Multi-array pencil-sized ultrasound transducer and method of imaging and manufacture
First Claim
1. An ultrasound transducer assembly, comprising:
- a housing having a distal end, a proximal end and an axis through the distal end and the proximal end;
a first phased array transducer arranged at said distal end for acquiring an ultrasound image forward of said distal end in an imaging plane parallel to or coincident with the axis of the housing; and
a second phased array transducer arranged at said distal end for acquiring an ultrasound image laterally of said distal end within the same imaging plane.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An ultrasound transducer having a field of view greater than 180°, and having a physical shape which permits it to be employed in the investigation and observation of the anatomy, or other body, object or region of interest, having limited access. A plurality of ultrasound transducer arrays are provided, each having a field of view defining an image plane, wherein the axis of each transducer array lies within its corresponding defined image plane. Preferably, the plurality of transducer arrays are positioned end-to-end and nonaxially aligned with the image planes of all transducer arrays coincident, and with each transducer array having a field of view of about 90°, whereby a resulting combined field of view greater than 90° is produced.
77 Citations
33 Claims
-
1. An ultrasound transducer assembly, comprising:
-
a housing having a distal end, a proximal end and an axis through the distal end and the proximal end; a first phased array transducer arranged at said distal end for acquiring an ultrasound image forward of said distal end in an imaging plane parallel to or coincident with the axis of the housing; and a second phased array transducer arranged at said distal end for acquiring an ultrasound image laterally of said distal end within the same imaging plane. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
-
-
9. An ultrasound transducer assembly, comprising:
-
a elongated pencil sized housing having a distal end and a proximal end; a first phased array transducer arranged adjacent said distal end for acquiring an ultrasound image in a first image plane and within a first field of view of about 90°
; anda second phased array transducer arranged adjacent said distal end for acquiring an ultrasound image in a second image plane and within a second field of view of about 90°
, said first image plane being coplanar with said second image plane, and said second field of view overlapping said first field of view, resulting in a combined field of view of about 180°
. - View Dependent Claims (10)
-
-
11. An ultrasound transducer assembly, comprising:
a plurality of ultrasound phased array transducers mounted on a transducer probe, each comprising an array of transducer elements arranged linearly along an array axis, said linear arrays being arranged end-to-end and nonaxially aligned, each phased array transducer having a field of view defining an image plane;
wherein the array axis of each phased array transducer lies within its corresponding defined image plane, said image planes of all said phased array transducers coincide; and
each said phased array transducer has a field of view of about 90 degrees, whereby a resulting combined field of view greater than 90 degrees is produced.- View Dependent Claims (12)
-
13. An ultrasound transducer assembly, comprising:
-
two independent imaging stacks each comprising an array of transducer elements, each imaging stack having a corresponding wedge-shaped backing block and defining a predetermined field of view when energized using a trapezoidal sector imaging format; and two independent conductor strips carrying signal traces for electrical connection to corresponding ones of said transducer elements, each said conductor strip having a front surface and a rear surface, said signal traces being disposed on said front surfaces, and said wedge-shaped backing blocks being disposed on said rear surfaces; whereby placing said conductor strips back-to-back positions said wedge-shaped backing blocks side-by-side and produces overlapping fields of view. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
-
-
16. An ultrasound transducer assembly for supplying signals to an ultrasound imaging system, comprising:
-
a plurality of acoustic transducer stacks each having a field of view forward of said transducer stack and a backing block rearward of said transducer stack, each said backing block being highly absorptive of ultrasound energy radiating rearwardly of said transducer stack to minimize acoustic artifacts in signals supplied to the ultrasound imaging system from said ultrasound transducer assembly; and bonding material bonding said plurality of backing blocks together to further suppress acoustic artifacts in signals supplied to the ultrasound imaging system.
-
-
17. An ultrasound transducer module, comprising:
-
a housing having a distal end, a proximal end and an axis through the distal end and the proximal end; a first transducer array arranged at said distal end for acquiring a diagnostic image forward of said distal end in an imaging plane parallel to or coincident with the axis of the housing; a second transducer array arranged at said distal end for acquiring a diagnostic image laterally of said distal end within the same imaging plane; a plug member at said proximal end, said plug member being electrically coupled to said first and second transducer arrays and being receivable in a receptacle attached by a cable to an ultrasound system. - View Dependent Claims (18)
-
-
19. An ultrasound transducer assembly, comprising:
-
a elongated pencil sized housing having a distal end and a proximal end; a first steerable transducer array arranged adjacent said distal end for acquiring an ultrasound image in a first image plane and within a first field of view of about 90°
; anda second steerable transducer array arranged adjacent said distal end for acquiring an ultrasound image in a second image plane and within a second field of view of about 90°
, said first image plane being coplanar with said second image plane, and said second field of view overlapping said first field of view, resulting in a combined field of view of about 180°
;
wherein;said elongated housing has an axis through the distal end and the proximal end, and said first field of view is centered about a direction line at an angle of about 45°
to one side of said axis in said coplanar image planes; andsaid second field of view is centered about a direction line at and angle of about 45°
to the other side of said axis in said coplanar image planes.
