Medical wearable ultrasound-oriented beam forming logic system and working method thereof
By controlling the phase and delay of the excitation signal of the square array ultrasonic phased array, an ultrasonic beam with a specific focal depth is generated, which solves the problem that wearable ultrasound devices cannot form arbitrary images and improves the quality of flexible ultrasound imaging.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- CN202510884191.0
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Applications(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2025-06-30
- Publication Date
- 2025-10-10
AI Technical Summary
Existing wearable ultrasound devices are unable to achieve arbitrary imaging of human organs or tissue structures because the ultrasound transducer is fixed to the human body surface and cannot be moved mechanically, resulting in limited imaging.
A square array ultrasonic phased array is used to control the phase and delay of the excitation signal of the array elements to drive the three-state pulse generator and the ultrasonic phased array to generate an ultrasonic beam with a specific focus depth, thereby achieving scanning across the vertical or horizontal plane and enhancing the ultrasonic intensity and uniformity.
The ultrasonic phased array can focus and scan any position in the spatial area covered by the ultrasonic phased array, expand the sound field area to cover a larger area of organs of interest, and improve the quality of flexible ultrasonic imaging.
Smart Images
Figure CN120753688A_ABST
Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of medical ultrasonic imaging, and in particular to a beamforming logic system for medical wearable ultrasound and a working method thereof. Background Art
[0002] The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present invention and do not necessarily constitute prior art.
[0003] New remote mobile medical architectures based on wearable ultrasound devices have become a trend in modern healthcare. Continuous imaging of human organs and tissue structures is crucial for assessing the progression of most chronic diseases and for the clinical management of critically ill patients. Wearable ultrasound devices can continuously image deep internal tissues for days or even months, helping clinicians monitor patient health, observe disease progression, assess disease risk, and further investigate the origin and development of disease.
[0004] However, current standard ultrasound examinations are limited by three factors: the ultrasound physician, the patient, and the ultrasound equipment. This reliance on the ultrasound physician's experience and techniques has become a bottleneck for wearable ultrasound imaging. Currently, during clinical ultrasound examinations, ultrasound physicians use a moving ultrasound probe to image standard sections of human organs, particularly complex structures like the heart. However, because the ultrasound transducer of a wearable ultrasound device is fixed to the surface of the human body, it cannot be mechanically moved, preventing the arbitrary selection of ultrasound sections of human organs. This, in turn, affects the imaging of areas of interest in human organs or tissue structures. Summary of the Invention
[0005] To address the aforementioned issues, the present invention provides a beamforming logic system and operating method for medical wearable ultrasound. This system divides a square array into several array elements. By controlling the phase and delay of the excitation signals of the ultrasonic phased array elements, ultrasonic signals can be superimposed. This system drives a tri-state pulse generator and the ultrasonic phased array to generate an ultrasonic beam with a specific focal depth. This system can generate an ultrasonic beam that scans across vertical or horizontal planes, enabling focusing and scanning at any location within the spatial area covered by the ultrasonic phased array. This system enhances ultrasonic intensity and uniformity, thereby expanding the sound field area so that the ultrasound image covers a larger area of the organ of interest.
[0006] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention adopts the following technical solutions: A first aspect of the present invention provides a beamforming logic system for medical wearable ultrasound, which includes an ultrasound phased array sensor, a beamformer, a tri-state pulse generator, a multi-channel analog front-end receiver, and a radio frequency data imaging module; The ultrasonic phased array sensor adopts a square array, and the square array includes a plurality of array elements; The beamformer controls the phase and time delay of the excitation signal of the ultrasonic phased array element to achieve superposition of ultrasonic signals, and drives the tri-state pulse generator and the ultrasonic phased array to generate an ultrasonic beam with a specific focus depth; The tri-state pulse generator integrates a plurality of individually addressable pulse transmitters for generating high-voltage pulse signals to stimulate the array element transducer to generate an ultrasonic beam; The multi-channel analog front-end receiver is used to amplify and filter the ultrasonic echo signal; The radio frequency data imaging module is used to image the ultrasonic echo data to obtain an ultrasonic image.
