Methods and systems for monitoring a transducer array in an ultrasound probe are provided. One method includes acquiring ultrasound data using an ultrasound probe during an imaging mode of operation, wherein the ultrasound data includes echo information. The method further includes comparing the echo information from a plurality of transducer elements of a transducer array of the ultrasound probe during the imaging mode of operation, wherein the echo information is non-beamformed signal data. The method also includes determining non-uniformity information for the transducer array using the compared echo information during the imaging mode of operation.

Among other things, there is disclosed structure and methods for registering images obtained through internal (e.g. intravascular) ultrasound devices. Embodiments of a device with a rotating ultrasound beam is provided, with a wall of the device being anisotropic in ultrasound passage. As examples, a cable opaque to ultrasound is attached along the wall of the device, so that the ultrasound beam at the location of the cable is blocked, reflected or scattered. As another example, a thin film of metallic material is placed on or in the wall to allow a portion of the beam to be blocked or attenuated. The imaging system recognizes the changes to the signals made by the anisotropic wall, and registers successive images according to those changes.

Various methods and systems are provided for a removable transducer module having memory. In one example, a transducer module for an ultrasound imaging system comprises a casing configured to fit into a module receiver of the ultrasound imaging system, an array of transducer elements, and a non-transitory memory configured to store at least one of usage data and specification data for the transducer module.

A transmit/receive isolation for an ultrasound system to block a high voltage transmit signal from being propagated to a receiving unit during a transmission period of an ultrasound signal is disclosed. An ultrasound system includes a switching unit coupled to a transmitting unit, a ultrasound probe and a receiving unit. The switching unit includes diode bridges and a switching module having pairs of switches connected to the respective diode bridges, wherein each pair of switches is configured to perform switching between a plus voltage and a minus voltage to forward-bias a corresponding diode bridge to allow a respective receive signal to be propagated to the receiving unit in a first state and to reverse-bias the corresponding diode bridge to block a respective transmit signal to be propagated to the receiving unit in a second state.

The present technology relates generally to receiving arrays to measure a characteristic of an acoustic beam and associated systems and methods. The receiving arrays can include elongated elements having at least one dimension, such as a length, that is larger than a width of an emitted acoustic beam and another dimension, such as a width, that is smaller than half of a characteristic wavelength of an ultrasound wave. The elongated elements can be configured to capture waveform measurements of the beam based on a characteristic of the emitted acoustic beam as the acoustic beam crosses a plane of the array, such as a transverse plane. The methods include measuring at least one characteristic of an ultrasound source using an array-based acoustic holography system and defining a measured hologram at the array surface based, at least in part, on the waveform measurements. The measured hologram can be processed to reconstruct a characteristic of the ultrasound source. The ultrasound source can be calibrated and/or re-calibrated based on the characteristic.

Provided are a two-dimensional array ultrasonic probe and an addition circuit that switch an addition unit of a reception signal according to a reception channel of a main unit while preventing an increase in a chip area. The addition circuit includes, between addition output terminals that output an addition signal and transducer channels, wirings provided for each transducer channel row including the transducer channels arranged in a vertical direction on a subarray basis and coupled to the transducer channels of the corresponding transducer channel row, output switches provided for each of the wirings and coupled to the corresponding transducer channel row wiring, and an inter-output switch that couples wirings corresponding to transducer channel rows adjacent in the horizontal direction via the output switches.

A combination of an ultrasonic scanner and an omnidirectional receive transducer for producing a two-dimensional image from received echoes is described. Two-dimensional images with different noise components can be constructed from the echoes received by additional transducers. These can be combined to produce images with better signal to noise ratios and lateral resolution. Also disclosed is a method based on information content to compensate for the different delays for different paths through intervening tissue is described. The disclosed techniques have broad application in medical imaging but are ideally suited to multi-aperture cardiac imaging using two or more intercostal spaces. Since lateral resolution is determined primarily by the aperture defined by the end elements, it is not necessary to fill the entire aperture with equally spaced elements. Multiple slices using these methods can be combined to form three-dimensional images.

A testing apparatus has a phantom and a scanning mechanism. The scanning mechanism moves an ultrasonic probe in a scanning direction (x direction) while maintaining a contact state of the ultrasonic probe with the phantom. The phantom includes a heart simulated element simulating a heart which is a tissue of interest, and a simulated element simulating a tissue which is present at a periphery of the heart. A form of the heart simulated element changes continuously in the scanning direction. A change of a form thereof represents a change with respect to time of the heart.

The present disclosure describes ultrasound systems configured to enhance flow imaging and analysis by adaptively adjusting one or more imaging parameters in response to acquired flow measurements. Example systems can include an ultrasound transducer and one or more processors. Using the system components, mean flow velocity magnitude and acceleration can be determined within a target region during an acquisition phase, which may include a cardiac cycle. One or more adjusted flow imaging parameters, such as adjusted ensemble length, temporal smoothing filter length and/or step size, can be determined based on the acquired flow measurements to increase the signal quality of newly acquired ultrasound echo signals. The adjusted flow imaging parameters can then be applied by the ultrasound transducer during a second acquisition phase.

A method includes receiving first electrical signals from a first single-element transducer (112.sub.1) and second electrical signals from a second single-element transducer (112.sub.2). The transducers are disposed on a shaft (110), which has a longitudinal axis (200), of an ultrasound imaging probe (102) with transducing sides disposed transverse to and facing away from the longitudinal axis. The transducers are angularly offset from each other on the shaft by a non-zero angle. The transducers are operated at first and second different cutoff frequencies. The shaft concurrently translates and rotates while the transducers receive the first and second ultrasound signals. The method further includes delay and sum beamforming, with first and second beamformers (120.sub.1, 120.sub.2), the first and second electrical signals, respectively via different processing chains (712.sub.1, 712.sub.2), employing an adaptive synthetic aperture technique, producing first and second images. The method further includes combining the first and second images, creating a final image, and displaying the final image.