Methods and instrumentation for estimation of nonlinear bulk elasticity parameters (NEP) of a material through measuring nonlinear propagation delays (NPDs) at a set of multiple range cells along at least one transmit beam axis, and adapting said NEPs to minimize a functional of the NEPs. The method calculates a distance between a model of the NPDs with the NEPs as input and the measured NPDs, and estimated NEPs are obtained at the minimum of the functional. The NPDs are measured by transmitting at least two pulse complexes comprising a low frequency (LF) and a high frequency (HF) pulse with differences in the LF pulse, along at least one common LF and HF transmit beam axes, and gating out HF receive signals from a multitude of depth ranges along said at least one HF transmit beam axis, and comparing the HF receive signals from two pulse complexes with difference in the LF pulse for each depth range.

A dual frequency ultrasound transducer includes a high frequency (HF) transducer and a low frequency (LF) transducer that is positioned behind the high frequency transducer. An intermediate layer is positioned between the low frequency transducer and the high frequency transducer to absorb high frequency ultrasound signals. An alignment feature on the low frequency transducer is positioned with respect to a fiducial that is marked at a known position with respect to high frequency transducer elements of the HF transducer to align low frequency transducer elements of the LF transducer with the HF transducer elements.

The invention is to provide an ultrasonic image with a clear tissue structure while reducing speckle noise of the ultrasonic image. An ultrasonic wave is transmitted from the transducer to the subject, and an echo generated in the subject is received. The first ultrasonic image and the second ultrasonic image are generated using a reception signal. The second ultrasonic image is an image smoother than the first ultrasonic image. The image processing unit calculates filter coefficients using pixel values of corresponding pixels of the first ultrasonic image and the second ultrasonic image, and generates an output image by processing one of the first ultrasonic image and the second ultrasonic image using the filter coefficients.

An ultrasound system is disclosed comprising an ultrasound transducer array (100) comprising a plurality of ultrasound transducer cells (130), each of said cell having an independently adjustable position and/or orientation such as to conform an ultrasound transmitting surface of the cell to a region of a body and a controller (140). The controller is configured to register the respective ultrasound transducer cells by simultaneously operating at least two ultrasound transducer cells in a transmit mode in which the cells transmit distinguishable ultrasound signals and operating the remaining ultrasound transducer cells in a receive mode. The controller extracts time-of-flight information of the respective ultrasound signals between transmitter and receiver and by systematically selecting different ultrasound transducer cells as transmitters, the controller collects sufficient time-of-flight information from which the respective position and/or relative orientation of the ultrasound transducer cells within the ultrasound transducer array may be derived. A method for operating the ultrasound system in this manner as well as a computer program product is also disclosed.

An ultrasound diagnosis apparatus according to an embodiment includes an ultrasound probe 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.

A signal processing device according to an embodiment includes adjustment circuitry and processing circuitry. The adjustment circuitry adjusts a received signal based on an echo of an ultrasonic wave transmitted to a subject with gain corresponding to a location at which the echo has been generated. The processing circuitry corrects the received signal that has been adjusted by the adjustment circuitry and calculates an index value relating to attenuation by using the corrected received signal.

The ultrasonic image pickup apparatus includes a transmission/reception control unit that transmits an ultrasonic wave by applying a DC bias voltage and an AC driving voltage between electrodes of the electrostatic capacity type micro-machined ultrasonic transducer and picks up an image by transmitting and receiving two or more kinds of ultrasonic waveforms which have different signs, amplitudes, or phases from each other for one scanning line. In addition, as the AC driving voltage, the ultrasonic image pickup apparatus uses a voltage waveform that is obtained by adding a high frequency pulse waveform and a low frequency waveform that has a longer cycle than that of the high frequency pulse waveform and has such a voltage amplitude as makes the total voltage of the low frequency waveform and the DC bias voltage is equal or smaller than a pull-in voltage.

First transmission information in which an optimum transmitting voltage and a transmitting waveform are associated with each other for each display mode, and second transmission information in which a plurality of transmitting voltage candidates and pulse-width modulation transmitting waveforms that are pulse-width-modulation controlled to respectively correspond to the plurality of transmitting voltage candidates are associated with each other for each display mode are used to extract a maximum transmitting voltage candidate that does not exceed an optimum transmitting voltage of a first display mode from a plurality of transmitting voltage candidates included in the second transmission information of a second display mode so as to determine a common transmitting voltage used in common for the first display mode and the second display mode based on the optimum transmitting voltage of the first display mode and/or the maximum transmitting voltage candidate.

Methods and systems for suppressing clutter effects in ultrasonic imaging systems are presented. Two or more receive beams with different and distinct beam patterns are employed for each reception boresight and each reception phase center. The clutter suppression processing is applied to the beamformed data, and is based on computing one or more features for each range-gate. These features may include variability features, providing an estimate of the variability of the signal received by the different elements of the transducer array for the range-gate, and/or derivative/slope features that are an estimation of a function of spatial derivatives of the signal received by the different elements of the transducer array for the range-gate.

Estimation and imaging of linear and nonlinear propagation and scattering parameters in a material object where the material parameters for wave propagation and scattering has a nonlinear dependence on the wave field amplitude. The methods transmit at least two pulse complexes composed of co-propagating high frequency (HF) and low frequency (LF) pulses along at least one LF and HF transmit beam axis, where said HF pulse propagates close to the crest or trough of the LF pulse along at least one HF transmit beam, and where one of the amplitude and polarity of the LF pulse varies between at least two transmitted pulse complexes. At least one HF receive beam crosses the HF transmit beam at an angle, to provide at least two HF cross-beam receive signals from at least two transmitted pulse complexes with different LF pulses.