Receive beamformer for ultrasound
First Claim
1. A digital signal processor (DSP) integrated circuit (IC) for ultrasound signal processing, comprising:
- a substrate having a semiconductor surface;
integer delaying and apodizing circuitry configured to process a first plurality of digitized ultrasound sensing signals to form a first plurality of delayed and apodized digital ultrasound sensing signals,data path combining circuitry configured to generate a plurality of data combinations of said first plurality of delayed and apodized digital sensing signals to include two or more of said first plurality of delayed and apodized digital sensing signals, each delayed and apodized digital ultrasound sensing signal having its own data path, that originate from a plurality of different transducers of a first plurality of transducer elements,a shared interpolation filter bank having a plurality of interpolation filters, each coupled to an output of said data path combining circuitry, for interpolation filtering said plurality of data combinations to generate a second plurality of delayed and apodized digital sensing signals, said shared interpolation filter bank comprising a plurality of interpolation filters, wherein the number of interpolation filters is set by a desired timing resolution and the number of interpolation filters is less than a number of said first plurality of transducer elements, wherein said plurality of interpolation filters each provides a different delay; and
wherein said data path combining circuitry comprises a switching circuit that is operable to direct any of said first plurality of delayed and apodized digital sensing signals to any of said plurality of interpolation filters upon receiving a control signal, andan adder having a plurality of inputs, each coupled to an output of each of the plurality of the interpolation filters.
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Abstract
A method of ultrasound receive beamforming includes receiving a first plurality of sensing signals from target tissue, forming a first plurality of digital sensing signals, and data processing the digital sensing signals along a first plurality of data paths to form a first plurality of delayed and apodized digital sensing signals. Data path combining generates data combinations of the delayed and apodized digital sensing signals to include two or more of the delayed and apodized digital sensing signals that originate from different ones of the transducer elements. The data combinations are interpolation filtered using a plurality of interpolation filters to form a second plurality of delayed and apodized digital sensing signals, which are then summed to form an ultrasound receive beamformed signal. The interpolation filters can be interpolation filters in a single shared filter bank, with each interpolation filter providing a different fractional delay.
53 Citations
3 Claims
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1. A digital signal processor (DSP) integrated circuit (IC) for ultrasound signal processing, comprising:
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a substrate having a semiconductor surface; integer delaying and apodizing circuitry configured to process a first plurality of digitized ultrasound sensing signals to form a first plurality of delayed and apodized digital ultrasound sensing signals, data path combining circuitry configured to generate a plurality of data combinations of said first plurality of delayed and apodized digital sensing signals to include two or more of said first plurality of delayed and apodized digital sensing signals, each delayed and apodized digital ultrasound sensing signal having its own data path, that originate from a plurality of different transducers of a first plurality of transducer elements, a shared interpolation filter bank having a plurality of interpolation filters, each coupled to an output of said data path combining circuitry, for interpolation filtering said plurality of data combinations to generate a second plurality of delayed and apodized digital sensing signals, said shared interpolation filter bank comprising a plurality of interpolation filters, wherein the number of interpolation filters is set by a desired timing resolution and the number of interpolation filters is less than a number of said first plurality of transducer elements, wherein said plurality of interpolation filters each provides a different delay; and wherein said data path combining circuitry comprises a switching circuit that is operable to direct any of said first plurality of delayed and apodized digital sensing signals to any of said plurality of interpolation filters upon receiving a control signal, and an adder having a plurality of inputs, each coupled to an output of each of the plurality of the interpolation filters. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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Specification