DELTA DELAY APPROACH FOR ULTRASOUND BEAMFORMING ON AN ASIC
First Claim
1. An ultrasound probe, comprising:
- a plurality of transducer elements; and
an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) coupled to the plurality of transducer elements, wherein the ASIC comprises;
a plurality of delay units; and
one or more of waveform generators, each respective waveform generator configured to generate and transmit a waveform with distinct parameters to at least one of the plurality of delay units, wherein each respective delay unit receives the waveform from one of the plurality of waveform generators or an adjacent delay unit, applies a delay to the waveform, and outputs a delayed waveform to adjacent delay units.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Systems are disclosed for ultrasound beamforming on an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). In certain embodiments, the system includes an ultrasound probe that includes a plurality of transducer elements electrically coupled to an ASIC. The ASIC includes a plurality of waveform generators electrically coupled to a plurality of delay units. Each delay unit receives a waveform from a waveform generator or an adjacent delay unit, applies a delay to the waveform, and outputs the waveform to adjacent delay units, one or more of the plurality of transducer elements, or both. The delays that are provided to waveforms before being output to a transducer element determine the beamforming characteristics of the ultrasonic pulses generated by the ultrasound probe.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. An ultrasound probe, comprising:
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a plurality of transducer elements; and an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) coupled to the plurality of transducer elements, wherein the ASIC comprises; a plurality of delay units; and one or more of waveform generators, each respective waveform generator configured to generate and transmit a waveform with distinct parameters to at least one of the plurality of delay units, wherein each respective delay unit receives the waveform from one of the plurality of waveform generators or an adjacent delay unit, applies a delay to the waveform, and outputs a delayed waveform to adjacent delay units. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. An ultrasound probe, comprising:
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a plurality of transducer elements; a plurality of delay units, wherein each delay unit is electrically coupled to one or more of the plurality of transducer elements and wherein each delay unit is configured to receive a waveform signal and output the waveform signal to one or more of the plurality of transducer elements and to at least one adjacent delay unit; and a plurality of waveform generators configured to transmit the waveform signal to one or more delay units. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A system, comprising:
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a probe for use with an ultrasound system, the probe comprising; an array of transducer elements; one or more waveform generators configured to generate a plurality of delay-differentiated waveforms; and a plurality of delay units configured to receive one of the plurality of delay-differentiated waveforms, add a selectable incremental delay, and generate a delayed waveform available to one or more adjacent delay units and the array of transducer elements; and an imaging system communicatively coupled to the probe via a bidirectional conduit. - View Dependent Claims (27)
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Specification