Portable ultrasound imaging system
First Claim
1. An ultrasound imaging system comprising:
- an array of ultrasonic transducers that receives reflected ultrasonic signals from a region of interest, the transducers converting the received ultrasonic signals into electrical signals; and
beam forming circuitry that receives the electrical signals, said beam forming circuitry comprising;
a programmable sample selection circuit for each transducer, said sample selection circuit controlling sampling of the electrical signals such that each electrical signal is sampled during one of plural preset timing windows,a delay circuit electrically connected to the programmable sample selection circuit that delays a sampled electrical signal from the sample selection circuit; and
a control circuit connected to the programmable sample selection circuit and the delay circuit such that the sampled electrical signals can be used to generate an electrical representation of the region of interest.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A portable ultrasound imaging system includes a hand-held scan head coupled by a cable to a portable battery-powered data processor and display unit, preferably in the form of a lap-top computer. The scan head enclosure houses an array of ultrasonic transducers and the circuitry associated therewith, including pulse synchronizer circuitry used in the transmit mode to time transmission of ultrasonic pulses and beam forming circuitry used in the receive mode to dynamically focus reflected ultrasonic signals returning from the region of interest being imaged. Because the pulse synchronizer and beam forming circuits are integrated on small chips, they can be included in the scan head, resulting in a portable low-power system. Also, since the beam forming and summation functions are performed in the scan head in proximity to the transducer elements, signal loss is substantially reduced, resulting in much higher image quality. In addition, the focused summed signal is transferred to the data processor and display unit by a cable which is far less sophisticated and expensive than the cables used in prior systems to transfer all of the transducer signals to a console signal processing unit.
228 Citations
55 Claims
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1. An ultrasound imaging system comprising:
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an array of ultrasonic transducers that receives reflected ultrasonic signals from a region of interest, the transducers converting the received ultrasonic signals into electrical signals; and beam forming circuitry that receives the electrical signals, said beam forming circuitry comprising; a programmable sample selection circuit for each transducer, said sample selection circuit controlling sampling of the electrical signals such that each electrical signal is sampled during one of plural preset timing windows, a delay circuit electrically connected to the programmable sample selection circuit that delays a sampled electrical signal from the sample selection circuit; and a control circuit connected to the programmable sample selection circuit and the delay circuit such that the sampled electrical signals can be used to generate an electrical representation of the region of interest. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A scan head for an ultrasound imaging system comprising:
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an array of ultrasonic transducers that receives reflected ultrasonic signals from a region of interest, the transducers converting the received ultrasonic signals into electrical signals; an integrated beam forming circuit that receives the electrical signals, said beam forming circuit comprising; a programmable sample selection circuit for each transducer, said sample selection circuit controlling sampling of the electrical signals such that each electrical signal is sampled during one of plural preset timing windows, a delay circuit for each transducer that delays a sampled electrical signal from a sample selection circuit; and a control circuit connected to the programmable sample selection circuit and the delay circuit such that the electrical signals can be used to generate an electrical representation of the region of interest, the programmable sample selection circuit, the control circuit, and the delay circuit being integrated in a single circuit; a housing in which the ultrasonic transducers and the integrated beam forming circuit are housed; and an interface over which the electrical representation is forwarded from the housing to processing circuitry. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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35. A method of scanning a region of interest with ultrasound radiation comprising:
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providing an array of ultrasonic transducers; receiving reflected ultrasonic signals from the region of interest with the ultrasonic transducers, the ultrasonic transducers converting the received ultrasonic signals into electrical signals; providing beam forming circuitry that receives the electrical signals, the beaming forming circuitry including a programmable sample selection circuit, a delay circuit and a control circuit electrically connected to the sampling circuit and the delay circuit; sampling the electrical signals with the beam forming circuitry such that each electrical signal is sampled during one of plural preset timing windows and delaying the sampled electrical signals, the sampled and delayed electrical signals being used to generate an electrical representation of the region of interest. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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44. An ultrasound imaging system comprising:
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an array of ultrasonic transducers that receives reflected ultrasonic signals from a region of interest, the transducers converting the received ultrasonic signals into electrical signals; and beam forming circuitry that receives the electrical signals, said beam forming circuitry comprising; a programmable sample selection circuit for each transducer, said sample selection circuit controlling sampling the electrical signals such that each electrical signal is sampled during one of plural preset timing windows; a delay circuit having a plurality of stages that delays a sampled electrical signal from the sample selection circuit; and a filter having a plurality of weighted multiplier circuits, each connected to a stage of the delay circuit, the filter generating filtered electrical signals such that the filtered electrical signals can be used to generate an electrical representation of the region of interest. - View Dependent Claims (45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55)
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Specification