3D ultrasound imaging device and method with a reprogrammable transducer array

Abstract

A three-dimensional ultrasonic imaging device (1) of a region of interest of a living being comprises: - an ultrasonic imaging probe (100) having a plurality of elementary ultrasonic transducers (102) distributed in a set of groups of elementary transducers (107), an electronic transmission circuit (120) and an electronic reception circuit (130) connected to the elementary transducers (102); - a control system (140) communicating with the probe (100);- said control system (140) being configured to program for each shot: (a) the transmitting electronic circuit (120) so as to address an array of elementary transducers for the emission of an unfocused ultrasonic wave, and (b) the receiving electronic circuit (130) so as to address the array of elementary transducer groups or a distribution of elementary transducers to form receiving sub-apertures capable of converging the backscattered waves into a focal point located behind the probe, on the side opposite the region of interest to be imaged. Abstract figure: Figure 1;

Description

Title of the invention: 3D ultrasound imaging device and method with a reprogrammable transducer array technical field

[0001] The present invention relates to a device and a method for three-dimensional 3D ultrasound imaging, in particular a device and a method for 3D ultrasound imaging with a reprogrammable transducer array enabling ultrafast imaging, with a wide and deep field of view while offering an ergonomic and compact probe. Previous technique

[0002] Ultrasound medical imaging systems have developed very rapidly because of their many benefits to medical diagnosis.

[0003] Generally, ultrasound can be generated from a probe comprising an array of multiple transducers, each capable of individually generating ultrasound waves. The ultrasound probe is adapted to be held, for example, by a practitioner and moved over different parts of a patient's anatomy to obtain an image of the region of interest. The transducers are connected to a control system or ultrasound system by a cable. The ultrasound waves can be directed toward a medium that can generate backscattered signals in response. These signals can then be recorded by the same transducer array or a different one. The backscattered signals are received and processed by a control system, which reconstructs the received signals into a 2D or 3D image. These 2D or 3D images can be displayed in real time on a screen of the control system, thus enabling a practitioner to make a diagnosis..

[0004] In conventional three-dimensional imaging, similar to two-dimensional ultrasound imaging, the 3D image can be generated by scanning the volumetric region by successively focusing a plurality of ultrasound beams and then reconstructing each of the corresponding lines over a volume. During transmission, the individual transducers in the array are activated according to delays in order to form one or more ultrasound beams. During reception, the signals received by the transducers are delayed and summed during a beamforming phase to reconstruct a line of the image. Each transducer is connected to a channel of a beamformer. Each beamformer applies delays to the signals from its corresponding transducer in order to orient and focus the beam formed by the beamformer. The signals delayed by each beamformer are combined to form a oriented and focused beam.The multiple beams produced by . Parallel beamformers are used to form multiple lines of an ultrasonic image. In other words, each transducer is associated with a channel on which the received signals are transmitted via a cable to the control system. The signals can be conditioned in the summation electronics. This approach of associating summation electronics with each transducer becomes complex and is not feasible for 3D ultrasonic imaging of large volumes. Indeed, the ability to image a large 3D volume is directly related to the size of the transducer array. In order to avoid loss of spatial resolution, it is necessary to use a transducer array in which the spacing between two transducer elements must be smaller than the ultrasonic background wavelength in order to reduce side lobes and array lobes that can impact image quality.Furthermore, imaging large volumes, meaning those with a greater field of view and depth, necessitates a large aperture. This requirement leads to ultrasound probe configurations with thousands of transducers, requiring the use of thousands of channels and a more complex imaging system that would necessitate a large cable to carry thousands of channels. Managing several thousand elements controlled by thousands of electronic channels presents problems in terms of cost, cabling complexity, and the imaging system used, making this approach difficult to implement for clinical application.

[0005] In conventional imaging, which is based on focusing ultrasonic waves by applying delay and summation processing to ultrasonic transducers to obtain the desired focus at emission and reception, a known solution consists of reducing the number of transmission channels between the probe and the control system by directly integrating into the 2D matrix network an application-specific integrated processing circuit (ASIC) which allows a first beamforming step to be carried out at the probe level by applying delay and summation processing by groups of transducers which are also called receiving sub-apertures, making it possible to obtain an electrical signal by group of transducers instead of an electrical signal by transducer.In a second step, the electrical signals generated by the micro-beamforming circuits are transmitted to the control system for the reconstruction of a 3D image line by again applying delay and summation processing. In other words, the reconstruction of a 3D image line is broken down into two steps: a first step at the probe level and a second step at the control system level. This solution makes it possible to drive an array of several thousand transducers to image a large volume with a reduced number of channels, suitable for operation with a single imaging system. However, this solution is not... It is not suitable for ultrafast imaging modalities with a very high frame rate of around 1000 frames per second, which are developed to observe very rapid phenomena, such as echocardiography, elastography, and ultrafast localization microscopy. Indeed, in ultrafast imaging, the 3D image reconstruction uses all the signals backscattered by the medium and received by the elements for each shot to reconstruct the entire volume of the region of interest, which is no longer possible after the beam microformation stage.

[0006] Another solution involves using sparse arrays to reduce the number of transmission and reception channels. This solution consists of addressing a subset of elements from among several thousand elements in transmission and reception so that the number of electrical signals to be processed is compatible with the number of sampling channels available in a conventional imaging system. Although such a probe enables ultrafast 3D imaging, using fewer transducers than a fully populated probe results in the appearance of side lobes and significantly reduces the 3D image quality. Furthermore, this solution leads to a reduction in the sensitive area used in transmission and reception because not all elements are used, resulting in a decrease in the signal-to-noise ratio and therefore image quality.This "sparse" network technique is not, for example, suitable for imaging through bones where maximum transmitted energy and reception sensitivity are required.

[0007] Consequently, capturing large 3D volumes at high imaging rates remains a challenge in ultrasonic localization microscopy (ULM), and more particularly in the field of transcranial imaging.

[0008] The present invention aims in particular to overcome these drawbacks and to provide a device and an imaging method enabling 3D ultrasonic imaging with a wide field of view, while maintaining the quality of the imaging, and adapted for high imaging rates, greater than 1000 images per second, without significantly increasing the complexity and cost of the acoustic imaging devices on which it is implemented. Summary of the invention

[0009] The embodiments described therein make it possible to improve the devices and methods of 3D ultrasonic imaging.

[0010] To this end, according to a first aspect, the present disclosure relates to a three-dimensional ultrasound imaging device for a region of interest in the body of a living being, said device comprising: - an ultrasonic imaging probe comprising a plurality of elementary transducers arranged in a matrix in rows and columns forming a network, said elementary transducers being distributed into a set of groups of elementary transducers, an electronic transmission circuit and an electronic reception circuit connected to the elementary transducers; - a control system configured to communicate with the probe; - said electronic receiving circuit comprising a micro-beamforming circuit for each group of elementary transducers, said micro-beamforming circuit having an input connected individually to each elementary transducer of the group and an output connected to the control system, said micro-beamforming circuit being adapted to provide a single signal generated from the response signals of the elementary transducers of the group; - said control system being configured to program: (a) the electronic transmission circuit so as to address a set of adjacent elementary transducers from among the plurality of elementary transducers in order to form an emission aperture and to apply a delay law to the elementary transducers of said set for the emission of an unfocused ultrasonic wave; (b) each electronic micro-beamforming circuit so as to address the associated group of elementary transducers or an elementary transducer of the group in order to form a receiving sub-aperture having a focal point located behind the grating, on the opposite side to the region of interest to be imaged, suitable for receiving backscattered waves.

