Full-array Digital 3D Ultrasound Imaging System with Matrix Array Transducer
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Solution Overview
Problem
High element count in 3D ultrasound transducers poses challenges for receive beam formation, including increased complexity, connectivity issues, and limited signal and control data bandwidth, due to the need for split processing between microbeamformer and macrobeamformer.
Innovation Solution
A full-array digital 3D transmit and receive beamformer integrated on an ASIC, which digitizes each transducer element's analog signal and generates dynamic receive beams, reducing the need for up-sampling and simplifying the beamforming architecture, while also allowing for on-ASIC delay and weight computation for each element and depth.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If high element count transducer is used for wide field of view 3D imaging, then imaging quality and field of view are improved, but device complexity and processing difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the transducer array into multiple sub-arrays, with each sub-array processed by a dedicated ASIC device. This segmentation allows the system to handle high element counts (thousands to tens of thousands of elements) by distributing processing across multiple independent units, thereby reducing the complexity burden on any single processing unit while maintaining overall system capability for high-quality 3D imaging.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) devices as intermediary processing units between the transducer elements and the final imaging system. Each ASIC device handles a subset of transducer elements, performing receive beam formation locally before transmitting processed data to the central system. This intermediary layer simplifies the overall processing architecture by pre-processing signals closer to the source.
2Measurement precision
If high element count transducer is used for 3D imaging, then imaging resolution is improved, but connectivity and bandwidth limitations occur
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the transducer array into sub-arrays and assigning each to a dedicated ASIC device, the patent reduces the amount of raw signal data that needs to be transmitted over any single connectivity interface. Each ASIC processes its assigned sub-array independently, reducing the bandwidth requirement per connection while maintaining the total resolution capability through aggregated processing of all sub-arrays.
Solution Approach 2:
The ASIC devices serve as intermediary processing units that perform receive beam formation locally, reducing the data volume that needs to be transmitted to the central system. This local processing preserves critical signal information while reducing bandwidth requirements by eliminating the need to transmit all raw element data.
3Productivity
If split processing between microbeamformer and macrobeamformer is used, then processing capability is improved, but control data bandwidth and connectivity requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the microbeamformer and macrobeamformer functions into a single integrated ASIC device. This merging eliminates the need for complex inter-stage data transmission and control signaling between separate microbeamformer and macrobeamformer units, thereby reducing control data bandwidth requirements while maintaining the processing capabilities of split architecture.
Solution Approach 2:
The ASIC device is designed to perform multiple functions including receive beam formation, transmit beam formation, and signal processing within a single integrated unit. This multi-functionality reduces the overall system complexity and control data requirements compared to separate dedicated units for each processing stage.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and systems for ultrasound imaging and beamforming with a matrix array of transducer elements are provided. Receive signals of each transducer array element are amplified. The amplified receive signal of each transducer array element is digitized. A delay and weight are applied on the amplified and digitized receive signals. The amplified, digitized, delayed, and weighted receive signals are summed across all transducer elements of the matrix array to form a dynamically focused receive beam. An application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) that is integrated with the matrix array of transducer elements performs such steps.