Ultrasound probe with low frequency, low voltage digital microbeamformer

Abstract

An ultrasound probe (106) contains an array transducer (101) and a microbeamformer coupled to elements of the array. The microbeamformer comprises analog ASICs (102) with transmitters and amplifiers coupled to elements of the array (101). The microbeamformer also comprises analog to digital converters which convert received echo signals to digital data, and digital beamforming circuitry located indigital ASICs (103). The digital ASICs (103) are clocked at a lower core frequency than that of which the digital integrated circuit process of the digital ASICs (103) is capable, and the digital ASICs (103) are operated at a lower supply voltage than that for which the digital integrated circuit process is designed, both of which reduce power consumption by the microbeamformer.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to medical diagnostic ultrasound systems, and in particular to ultrasound probes with digital microbeamformers. Background technique [0002] An ultrasound array transducer uses a beamformer to transmit and suitably delay and sum ultrasound echo signals received from elements of the transducer array. The delay is chosen taking into account the direction (steering) and depth of focus of the beams to be formed by the beamformer. After the signals received from each element are appropriately delayed by the channels of the beamformer, the delayed signals are combined to form a beam of coherent echo signals that is appropriately steered and focused. During ultrasound beam transmission, the timing of the actuation of the individual elements is supplemented by receiving delays, steering and focusing the transmitted beam. It is known that the choice of delay can be determined according to the geometry of the array elements as we...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

However, such an arrangement adds significantly to the cost and complexity of the probe and its cable

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