[0011] The features described in the following paragraphs may optionally be implemented independently of each other or in combination with each other:

[0012] The control system can be configured to reprogram the electronic emission circuit to modify the emission opening and emission delays for the emission of an unfocused ultrasonic wave at each shot.

[0013] The control system can be configured to reprogram the electronic circuits of micro-beam formations to modify the receiving sub-apertures and the receiving delays for the reception of backscattered waves at each shot.

[0014] The control system can be configured to program the electronic emission circuit to apply emission delays on the transducers so that the emitted unfocused ultrasonic wave is a plane or divergent wave.

[0015] Each micro-beamforming circuit may include a receiver and delay circuit for each transducer in the group and a microsummation circuit for the signals.

[0016] Preferably, the receiving and delay circuits of the group are capable of applying a delay law on the elementary transducers of the group so as to form a virtual lens whose focal point is located behind the network, on the side opposite to the region to be imaged.

[0017] In addition, the control system can be configured to program the receiving and delay circuits so that the virtual lenses formed have identical focal lengths.

[0018] According to one variant, the control system can be configured to program the receiving and delay circuits so that at least two virtual lenses have different focal lengths.

[0019] According to yet another variant, the control system is configured to program the receiving and delay circuits so that at least two virtual lenses have different focusing directions.

[0020] According to one embodiment, the receiving and delay circuit includes a receiving amplifier, a time gain adjustment circuit and a delay circuit.

[0021] According to another aspect, the disclosure relates to a method for three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound imaging of a region of interest of the body of a living being using a three-dimensional ultrasound imaging device as defined above, said method comprising the following steps: - (a) a programming step during which the electronic transmission circuit is programmed (PROGRAM_EMI) to address a set of adjacent elementary transducers from among the plurality of elementary transducers in order to form an emission aperture and to apply a delay law adapted to the elementary transducers of said set for the emission of an unfocused ultrasonic wave; - (b) a programming step in which each micro-beamforming electronic circuit is programmed to address the associated elementary transducer group or at least one elementary transducer of the group in order to form a receiving sub-aperture having a focal point located behind the array, on the opposite side to the region of interest to be imaged, suitable for receiving backscattered waves (PROGRAM_REC); - (c) an emission step during which the unfocused ultrasonic wave is emitted in the direction of the region of interest through said emission aperture formed by said set of adjacent addressed elementary transducers (EMI_US); - (d) a reception stage during which backscattered waves from the region of interest are received by each unfocused sub-aperture formed in the probe (REC_US); - (e) a signal transmission step during which the signal provided by each micro-beam forming circuit is transmitted to the control system (TRANS_SIG); - (f) a 3D image construction step during which the signals are delayed and summed in the control system (140) to construct a 3D ultrasonic volumetric image corresponding to the emitted wave (CONST_IMG_COM).

[0022] The method may further include one and / or the other of the following features:

[0023] Steps (a) to (f) can be repeated to emit a series of unfocused ultrasonic waves in different propagation directions and to acquire a series of signals for each wave emitted, said signals enabling the formation of a series of 3D volumetric images and wherein the method further comprises a composite image construction step in which said 3D volumetric images are coherently summed to form a final composite image.

[0024] The control system can reprogram the emission circuit to modify the emission opening and emission delays for the emission of an unfocused ultrasonic wave at each shot.

[0025] The control system can reprogram the micro-beam forming electronic circuit to modify the receiving sub-apertures and the receiving delays for the reception of backscattered waves at each shot. Brief description of the drawings

[0026] Other features, details and advantages will become apparent from reading the detailed description below and from analyzing the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1

[0027] [Fig.1] Fig.1 represents a functional diagram of a 3D ultrasonic imaging device according to one embodiment; Fig. 2

[0028] [Fig.2] Fig.2 represents in more detail the micro-beam forming circuit of the device in [Fig.1]; Fig. 3

[0029] [Fig.3] The [Fig.3] represents in more detail the elementary receiving and delay circuit of the [Fig.2]; Fig. 4A

[0030] Fig. 4A represents a schematic top view of the probe transducers of Fig. 1 in an emission stage in which all the transducers are used to emit an ultrasonic wave so as to form an emission aperture; Fig. 4B

[0031] [Fig.4B] [Fig.4B] represents a schematic top view of a transducer array of the probe of [Fig.1] in an emission stage in which part of the peripheral transducers are not used so as to form a dense emission aperture but with a different geometric shape than that of the emission aperture of [Fig.4A]; Fig. 5A

[0032] [Fig.5A] The [Fig.5A] represents a schematic side view of the probe transducers of the [Fig.4A] in a plane wave emission stage; Fig. 5B

[0033] [Fig.5B] The [Fig.5B] represents a schematic side view of the probe transducers of the [Fig.4A] in a stage of emission of a diverging wave; Fig. 5C

[0034] [Fig.5C] The [Fig.5C] represents a schematic side view of the probe transducers of the [Fig.4B] in a diverging wave emission stage; Fig. 6A

[0035] [Fig. A] [Fig. A] represents a schematic view of the elementary transducers of the probe of [Fig. 2] in a reception stage in which the beamforming microcircuit is programmed by the control system so that each subset of elementary transducers emulates a virtual acoustic lens to converge an acoustic wave in the reception phase into a virtual focal point located at the rear of the array, on the side opposite the external medium to be imaged, the radius of curvature and the orientation of all the converging virtual lenses being identical; Fig. 6B

[0036] [Fig. ôB] [Fig. ôB] represents a schematic view of the elementary transducers of the probe of [Fig. 2] in a reception stage in which the beamforming microcircuit is programmed by the control system so that the transducer subsets emulate a converging virtual lens array, configured to converge an acoustic wave in the reception phase into a virtual focal point located at the rear of the array, on the side opposite the external medium to be imaged in reception with a radius of curvature larger than that of [Fig. ôA], the radius of curvature and the orientation of all the virtual converging lenses being identical; Fig. 6C

[0037] [Fig. 0C] Fig. 0C represents a schematic view of the transducers of the probe of [Fig. 2] in a reception stage in which the micro-beam-forming circuit is programmed by the control system so that the transducer subsets form an array of converging virtual lenses, configured to converge an acoustic wave in the reception phase into a virtual focal point located at the rear of the array, on the side opposite the external medium to be imaged in reception the radius of curvature and the orientation of the virtual lenses varying from one lens to another in a pseudo-random manner predefined according to an algorithm; Fig. 7A

[0038] [Fig.7A] Fig.7A represents a schematic top view of the 2D array of Fig.2 in a receiving stage in which the micro-beamforming circuit of each group is programmed by the controlled system to address one transducer of each group of elementary transducers, the addressing pattern being identical for all groups of the array and identical for each shot; Fig. 7B

[0039] [Fig.7B] Fig.7B represents a schematic top view of the 2D array of Fig.2 in a receiving stage in which the micro-beamforming circuit of each group is programmed by the controlled system to address one transducer of each group of elementary transducers, the addressing pattern being different from one group to another and different for each shot; Fig. 8

[0040] [Fig. 8] [Fig. 8] shows the main steps of an ultrafast imaging method implementing the apparatus of [Fig. 3] in the case where the groups of elementary transducers are individually controlled to form unfocused receiving sub-apertures or emulate diverging virtual lenses. Description of embodiments

[0041] Definition s

[0042] In the figures, the same references designate identical or similar elements.