-
-
20. An ultrasound transducer assembly, comprising:
-
an elongated pencil sized housing having a distal end and a proximal end; a first transducer array arranged adjacent said distal end for acquiring an ultrasound image in a first image plane and within a first field of view of about 90°
;a second transducer array arranged adjacent said distal end for acquiring an ultrasound image in a second image plane and within a second field of view of about 90°
, said first image plane being coplanar with said second image plane, and said second field of view overlapping said first field of view; anda third transducer array arranged adjacent said distal end for acquiring an ultrasound image in a third image plane and within a third field of view of about 90°
, said third image plane being coplanar with said first image plane, and said third field of view overlapping said second field of view, resulting in a combined field of view of about 270°
. - View Dependent Claims (21)
-
-
22. A method of manufacture of an ultrasound transducer, comprising:
-
providing a housing having a distal end, a proximal end and an axis through the distal end and the proximal end; arranging a first phased array transducer at said distal end for acquiring an ultrasound image forward of said distal end in an imaging plane parallel to or coincident with the axis of the housing; and arranging a second phased array transducer at said distal end for acquiring an ultrasound image laterally of said distal end within the same imaging plane. - View Dependent Claims (23)
-
-
24. A method of manufacture of an ultrasound transducer, comprising:
-
producing a plurality of ultrasound phased array transducers each comprising an array of transducer elements arranged linearly along an array axis, each phased array transducer having a field of view defining an image plane; and aligning the array axis of each phased array transducer to lie within its corresponding defined image plane. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26)
-
-
27. A method of manufacture of an ultrasound transducer, comprising:
-
providing two independent imaging stacks each comprising an array of transducer elements; assembling each imaging stack on a corresponding wedge-shaped backing block for defining a predetermined field of view when energized using a trapezoidal sector imaging format; providing two independent conductor strips carrying signal traces and electrically connecting said traces to corresponding ones of said transducer elements, each said conductor strip having a front surface and a rear surface, said signal traces being disposed on said front surfaces, and said wedge-shaped backing blocks being disposed on said rear surfaces; and placing said conductor strips back-to-back to position said wedge-shaped backing blocks side-by-side for producing overlapping fields of view. - View Dependent Claims (28)
-
-
29. A method of manufacture of an ultrasound transducer assembly for supplying signals to an ultrasound imaging system, comprising:
-
providing a plurality of acoustic transducer stacks each having a field of view forward of said transducer stack and a backing block rearward of said transducer stack, each said backing block being highly absorptive of ultrasound energy radiating rearwardly of said transducer stack to minimize acoustic artifacts in signals supplied to the ultrasound imaging system from said ultrasound transducer assembly; and bonding said plurality of backing blocks together to further suppress acoustic artifacts in signals supplied to the ultrasound imaging system.
-
-
30. A method of manufacture of an ultrasound transducer, comprising:
-
providing a elongated pencil sized housing having a distal end and a proximal end; arranging a first steerable transducer array adjacent said distal end for acquiring an ultrasound image in a first image plane and within a first field of view of about 90°
; andarranging a second steerable transducer array adjacent said distal end for acquiring an ultrasound image in a second image plane and within a second field of view of about 90°
;aligning said first image plane coplanar with said second image plane, and said second field of view overlapping said first field of view, resulting in a combined field of view of about 180°
. - View Dependent Claims (31)
-
-
32. A method of manufacture of an ultrasound transducer, comprising:
-
providing an elongated pencil sized housing having a distal end and a proximal end; arranging a first transducer array adjacent said distal end for acquiring an ultrasound image in a first image plane and within a first field of view of about 90°
;arranging a second transducer array adjacent said distal end for acquiring an ultrasound image in a second image plane and within a second field of view of about 90°
;aligning said first image plane coplanar with said second image plane, and said second field of view overlapping said first field of view; arranging a third transducer array adjacent said distal end for acquiring an ultrasound image in a third image plane and within a third field of view of about 90°
;aligning said third image plane coplanar with said first image plane, and said third field of view overlapping said second field of view, resulting in a combined field of view of about 270°
. - View Dependent Claims (33)
-
Specification