Delay controller for ultrasound receive beamformer
First Claim
1. In an ultrasound imaging system comprising an ultrasound transducer having an array of elements and a beam origin located between two adjacent elements, each element for converting received energy into an echo signal, a process for calculating initialization parameters from a reduced parameter table, the process comprising the steps of:
- generating a piecewise linear approximation of a timing function of a reflected ultrasound beam for a first left element located to the left of a beam origin and a first right element located to the right of said beam origin;
generating at least one initialization parameter comprising an initial time, an integer-valued segment start, an integer-valued segment end and a slope of a segment for said piecewise linear approximation for said first left element and said first right element;
selecting a maximum acceptable error proportional to a distance measured from said beam origin to a first left center of said first left element or to a first right center of said first right element; and
generating at least one next initialization parameter comprising a next initial time, a next integer-valued segment start, a next integer-valued segment end, and a next slope of at least one next segment for said piecewise linear approximation for at least one adjacent left element to the left of said first left element and at least one adjacent right element to the right of said first right element.
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Abstract
An ultrasound system includes an ultrasound transducer having an array of elements and a beam origin located between two adjacent elements, each of said elements for converting received energy into an echo signal; and a beamformer includes at least one channel having delay circuitry and tracking circuitry for tracking an ultrasound beam; a summer for summing phased-aligned signals to form a beam; and an initialization controller having initialization controller circuitry for calculating initialization parameters starting from a reduced parameter table according to a process for calculating initialization parameters.
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. In an ultrasound imaging system comprising an ultrasound transducer having an array of elements and a beam origin located between two adjacent elements, each element for converting received energy into an echo signal, a process for calculating initialization parameters from a reduced parameter table, the process comprising the steps of:
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generating a piecewise linear approximation of a timing function of a reflected ultrasound beam for a first left element located to the left of a beam origin and a first right element located to the right of said beam origin;
generating at least one initialization parameter comprising an initial time, an integer-valued segment start, an integer-valued segment end and a slope of a segment for said piecewise linear approximation for said first left element and said first right element;
selecting a maximum acceptable error proportional to a distance measured from said beam origin to a first left center of said first left element or to a first right center of said first right element; and
generating at least one next initialization parameter comprising a next initial time, a next integer-valued segment start, a next integer-valued segment end, and a next slope of at least one next segment for said piecewise linear approximation for at least one adjacent left element to the left of said first left element and at least one adjacent right element to the right of said first right element. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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Specification