[0043] In this disclosure, the term "aperture" as used herein refers to an available aperture formed by an array of transducers arranged in a two-dimensional network, the aperture being used to emit ultrasonic waves and / or receive backscattered signals.

[0044] In this disclosure, the term "sub-aperture" as used herein refers to an aperture formed by a group of transducers, an emitting sub-aperture being formed by a subset of elementary transducers of the two-dimensional array during the emission phase of an ultrasonic wave, a receiving sub-aperture being formed by a subset of elementary transducers during the reception phase of signals backscattered by the medium.

[0045] In this disclosure, the term "dense sub-aperture" as used herein refers to an aperture formed by a group of adjacent transducers.

[0046] In this disclosure, "micro-beamforming" refers to a two-step delay-and-sum beamforming strategy. The first step is performed in the ultrasonic probe and is carried out analogically or digitally by a set of dedicated micro-beamforming electronic circuits, each forming an unfocused sub-aperture. The signals thus microformed—that is, delayed and summed in the probe—are transmitted from the probe to an external control system. The second step is performed in the control system by again applying a beamforming strategy through the application of delays and sums between the microformed signals to reconstruct a 3D image.

[0047] In this disclosure, the term "unfocused receive sub-aperture" as used herein refers to a group of elementary transducers whose generated response signals are delayed and summed so as to emulate a virtual lens whose virtual focal point is located behind the array of elementary transducers on the side opposite the region to be imaged.

[0048] In this disclosure, the term "virtual lens as used herein" refers to an acoustic virtual lens having a curved shape oriented towards the external medium to be imaged and capable of converging in the reception phase a beam of ultrasonic waves into a focal point located behind the array of transducing elements, on the side opposite the region to be imaged.

[0049] Fig. 1 is a schematic view representing an example of an ultrasonic imaging device 1 configured to produce a three-dimensional (3D) ultrasonic image of a medium to be imaged by emission and reception of ultrasonic waves.

[0050] The medium to be imaged refers, for example, to a region of interest in the body of a patient or an animal. By way of example, the device presented is adapted to perform ultrafast three-dimensional 3D or 4D (3D + time) ultrasound imaging of the heart of a living being.

[0051] The imaging device 1 may include a probe 100 and a control system 140 connected to the probe via a cable 5.

[0052] The probe 100 comprises a two-dimensional (2D) array 101 of elementary ultrasonic transducers 102 and an electronic control circuit for the elementary ultrasonic transducers 110. The electronic control circuit 110 comprises an electronic transmitting circuit 120 adapted to apply an electrical excitation signal to the elementary transducers for the emission of an ultrasonic wave, an electronic receiving circuit 130 adapted to control the elementary transducers for the reception of backscattered waves, a plurality of transmit-receive switches 103 for connecting the elementary ultrasonic transducers 102 either to the transmitting circuit 120 or to the receiving circuit 130.

[0053] The control system 140 is configured to control the electronic transmitting and receiving circuits 120, 130 so as to program the activation or extinction of the elementary ultrasonic transducers of the ultrasonic probe 100 to modify the transmitting aperture and the receiving aperture before each shot, and to record and process the backscattered signals transmitted by the probe in order to generate a three-dimensional image of the medium of interest.

[0054] The control system 140 may, for example, comprise a control unit and a computer. The control unit is used to control the electronic transmitting circuits 120 and receiving circuits 130, acquire and process the signals transmitted by the probe 100, while the computer is used to control the control unit, construct 3D images from the signals acquired and processed by the control unit, and determine quantization parameters from the 3D images. According to one embodiment, and as illustrated in [Fig. 1], a single electronic device 140 can perform all the functionalities of the control unit and the computer. According to another embodiment, at least some of the functionalities of the control unit and the computer can be integrated into the probe 100.

[0055] Cable 5 connects probe 100 to the control system 140 for transmitting control instructions to the electronic transmitting circuit 120 and the electronic receiving circuit 130 housed within the probe, in order to individually control the individual transducers. In one embodiment, cable 5 also transmits the electrical signals acquired by probe 100 from the probe 100 to the control system 140. In another variant, a wireless connection can replace cable 5.

[0056] The imaging device may further include a screen or any other user interface for viewing an image of the field of observation.

[0057] The probe 100 is for example a portable probe that can be positioned and / or moved by the practitioner on the body of the patient or animal to image a region of interest.

[0058] The probe 100 may comprise a plurality of elementary ultrasonic transducers 102 arranged in a matrix with M rows and P columns in the form of an array 101. The elementary transducers are, for example, all substantially identical. The spacing between two transducers is on the order of the wavelength in the row direction and in the column direction. An example of a 9x9 matrix 101 of elementary transducers is shown in [Fig. 1]. In practice, the matrix may comprise several thousand to several tens of thousands of transducers, which can be individually addressed by the electronic transmitter circuit 120 and the receiver circuit 130 to emit an ultrasonic wave and receive an ultrasonic wave backscattered by the insonified medium. The probe may, for example, comprise 1024 transducer elements (32x32), with a spacing of 0.3 mm.The transducers can emit, for example, at a center frequency between 1 and 10 MHz, for example 3 MHz.

[0059] In the example of [Fig. 1], the elementary transducers are square and the inter-transducer spacing is identical in the row and column directions. According to another embodiment, the inter-transducer spacing may be different in the two directions and the transducers may be rectangular. The following description will be given using the example of [Fig. 1], but other transducer array shapes are also possible within the scope of this disclosure.

[0060] In a known manner, each elementary transducer comprises two electrodes for applying an electrical excitation signal to the transducer and for reading a response electrical signal from the transducer. The transmit-receive switch 103 is configured to connect an electrode of the transducer 102 of the array 101 either to an output terminal of the electronic transmitting circuit 120 during the transmission phase of an ultrasonic wave, or to an input terminal of the receiving circuit 130 during the reception phase of an ultrasonic wave.

[0061] In operation, the set of transducers 102 is placed on a region of interest of a patient whose 3D image is to be acquired. The electronic transmission circuit 120 is configured to apply pulses to the transducers so as to cause the emission of ultrasound waves towards the region of interest. The ultrasound waves emitted by the transducers are backscattered by the insonified medium and received by the transducers, which convert them into electrical signals, known as raw RF signals. The transmission and reception stages constitute a shot or measurement stage. The raw RF signals are received by the electronic reception circuit 130 at the probe to be preformed and then transmitted to the control and processing device 140 via cable 5 for the purpose of reconstructing a 3D image from said preformed signals.

[0062] In the present disclosure, in order to implement ultrafast imaging, the imaging system 140 of this disclosure is configured to program the electronic transmission circuit 120 so that, in an emission step, the elementary transducers of the array are activated to form an emission aperture suitable for the emission of an unfocused wave, i.e., a plane or diverging wave, to insonify (acoustically excite) the entire medium. The signal captured by each transducer originates from the entire medium.Furthermore, to maintain the probe's compactness and limit the number of receiving channels, the control system 140 is configured to program the receiving electronic circuit 130 so that, in a receiving stage, the elementary transducers of the array are activated to form receiving sub-apertures adapted to transmit a number of microformed response signals compatible with the number of sampling channels available on the control system 140. The control system 140 is configured to generate a volume or 3D image corresponding to the transmitted wave from the acquired microformed response signals by applying a law of delays and summation.