[0007] Furthermore, the beamformer groups the ultrasonic phased array elements horizontally and vertically, respectively, so that all horizontal groups share the same focal depth and focal point, and all vertical groups share the same focal depth and focal point.
[0008] Furthermore, the beamformer drives the tri-state pulse generator to generate an ultrasonic beam that scans across a vertical or horizontal plane by combining different horizontal groups and vertical groups.
[0009] Furthermore, it also includes a battery power management module for managing high-voltage pulses and low-voltage digital power supplies, and the generated high-voltage pulses are used to drive the ultrasonic phased array.
[0010] Furthermore, the tri-state pulse generator integrates pulse emission generators of no less than 100 channels and can be addressed individually.
[0011] Furthermore, it also includes a differential to single-ended module for converting the differential signal into a digital signal, buffering the frame clock, and controlling the delay of the data clock.
[0012] Furthermore, it also includes a serial-to-parallel module for converting multi-channel serial input signals into parallel outputs and calibrating and aligning the data.
[0013] Furthermore, it also includes a data splicing module, an asynchronous first-in-first-out cache module and a transmission channel; The data splicing module is used to splice multi-channel parallel data into a single channel of high-bit data; The asynchronous first-in-first-out cache module is used to perform asynchronous first-in-first-out caching on the high-order data of a single channel; The transmission channel is used to transmit the cached digital signal of the ultrasonic echo to the double rate synchronous dynamic random access memory for storage.
[0014] Furthermore, the data imaging module performs digital filtering, downsampling, time-delay focusing, line compounding, demodulation, data framing, Hilbert envelope extraction and logarithmic compression on the digital signal of the ultrasonic echo to form an image.
[0015] A second aspect of the present invention provides a method for operating a beamforming logic system for medical wearable ultrasound as described in the first aspect, comprising the following steps: The beamformer controls the phase and delay of the excitation signal of the ultrasonic phased array element to achieve superposition of ultrasonic signals, driving the tri-state pulse generator and the ultrasonic phased array to generate an ultrasonic beam with a specific focus depth; The tri-state pulse generator generates a high-voltage pulse signal to stimulate the array element transducer to generate an ultrasonic beam; The multi-channel analog front-end receiver amplifies and filters the ultrasonic echo signal; The radio frequency data imaging module images the ultrasonic echo data to obtain an ultrasonic image.
[0016] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects: The present invention provides a beamforming logic system for medical wearable ultrasound. This system divides a square array into several array elements. By controlling the phase and delay of the excitation signals of the ultrasonic phased array elements, it achieves superposition of ultrasonic signals. This system drives a tri-state pulse generator and the ultrasonic phased array to generate an ultrasonic beam with a specific focal depth. This system can generate an ultrasonic beam that scans across vertical or horizontal planes, enabling focusing and scanning at any location within the spatial area covered by the ultrasonic phased array. This system enhances ultrasonic intensity and uniformity, thereby expanding the sound field area so that the ultrasonic image covers a larger area of the organ of interest.
[0017] The present invention provides a beamforming logic system for medical wearable ultrasound, which can greatly improve the imaging quality of flexible ultrasound phased arrays, further improve the diagnosis and treatment quality based on flexible ultrasound phased arrays, and expand the wide application of flexible wearable ultrasound. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings, which constitute a part of the specification of the present invention, are used to provide a further understanding of the present invention. The exemplary embodiments of the present invention and their descriptions are used to explain the present invention but do not constitute a limitation of the present invention.
[0018] Figure 1 This is a structural diagram of a beamforming logic system for medical wearable ultrasound according to the first embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 This is a structural diagram of the ZYNQ front-end controller according to the first embodiment of the present invention; Figure 3 FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a spatial scanning beamformer scanning according to the first embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0019] The present invention will be further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments.
[0020] It should be noted that the following detailed descriptions are exemplary and intended to provide further explanation of the present invention. Unless otherwise specified, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by those skilled in the art to which the present invention belongs.
