Ultrasound Probe Digital Microbeamformer FIR Filter Shift-Add
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional ultrasound systems face challenges with 2D and 3D imaging due to the cumbersome and thick cables required for connecting 2D array transducers to the system mainframe, and the issue of heat generation from integrated beamforming circuitry in probes, which increases cost and complexity.
Innovation Solution
The integration of digital microbeamformer circuitry in the ultrasound probe, utilizing digital finite impulse response (FIR) filters with a shift-and-add technique to reduce power consumption and eliminate the need for digital multipliers, allowing for all beamforming to be performed within the probe while maintaining low power usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If digital beamforming circuitry is integrated in the probe, then beamforming performance and imaging quality are improved, but power consumption and heat generation increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the operational parameters of the beamforming circuitry by using lower precision arithmetic (Q15 format instead of higher precision), reducing clock frequencies, and optimizing filter coefficients to minimize power consumption while maintaining adequate beamforming performance for clinical imaging applications
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts and eliminates the digital multiplier components from the FIR filter implementation, replacing them with shift-and-add operations that consume significantly less power, thereby reducing overall power consumption of the integrated beamforming circuitry
2Measurement precision
If digital multipliers are used in FIR filters, then filtering precision is improved, but circuit complexity and power consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes digital multiplier components from the FIR filter circuit and replaces them with shift registers and adders, eliminating the complex multiplier hardware while achieving sufficient filtering precision through fixed-point arithmetic and optimized coefficient quantization
Solution Approach 2:
The patent substitutes the mechanical/digital multiplier operation with a sequence of simpler shift and add operations, replacing a complex single-step multiplication mechanism with multiple simpler steps that are easier to implement in hardware
3Adaptability or versatility
If 2D array transducers are used for volumetric imaging, then imaging capability is improved, but cable complexity and manipulation difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the beamforming function into distributed microbeamformer units that are integrated with the 2D array transducer elements, allowing each element or small group of elements to have its own beamforming capability, thereby reducing the need for complex centralized cable connections
Solution Approach 2:
The patent integrates beamforming electronics directly into the probe housing in three-dimensional space around the transducer array, utilizing the third dimension (vertical integration) to accommodate electronics without increasing cable complexity or probe manipulation difficulty
Data Source
AI summary
An ultrasound probe contains an array transducer coupled to a digital microbeamformer. The digital microbeamformer is capable of producing delayed echo signals which are a delayed by a fraction of a clock cycle of received digital echo signals. The fractional delay is produced by an FIR filter which conserves power by weighting digital echo signals without the use of digital multipliers.