[0063] To increase image quality, the control system 140 is configured to program the transmitting electronic circuit 120 and the receiving electronic circuit 130 to repeat the transmitting and receiving stages at a high rate. This allows the transducer array to successively emit a series of N unfocused plane or diverging ultrasonic waves, each with a different propagation direction, to perform N shots in order to obtain N electrical signal acquisitions. These N electrical signal acquisitions form N 3D images or N volumes, which are then coherently summed to form a high-quality composite image.

[0064] Advantageously, the control system 140 is configured to reprogram the transmitting electronic circuit 120 and the receiving electronic circuit 130 between two measurement steps or two shots so as to modify respectively the transmitting aperture and the receiving sub-apertures formed by groups of transducers or the receiving aperture formed by a sparse distribution of transducers distributed among all the transducers of the array in order to increase the imaging sensitivity.

[0065] The control system 140 is configured to then coherently sum the N angled 3D images or the N volumes obtained after each shot in order to generate a final high-quality 3D image of the region.

[0066] With reference to [Fig.3], the emission circuit 120 comprises for each transducer an elementary emission circuit 121.

[0067] During the transmission phase, the transmit-receive switch 103 connects an electrode of the elementary transducer to an output terminal of the elementary transmission circuit. An electrical excitation signal is applied to the elementary transducer by the elementary transmission circuit. Under the effect of the electronic pulse, each of the elementary transducers generates a spherical acoustic wave that propagates in front of it and adds to the contribution of those of its neighbors. The control system 140 is configured to independently control each elementary transducer via the elementary transmission circuit to add a specific delay so that the spherical waves emitted by each of the elementary transducers overlap to form a specific wavefront, for example, an unfocused ultrasonic wave, such as a plane wave or a diverging wave, in order to insonify the entire medium.

[0068] According to another embodiment, the control system 140 is configured to program the elementary emission circuits 121 so as to independently control each elementary transducer to select the transducers to activate in order to obtain a particular dense emission aperture with a particular geometry. This activation can be achieved, for example, by increasing or decreasing the amplitude of the excitation signal transmitted to the corresponding transducer, or even by imposing a zero amplitude, which corresponds to the extinction of the channel associated with the elementary transducer. A dense emission aperture refers to the configuration where the aperture is obtained by using a group of adjacent transducers in the probe array.According to another embodiment, the control and processing device 140 is configured to program the elementary emission circuits 121 so that all the transducers in the matrix are used to form the emission aperture.

[0069] Advantageously, the control system 140 is also configured to program the elementary transmission circuits 121 so as to apply transmission delays on the transducers to adjust the radius of curvature of the diverging wave and / or the direction of propagation of plane or diverging background.

[0070] Figure 4A shows an example where the emission aperture is achieved by using or addressing all the transducers of the array in an emitting state, making it possible to obtain a higher ultrasonic background power. In Figure 4A, the dark squares represent the transducers activated or used to emit a plane or spherical wave.

[0071] Figure 4B shows an example where the transducers located at the periphery of the array are not used, thus allowing the formation of a dense emission aperture with a geometry different from that of Figure 4A. In Figure 4B, the white squares represent the unactivated elementary transducers and the dark squares These represent the elementary transducers activated to emit a plane or spherical wave and which therefore contribute to the formation of the unfocused wave. Unused transducers may correspond to transducers whose associated channels are switched off or to transducers whose transmitted excitation signal amplitude is weighted. Particularly advantageously, the signal amplitude is reduced for transducers at the periphery of the dense emission aperture in order to minimize the edge effects of the emitted background.

[0072] Figures 5A-5C illustrate a schematic side view of the array of [Fig.1] with different emission apertures and different emission delays.

[0073] According to one embodiment and with reference to [Fig. 5A], the elementary emission circuits are programmed by the control system 140 to activate all the elementary transducers of the array, namely the 9*9 elementary transducers with a maximum emission aperture (D), and to add an emission delay on the elementary transducers so as to emit a plane ultrasonic wave in different propagation directions relative to the acoustic axis of the array A. When the elementary emission circuits transmit an electronic pulse without phase shift to the transducers of the array, the plane wave is emitted in the direction of the axis A. The entire medium is thus insonified in a single shot and the entire medium backscatters the ultrasonic wave.

[0074] To increase image quality, the elementary emission circuits are programmed by the control system 140 so that a plane wave is emitted by the array in several directions at an angle to the acoustic axis A to tilt the wavefront. Thus, the medium is insonified with a succession of angled plane waves; the image reconstructed for each plane wave is an angled basis image. The elementary emission circuits transmit an electronic pulse with a phase shift to the array transducers so that the plane wave is emitted at a different angle to the direction of axis A. The coherent summation of all the angled basis images creates a synthetic focus and allows the reconstruction of a higher-quality composite image at a high imaging rate. Figure 5A shows a 0° plane wave and two angled plane waves.

[0075] According to another embodiment and with reference to [Fig. 5B], the elementary emission circuits are programmed to add a delay to the elementary transducers so as to emit a diverging ultrasonic wave with a convex wavefront, enabling the insonification of a wider field than that of the plane wave. The elementary emission circuits are programmed by the control system 140 to send a delay to the transducers. The delay law applied to the elementary transducers 102 is reversed with respect to focused imaging. In other words, the elementary transducers located at the center will fire first, and the transducers located at the periphery will fire last. This is equivalent to considering a virtual source 101* positioned behind the array on its axis A, on the side opposite the area to be imaged.

[0076] As in the case of the plane wave, in order to increase image quality, the elementary electronic emission circuits are programmed by the control system 140 so that the diverging wave is emitted along axes deviated from the axis A of the transducer array. This amounts to moving the virtual source from one side of the axis A to the other to shift the center of curvature of the diverging wave. Thus, the medium is insonified with a succession of diverging waves with different orientations; the image reconstructed for each of the diverging waves is a basic image. Coherent summation of all the resulting basic images allows the reconstruction of a higher-quality composite final image.

[0077] According to another embodiment and with reference to [Fig.5C], the elementary emission circuits are programmed by the control system 140 so that the peripheral elementary transducers are not activated as in the case of [Fig.4B] and to add a delay on the activated elementary transducers so as to emit a divergent ultrasonic wave having a convex wavefront.

[0078] For each transmitted signal, backscattered signals can be generated by the medium in response to the transmitted signal. The backscattered signals are received by all the transducers of the array, namely the M*N array transducers that generate electrical signals. These signals are received by the receiving circuit 130 and can be processed according to a beamforming strategy to form an image.

[0079] Fig. 2 illustrates in more detail the receiving circuit 130 according to one embodiment.

[0080] The receiving circuit 130 includes a set of micro-beamforming circuits 131 located directly in the probe 100, which reduces the number of response signals to be transmitted from the probe 100 to the control system 140 by transmitting signals to the control system 140 from a set of unfocused receiving sub-apertures formed by transducer groups or individual transducers selected from each group. In other words, during the receiving phase, the micro-beamforming circuits 131 create a virtual receiving array with a reduced number of signals to be transmitted from the probe 100 to the control system 140.