[0021] It should be noted that the terms used herein are only for describing specific embodiments and are not intended to limit the exemplary embodiments according to the present invention. As used herein, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the singular form is intended to include the plural form. In addition, it should be understood that when the terms "comprise" and / or "include" are used in this specification, they indicate the presence of features, steps, operations, devices, components and / or combinations thereof.
[0022] In the absence of conflict, the embodiments of the present invention and the features in the embodiments may be combined with each other. The present invention will be further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments.
[0023] Example 1 The purpose of this first embodiment is to provide a beamforming logic system for medical wearable ultrasound.
[0024] This embodiment provides a beamforming logic system for medical wearable ultrasound, which is used for long-range and continuous ultrasound imaging and health monitoring of human organs and tissue structures.
[0025] This embodiment provides a beamforming logic system for medical wearable ultrasound to address the problem that the ultrasound transducer in the wearable ultrasound device cannot image the region of interest of human organs or deep tissue structures due to its fixed spatial position.
[0026] This embodiment provides a beamforming logic system for medical wearable ultrasound, such as Figure 1 As shown, it includes a front-end ultrasonic phased array sensor, a beamformer (including a focusing beamformer and a receiving beamsynthesizer), a three-state pulse generator, an ultrasonic receiving and signal conditioning module, a ZYNQ front-end controller, a battery power management module, and a data communication module.
[0027] Among them, the ultrasonic phased array used in the front-end ultrasonic phased array sensor is a square array, which is rigid or flexible, with the number of array elements being no less than 12×12. It is attached to the surface of human skin through gel, where the gel acts as a coupling agent to eliminate air gaps.
[0028] Among them, the front-end ultrasonic phased array sensor generates ultrasonic beamforming with corresponding pointing angle and focusing depth through the array element delay set by the beamformer.
[0029] Among them, the beamformer realizes the superposition of ultrasonic signals by controlling the phase and delay of the excitation signal of the ultrasonic phased array element, and drives the three-state pulse generator and the ultrasonic phased array to generate an ultrasonic beam with strong directivity and specific focus depth.
[0030] Among them, directivity refers to the generation of an ultrasonic sound field with a narrow beam width and high intensity on the corresponding transmission line by applying specific different time delays to a single array element of the ultrasonic phased array.
[0031] Beamformer, also known as spatial scanning beamformer or FPGA digital beamformer (abbreviated as digital beamformer), implements logic such as Figure 3 As shown in FIG, taking a 12×12 ultrasonic phased array as an example, 12 rows of elements are composed of 10 array combinations for vertical and horizontal scanning.
[0032] The beamformer groups the 12×12 ultrasonic phased array elements horizontally and vertically: Horizontal grouping: The first horizontal scanning combination involves the 1st, 2nd and 3rd rows of the ultrasonic phased array matrix. Each subsequent combination is composed of three adjacent rows of elements, until the last horizontal scanning combination composed of the 10th, 11th and 12th rows. The 10 horizontal scanning combinations share the same focal depth and focal point (focusing delay curve) to enhance the intensity and uniformity of the ultrasonic wave. It should be noted that several focal depths and focal points in each horizontal scanning combination form a fan-scan focusing curve. All horizontal scanning combinations share the same fan-scan focusing curve, but the actual physical positions scanned by the fan-scan focusing curve in the physical space are different.
[0033] Vertical grouping: The first vertical scanning combination involves the 1st, 2nd and 3rd columns of the ultrasonic phased array matrix. Each subsequent combination consists of three adjacent columns of elements until the 10th vertical scanning combination consisting of the 10th, 11th and 12th columns. The 10 vertical combinations share the same focal depth and focal point (focusing delay curve) to enhance ultrasonic intensity and uniformity.
[0034] Ultrasonic beam focusing (beamforming) refers to the process of stimulating the ultrasonic array elements after the corresponding delay and transmission timing of each element, so that the sound waves are coherently superimposed at a specific spatial location to form an energy concentration area, thereby focusing the ultrasonic sound waves emitted by the ultrasonic array elements to the focal point of interest in space. This process is called the beamforming algorithm.
