wherein the plurality of stages are connected in series to form the attenuator.

18. The ultrasound device of claim 10, wherein the plurality of stages are connected in series and parallel to form the attenuator.

21. The ultrasound device of claim 10, wherein the fixed gain amplifier has a gain between approximately 1 dB and 100 dB.

22. The ultrasound device of claim 10, wherein the attenuator and the fixed gain amplifier are configured to perform time-gain compensation on the input signal.