[0081] According to one embodiment, the signal from the virtual receiving transducer network can correspond to the backscattered signals received by all the transducers forming the receiving sub-openings as illustrated in Figures 6A-6C.

[0082] According to another embodiment, the signal from the virtual receiving network can correspond to the backscattered signals received by one of the elementary transducers of each group, the transducers being chosen according to an ordered pattern or according to a random pattern as illustrated in Figures 7A and 7B.

[0083] The micro-beam forming circuit 131 thus makes it possible to decompose the process of forming a 3D image into two steps: a first step of partial formation at the probe level of a number of electrical signals from among the electrical signals generated by all the transducers of the array so as to obtain a number of signals to be transmitted from the probe to the control and processing device 140 less than or equal to the number of channels available on the control system 140; and a second step of reconstruction of the 3D image in the control system 140 from the microformed signals coming from the receiving sub-apertures formed by groups of elementary transducers or by elementary transducers selected from among the elementary transducers of the array. In other words, after a wave is fired, the backscattered ultrasonic wave is captured by each transducer of the array.The signal thus captured by each transducer originates from the entire medium, since the incident wave is a plane or divergent wave. The backscattered signals are captured by the M*P transducers, for example, by 9*9 transducers in the case of [Fig. 1]. The number of M*P signals captured by the transducers is processed in the probe to provide a number Q of signals, Q being less than M*P, and at most equal to the number of channels available on the control system 140. The resulting Q signals are transmitted over the signal transmission channels of cable 5 to the control system 140 for processing to reconstruct a 3D image or a volume corresponding to the incident wave. According to one embodiment, a time-division multiplexing circuit can connect the output of the receiving circuit 130 to the signal transmission channels of cable 5.Time division multiplexing (TDM) consists of extracting a time portion of N from among the Q signals - N being an integer greater than 2 and less than or equal to Q - and transmitting the N time portions one after the other in the same channel of cable 5. This multiplexing advantageously reduces the number of channels composing cable 5.

[0084] By using sub-receiving apertures or a number of elementary transducers chosen within the limits of available channels, it is possible to use a large number of elementary transducers to achieve 3D volumetric imaging with a large field of view, without increasing the complexity and size of the driving electronics, making it compatible for clinical use.

[0085] Furthermore, in order to increase the reception angle of the backscattered waves by each group of elementary transducers while maintaining a sensitive area equivalent to that of all the transducers in that group and the spatial resolution of the 3D image, each group of elementary transducers emulates a virtual acoustic lens or a virtual transducer element having a convex curved reception surface oriented towards the region of interest or medium to be imaged. More specifically, the micro-beam-forming circuit 131 is programmed by the control system 140 so that the elementary transducers of the group are controlled independently in order to emulate a virtual transducer having a convex curved reception surface or a virtual lens capable of converging the received wave to a focal point located behind the grating on the side opposite the medium to be imaged.

[0086] With reference to [Fig.2], a micro-beam forming circuit 131 is described below. below according to one embodiment.

[0087] According to one embodiment, the elementary transducers of the array are distributed into groups 107, each group forming a sub-matrix of n*n adjacent transducers. In the example in [Fig. 2], the sub-matrix is ​​a square and n is equal to 3. Each elementary transducer 102 belongs to one and only one elementary group 107. The receiving circuit 130 therefore comprises one beamforming microelectronic circuit 131 for each group of elementary transducers. In the example in [Fig. 2], the receiving circuit 130 thus comprises nine beamforming microelectronic circuits 131, each associated with one group of elementary transducers.

[0088] The micro-beamforming circuit 131 comprises an elementary receiver and delay circuit 132 for each elementary transducer in the group 107, i.e., n*n elementary delay circuits, and an elementary micro-summation circuit 133 per group. As illustrated in [Fig. 2], this micro-beamforming circuit 131 is individually connected to each elementary transducer in the group via a transmit-receive switch 103 and configured to provide an analog or digital signal corresponding to a sum of response signals from the elementary transducers in the group.

[0089] Each elementary receiving and delay circuit 132 has an input terminal connected to the transmit-receive switch 103 and an output terminal. Each elementary receiving and delay circuit 132 is adapted to provide at its output terminal a conditioned response signal delayed by a predefined reception delay.

[0090] Each micro-summation circuit 133 has an input terminal per elementary transducer of the associated group, i.e., n*n input terminals, and one terminal of single output. The input terminals of the summing circuit are connected to the output terminals of the elementary receiving and delay circuits 132.

[0091] The summation circuit 133 is adapted to provide, on its output terminal, a signal corresponding to the sum of the n*n conditioned and delayed response signals applied on its input terminals.

[0092] Following the example in [Fig.2], each group comprises a sub-matrix of 3*3 elementary transducers. Each micro-beamforming circuit 131 therefore comprises 9 elementary receiving and delay circuits 132.

[0093] Figure 3 illustrates in more detail the elementary receiver and delay circuit 132 of Figure 2 according to one embodiment. As is known, the micro-beamforming electronic circuit can be a specialized integrated circuit, called an ASIC (acronym for “application-specific integrated circuit”).

[0094] Following the example of [Fig.3], the elementary transducers of the network are distributed according to Q groups of elementary transducers. Each group comprises W elementary transducers.

[0095] The receiving and delay circuit 132 may include a receiving amplifier 132a, a time gain compensation (TGC) circuit 132b and a delay circuit 132c.

[0096] The receiving amplifier 132a can be, for example, a low-noise linear amplifier.

[0097] The time-adjustment gain circuit 132b is configured to apply a time-variable analog gain to the response signal of the elementary transducer during the reception stage.

[0098] Each delay circuit 132c has an input terminal connected to the output terminal of the time-adjustment gain circuit and an output terminal connected to the summing circuit 133. The delay circuit 132c is adapted to provide at its output terminal a signal corresponding to the signal applied at its input terminal, delayed by a predetermined time. The delay circuits 132c within each group 107 are programmed by the control system 140 to apply a delay law to the elementary transducers of the group so that the group emulates a virtual lens capable of converging the received wave to a focal point located behind the grating on the side opposite the imaged medium.The receiver amplifier circuits 132a and the time-adjustment gain circuits 132b of each group 107 are also programmed by the control system 140 to balance the amplitude of the signals of each elementary transducer in the group, or even to disable the contribution of one or more elementary transducers in the group, as will be detailed later.

[0099] The micro-beamforming circuits 131 are thus configured to form an array of unfocused receiving sub-apertures or an array of virtual lenses. In other words, the 140 control system receives response signals transmitted by a new virtual network which makes it possible to reduce the number of channels while maintaining sensitivity by providing unfocused receiving apertures.

[0100] As an example, the 132c delay circuit can be based on the use of switched capacitors. In this context, the use of converging analog delays advantageously reduces the maximum analog delays required per undersampling, and consequently the complexity of the ASIC for each associated 132c delay circuit. Indeed, analog delays are related to the number of capacitors that take up space in the ASIC. Limiting the delays makes it possible to increase the compactness of the ASIC or to add new functionalities to the probe.

[0101] According to one embodiment, the micro-beam forming circuit 131 may further include an analog / digital converter (not shown) at the output of the micro-beam forming circuit 131. In this case, the signals provided by the micro-beam forming circuits 131 are transmitted to the control system 140 in digital form.