[0035] During the phased array scanning, the 10 vertical and horizontal combinations of array elements can generate ultrasonic beams across the vertical or horizontal plane scanning, realizing the focusing and scanning of any position in the space area covered by the ultrasonic phased array, enhancing the ultrasonic intensity and uniformity, and thus expanding the sound field area to cover the organs of interest. The 144 array elements in the surface array are directly connected one-to-one with the multi-channel pulse generator (TX7364) to realize the individual control of each array element, and the 144-channel ultrasonic transmitter generates a high-voltage pulse signal to excite the transducer of the ultrasonic array element to generate ultrasonic waves; at the same time, the 144 array elements in the surface array are also connected with the multi-channel analog front-end receiver (AFE5832) to realize the conversion of analog echo signals to digital signals (RF data), and the RF data is realized through the beam forming algorithm (DAS (delay and sum), MV (minimum variance method), etc.), which will be described in detail in the introduction of the RF data imaging module.
[0036] Among them, the array element is an integrated ultrasonic probe, and the obtained echo signal is an analog signal similar to a sine wave.
[0037] Among them, the three-state pulse generator, also known as the multi-channel pulse generator (TX7364), needs to integrate at least 100 channels of pulse emission generators, which can be individually addressed, and is used to generate a high-voltage pulse signal to excite the transducer of the ultrasonic array element to generate ultrasonic waves. Preferably, the three-state pulse generator adopts a 144-channel ultrasonic transmitter, which integrates 144 channels of pulse emission generators that can be individually addressed, and is used to generate a high-voltage pulse signal to excite the transducer of the ultrasonic array element to generate ultrasonic waves.
[0038] Among them, the number of channels corresponds to the number of array elements.
[0039] Among them, the ultrasonic receiving and signal conditioning circuit, also known as the multi-channel analog front-end receiver, needs to integrate at least 100 channels of analog front-ends to realize the amplification and filtering of millivolt-level weak analog ultrasonic echo signals, and transmit them to the FPGA end. Preferably, the multi-channel analog front-end receiver adopts a 144-channel AFE (analog front-end) receiver (AFE5832).
[0040] In this embodiment, the transducer of the array element receives the electric stimulus to emit ultrasonic signals, the analog ultrasonic echo signal received by the multi-channel analog front-end receiver is the signal reflected back by the ultrasonic wave encountering the target, and the ultrasonic beam is formed by the interference of the emitted ultrasonic signals.
[0041] Among them, the data communication module is mainly used to transmit the imaging image after beam forming to the cloud server through the communication pipe end (5G, WIFI, Bluetooth).
[0042] Among them, the battery power management module is used for the management of high-voltage pulse and low-voltage digital power supply, and the generated high-voltage pulse is not less than 100V, which is used to drive the ultrasonic phased array.
[0043] The ZYNQ front-end controller (PS) is used to drive and control the tri-state pulse generator, ultrasonic receiver and signal conditioning module, battery power management module, and data communication module. The ZYNQ front-end controller initializes and configures the tri-state pulse generator and drives the signal to trigger the pulse generator to generate high-voltage spike pulse signals. Simultaneously, the ZYNQ front-end controller configures the ultrasonic receiver and signal conditioning module (AFE5832) and triggers the AFE5832 to perform data acquisition, low-pass filtering (LNA), gain amplification (PGA), and time gain compensation (TGC). It also initializes and configures the battery power management module and manages system low power consumption. It also triggers the data communication module to cache data from the FPGA FIFO (first-in, first-out) buffer in the DDR (double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory).
[0044] In this embodiment, if Figure 2 As shown in the figure, the FPGA side adopts the Xilinx Zynq heterogeneous computing platform, which specifically includes a multi-channel LVDS (low voltage differential signal) differential to single-ended (i.e., LVDS single-ended to differential) module, a serial to parallel module, a data splicing module, an asynchronous FIFO (first-in-first-out) cache module, an AXI DMA transmission channel, a spatial scanning beamformer, and an RF (radio frequency data) data imaging module.
