Circuitry for ultrasound devices is described. A multilevel pulser is described, which can provide bipolar pulses of multiple levels. The multilevel pulser includes a pulsing circuit and pulser and feedback circuit. Symmetric switches are also described. The symmetric switches can be positioned as inputs to ultrasound receiving circuitry to block signals from the receiving circuitry.

An ultrasound transducer probe (104) includes a transducer array (108) of elements (110) that emit an ultrasound signal and receive analog echo signals produced in response thereto and a beamformer (112), housed by the probe, that converts the analog echo signals to digital signals, applies delays to the digital signals, and sums the delayed digital signals, produces a value of a bit stream, wherein the beamformer apodizes the signals.

A transmit receive switch circuit has a first MOSFET (MN1) and a second MOSFET (MN2), goes into a switch-off state at the time of transmission, and goes into a switch-on state at the time of reception. The first MOSFET (MN1) and the second MOSFET (MN2) are connected between an input terminal (SWIN) and an output terminal (SWOUT). The switch circuit includes a shunt circuit (SHNT) that is connected between a common gate (COMG) and a common source (COMS), the common gate being connected to the gates of the first and second MOSFETs, and the common source being connected to the sources of the first and second MOSFETs. When a signal having a negative voltage relative to a reference voltage is applied to the input terminal, a switch that temporarily turns on causes the shunt circuit to short-circuit the common gate and the common source.

An adaptor device includes a first connector (106) configured to interface with an ultrasound probe and a second connector (108) configured to interface with an ultrasound console. An array of lines (120) connects the first connector to the second connector. A pulse generator or generators (110, 112) are configured to output trigger signals responsive to a signal on one or more of the array of lines. An external output (114, 116) is configured to output the trigger signals.

An ultrasonic transducer includes a substrate; and a plurality of capacitive ultrasonic cells arranged on the substrate in a predetermined direction. Thicknesses of cavities in the plurality of capacitive ultrasonic cells are determined based on locations of the plurality of capacitive ultrasonic cells in the predetermined direction.

Provided are an ultrasound apparatus and method of operating the same. The method comprises automatically obtaining an elasticity image by using a preset number of consistent and consecutive images and providing the obtained elasticity image.

The present invention employs an object information acquiring apparatus comprising a plurality of receiving elements which receive acoustic waves emitted from an object and convert the acoustic waves into received signals, a delay unit which matches phases of the received signals, a complex converter which converts the received signals into complex signals, a complex covariance matrix calculator which periodically obtains a complex covariance matrix by using a complex signal group configured from a plurality of phase-matched complex signals, an eliminator which eliminates the number of bits of input data configured from at least either the complex signal group or matrix elements, and an electric power calculator which calculates a power of target positions, wherein the eliminator eliminates the number of bits by performing common level conversion processing on all input data relating to one complex covariance matrix.

An ultrasound diagnosis apparatus according to an embodiment includes an ultrasound prove and transmitter circuitry. The ultrasound probe is connected to a body through a cable and includes an ultrasound transducer element to transmit and receive an ultrasound wave. The transmitter circuitry generates transmission waveform data, generates, from the generated transmission waveform data, transmission signals that the ultrasound probe uses for transmitting ultrasound waves, and outputs the generated transmission signals to the ultrasound probe. When causing the ultrasound probe to transmit a plurality of ultrasound waves with different phases successively depending on a transmission condition, the transmitter circuitry generates transmission waveform data based on which a sum component of the ultrasound waves transmitted successively is within a certain range, by using the transmission signals detected between the cable and the ultrasound transducer element.

Disclosed are a method and a device for detecting displacement in elastography. The method comprises: acquiring a target point, acquiring a cross-correlation phase calculation location of the target point in a second frame image; calculating a cross-correlation phase according to the cross-correlation phase calculation location; calculating a longitudinal displacement result according to the cross-correlation phase; and calculating a gradient of the displacement result to obtain a strain result. Through the elastography method and device, I/Q-channel echo baseband signals, obtained by downsampling, of two frames before and after compression are acquired, displace information between the two frames is rapidly detected by guiding phase estimation, and axial gradient calculation is performed to obtain strain information, which can not only obtain a strain image of high quality but also reduce the calculation amount, thereby satisfying the clinical real-time requirement.

Aspects of the technology described herein relate to ultrasound device circuitry as may form part of a single substrate ultrasound device having integrated ultrasonic transducers. The ultrasound device circuitry may facilitate the generation of ultrasound waveforms in a manner that is power- and data-efficient.