[0102] On the example of [Fig.3], the micro-beamforming circuit 131 therefore comprises for each group, 9*9 receiving amplifiers 132a, 9*9 time adjustment circuits 132b, 9*9 delay circuits 132c, and a summation circuit 133.

[0103] Figures 6A to 6C schematically illustrate three examples of virtual lens arrays 102* having a convex curved virtual receiving surface oriented towards the medium to be imaged and having its focal point located at the rear of the array on the side opposite the region to be imaged. Such virtual lenses can reduce directivity by acting as a virtual lens. The virtual focal point 107* located behind the array can be adjusted by choosing the radius of curvature of the curved shape.

[0104] Figure [Fig. 0A] shows a side view (a) of the matrix of Figure [Fig. 2] and a perspective view (b) of this matrix. In Figure [Fig. 0A], applying the delay to the elementary transducers within each group 107 results in a sparse array of nine virtual lenses 102*. Such micro-beam forming maintains sensitivity by using all the transducers for reception while reducing the number of channels. In Figure [Fig. 0A], the resulting virtual lenses 102* have a convex curved surface with identical radii of curvature and identical orientations.

[0105] [Fig. 0105] Figure 102* illustrates another example of virtual lens formation 102* having a convex receiving surface with a larger radius of curvature than that of the virtual lenses of [Fig.6A]. As in the example of [Fig.6A], the virtual lenses 102* obtained have a convex curved surface having the same radii of curvature and the same orientations.

[0106] Fig. 6C illustrates another example of the formation of virtual lenses 102* which exhibit a random distribution in radius of curvature and orientation.

[0107] The embodiment examples shown in Figures 6A to 6C allow the backscattered signal to be collected over a wider angular sector while maintaining sensitivity. Improving the directivity of the sub-apertures in reception reduces the amplitude of the grating lobes, thus improving image quality. The dynamic variation of the curvature of the virtual lenses in [Fig. 6A] and [Fig. 6B] optimizes image reconstruction as a function of depth. The pseudo-random variation in the distribution of the virtual sources, resulting in a virtual lens array with curvatures and orientations different from [Fig. 6C], also reduces the periodicity of the receiving grating and therefore the amplitudes of the associated grating lobes.

[0108] The signals appropriately delayed by each delay circuit 132c are then summed analogically by the micro-summation circuit 133 to form a micro-formed signal.

[0109] The microformed signal provided by each beamforming micro-circuit 131 is then transmitted via cable 5 to the control system 140. Thus, beamforming micro-conversion reduces the number of response signals to be transmitted while maintaining the probe's sensitivity. Each group of transducers provides a microformed signal representative of the sum or superposition of the analog signals applied to the input terminals of the microsummation circuit.

[0110] The control system 140 can then reconstruct a volume or a 3D image by applying delay and summation processing to the microformed signals from the transducer groups. In other words, the control system applies macro beamforming to signals from a virtual array composed of virtual lenses, which are macro-elements, each corresponding to a group of elementary transducers. The control system 140 may include, as in the probe, a macro beamforming circuit comprising a receive and delay circuit for each group and a summation circuit. The receive and delay circuit may include, for example, a receive amplifier, preferably a low-noise amplifier (LNA), a time-gain adjustment (TGC) circuit, and a delay circuit.

[0111] To improve image resolution and contrast, it is useful to transmit unfocused ultrasonic waves in series with unfocused ultrasonic waves successive, unfocused ultrasonic waves in each series have different propagation directions. In this case, each 3D image is synthesized from the signals acquired in the series.

[0112] The successive ultrasonic waves of each series can be obtained by varying the virtual source 101*, from one wave to the next, varying the wavefront as shown in Figures 5A-5C. Each series can include, for example, 1 to 81 successive ultrasonic waves of different directions, for example, 3 to 25 successive ultrasonic waves of different directions, for example, 5 to 20 successive ultrasonic waves of different directions, for example, 10 to 20 successive ultrasonic waves of different directions.

[0113] After each emission of ultrasonic waves, backscattered signals are acquired by the 2D network. This raw data is used to generate a sequence of images.

[0114] After receiving the backscattered signals, beamforming can be applied by the control system 140 to reconstruct the 3D image for each emitted ultrasonic wave. The 3D images are then coherently composited to form a final high-quality 3D image. The principle of this synthetic imaging is known and described, for example, in:

[0115] Papadacci, C, Pemot, M., Couade, M., Fink, M. & Tanter, M. High-contrast ultrafast imaging of the heart. IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control 61, 288-301, doi:10.1109 / tuffc.2014.6722614 (2014).

[0116] Montaldo, G., Tanter, M., Bercoff, J., Benech, N., Fink, M., 2009. Coherent plane-wave compounding for very high frame rate ultrasonography and transient elastography. IEEE Trans. Ultrasound. Ferroelectr. Freq. Control 56, 489-506. doi: 10.1109 / TUFFC.2009.1067.

[0117] According to one embodiment, the control system 140 is configured to program the electronic transmitting circuit 120 and the electronic receiving circuit 130 so as to repeat the transmitting step to emit a series of N unfocused, planar or diverging ultrasonic waves having different propagation directions and the receiving step to receive N raw signals in order to construct a series of N 3D images or N volumes.

[0118] According to one embodiment, the control system 140 is configured to reprogram the transmission circuit 120 so as to modify the transmission aperture for each shot. This process then makes it possible to reduce the periodicity of successive coherent sums and thus improve the quality of the reconstructed image by reducing, for example, the formation of grating lobes.

[0119] According to one embodiment, the control system 140 is configured to reprogram the receiving circuit 130, and more specifically the receiving circuits and delay of each group for each shot, so as to modify the unfocused receiving sub-openings formed by groups of transducers or the elementary transducers chosen in each group for reception.

[0120] In the case of modification of the receiving sub-apertures, the control system 140 is configured to reprogram the micro-beam-forming electronic circuits of each group for each shot so as to modify the delays applied on the delay circuits 132C to modify the orientation of the convex receiving surface and their radius of curvature as illustrated by the examples in Figures 6A-6C.

[0121] The control system 140 is configured to then coherently sum the 3D images obtained after each shot in order to generate a final high-quality image of the region.

[0122] The presence of the micro-beamforming circuits 131 in the probe 100 advantageously limits the number of signals to be transmitted to the control system 140 during the reception phase of an ultrasonic wave. The total number of signals to be transmitted, which corresponds to the number of transducers in the array, is divided by the number of transducer groups.

[0123] The entirety of the electrical signals generated by the micro-forming circuits 131 can be transmitted to the control system 140 to form the 3D image while limiting the size of the cable 5, allowing the implementation of ultra-fast imaging.

[0124] Furthermore, the possibility of being able to reprogram the micro-beam forming circuits 131 by the control system 140 advantageously allows the orientation of the virtual lenses as well as their radius of curvature to be adjusted according to the emission parameters and reconstruction of the desired 3D image.

[0125] Figures 7A and 7B illustrate another embodiment in which the control system 140 is configured to program the receiving circuit 130 of [Fig.3] so as to activate or address a reduced number of transducers of the network in order to provide a number of signals which corresponds to the number of channels available on the control system 140 of the device 1, thus reducing the number of transmission channels between the probe 100 and the control system 140.

