Ultrasound imaging
First Claim
1. An ultrasound imaging system, comprising:
- a transducer, including;
an array of a plurality of transducer elements, wherein the transducer has a focus in a range of ten to twenty centimeters with a f-number of five or less;
transmit circuitry that generates a first set of first excitation pulses that excites the plurality of transducer elements to emit first ultrasonic signals and, after a predetermined time delay, a second set of second excitation pulses that excites the plurality of transducer elements to emit second ultrasonic signals, wherein the transmit circuitry sequentially excites groups of two or more transducer elements with the first set of first excitation pulses and with the second set of second excitation pulses, exciting all of the transducer elements in each excitation, wherein the first set of first excitation pulses includes first pulses followed by first inverted copies of the first pulses;
receive circuitry that receives first echoes generated in response to the first set of first excitation pulses and received by a first sub-set of the transducer elements, wherein the first echoes include echoes corresponding to the first pulses and first echoes corresponding to the first inverted copies of the first pulses and extracts a first set of harmonic components from the first echoes, and that receives second echoes generated in response to the second set of second excitation pulses and received by a second different sub-set of the transducer elements and extracts a second set of harmonic components from the second echoes, wherein the receive circuitry extracts the first set of harmonic components by adding the first echoes corresponding to the first pulses and the first echoes corresponding to the first inverted copies of the first pulses, which cancels fundamental components and odd harmonics of the first echoes and extracts second harmonic components of the first echoes, generating the first set of harmonic components; and
a beamformer that beamforms the extracted first set of harmonic components producing first intermediate data and beamforms the extracted second set of harmonic components producing second intermediate data.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method includes concurrently exciting neighboring pairs of transducer elements of an array for at least two transmits, wherein the array has a focus in a range of ten to twenty centimeters with a f-number of five or less. The method further includes receiving first echoes with individual transducer elements of a first sub-set of the transducer elements for a first of the at least two transmits, and receiving second echoes with individual transducer elements of a second sub-set of the transducer elements for a second of the at least two transmits. The method further includes extracting second harmonics from the echoes of the at least two transmits. The method further includes beamforming the extracted second harmonics. The method further includes generating an image based on the beamformed extracted second harmonics.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. An ultrasound imaging system, comprising:
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a transducer, including;
an array of a plurality of transducer elements, wherein the transducer has a focus in a range of ten to twenty centimeters with a f-number of five or less;transmit circuitry that generates a first set of first excitation pulses that excites the plurality of transducer elements to emit first ultrasonic signals and, after a predetermined time delay, a second set of second excitation pulses that excites the plurality of transducer elements to emit second ultrasonic signals, wherein the transmit circuitry sequentially excites groups of two or more transducer elements with the first set of first excitation pulses and with the second set of second excitation pulses, exciting all of the transducer elements in each excitation, wherein the first set of first excitation pulses includes first pulses followed by first inverted copies of the first pulses; receive circuitry that receives first echoes generated in response to the first set of first excitation pulses and received by a first sub-set of the transducer elements, wherein the first echoes include echoes corresponding to the first pulses and first echoes corresponding to the first inverted copies of the first pulses and extracts a first set of harmonic components from the first echoes, and that receives second echoes generated in response to the second set of second excitation pulses and received by a second different sub-set of the transducer elements and extracts a second set of harmonic components from the second echoes, wherein the receive circuitry extracts the first set of harmonic components by adding the first echoes corresponding to the first pulses and the first echoes corresponding to the first inverted copies of the first pulses, which cancels fundamental components and odd harmonics of the first echoes and extracts second harmonic components of the first echoes, generating the first set of harmonic components; and a beamformer that beamforms the extracted first set of harmonic components producing first intermediate data and beamforms the extracted second set of harmonic components producing second intermediate data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method, comprising:
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transmitting a first set of first excitation pulses that excites a plurality of transducer elements of an array to emit first ultrasonic signals and, after a predetermined time delay, a second set of second excitation pulses that excites the plurality of transducer elements to emit second ultrasonic signals, wherein groups of two or more transducer elements are sequentially excited with the first set of first excitation pulses and with the second set of second excitation pulses, wherein transmitting the first set of first excitation pulses comprises transmitting first pulses followed by first inverted copies of the first pulses; receiving first echoes generated in response to the first set of first excitation pulses and received by a first sub-set of the transducer elements and extracting a first set of harmonic components from the first echoes, wherein receiving the first echoes includes receiving echoes corresponding to the first pulses and first echoes corresponding to the first inverted copies of the first pulses, and wherein extracting includes adding the first echoes corresponding to the first pulses and the first echoes corresponding to the first inverted copies of the first pulses, thereby cancelling fundamental components and odd harmonics of the first echoes and extracting second harmonic components of the first echoes, generating the first set of harmonic components, and receiving second echoes generated in response to the second set of second excitation pulses and received by a second different sub-set of the transducer elements and extracting a second set of harmonic components from the second echoes; and beamforming the extracted first set of harmonic components producing first intermediate data and beamforming the extracted second set of harmonic components producing second intermediate data, wherein the transducer has a focus in a range of ten to twenty centimeters and a f-number of five or less. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. An apparatus, comprising:
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transmit circuitry that generates a first set of first excitation pulses that excites a plurality of transducer elements of a transducer to emit first ultrasonic signals, wherein the first set of first excitation pulses includes first pulses followed by first inverted copies of the first pulses; receive circuitry that receives first echoes generated in response to the first set of first excitation pulses and received by a first sub-set of the transducer elements, wherein the first echoes include echoes corresponding to the first pulses and first echoes corresponding to the first inverted copies of the first pulses, and the first echoes are generated in response to a first interaction between the first ultrasonic signals and structure, and receives second echoes generated in response to the second set of second excitation pulses and received by a second sub-set of the transducer elements, wherein the second echoes include echoes corresponding to the second pulses and second echoes corresponding to the second inverted copies of the second pulses, and the second echoes are generated in response to a second interaction between the second ultrasonic signals and structure; an adder that adds the first echoes corresponding to the first pulses and the first echoes corresponding to the first inverted copies of the first pulses, cancelling fundamental components and odd harmonics of the first echoes and extracting second harmonic components of the first echoes, extracting a first set of harmonic components, and that adds the second echoes corresponding to the second pulses and the second echoes corresponding to the second inverted copies of the second pulses, cancelling fundamental components and odd harmonics of the second echoes and extracting second harmonic components of the second echoes, extracting a second set of harmonic components; and a beamformer that beamforms the extracted first set of harmonic components producing first intermediate data and beamforms the extracted second set of harmonic components producing second intermediate data. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
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Specification