A circuit for controlling an ultrasonic transducer, includes a receive circuit having an input terminal and an analog dynamic range compression circuit. The input terminal is intended to be coupled to an electrode of the transducer.

Provided is an ultrasound imaging apparatus capable of automatically and stably optimizing an imaging parameter for each examination even in a situation where an original ultrasound signal and electrical noise or the like are mixed in a reception signal, and shortening examination time. A pilot ultrasound signal for detecting a feature of a subject is radiated from an ultrasound element to the subject. Based on a reception signal from the ultrasound element, a feature value, which is a value representing a mode of distribution in a depth direction of the subject or an energy value at a specific depth of energy of the pilot ultrasound signal, is calculated. A predetermined parameter value is determined based on the feature value. An imaging signal is transmitted to one or more ultrasound elements, and an imaging ultrasound signal is radiated from the ultrasound element to the subject. A reception signal that is output by the ultrasound element receiving the imaging ultrasound signal reflected by the subject is processed using the parameter value to generate an image.

An ultrasound imaging system includes an ultrasound probe. The ultrasound probe includes a housing and a transducer array with first, second, and third acoustic elements. The first acoustic element is arranged between the second and third acoustic elements in an elevation dimension. The first acoustic element generates a first analog ultrasound signal, and the second third acoustic elements are electrically coupled to generate a second analog ultrasound signal. The ultrasound probe includes a first amplifier in communication with the first acoustic element. The ultrasound probe includes second and third amplifiers in communication with the second and third acoustic elements. The first and second amplifiers apply gain to the first and second analog ultrasound signals, respectively, according to a first gain profile. The third amplifier applies gain only to the second analog ultrasound signal according to a second gain profile that is different than the first gain profile.

The disclosure provides a time gain compensation (TGC) circuit. The TGC circuit includes an impedance network. A differential amplifier is coupled to the impedance network. The differential amplifier includes a first input port, a second input port, a first output port and a second output port. A first feedback resistor is coupled between the first input port and the first output port. A second feedback resistor is coupled between the second input port and the second output port. The impedance network provides a fixed impedance to the differential amplifier when a gain of the TGC circuit is changed from a maximum value to a minimum value.

The present invention provides an ultrasound system, which comprises: a signal acquiring unit to transmit an ultrasound signal to an object and acquire an echo signal reflected from the object; a signal processing unit to control TGC (Time Gain Compensation) and LGC (Lateral Gain Compensation) of the echo signal; a TGC/LGC setup unit adapted to set TGC and LGC values based on TGC and LGC curves inputted by a user; and an image producing unit adapted to produce an ultrasound image of the object based on the echo signal. The signal processing unit is further adapted to control the TGC and the LGC of the echo signal based on the TGC and LGC values set by the TGC/LGC setup unit.

Disclosed are a method, apparatus and device for calculating signal attenuation, and a computer-readable storage medium. The method comprises: receiving (101) an ultrasound signal by an ultrasonic imaging system, performing (102) signal recovery operation on the ultrasound signal to obtain an ultrasound signal to be calculated; determining a type of the ultrasound signal to be calculated, and calculating (103) attenuation information of the ultrasound signal to be calculated by adopting a calculation mode corresponding to the type according to the type of the ultrasound signal to be calculated. As such, the signal attenuation calculation flow is simplified, thereby enabling use of commercial probes therein, bringing convenience in operation, and increasing applicability. Accuracy and efficiency of attenuation calculation can be improved by means of performing signal recovery on an obtained ultrasonic signal and then performing attenuation calculation thereon.

[Problem] To provide an ultrasonic apparatus with which a decision can be made with better precision as to whether or not to apply gain reduction processing to a gain for echo signals. [Means for Solution] An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprises a control circuit executing: a creating function of creating, based on echo signals from first ultrasound transmitted to a subject to be examined, data for a B-mode image having brightness depending upon intensity of the echo signals; a motion detecting function of detecting a velocity value, etc. as information on motion in the subject based on echo signals from second ultrasound transmitted to said subject; and a deciding function of, in a case that the intensity of the echo signals from said first ultrasound is smaller than a first threshold th1 and said velocity value is equal to or greater than a second threshold th2, deciding that a gain for the echo signals from said first ultrasound is a target of gain reduction processing.

An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus includes an ultrasonic probe, a plurality of detectors, a measurer, and processing circuitry. The ultrasonic probe includes the plurality of transducers, and is configured to transmit an ultrasonic signal to a subject through each of the transducers, and receive, through each of the transducers, a reflected wave signal obtained when the transmitted ultrasonic signal has been reflected from an inside of a body of the subject and returned. Each of the plurality of detectors respectively corresponds to transducers and are configured to detect a reflected wave signal received by the corresponding transducer. The measurer configured to measures a reflected wave signal having an amplitude greater than an amplitude at which at least one of the detectors is saturated when determining a gain of the at least one of the plurality of detectors. The processing circuitry configured to calculate the gain based on the reflected wave signals measured by the measurer and control setting of the gain to the detectors.

An acoustic imaging system coupled to an acoustic imaging medium to define an imaging surface. The acoustic imaging system includes an array of piezoelectric acoustic transducers formed at least in part from a thin-film piezoelectric material, such as PVDF. The array is coupled to the acoustic imaging medium opposite the imaging surface and formed using a thin-film manufacturing process over an application-specific integrated circuit that, in turn, is configured to leverage the array of piezoelectric actuators to generate an image of an object at least partially wetting to the imaging surface.

A plurality of transmission and reception circuits are connected to a plurality of vibration elements. The transmission and reception circuit includes a basic delay circuit and a fine delay circuit. The basic delay circuit delays a transmission signal and a reception signal for sub beamforming. The fine delay circuit is configured to be capable of performing delay finer than that of the basic delay circuit. A quantized delay error is compensated for by the fine delay circuit at the time of transmission.