An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to an embodiment includes filter processing circuitry and generation circuitry. The filter processing circuitry performs a filter process of removing a still or minute-moving signal on reflected wave signals of an ultrasonic wave transmitted a plurality of times in the same scanning line. The generation circuitry generates reflected wave data through a phasing addition process using reflected wave signal of each channel after the filter process performed by the filter processing circuitry.

Systems and methods for processing an analog waveform before it is sampled by an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) for the purpose of multiline beamforming in an ultrasound system are provided. The multiline beamforming is enabled by delaying the same waveform by two different time delays and by re-combining the delayed waveforms. This approach leverages an architecture that can also be used for temporal filtering, in which a single acoustic signal can be read out of the ARAM twice, separated by time, taking advantage of the fact that the ARAM allows for non-destructive read operations.

An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system and method are presented in which the balance between image resolution and frame rate (Res/Speed) and the balance between image resolution and penetration (Pen/Gen/Res) are automatically adjusted in response to image content. A motion detector analyzes the relative motion between successive images. If the motion content is relatively high, the imaging parameters are changed in favor of relatively greater frame rate and reduced resolution. A low motion content causes the opposite adjustment. The electronic noise between successive images is also computed with a relatively high noise content (low correlation) in the far field resulting in an adjustment to penetration as by lowering the transmit frequency. A relatively low noise content causes an adjustment in favor of increased resolution.

An ultrasound probe in which there is local amplification, time gain compensation and digitization of each transducer element output. Inverting arrangements surround the time gain compensation and digitization units, and a synchronous inversion function enables deterministic distortion to be cancelled.

An ultrasound system is described which produces blended fundamental and harmonic frequency images. Successively transmitted, differently modulated pulses are transmitted by an ultrasound probe and both fundamental and harmonic frequencies are received in response. The echo signals received from the two pulses are processed by pulse inversion, producing cleanly separated bands of fundamental and harmonic signals in which undesired components have been cancelled. Since the two bands have been separated by signal cancellation rather than filtering, the two bands are allowed to overlap, providing broadband signals in each band. The bands are filtered by bandpass filtering to define the fundamental and harmonic signals to be imaged. The signals are detected, and the detected signals are combined after weighting to produce a blended fundamental/harmonic image.

An ultrasound imaging system transmits two beams in succession in the same beam direction, the waveform of the second beam being a phase inverted form of the first waveform, and each waveform containing first and second major frequency components. Echoes are received from along the beam direction in response to each beam transmission, and are processed by additively and subtractively combining the two echo sequences on a common depth basis. The echo components resulting from this processing extend from high frequencies for good near field resolution to low frequencies for good depth penetration, and include fundamental, harmonic, and sum or difference frequency components. The linear and nonlinear echo signal components may be frequency compounded for speckle reduction.

Systems and methods for performing diagnostic sonography. Ultrasound information of a subject region can be collected. The ultrasound information can be based on one or more exponentially swept ultrasound chirp pulses transmitted toward the subject region and backscatter of the subject region from the one or more exponentially swept ultrasound chirp pulses. One or more corresponding harmonic responses and a corresponding fundamental response for each of the one or more exponentially swept ultrasound chirp pulses can be separated from the ultrasound information. Further, one or more non-linear properties of the subject region can be identified based on either or both of the one or more corresponding harmonic responses and the corresponding fundamental response for each of the one or more exponentially swept ultrasound chirp pulses.

Systems and methods are provided for motion corrected wide-band pulse inversion ultrasonic imaging. A first pulse is transmitted, a second pulse is then transmitted after a delay, with the second pulse having different polarity. Echoes of the first pulse and the second pulse are received, using a reception bandwidth that enables capturing at least a portion of a fundamental portion of each pulse. The echoes are processed, and corresponding ultrasound images are generated based on processing. The processing includes determining displacement data between the first pulse echo and the echo of the second pulse for at least one structure in an imaged area; determining one or more displacement corrections based on the displacement data; applying at least one displacement correction to at least one of the first pulse echo and the echo of the second pulse; and combining the first pulse echo and the echo of the second pulse.

Disclosed is an ultrasound diagnostic imaging apparatus including an ultrasound probe which outputs transmission ultrasound toward a subject due to a pulse signal being input and which outputs a received signal by receiving reflected ultrasound from the subject, and a transmission unit which makes the ultrasound probe generate the transmission ultrasound by outputting a pulse signal whose drive waveform is formed of rectangular waves. The frequency power spectrum of the pulse signal has intensity peaks in a frequency band included in a transmission frequency band at 20 dB of the ultrasound probe on a low frequency side and a high frequency side of a center frequency of the transmission frequency band, respectively, and intensity of a frequency region between the intensity peaks is 20 dB or greater with a maximum value of intensity among the intensity peaks being a reference.

A vibro-acoustography imaging system that generates a map of the mechanical response of a target to an acoustic radiation force, usually in low kHz range by a confocal geometry. The system generates two focused sinusoidal beams to produce a stress field at the beat frequency, which is a function of vibration and acoustic emissions field in terms of mechanical properties. A highly sensitive hydrophone is then used for detection of the acoustic emissions field, the amplitude of which may be correlated to the mechanical properties of the target tissue.