[0045] Among them, the multi-channel analog front-end receiver is connected to the multi-channel LVDS (low voltage differential signal) differential-to-single-ended module. The multi-channel LVDS differential-to-single-ended module uses Xilinx IBUFGDS (dedicated differential signal input buffer) and IBUFDS (differential signal input and output global buffer) components to convert differential signals (frame clock, data clock and multi-channel data signals (i.e., analog ultrasonic echo signals)) into single-ended digital signals; BUFG (global buffer) is used to buffer the frame clock to ensure the stability of the frame clock signal; IDELAYCTRL (input delay controller) and IDELAYE2 (input delay element) are used to control the delay of the data clock to ensure synchronization on the clock edge; among them, IDELAYE2 (input delay element) component is used to increase signal delay to achieve better timing.
[0046] Among them, the serial-to-parallel module uses ISERDESE2 (input serial / parallel converter) to convert multi-channel serial input signals into parallel outputs, and uses the bit sliding bits in ISERDESE2 (input serial / parallel converter) to calibrate and align the data.
[0047] Among them, the data splicing module splices the multi-channel parallel data output by the serial-to-parallel module into a single channel of high-bit data to facilitate AXI DMA data transmission.
[0048] Among them, the asynchronous FIFO (first-in-first-out) cache module performs asynchronous FIFO cache on the single-channel high-order data output by the data splicing module to match the bandwidth difference between the data splicing module and the AXI DMA (direct memory access) transmission.
[0049] Among them, the AXI DMA (direct memory access) transmission channel transmits the digital signal of the ultrasonic echo buffered in the asynchronous FIFO to the AXI DDR for storage.
[0050] The RF data (radio frequency data) imaging module further performs digital filtering, downsampling, beamforming (delayed focusing, line compounding, IQ demodulation (in-phase and quadrature signal demodulation), data framing, and Hilbert transform envelope extraction) on the ultrasound echo data stored in AXI DDR (double-rate synchronous dynamic random access memory), and then performs logarithmic compression before imaging to obtain the final ultrasound B-mode image.
[0051] Example 2 The purpose of this second embodiment is to provide a working method of a beamforming logic system for medical wearable ultrasound as described in the first embodiment, including the following steps: The beamformer controls the phase and delay of the excitation signal of the ultrasonic phased array element to achieve superposition of ultrasonic signals, driving the tri-state pulse generator and the ultrasonic phased array to generate an ultrasonic beam with a specific focus depth; The tri-state pulse generator generates a high-voltage pulse signal to stimulate the array element transducer to generate an ultrasonic beam; Multi-channel analog front-end receiver, used to amplify and filter ultrasonic echo signals.
[0052] The differential-to-single-ended module converts the differential signal into a digital signal, buffers the frame clock, and controls the delay of the data clock.
[0053] The serial-to-parallel module converts multi-channel serial input signals into parallel outputs and calibrates and aligns the data.
[0054] The data splicing module splices multi-channel parallel data into single-channel high-bit data; Asynchronous FIFO cache module, which performs asynchronous FIFO cache on single-channel high-order data; The transmission channel transmits the cached digital signal of the ultrasonic echo to the double rate synchronous dynamic random access memory for storage.
[0055] The data imaging module performs digital filtering, downsampling, time-delay focusing, line compounding, demodulation, data framing, Hilbert envelope extraction and logarithmic compression on the digital signal of the ultrasonic echo to form an image.
[0056] The beamformer groups the ultrasonic phased array elements horizontally and vertically, so that all horizontal groups share the same focal depth and focal point, and all vertical groups share the same focal depth and focal point.
[0057] The beamformer drives the tri-state pulse generator to generate an ultrasonic beam that scans across a vertical or horizontal plane by combining different horizontal groups and vertical groups.
[0058] The foregoing description is merely a preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the present invention. Those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that various modifications and variations of the present invention are possible. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, or improvements made within the spirit and principles of the present invention are intended to be within the scope of protection of the present invention.