[0126] In this embodiment, the micro-beamforming circuits 131 located in the probe 100 are used to select an elementary transducer to be activated in reception from among the elementary transducers in each group in order to reduce the number of response signals to be transmitted from the probe 100 to the control system 140. In other words, in the reception phase, the micro-beamforming reduction circuits 131 create a virtual reception network with a reduced number of signals to be transmitted from the probe 100 to the control system 140. The control system 140 therefore receives a set of signals from the virtual reception network.

[0127] The transducers are chosen in each group by the micro-beam-forming circuits 131 according to an ordered addressing pattern or according to a random pattern as illustrated respectively in Figures 7A and 7B.

[0128] The microbeamforming circuit 131 of [Fig. 3] is programmed by the control system 140 to address one transducer in each group. More specifically, the receiver and delay circuits 132 are programmed to individually address each elementary transducer in the group, i.e., to activate or not activate it. For example, the gain timing adjustment circuit 132b of the receiver and delay circuit 132 can be programmed to apply zero gain to the response signal of the elementary transducer during the reception stage so as not to activate an elementary transducer. The delay circuits 132c are programmed so as not to apply any delays to the elementary transducers.

[0129] According to an exemplary embodiment and as illustrated in [Fig. 7A], the beamforming microcircuit 131 of each group is programmed by the control system to address a transducer in each group to receive the backscattered waves from the medium. The elementary transducer activated to receive the backscattered waves is chosen according to an identical addressing pattern for all groups in the array. The overall addressing pattern of the array is ordered. The total number of active transducers can be less than or equal to the number of available transmission channels. In the illustrated example, white squares denote inactive transducers and dark squares active transducers.

[0130] According to another embodiment, and as illustrated in [Fig. 7B], the microbeamforming circuit 131 of each group is programmed by the control system 140 to address an elementary transducer in each group to receive the backscattered waves from the medium. The transducer activated to receive the backscattered waves is different from one group to another. The overall addressing pattern of the array is random.

[0131] According to one embodiment, the control system 140 is configured to reprogram the receiving circuit 130, and more specifically the receiving and delay circuits 132 of each group for each shot, so as to modify the elementary transducers chosen in each group for reception.

[0132] According to one embodiment, the addressing pattern is identical for all groups in the same shot but different between shots. In other words, for each group, the receiving and delay circuits 132 are programmed to change the choice of transducer to be activated at each shot.

[0133] Figure 7A illustrates a succession of the states of the elementary transducers corresponding to a succession of shots in the case of an ordered pattern example. Addressing pattern. In the first shot, labeled T1, the addressing pattern is repeated for all groups; that is, the first elementary transducer 102n of each group is activated. In the next shot, labeled T2, the addressing pattern (not visible in [Fig. 7A]) is different, and the micro-beamforming circuit is programmed to activate, for example, the second elementary transducer 102i2. This addressing pattern is the same for all groups. In the final shot, labeled T9, the micro-beamforming circuit is programmed to activate, for example, the last elementary transducer of group 10233. This pattern is repeated for all other groups in this same shot.

[0134] Figure 7B illustrates a succession of the states of the elementary transducers corresponding to a series of shots in the example of a random or pseudo-random addressing pattern. In the first shot, the addressing pattern is different for all groups; that is, the activated elementary transducer is different for all groups in the same shot. For example, in the first group, the transducer labeled 10232 is activated, while in the second group, the transducer labeled 102i2 is activated. In the following shot, labeled T2, the addressing pattern (not visible in Figure 7B) is different from that of the first shot.

[0135] Consequently, whether in the case of an ordered or random pattern, the transducers activated for reception are different with each shot. As in the embodiment illustrated in Figures 6A-6C, the final 3D image is then constructed from the coherent addition of a series of 3D images generated from the succession of shots to improve the quality of the 3D image.

[0136] Fig. 8 illustrates the main steps of an ultrafast volumetric imaging process implementing the imaging device 1 of Fig. 2 and Fig. 3.

[0137] In a transmission programming step (a) (PROGRAM_EMI), the control system 140 programs the transmission circuit 120 to use a subset of adjacent elementary transducers or all the elementary transducers of the array 101 to transmit diverging ultrasonic waves towards the region to be imaged. The transmission circuit 120 is programmed to activate the elementary transducers forming a transmission aperture that determines the aperture angle of the ultrasonic field and is adapted to emit a plane or diverging unfocused ultrasonic wave towards the region to be imaged.

[0138] Following the example of the network in [Fig. 4A], the transmission circuit 120 is programmed to activate the 9*9 elementary transducers for the emission of a plane or diverging ultrasonic wave. Following the example in [Fig. 4B], the transmission circuit 120 is programmed to activate some of the 9*9 elementary transducers for the emission of a plane or diverging ultrasonic wave.

[0139] In a programming step of a reception (b) (PROGRAM_REC), the control system 140 programs the micro-beam-forming circuits 131 associated with each group of transducers to apply a delay and summation processing so that each group of transducers emulates a virtual lens forming an unfocused receiving sub-aperture or to choose an elementary transducer to activate in reception from among the elementary transducers in each group according to an ordered or random pattern.

[0140] According to one embodiment, the control system 140 programs the micro-beam-forming circuits 131 associated with each group of transducers to apply a delay and summation processing so that each group of transducers emulates a virtual acoustic lens having a convex curved receiving surface whose focal point is located at the rear of the array on the side opposite the imaged medium as illustrated in Figures 6A-6C.

[0141] According to another embodiment, the control system 140 programs the micro-beam forming circuits 131 associated with each group of transducers so as to select the elementary transducer of the group to be activated in order to obtain a desired distribution of active elementary transducers according to a predefined pattern as illustrated by the examples in Figures 7A-7B.

[0142] In an ultrasonic wave emission step (c) (EMIS_US), an unfocused ultrasonic wave is emitted towards the medium to be imaged by the array of elementary transducers activated by the emission circuit programmed by the control system. Alternatively, the programming steps for reception (b) (PROGRAM_REC) and emission (c) (EMIS_US) can be performed in reverse order or simultaneously.

[0143] In a reception stage (d) (RECEP_US), the backscattered signals are received by the transducers of each group that forms an unfocused receiving sub-aperture or a virtual lens. For each unfocused receiving sub-aperture, the generated electrical signals can, for example, be amplified by the amplifier 132a and / or attenuated by the TGC circuit 132b. In the case of virtual lens emulation, the delay circuits 132c then apply delays to the electrical signals. In the case of a distribution of elementary transducers activated according to a predefined pattern, the delay circuits 132c do not apply delays to the electrical signals. Finally, the delayed signals are summed by the summing circuit 133 to provide a single microformed analog signal at the output of the microbeamforming circuit 131.

[0144] In a transmission step (e) (TRANS_SIG), the signals provided by all the groups are transmitted from the probe 100 to the control system 140 via cable 5.

[0145] In a step of constructing a volume or a 3D image (f) (CONST_IMG_3D), the signals provided by the groups of transducers are again delayed and summed in the control system 140 to construct a 3D image or a volume.

[0146] To improve the resolution and contrast of the image, steps (a) to (f) are repeated to emit by the transducer array successively a series of N unfocused ultrasonic waves having different propagation directions and to receive by the transducer array a series of backscattered signals from said series of N successive unfocused ultrasonic waves.

[0147] By way of example, each series may include, for example, 1 to 81 successive ultrasonic waves from different directions, for example, 3 to 25 successive ultrasonic waves from different directions, for example, 5 to 20 successive ultrasonic waves from different directions, for example, 10 to 20 successive ultrasonic waves from different directions.

[0148] According to one embodiment, for each shot, the control system 140 reprograms the emission circuit to modify the emission opening formed in the transducers of the network by modifying, for example, the size of the emission opening and / or the emission delays applied to the elementary transducers.

[0149] According to one embodiment, for each shot, the control system 140 reprograms the transmission circuit 120 to modify the emission delays applied to the elementary transducers so as to change the propagation direction of the ultrasonic wave as described above. According to another embodiment, the elementary transmission circuits are reprogrammed by the control system 140 so that the peripheral elementary transducers are not activated, as in the case of [Fig. 4B], in order to change the size of the emission aperture.

[0150] According to one embodiment, for each shot, the control system 140 reprograms the receiving circuit and more specifically the micro-channel formation circuits associated with each group of transducers to modify the receiving sub-apertures and the receiving delays to modify the orientation of the receiving surface of the virtual lens formed by each group as illustrated by the examples in Figures 6A-6C.

[0151] According to another embodiment, for each shot, the control system 140 reprograms the receiving circuit and more specifically the micro-channel formation circuits associated with each group of transducers to modify the addressing pattern as illustrated by the examples in Figures 7A and 7B.

[0152] In all cases, after each emission of ultrasonic waves with a given propagation direction, backscattered echoes are acquired by the 2D grating. This raw data (also called RF data or radio frequency data) is microformed first in probe 100 as shown above in step (d) then again macro-formed in imaging system 140 as shown in step (f) to generate a 3D image.

[0153] As an example, after a series of 10 shots, i.e. 10 successive ultrasonic waves from different propagation directions, 10 3D images are therefore formed.

[0154] In a high-quality final image construction step (g) (CONST_IMG_COM), the method includes a composite image construction step in which the 3D volumetric images are coherently composited to form a high-quality 3D final image.

[0155] Steps (a) to (f) are repeated at a high rate of between 5000 Hz and 20,000 Hz. The high rate is particularly required in ultrasonic localization microscopy (ULM) imaging, and more generally to track the movement of tissues or fluids.

Claims

Demands

1. Three-dimensional ultrasonic imaging apparatus (1) of a region of interest of the body of a living being, said apparatus comprising: -an ultrasonic imaging probe (100) having a plurality of elementary transducers (102) arranged in a matrix in rows and columns forming an array (101), said elementary transducers being distributed in a set of groups of elementary transducers (107), an electronic transmitting circuit (120) and an electronic receiving circuit (130) connected to the elementary transducers (102); -a control system (140) configured to communicate with the probe (100);-said electronic receiving circuit (130) comprising a micro-beamforming circuit (131) for each group of elementary transducers (107), said micro-beamforming circuit (131) having an input individually connected to each elementary transducer (102) of the group and an output connected to the control system (140), said micro-beamforming circuit (131) being adapted to provide a single signal generated from the response signals of the elementary transducers of the group; -said control system (140) being configured to program: (a) the electronic transmitting circuit (120) so as to address a set of adjacent elementary transducers from among the plurality of elementary transducers in order to form a transmit aperture and to apply a delay law to the elementary transducers of said set for the emission of an unfocused ultrasonic wave;(b) each electronic micro-beamforming circuit (131) so as to address the associated group of elementary transducers or an elementary transducer of the group in order to form a receiving sub-aperture having a focal point located behind the array (101), on the side opposite the region of interest to be imaged, suitable for receiving backscattered waves.;

2. Device according to claim 1, wherein the control system (140) is configured to reprogram the electronic transmission circuit (120) to modify the transmission aperture and the delays emission for the emission of an unfocused ultrasonic wave with each shot.

3. Device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the control system (140) is configured to reprogram the micro-beamforming electronic circuits (131) to modify the receiving sub-apertures and receiving delays for the reception of backscattered waves at each shot.

4. Apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the control system (140) is configured to program the electronic emission circuit (120) to apply emission delays on the transducers so that the emitted unfocused ultrasonic background is a plane or divergent wave.

5. Apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein each micro-beamforming circuit (131) comprises a receiver and delay circuit (132) for each transducer (102) of the group (107) and a micro-summation circuit of the signals (133).

6. Apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the receiving and delay circuits (132) of the group are capable of applying a delay law on the elementary transducers of the group so as to form a virtual lens (102*) whose focal point (107*) is located behind the grating, on the side opposite to the region to be imaged.

7. Apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the control system (140) is configured to program the receiving and delay circuits (132) so that the virtual lenses (102*) formed have identical focal lengths.

8. Apparatus according to claim 6 or 7, wherein the control system (140) is configured to program the receiving and delay circuits (132) so that at least two virtual lenses (102*) have different focal lengths.

9. Apparatus according to any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein the control system (140) is configured to program the receiving and delay circuits (132) so that at least two virtual lenses (102*) have different focusing directions.

10. Apparatus according to any one of claims 6 to 9, wherein the receiving and delay circuit (132) comprises a receiving amplifier (132a), a time-adjusting gain circuit (132b) and a delay circuit (132c).

11. A method for three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound imaging of a region of interest of the body of a living being using a three-dimensional ultrasound imaging device according to any one of claims 1 to 10, said method comprising the following steps: - (a) a programming step during which the electronic emission circuit (120) is programmed (PROGRAM_EMI) to address an array of adjacent elementary transducers from among the plurality of elementary transducers in order to form an emission aperture and to apply a delay law adapted to the elementary transducers of said array for the emission of an unfocused ultrasound wave;- (b) a programming step during which each micro-beamforming electronic circuit (131) is programmed to address the associated group of elementary transducers or at least one elementary transducer of the group in order to form a receiving sub-aperture having a focal point located behind the array (101), on the side opposite the region of interest to be imaged, adapted for receiving backscattered waves (PROGRAM_REC); - (c) an emission step during which the unfocused ultrasonic wave is emitted in the direction of the region of interest through said emission aperture formed by said set of adjacent addressed elementary transducers (EMI_US); - (d) a reception step during which the backscattered waves from the region of interest are received by each unfocused sub-aperture formed in the probe (REC_US);- (e) a signal transmission step during which the signal provided by each micro-beamforming circuit (131) is transmitted to the control system (140) (TRANS_SIG); - (f) a 3D image construction step during which the signals are delayed and summed in the control system (140) to construct a 3D ultrasonic volumetric image corresponding to the emitted wave (CONST_IMG_COM).;

12. A method according to claim 11, wherein steps (a) to (f) are repeated to emit a series of unfocused ultrasonic waves in different propagation directions and to acquire a series of signals for each emitted wave, said signals enabling the formation of a series of 3D volumetric images, and wherein the the process further includes a step of constructing a composite image during which said 3D volumetric images are summed coherently to form a final composite image.

13. A method according to claim 12, wherein the control system (140) reprograms the emission circuit (120) to modify the emission opening and emission delays for the emission of an unfocused ultrasonic wave at each shot.

14. A method according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the control system (140) reprograms the microbeam forming electronic circuit (131) to modify the receiving sub-apertures and the receiving delays for the reception of backscattered waves at each shot.

Images