[0059] Although the above describes the specific embodiments of the present invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, it is not intended to limit the scope of protection of the present invention. Those skilled in the art should understand that various modifications or variations that can be made by those skilled in the art on the basis of the technical solution of the present invention without any creative work are still within the scope of protection of the present invention.
Claims
1. A beamforming logic system for wearable medical ultrasound, including an ultrasound phased array sensor, a beamformer, a tri-state pulse generator, a multi-channel analog front-end receiver, and a radio frequency data imaging module; The ultrasonic phased array sensor adopts a square array, and the square array includes a plurality of array elements; The beamformer controls the phase and time delay of the excitation signal of the ultrasonic phased array element to achieve superposition of ultrasonic signals, and drives the tri-state pulse generator and the ultrasonic phased array to generate an ultrasonic beam with a specific focus depth; The tri-state pulse generator integrates a plurality of individually addressable pulse transmitters for generating high-voltage pulse signals to stimulate the array element transducer to generate an ultrasonic beam; The multi-channel analog front-end receiver is used to amplify and filter the ultrasonic echo signal; The radio frequency data imaging module is used to image the ultrasonic echo data to obtain an ultrasonic image.
2. The beamforming logic system for medical wearable ultrasound according to claim 1, characterized in that: The beamformer groups the ultrasonic phased array elements horizontally and vertically, respectively, so that all horizontal groups share the same focal depth and focal point, and all vertical groups share the same focal depth and focal point.
3. The beamforming logic system for medical wearable ultrasound according to claim 2, characterized in that: The beamformer drives the tri-state pulse generator to generate an ultrasonic beam that scans across a vertical or horizontal plane by combining different horizontal groups and vertical groups.
4. The beamforming logic system for medical wearable ultrasound according to claim 1, wherein: It also includes a battery power management module for managing high-voltage pulses and low-voltage digital power supplies, and the generated high-voltage pulses are used to drive the ultrasonic phased array.
5. The beamforming logic system for medical wearable ultrasound according to claim 1, wherein: The tri-state pulse generator integrates pulse emission generators of no less than 100 channels and can be addressed individually.
6. The beamforming logic system for medical wearable ultrasound according to claim 1, characterized in that: It also includes a differential to single-ended module for converting differential signals into digital signals, buffering the frame clock, and controlling the delay of the data clock.
7. The beamforming logic system for medical wearable ultrasound according to claim 1, characterized in that: It also includes a serial-to-parallel module for converting multi-channel serial input signals into parallel outputs and calibrating and aligning the data.
8. The beamforming logic system for medical wearable ultrasound according to claim 1, wherein: It also includes a data splicing module, an asynchronous first-in-first-out cache module and a transmission channel; The data splicing module is used to splice multi-channel parallel data into a single channel of high-bit data; The asynchronous first-in-first-out cache module is used to perform asynchronous first-in-first-out caching on the high-order data of a single channel; The transmission channel is used to transmit the cached digital signal of the ultrasonic echo to the double rate synchronous dynamic random access memory for storage.
9. The beamforming logic system for medical wearable ultrasound according to claim 1, wherein: The data imaging module performs digital filtering, downsampling, time-delay focusing, line compounding, demodulation, data framing, Hilbert envelope extraction and logarithmic compression on the digital signal of the ultrasonic echo to form an image.
10. The operating method of a beamforming logic system for medical wearable ultrasound according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that: The steps include: The beamformer controls the phase and delay of the excitation signal of the ultrasonic phased array element to achieve superposition of ultrasonic signals, driving the tri-state pulse generator and the ultrasonic phased array to generate an ultrasonic beam with a specific focus depth; The tri-state pulse generator generates a high-voltage pulse signal to stimulate the array element transducer to generate an ultrasonic beam; The multi-channel analog front-end receiver amplifies and filters the ultrasonic echo signal; The radio frequency data imaging module images the ultrasonic echo data to obtain an ultrasonic image.